Only few days from my speculation and here it is
Exclusive: Saifun withdraws litigation - AMD to buy 10%
Chip maker AMD will pay $50 million and royalties on products jointly developed with Saifun, which develops non-volatile memory.
Gilad Nass 30 Jul 02 15:23
Sources inform “Globes” that start-up Saifun Semiconductor has reached an agreement with chip maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
Under the agreement, Saifun will withdraw its litigation against AMD, while AMD will invest $50 million in Saifun in exchange for a 10% stake in the Israeli company. The investment values Saifun at $500 million, compared with a $400 million company valuation in its $40 million funding round at the end of 2000.
The agreement also states that Saifun and AMD will work together with Fujitsu on future flash memory technology. In addition, AMD is expected to pay royalties from revenue received from jointly developed products. Saifun declined to confirm or deny the report.
Saifun had accused AMD of patent infringement over its MirrorBit flash memory technology. Saifun was working with AMD on high density flash technology some years before the introduction of AMD’s MirrorBit. However, no definitive agreements ever came out of that collaboration. At the time, an attempt was made to begin a cooperation agreement between AMD, Saifun and Fujitsu. Saifun also signed a confidentiality agreement with AMD, but later claimed that the agreement was violated after it discovered the technology used as the basis for MirrorBit.
The failure of the companies to reach an agreement at the time led to a cooperation between Saifun and Infineon of Germany, who set up a joint venture called Ingentix. Infineon owns 51% of the venture, while Saifun owns the remaining 49%.
Saifun was founded in 1998 by Dr Boaz Eitan. The company develops non-volatile memories. These memories store content without the need for a continuous source of power and are essential for some portable devices like mobile phones and computers.
Saifun has raised $50 million to date from several investors, including Clal Industries, Gemini Israel Funds, Pioneer , M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers (Nasdaq: FLSH), Infineon, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Bank of America Ventures Fund, Concord Ventures, businessman Benny Steinmetz and Tower Semiconductor (Nasdaq: TSEM). |
