AMD, Fujitsu, Saifun one big happy family

AS REPORTED YESTERDAY, the AMD and Fujitsu joint venture to produce flash memory (FASL), has struck a deal with Israeli firm Saifun, take an equity stake in the outfit, and settle outstanding patent disputes.

Saifun had alleged that AMD had breached its patents but the new concord makes for one big happy family.

The size of the equity stake is not known, but Israeli newspaper Globes estimated it was $50 million.

All three companies will work together to make flash memory that can store four data bits in a single cell. Currently, FASL's Mirrorbit technology only stores two data bits per cell, and AMD-Fujitsu only recently announced samples of that technology shipping.

Flash memory is an important revenue stream for AMD and for Intel. Sales of these products had shown a decline over the last year but according to most analysts will pick up during the second half of this year.

The main application for flash is in mobile phones, but it is also used in a wide range of other digital equipment. µ

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AMD, Fujitsu, Saifun to work together on flash