Samsung settles patent suit with Rambus for $900 million

Posted on Wednesday, January 20 2010 @ 14:18 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Samsung inked a deal with Rambus to settle all claims between them and licensing Rambus' patent portfolio covering all Samsung semiconductor products. The Korean electronics giant will pay Rambus a total of $900 million. The agreement includes an initial payment of $200 million, another $200 million to buy Rambus stock, and a quarterly payment of about $25 million for the next five years to use Rambus patents.

It's not all bad news for Samsung though, the announcement also reveals the two companies plan to cooperate on a new generation of memory technologies. This will include graphics, mobile and NAND flash memory.
Samsung Electronics and Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS) announced today that they have reached agreement settling all claims between them and licensing Rambus’ patent portfolio covering all Samsung semiconductor products including a perpetual fully paid-up license to certain current DRAM products. As part of the overall agreement, Samsung will invest $200M in Rambus stock. Other consideration to Rambus includes an initial payment of $200M and a quarterly payment of about $25M for the next five years.

In addition, Samsung and Rambus have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) relating to a new generation of memory technologies which brings together Samsung’s leadership in memory technologies with Rambus’ innovations in high performance memory interfaces. The two companies will initially focus on graphics and mobile memory solutions and will further review a potential collaboration on server and high-speed NAND Flash memories.

Both Samsung and Rambus said they are pleased to resolve their differences and move forward.

“We have a tremendous opportunity to renew a partnership which has created solutions that have benefited consumers worldwide,” said Harold Hughes, President and CEO of Rambus. “Bringing together Samsung’s market and technology leadership with our innovations for high-performance and high-efficiency memory architectures will make possible an exciting new generation of mobile, computing and consumer electronics products.”


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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