TSMC and Globalfoundries settle patent dispute – all lawsuits dismissed
TSMC and Globalfoundries settle patent dispute – all lawsuits dismissed
In TSMC’s press release, it says the following;
TSMC and GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF) today announced they are dismissing all litigation between them as well as those that involve any of their customers. The companies have agreed to a broad life-of-patents cross-license to each other’s worldwide existing semiconductor patents as well as those patents that will be filed during the next ten years as both companies continue to invest significantly in semiconductor research and development.
This resolution guarantees TSMC and GF freedom to operate and ensures that their respective customers will continue to have access to each foundry’s complete array of technologies and services.
This agreement will allow both TSMC and Globalfoundries to continue investing in their lithography technology without fear of litigation, and allow the customers of both foundries to continue manufacturing their technology with either foundry without the fear of litigation. In Globalfoundries’ lawsuit against TSMC, Apple, Asus, Broadcom, Cisco, Google, HiSense, Lenovo, MediaTek, Motorola, Nvidia, Qualcomm and Xilinx are all mentioned as defendants. More information about GlobalFoundries’ lawsuit is available here.
WIth TSMC and Globalfoundries gaining access to each others patents, both companies will be able to accelerate their rate of innovation through their sharing of patents. While it is unclear how much each foundry will learn from the other, this deal will allow both companies to operate without fear of stepping on the other’s patents.
With this announcement, the global tech industry can breathe a sigh of relief. Lengthy litigation between these two companies could cause the tech space to grind to a halt, as injunctions against either company would have a knock-on effect across a large number of chipmakers.
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