Vodafone taps Samsung; Qualcomm scores legal win

The Friday File: Mobile World Live brings you our top three picks of the week as Vodafone named Samsung as its open RAN partner, Qualcomm secured a win in its Arm dispute and South Korean tech heavyweights struck deals to support OpenAI’s Stargate project.

Vodafone names Samsung as open RAN supplier

What happened: Vodafone selected Samsung as a key supplier for its large-scale open RAN deployment across multiple European markets, with the South Korean vendor set to provide its virtualised RAN (vRAN) and O-RAN-compliant radio units, with support for 2G, 4G and 5G technologies.

Why it matters: Samsung stated its latest radios will enable wide-scale open RAN adoption in European regions. By supporting diverse spectrum bands and high transmit power, their equipment will help reduce hardware costs and energy consumption while delivering high-performing shared networks. The announcement comes after Samsung was excluded from £2 billion contracts awarded by the recently merged VodafoneThree to Ericsson and Nokia last month to help support its 5G network rollout across the UK. At the time, the South Korean vendor told Mobile World Live it respected VodafoneThree’s decision to “consolidate their existing vendor relationships”. According to Sam Jackman, chief development officer at infrastructure company Shared Access, Samsung’s exclusion could have signalled “a cut back to more traditional vendors from the open-RAN model Vodafone seemed to be pursuing”. However, the latest move cements Samsung’s role in the Open-RAN rollout led by Vodafone, which, according to Justin Jwa, head of account management EMEA at Samsung Electronics, is one of the vendor’s “most strategic partners in Europe”.

Qualcomm declares full victory in Arm legal battle

What happened: Qualcomm secured a full legal victory in its long-running licensing dispute with Arm after a US district court dismissed the final remaining claim in the case.

Why it matters: The lawsuit, filed by Arm in 2022, alleged that Qualcomm and its subsidiary Nuvia breached an architecture license agreement related to CPU technology following Qualcomm’s $1.4 billion acquisition of Nuvia in 2021. The final ruling concluded Nuvia did not breach the agreement, closing the door on Arm’s request for a retrial. Qualcomm general counsel Ann Chaplin stated the ruling marks a “full and final judgment”, however Arm declared that it will file an appeal, despite the court’s position that the case is closed. Neil Shah of Counterpoint Research told Bloomberg the win clears Qualcomm to “deploy Nuvia technology across a much broader spectrum”, including PC, automotive, robotics and AI applications. However, Richard Windsor, founder of Radio Free Mobile, warned the fight is far from over as Qualcomm’s separate lawsuit accusing Arm of anti-competitive behaviour is expected to go to trial in 2026. Yet, in Windsor’s view, the biggest unintended winner of the dispute is competitor Intel, “which remains in deep trouble but is being given more breathing space as a result of two of its biggest rivals fighting each other”.

Korean giants join OpenAI Stargate effort

What happened: South Korean tech giants Samsung Electronics and SK Group joined OpenAI’s $500 billion Stargate initiative, securing a major role in AI infrastructure development.

Why it matters: Under the agreements, Samsung and SK Hynix will scale production of advanced memory chips, targeting 900,000 DRAM wafers every month, which marks more than double current HBM capacity. These chips are crucial for powering the ChatGPT-maker’s advanced AI models. The companies will also explore AI data centre development in Korea, including sites outside Seoul, and deploy ChatGPT Enterprise and API capabilities internally. Market reaction to the deals was favourable as, according to Euro News, SK Hynix shares jumped by around 10 per cent and Samsung Electronics climbed more than 3 per cent, reflecting strong investor optimism. The deals also mark a significant step for Korea in establishing itself as a global AI hub. Indeed, Oliver Jay, OpenAI International MD, highlighted that with its “world-class talent, infrastructure and forward-looking government support,” the country “has all the ingredients to lead globally in AI and shape what’s next’.