Nanosys, Inc., an
advanced materials architect, and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a global leader
in semiconductor, telecommunication, and digital technologies, today announced
a strategic alliance and licensing arrangement to accelerate the development
of commercial applications of nano-architected materials for the electronics
and thin film solar markets. Under the terms of the deal, Samsung Electronics
will contribute funding and resources to co-develop products using Nanosys technologies,
in addition to $15 million equity investment from the affiliated Samsung Venture
Investment Corporation.
“We believe that working closely with Nanosys will help us to develop
exciting new products for our customers that will address needs in the world’s
largest markets across a number of technologies,” said Seungho Ahn, Senior
Vice President of the Intellectual Property Center, Samsung Electronics.
“Samsung is a clear leader in the electronics and solar sectors,”
said Jason Hartlove, CEO of Nanosys. “Not only does Samsung bring deep
knowledge of solar, memory and display technologies and markets, they bring
tremendous experience in scaling up new technologies, which will help us accelerate
the development, production and market introduction of devices enabled by our
nano-architected materials.”
Samsung’s equity investment will come from Samsung Venture Investment
Corporation, with at least an additional $10 million in total from previous
venture capital investors including Arch Venture Partners, El Dorado Ventures,
Polaris Venture Capital and V enrock.
With this arrangement, Samsung and Nanosys will work together to create a new
generation of cost effective, higher-efficiency products in the fields of solar,
LED, memory, semiconductor, and display.