SK hynix to pay Rambus $240 mln for new license deal

SK hynix Inc., the world's No. 2 memory chip maker, said Wednesday that it has reached an agreement with Rambus Inc. on a new license deal that would cost the South Korean company a total of US$240 million over the next five years, ending a decade-long legal battle over memory chip technology.

Under the new agreement, SK hynix will pay $12 million in royalties each quarter over the next five years to the U.S.-based technology licensing company for using its semiconductor technology, the South Korean company said in a filing.

"The license deal will end all legal claims over patent infringements and antitrust lawsuits," SK hynix said.

Rambus filed the complaint in 2004 against Hynix, Micron Technology Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., accusing the three chipmakers of illegally colluding to keep Rambus' technology from making a footing in the chipmaking market.

Samsung Electronics reached an out-of-court settlement with Rambus in 2010, with an agreement that the world's top memory chipmaker will pay Rambus $700 million through 2015.

In February last year, the Superior Court of the State of California ruled that Hynix and its U.S. peer Micron Technology Inc. were not involved in illegal actions to prevent Rambus from expanding into the chipmaking market. (Yonhap News)