Ovonyx and Samsung Sign Technology Licensing Agreement for Phase Change Memory

– Ovonyx, Inc. (‘Ovonyx’) and Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd. (“Samsung”) today announced that they have entered into a long-term license agreement under Ovonyx’ intellectual property relating to Ovonic Universal Memory (OUM) thin-film semiconductor memory technology.

Ovonyx memory technology uses a reversible phase-change memory process that has been previously commercialized worldwide in rewritable CD and DVD optical memory disks.  The Ovonyx array-addressed semiconductor memory technology can be used in applications such as Flash and DRAM memory replacements, as well as in embedded applications in many product areas such as microcontrollers and reconfigurable MOS logic.

“The IT industry embraces change and enhancements which are enabled by advanced semiconductor technologies,” said Byung-Il Ryu, executive vice president of Samsung Electronics’ Semiconductor R&D Center.  “The agreement we announce today will open doors to further development and research on phase-change technology (or OUM nonvolatile memory technology), a prominent solution for next generation memory designs and applications.”

“Samsung is the market leader in DRAM and Flash memory production and has made rapid progress towards productizing phase-change memory technology”, said Tyler Lowrey, President & CEO of Ovonyx.  “Ovonyx looks forward to working with Samsung to commercialize OUM nonvolatile memory products”.

About Samsung Electronics:

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2004 parent company sales of US$55.2 billion and net income of US$10.3 billion.  Employing approximately 113,600 people in over 80 offices in 48 countries, the company consists of five main business units: Digital Appliance Business, Digital Media Business, LCD Business, Semiconductor Business, and Telecommunication Network Business.  Recognized as one of the fastest growing brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs.  For more information, please visit www.samsung.com

About Ovonyx:

Ovonyx was formed with the charter to commercialize the proprietary phase-change semiconductor memory technology originally invented by S. R. Ovshinsky at Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. ((NASDAQ: ENER) see website at www.ovonic.com).  Ovonyx nonvolatile memory technology offers significantly faster write and erase speeds, higher cycling endurance, and better scaling performance with new generations of photolithography than conventional Flash memory.  It also has the advantage of a simple fabrication process that allows the design of semiconductor chips with embedded nonvolatile memory using only a few additional mask steps.  Ovonyx is pursuing commercialization of its array-addressed memory systems through joint development programs with a number of licensees including Samsung, BAE Systems, Intel Corporation, ST Microelectronics, Nanochip, and Elpida Memory.  For more information, please visit www.ovonyx.com.