Arm and Qualcomm's dispute over Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chips is continuing in court this week, with executives from each company taking the stand and attempting to downplay the accusations from the other side.

If you haven't been following along, the crux of the issue is Qualcomm's purchase of a chip design firm called Nuvia in 2021. Nuvia was originally founded by ex-Apple chip designers to create high-performance Arm chips for servers, but Qualcomm took an interest in Nuvia's work and acquired the company to help it create high-end Snapdragon processors for consumer PCs instead. Arm claims that this was a violation of its licensing agreements with Nuvia and is seeking to have all chips based on Nuvia technology destroyed.

According to Reuters, Arm CEO Rene Haas testified this week that the Nuvia acquisition is depriving Arm of about $50 million a year, on top of the roughly $300 million a year in fees that Qualcomm already pays Arm to use its instruction set and some elements of its chip designs. This is because Qualcomm pays Arm lower royalty rates than Nuvia had agreed to pay when it was still an independent company.

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• Floating fish farms used to be a common sight along Singapore's coast.
• But now, their numbers are dwindling: As of October, there were 74 sea-based fish farms left, down from 98 in 2023.
• Local farmers say they face high operational costs and cheaper imports from regional competitors.

Once a week, Alvin Yeo hops onto a small, white skiff at Lim Chu Kang jetty and heads out to a farm on the water owned by his dad.

It's a breezy five-minute journey that takes him past dozens of similar floating farms along the Straits of Johor, which separates Singapore from the neighboring country of Malaysia.

Formed by interlocking planks held together with thick nails and buoyed by floating barrels, these platforms are living relics of the country's fishing village past.

The sun is harsh on most days, but the water is surprisingly calm, save for the waves created by the passing coastal guard boats patrolling the area. Towering apartment buildings loom in the background, a stark contrast to the weatherworn wooden platforms bobbing in the water.

Yeo's father — a former civil engineer — has been in the farming industry for almost 30 years, having started a fish farm in the '90s with his brother out of passion.

"My father is a hobbyist. He likes to rear fish," Yeo, 35, told Business Insider. "But he's not exactly a businessman, so the farm wasn't really making any money."

For small businesses like theirs, it's a constant struggle to stay afloat. Amid rising costs, environmental challenges, and a growing reluctance among younger generations to take on the demanding job, traditional farming in Singapore almost feels like a sunset industry.

Yeo is a rare exception.

Dwindling fish farm numbers

Around 2020, Yeo — a freelance musician — decided to join the trade. Together with his father, the duo separated from the original business to start Heng Heng Fish Farm.

Like most traditional farms, the fish are reared in open-net cages lowered directly into the sea.

While his father oversees the farm's day-to-day operations, Yeo mainly handles the business side of things.

Yeo is also trying to adopt more modern and sustainable techniques to their traditional farm, such as using solar panels for energy and introducing pelleted feed, which pollutes the water less than typical fish feed made from expired confectionary and other food by-products.

"I just felt that I needed to do it because I have feelings for the sea I grew up in. So I didn't want to see it just deteriorate as years go by," he said.

Much like street peddlers and traditional villages, the floating fish farms are a part of Singapore's cultural and economic identity that is rapidly disappearing as the city-state evolves past its fishing village origins.

The country's "kelongs" — offshore wooden platforms used to trap fish — used to be a common sight along the coast. The government stopped issuing new licenses in 1965.

Now, there are only four "kelongs" left in Singapore.

"With the dwindling catch from the wild and increasing cost of raw materials for maintenance of the 'kelong,' 'kelong' owners also saw the need to move toward fish farming as a viable commercial operation," the Singapore Food Agency, or SFA, told BI in a statement, adding that some of them have transitioned to coastal fish farms over the years.

Many locals still refer to these floating fish farms as "kelongs," even though they're not quite the same thing, Yeo said.

Fish farms are dwindling in numbers too, even as the resource-scarce country inches toward the deadline for its "30 by 30" goal — an initiative set by the Singapore government to be able to produce 30% of its nutritional needs by 2030.

Tough to beat prices from regional competitors

According to SFA data, there were 74 sea-based fish farms left in Singapore as of October, down from 98 at the end of 2023. This means about a quarter of these farms have shuttered in the past year.

Some farmers told the local paper The Straits Times that they had between June 2023 and June 2024 to take up a grant of 100,000 Singapore dollars, or $74,500, from the SFA to help them wind down operations. Those who had accepted the grant cited high costs, environmental conditions, and retirement as reasons for exiting the industry. The SFA did not share with BI the number of farmers who accepted the grant.

"To be competitive in the market, you have to be cheaper than imports. But it's hard to fight the cost of imports, especially from places like China, Indonesia, and Malaysia," Yeo said.

