Ovonyx and Qimonda Sign Agreement

Ovonyx, Inc. and Qimonda AG today announced that they have entered into a long-term cross license agreement for discrete memory products using Ovonyx' and Qimonda's patents and intellectual property relating to Phase Change Random Access Memory technology.

The agreement also provides that Ovonyx will actively support Qimonda's program to develop phase change memory products.

Ovonyx and its largest shareholder, Energy Conversion Devices, invented and pioneered the development of PCRAM technology, thereby gaining a fundamental understanding of PCRAM operation, including phase change memory devices, materials, processing, design, modeling, and performance optimization. Ovonyx PCRAM technology uses a reversible phase-change memory process that provides for high performance, dense, array-addressed semiconductor memory technology that can be used as cost effective Flash and DRAM memory replacements, as well as in embedded applications such as microcontrollers and reconfigurable MOS logic.

Qimonda also has considerable experience and a significant portfolio of intellectual property relating to phase change memories through its many years of research and development in the general field, including its present joint research program with IBM and Macronix. As a part of its emerging memories division, Qimonda will pursue continued research, development and in due course commercialization of phase change memory products.

"Ovonyx' PCRAM technology has the potential to revolutionize the Flash and DRAM businesses," said Kin Wah Loh, President and CEO of Qimonda. "With the support of Ovonyx we will expand our program to exploit this emerging technology and be well prepared for its commercialization."

"Qimonda's strong 300 mm manufacturing presence and world class development teams provide an excellent platform for competitive and innovative PCRAM memory production," said Tyler Lowrey, President & CEO of Ovonyx. "We are pleased and look forward to working with Qimonda on their PCRAM product development program" - Qimonda.