South Korean memory chip makers Samsung and Hynix have teamed up for the development of advanced next-generation memory chips, including STT-MRAM (Spin Torque Transfer Magnetic Random Access Memory) and other non-volatile memory devices, according to a report by EE Times.

The two companies will jointly invest 9 billion Won (US$9.4 million; US$1=943 Won) in the government-supported R&D project, which runs from 2004 until July 2011, according to the EE Times report. The total investment of the project is 52.6 billion won (US$55.4 million), according to the report.

Following the collaboration on 64M DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) by Samsung, Hyundai, and LG in 1992, Samsung and Hynix's partnership marks the first joint memory R&D project for Korean companies after 16 years.