Intel, Nvidia Ink Cross-License, Chipsets License Agreements

By Suzanne Deffree -- Electronic News, 11/19/2004

Intel Corp. has teamed with graphic chip giant Nvidia Corp., signing a broad, multi-year patent cross-license agreement spanning multiple product lines and product generations.

The partnership is a first of its kind for the two companies. Intel has several cross licensing agreements under its belt – including ones with SiS, Via and ATI, Nvidia's direct competitor – but until now had none with the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company.

While the chip king would not release any specific details on today's news, it did admit that negotiations with Nvidia had been going on for some time.

"Cross licensing isn't new for us, but for some reason over the years we did not have [an agreement] with Nvidia," an Intel representative said. "There have been talks about it on and off over the years, and the two companies have been having negotiations on and off for some time in this particular round. This time, we were able to find a solution that made both companies happy."

Additionally today, the companies announced the signing of a multi-year chipset agreement for Nvidia to license Intel's front-side bus technology, allowing it to deliver its nForce platform technology on Intel-based systems.

Other agreements between the two semiconductor players include last May's announcement that Intel would use Nvidia for its PCI Express launch.