This "architectural license" agreement is the core partnership that's kept Android smartphones humming with Qualcomm's cutting-edge processors for years. Now, according to documents viewed by Bloomberg,

Any company that makes Arm chips must license technology from Arm Holdings plc, the British company that develops the instruction set. Companies can license the instruction set and create their own CPU designs or license one of Arm's ready-made Cortex CPU core designs to incorporate into their own chips.

Qualcomm's massive Snapdragon chip empire could be under threat with Arm Holdings PLC killing their partnership with the firm.