QuoteQualcomm has enjoyed a competitive advantage developing its own custom in-house Kryo cores

That's untrue. Qualcomm ended development of custom Kryo cores in 2016, the 820/821 being the only chips to ever see it implemented. With the 835 in 2017, they moved to make customizations to the latest available ARM core, then the Cortex-A73 and A53, and brand it as Kryo Gold and Silver. The Kryo 475 branding, for example, is a reflection of this: 4 for 4th gen (CA76), 7 for a chip meant for Snapdragon 7xx processors, and the 5 is just there for revisions (there's usually a 470 and 475).

Quote from: S.Yu on May 28, 2020, 17:46:31
Yeah, X1 is still up for modifications, however minor (judging by Qualcomm in recent years) they might be

I do agree, since regular arm application cores already allow for "customizations" with selectable cache sizes among  other minor things. Might not even need an architecture license, just a regular cortex license.

That being said, I think Qualcomm still maintain an architecture license or something similar to it, rather than just straight licensing the Cortex cores.

Yeah, X1 is still up for modifications, however minor (judging by Qualcomm in recent years) they might be