Intel settles with Nvidia over graphics patents

Intel to pay $1.5bn in new licensing deal

Intel has announced a deal that will end its lingering licensing issues with graphics card vendor Nvidia.

The company will pay some $1.5bn (£965m) in licensing fees to Nvidia in an agreement that will close all outstanding legal issues between the two vendors.

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

"It also enables the companies to focus their efforts on innovation and the development of new products."

Under the terms of the agreement, Intel will gain access to Nvidia patents while Nvidia will gain access to certain Intel patents, excluding the company's x86 chips and other specified platforms.

The licensing of patents has long been a source of legal friction between Intel and Nvidia. The companies have been in and out of court in recent years trying to decide whether an agreement over hardware licensing existed for each side's latest platforms.

"Our cross-licence [deal] with Intel reflects the substantial value of our visual and parallel computing technologies," said Nvidia chief executive Jen-Hsun Huang.

"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."