Peter Clarke EE Times Europe (05/27/2009 8:35 AM EST)

LONDON — SanDisk Corp. (Milpitas, Calif.) and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. have announced they have agreed to cross-license their flash memory semiconductor portfolios and that Samsung will continue to supply SanDisk with a guaranteed portion of its flash memory production.

The new agreements become effective when the current cross-license and supply agreements expire on August 14, 2009, and will run for seven years from that date, the companies stated in a joint statement The cross-license agreement includes rights to each party's patents broadly covering multi-level cell flash memory and flash storage systems, but does not license either party's patent claims specific to 3-D memory technology.

Over the seven years of the incoming license the estimated effective rate of the fixed payments and royalties is expected to be approximately half of the effective rate in recent years under the current license. However, the companies did not state who was expected to be the financial beneficiary and nor were other inancial terms of the agreements disclosed.

"We believe that they [the agreements] represent good value for our stockholders and enable both parties to focus on the growth markets at hand," said Eli Harari, chairman and chief executive officer of SanDisk, in a statement.

"We are excited about our opportunities in mobile, computing and consumer flash storage markets. Furthermore, continued access to Samsung's flash capacity under competitive terms gives us greater flexibility in managing our future capital expenditures for captive capacity. We look forward to a constructive relationship with Samsung in the years ahead," he added.

Oh-Hyun Kwon, president of Samsung's semiconductor business, said: "It is clear that these renewal agreements are aimed at strengthening the on-going business relationship between Samsung and SanDisk, and we are pleased that the two companies have worked hard to achieve a significantly improved balance on the patent license."

Related links and articles:

www.sandisk.com

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