Texas Instruments to score $1bn on Hyundai deal

Chip makers Texas Instruments (TI) and Hyundai yesterday signed a ten-year cross-licensing deal following TI's victory over the Korean company in a patent infringement case last March. TI claimed that Hyundai had wilfully infringed two wafer fab patents after an original agreement between the two companies had expired and they had not been able to negotiate a follow-up deal. The US court concurred with TI, and awarded the company $25 million in damages. Parallel cases in Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and Japan were settled by the US ruling. TI said it will make up to $1 billion during the period of the deal, calculated from Hyundai's anticipated revenue from IC products and from its upcoming merger with LG Semicon. The US company also said it will receive a $86 million payment during its second quarter to cover royalties owed since the collapse of negations between TI and Hyundai. ®