Context: Netlist and Samsung have been embroiled in patent litigation since at least 2021, when the former sued the latter over the infringement of several memory patents in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. That case resulted in a $303 million jury award against Samsung in April 2023. Netlist has also filed a couple of complaints in the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), while Samsung has tried to clamp back with inter partes review (IPR) requests in the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO’s) Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). The latter additionally filed an antitrust complaint against Netlist in the District of Delaware, claiming that Netlist had failed to license several of its patents relevant to JEDEC standards on RAND terms (April 8, 2026 ip fray article). Most recently, Netlist sued Samsung again in June over the alleged infringement of U.S. Patent No. 12,646,537 (“Memory Package Having Stacked Array Dies and Reduced Driver Load”). That was quickly followed by a complaint in the District of Delaware for DJ of noninfringement by Samsung (June 5, 2026 ip fray article).
What’s new: Netlist has today announced a five-year strategic alliance with Samsung, which includes a patent cross-licensing agreement, memory product supply, and technology cooperation (August 5, 2026 Netlist press release).
Direct impact: The agreement brings an end to all pending litigation between the parties, and while Samsung will gain access to Netlist’s server DIMM and High Bandwidth Memory patents, Samsung will supply Netlist with DRAM and NAND products. Samsung has also agreed to purchase 10 million shares of Netlist common stock. During a conference call to discuss the announcement earlier today, Netlist’s CFO Gail Sasaki revealed that this deal also means Netlist will receive:
- $239 million gross; and
- Net license fees of up to $750 million (divided into 20 parts).
Wider ramifications: While Richard Kim, Netlist’s VP of IP Strategy, noted that this brings an end to all its disputes with Samsung, the company will continue to defend its patents in relation to other parties. If anything, this frees up resources to continue to enforce patents against other potential infringers, he explained. One of the major parties Netlist is also embroiled in patent litigation with at the moment is Micron (June 2, 2026 ip fray article). As part of its deal with Samsung, Netlist has also made an ITC cooperation agreement, which means Samsung will provide information that Netlist can use in other ITC cases against other defendants. This could be a major asset in its other memory industry disputes (although this does not directly apply to the Micron case as there are currently no pending actions there between the parties).
During the conference call, Netlist’s CEO Chuck K. Hong emphasized that the agreement represents a “significant milestone” for Netlist, as well as one of the most significant patent licensing deals in the memory industry ever. He praised Samsung:
“[The company] is a pre-eminent leader in memory and this represents a vital first step forward for Netlist.”
Mr. Hong also noted that it validates the strength of Netlist’s portfolio, which is “foundational” to AI computing. Advanced memory is increasingly central to AI computing, he added.
When asked whether anything is expected to get in the way of the deal, the CEO noted that supply is “constrained” at the moment, so it could take up to three months before we see any products flow between the companies.