Taiwanese UMC (United Microelectronics Corporation) and Avalanche, the US-based supplier of next generation STT-MRAM (Spin-Transfer Torque Magnetic Random Access Memory), recently signed a cross-licensing agreement and announced their cooperation to jointly develop MRAMs to replace embedded flash memories, the Economic Daily News reported on August 7. Pursuant to the agreement, UMC will now be able to provide Avalanche's technology to its customers and supply them embedded non-volatile MRAM blocks which are fabricated using 28nm CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) process technology. The integration of low-latency, high-efficiency, and low-power embedded MRAM blocks into highly integrated MCUs (Microcontrollers) and SoCs (System on Chips) can help UMC's customers tap into emerging applications, particularly IoT (Internet of Things), wearable, consumer, industrial, and automotive electronics devices. This enables system designers to keep the architecture and software ecosystem without having to redesign. The two companies are also considering expanding their collaboration to go beyond 28nm process in the future.