Samsung must pay $400 million in FinFet patent lawsuit
Samsung was found to be infringing on a patent related to production of mobile phone processors.
Samsung has reportedly been ordered to pay $400 million to the licensing arm of a South Korean university for infringing a patent related to semiconductor technology.
A federal jury in Texas found in favor of KAIST IP US on Friday after finding the Korean electronics giant infringed on a US patent related to FinFet, according to Bloomberg. FinFet is a key technology in the production of processors for mobile phones.
Qualcomm and GlobalFoundries were also found to have infringed on the patent but reportedly weren't ordered to pay damages. A copy of the decision was unavailable on an online legal filings portal Saturday.
Samsung, the world's largest chipmaker, said during the trial it helped the university develop the technology and denied infringing on the patent.
The jury reportedly found Samsung's infringement to be "willful," meaning the judge could increase the damages award to three times the jury's award.
Samsung couldn't immediately be reached for comment but told Bloomberg it's studying its options.
"We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that is reasonable, including an appeal," Samsung said in a statement.
Samsung said last month its last generation of chips to use the technology would be a 4-nanometer process that will shrink electronics another notch and boost performance. The technology is called FinFET because the transistor communication channel is shaped like a fin. The transistor component that controls whether current flows through that channel, called the gate, is in effect draped across the fin.
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