The cost of running a business in Singapore tends to be higher compared to neighboring countries, Kevin Cheong, an adjunct lecturer at the Singapore Management University who recently co-authored a study on sustainable fish farming in Singapore, told BI.

"Electricity costs, land costs, labor costs, all these things stack up against the consumer," Cheong said. "Primary production in Singapore, essentially agriculture, would be very challenging."

In Yeo's farm, the tilapia he grows can be harvested in six months. At the current scale of his production, he can harvest 12 batches of around 7,000 fish each in a year.

Since the floating farms are made from wood, their structure requires regular upkeep — and a metric ton of Chengal wood can cost up to SG$4,000, Yeo said.

"We don't really earn much. At the end of the day, it's just enough to keep the farm running," Yeo said.

A challenging environment

Beyond cost constraints, farmers are bogged down by the effects of the climate crisis.

Rising temperatures can lead to a higher incidence of disease outbreaks and algae blooms, Toh Tai Chong, a senior lecturer at the Reef Ecology Lab at the National University of Singapore, told BI.

Algae blooms are deadly for fish because they deplete the oxygen in the water and cause widespread fish death, he added.

"Open-pen sea-based farms are particularly susceptible because the fishes are reared in the natural environment, which is almost impossible to regulate," he said.

Farmers, in turn, have to grapple with worsening conditions.

"In my dad's era, fish didn't really have to be taken care of," Yeo said, gesturing at the bags of fish pellets behind him. "You could simply feed them till they got big, then sell them. But now, you have to feed and raise them."

Dean Jerry, an aquaculture professor who teaches at James Cook University's Singapore and Australian campuses, told BI that to cope with the changing environment, sea-based fish farmers have to rear more hardy species or invest in aquaculture technologies.

Many of these solutions are focused on closed-cage containment so farmers have more control over the environment, he said.

The challenge is compounded by the fact that most sea-based farms don't have mains power, he said. This means farmers will end up incurring extra costs installing diesel generators or solar panels to run these systems, he added.

"It's very, very costly to implement any sort of technological solutions because a lot of technological solutions will require power," he said.

The challenging nature of the job seems to have discouraged younger locals from stepping up to continue the trade.

Yeo, who only knows of one other farmer around his age, has two employees — a husband and wife duo from Myanmar who work and sleep on the floating farm.

"Local help is just impossible to get," he said.

Efforts to stay afloat

To help farmers sustain their businesses, the local government has stepped in with plans to overhaul the aquaculture sector.

In November, the government announced its Singapore Aquaculture Plan. Some new initiatives include increasing the supply of locally produced, genetically superior eggs and facilitating the exports of local fish to China.

"Our fish farms, as part of local production, cushion us from overseas supply disruptions and complement our efforts to diversify import sources of seafood," said Damian Chan, the CEO of SFA, per a media release.

The SFA told BI in a statement that farmers who are keen to increase their farms' productivity can rely on the SFA for advice and funding support for technology adoption.

On the other hand, the Singapore government will support those who choose to exit the industry by providing job-matching and training initiatives, it said.

Despite uncertainties about the aquaculture industry, some young farmers are finding alternate ways to stay afloat. Wong Jing Kai, who left his marketing job a decade ago to run Ah Hua Kelong, is one of them.

"Farming is considered a sunset industry," said Wong, 35. "Nobody wants to do it. So I'm like, if people don't do, I'll do it then."

But instead of being a wholesaler and pitting himself against more competitive imports, Wong opened Scaled — a seafood restaurant — and a fish soup hawker stall, to move his fish stock.

He can support his farm by supplying his own fish to his eateries, he said. "My plan is to have five fish soup stores and three to four restaurants on land. Then, I think we're more or less covered," he said.

Others, like Yeo, believe that the industry will survive as long as local consumers become more receptive to eating local fish.

"Of course, I hope to grow the business and be in this industry for a long time," he said. He hopes to have a high-tech fish farm one day — ideally on land, where conditions are less unpredictable.

"I take each day as it comes," he added.

• Arm and Qualcomm are heading to trial this week in Delaware after two years of legal disputes.
• The legal battle over a licensing agreement puts Arm in conflict with one of its largest customers.
• The trial could have big implications for the entire chip industry, from M&A to IP.

A legal battle between two of the world's biggest chip companies, Arm and Qualcomm, is heading to trial this week — and its outcome could have wide-ranging consequences for the entire industry.

The jury trial in Delaware, starting Monday, is the result of a two-year fight between the two major chip companies. The dispute centers on a licensing arrangement connected to Qualcomm's $1.4 billion acquisition of chip startup Nuvia in 2021.

The fight has put Arm in conflict with one of its largest customers. Qualcomm pays Arm roughly $300 million a year in fees, Reuters reported, citing Stacy Rasgon, a senior analyst at Bernstein Research.

