NVIDIA to Get 1.5 Billion US Dollars from Intel in Licensing Fees

As some of you will certainly remember, back in November 2010, we were talking about just how badly Intel requires the right to use NVIDIA technologies in order keep up its edge against AMD, and now, it seems that the two computing behemoths have finally reached a deal, that will see a rather hefty amount of money exchanging hands (or bank accounts, if you prefer).

So, the two companies have just announced the fact that NVIDIA has signed a new six-year cross-licensing agreement with Intel, following which the latter will have access to the former's full range of patents in exchange for $1.5 billion in licensing fees, to be paid in annual installments.

Moreover, a bit of cross-licensing has also been thrown in the mix, since NVIDIA will also have access to Intel's patents, apart from “Intel's proprietary processors, flash memory and certain chipsets for the Intel platform”, as NVIDIA puts it, without providing any further details on the matter.

In its own statement, however, Intel details what patents are left out of the deal, pointing out that we're talking about the x86 platform and other, unnamed, products.

"This agreement signals a new era for NVIDIA," said Jen-Hsun Huang, NVIDIA's president and chief executive officer. "Our cross license with Intel reflects the substantial value of our visual and parallel computing technologies. It also underscores the importance of our inventions to the future of personal computing, as well as the expanding markets for mobile and cloud computing."

Beside gaining access to the technologies and patents it so badly requires, Intel has also gained some legal peace of mind following this deal, as the two companies have also agreed to drop all of their respective pending lawsuits against one another.

"This agreement ends the legal dispute between the companies, preserves patent peace and provides protections that allow for continued freedom in product design," said Doug Melamed, Intel senior vice president and general counsel.

“It also enables the companies to focus their efforts on innovation and the development of new, innovative products," added Mr. Melamed.

Well, after sweeping over CES with their announcements and now getting 1.5 billion US dollars from one of their greatest rivals, it really seems that 2011 will be a pretty good year for NVIDIA, don't you think?