FTC Initiates Antitrust Investigation into Arm Holdings’ Chip Licensing Practices
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has initiated a formal antitrust investigation into Arm Holdings, a British chip designer renowned for its semiconductor technology that powers a wide range of devices, from smartphones to AI systems. The probe aims to determine whether Arm is unlawfully attempting to monopolize certain segments of the semiconductor market through its licensing practices.
As per reports from Bloomberg, the FTC is scrutinizing if Arm intends to either refuse or degrade the quality of its CPU blueprint licenses, while concurrently bolstering its own chip development business. Arm was notified of the investigation earlier this year, with the regulator demanding the preservation of all relevant documents.
Arm’s significant revenue stream is generated by licensing its chip architecture technology to major corporations, including Nvidia and Apple, and collecting royalty payments on design usage. The investigation reportedly originates from a complaint lodged by Qualcomm, which has been embroiled in ongoing disputes with Arm over licensing rights following its acquisition of chip startup Nuvia.
News of the probe led to an approximate 8.5% drop in Arm’s stock during trading. The company is also under similar regulatory scrutiny in South Korea, where antitrust authorities conducted an investigation into its Seoul offices in November 2025. Arm has refrained from commenting on the FTC investigation.
Source: Bloomberg