The trial is expected to last until Friday, with each side given 11 hours to present its case. It is set to include testimony from the CEO of Arm, Rene Haas, the chief executive of Qualcomm, Cristiano Amon, and the founder of Nuvia, Gerard Williams.

The legal battle

Arm first filed the lawsuit against Qualcomm in August 2022, alleging a breach of contract and trademark infringement.

The suit revolved around Qualcomm's 2021 acquisition of Nuvia, a chip design startup.

Nuvia had a license to use Arm's architecture to design server chips before Qualcomm acquired it. After the deal closed, Qualcomm reassigned Nuvia engineers to work on a laptop processor. Arm claims that Qualcomm failed to properly transfer the license after the acquisition.

Arm has argued Qualcomm should have renegotiated the licensing agreement because it had different financial terms with each company. Arm, which is majority-owned by SoftBank, has accused Qualcomm of continuing to use its intellectual property in products designed with Nuvia's technology despite not having the required licensing agreements.

In response, Qualcomm has said its existing license with Arm is sufficient and countersued the company, accusing Arm of overstepping its rights. Qualcomm has also said the lawsuit is harming its business and ability to innovate.

Haas addressed the case in a recent interview with The Verge's Alex Heath.

"I can appreciate — because we talk to investors and partners — that what they hate the most is uncertainty," the Arm CEO said. "But on the flip side, I would say the principles as to why we filed the claim are unchanged."

The company has previously said the lawsuit was a last-resort move to protect its intellectual property.

Arm is not seeking monetary damages from Qualcomm but is asking it to destroy any products built using Arm's IP without proper licensing.

Consequences for the chip industry

The trial could have ramifications for IP licensing agreements, mergers and acquisitions, and contract law in the tech industry, wrote Jim McGregor, a principal analyst and partner at TIRIAS Research, in an article for Forbes.

"In addition, it will have an impact on the entire electronics ecosystem, especially each party's supply chains and customer bases," he continued.

Arm and Qualcomm are longtime allies, and the trial is an unusual escalation for two companies so closely tied together.

"It's really not in either of their best interests to go nuclear," Rasgon told The Financial Times. "I think it would make sense to see a settlement — they need each other."

The case could also disrupt a wave of AI computers. Arm said in June that Qualcomm used designs based on Nuvia engineering to create new low-power AI PC chips, which launched earlier this year. Should Arm win the legal battle, it could halt shipments of laptops made by partners — including Microsoft — that contain disputed Qualcomm chips.

Representatives for Arm and Qualcomm did not immediately respond to a Business Insider request for comment.

• Hannah Neeleman, known as Ballerina Farm online, recently bought land with her husband.
• The couple got 14 acres in Kamas City, Utah, with plans to turn it into an "educational center."
• They hope to build a farm, garden, creamery, cafe, and event space.

Hannah Neeleman, famously known on social media as Ballerina Farm, has popularized the trad-wife lifestyle by documenting her family of 10 in rural Utah online.

According to the New York Times, she has more than 22 million across social media platforms, surpassing other homemaking personalities like Martha Stewart and Joanna Gaines.

Soon, fans who watch her homesteading ways on their phones will be invited to experience it in real life.

Neeleman and her husband, Daniel Neeleman (the son of JetBlue founder David Neeleman) plan to expand Ballerina Farm — beyond the screen.

The Times reported that the Neelemans bought 14 acres of land in Kamas City, Utah, which they plan to turn into "an educational farm complete with animals, a visitor center, a restaurant, and an event space to attract day-trippers."

Their center will be part of a 129-acre land annexation in Kamas.

The region is hoping to attract more tourists

Located near Park City and Salt Lake City, Kamas City has long been seen as a rural "supply station." According to KPCW, a local news outlet in Park City, the Neeleman proposal "could be the most visible example of 'agricultural tourism' in the valley, where farms generate income with visitors."

The Neelemans plan to include livestock pastures, chicken coops, orchards, gardens, a creamery, a farm store, and an event space. At the center, visitors will be able to buy meat, butter, and ice cream produced on the farm.

As more millennials are drawn to homesteading, the center is expected to attract tourists, particularly those who follow the Neelemans online.

Bird flu has landed on a California farm that shuns virus-killing pasteurization, leading to a second recall of raw milk and a suspension of operations at the company, Raw Farm in Fresno County.

According to a November 27 alert by the California health department, officials in Santa Clara County found evidence of bird flu virus in retail samples of a batch of Raw Farm's milk, which has been recalled. It is the second time that retail testing has turned up positive results for the company and spurred a recall. The first contaminated batch was reported on November 24. The two recalled batches are those with lot codes 20241109 ("Best By" date of November 27, 2024) and 20241119 (Best By date of December 7, 2024).

In an email to Ars on Monday, Raw Farm CEO Mark McAfee said that none of the company's cows are visibly sick but that it appears that asymptomatic cows are shedding the avian influenza virus.

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