Intel has lost another lawsuit with VSLI over infringement of CPU technology patents. This time the judgment is for $948.8 million (opens in new tab) and covers infringement in Intel's Cascade Lake and Skylake family of CPUs (opens in new tab).

It is unclear whether the ruling covers all CPUs based on the Skylake architecture produced through 2020's Comet Lake (open in new tab) or only applies to the original Skylake generation from 2015.

VSLI is a patent holding company ultimately owned by the Softbank Group, a Japanese conglomerate that also holds a controlling stake in ARM, the British CPU designer that dominates smartphones, tablets, and other low-power devices.

Inevitably, Intel "strongly disagrees" with the Texas federal jury's award of approximately $1 billion to VSLI, arguing that the ruling shows that the U.S. patent system is in urgent need of reform. Intel says it will appeal the ruling.

In March of this year, another trial involving Intel and VSLI resulted in a ruling in favor of the latter, with Intel paying an even higher $2.2 billion The trial between VSLI and Intel is scheduled to take place in a US court later this year.

In the world of high-tech patents, disputes of this sort are of course relatively common. It is almost impossible to build the latest microprocessor without stepping on someone's toes. But as the old adage goes, a billion here, a billion there, and soon it becomes about the real money. For Intel, these decisions are rather significant.