TSMC and GlobalFoundries end patent battle and sign long-term deal

TSMC and GlobalFoundries have discontinued their pending lawsuits against each other. The chip manufacturers conclude an agreement for the use of each other’s patents. They will also share patents that companies register over the next ten years.

The companies conclude a broad global patent cross-licence, which means that all pending patent cases have been dropped. Both companies say in a press release that they have reached an agreement, without disclosing further substantive details. It is unknown if any money was involved in the deal.

In August, GlobalFoundries filed a lawsuit against TSMC for alleged infringement of 16 of its patents. GlobalFoundries also involved companies that have chips made at TSMC in the case and wanted to block the delivery of products from, for example, Apple, Nvidia and Qualcomm. TSMC filed a counter-charge in early October, accusing Taiwanese company GlobalFoundries of infringement of twenty-five patents.

Now that the companies have entered into a partnership in the field of patents, they can use each other’s knowledge. The chip manufacturers say that they will continue to invest heavily in research and development in the coming years and that the new patents arising from this will also be shared among themselves over the next ten years.

TSMC currently makes chips at 7nm, for AMD, Apple and Qualcomm, among others. GlobalFoundries, the chip company that split from AMD in 2009, originally also planned to come up with its 7nm process, but announced it would stop doing so at the end of last year. GlobalFoundries is a much smaller company than TSMC and is now concentrating on improving its 12nm process and offering chips for special applications. It is unlikely that GlobalFoundries will resume development of smaller nodes in the near term due to the patent agreement. The company does not have the financial strength to make the necessary investments.