Two South Korean companies Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have signed a cross-licensing agreement to jointly share patents for semiconductors.
The Wall Street Journal reported that in April this year, Samsung’s mobile chief J.K. Shin said the company was looking into the possibility of using Hynix’s mobile chips, even though nothing has been announced since then.
A Hynix spokeswoman told the Journal that the cross-licensing deal is not related to specific supply agreements.
Earlier this month, SK Hynix signed a five-year licensing agreement with Rambus under which it agreed to pay $240m as royalty fees for Rambus’s chip patents.
Both the firms have also decided to end all patent disputes relating to memory-chip technology.
Samsung has been involved in long running patent disputes with Apple in four continents.
A nine-member US jury panel awarded Apple $1.05bn in August 2012, after finding Samsung infringed six of seven iPhone maker’s patents for mobile devices.
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However, earlier this year, US District Judge Lucy Koh, cut about $450.5m from the $1.05bn in damages that Apple was awarded.
