The Japanese technology giant will license Samsung to make and market Memory Stick media, a chewing gum-sized device that slots into consumer electronic goods to store and transfer information and images.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said it would begin in-house manufacturing and sales from the third quarter of this year.

"The current agreement further strengthens the Memory Stick format's position as the global standard within the memory card market," Sony Corp. president and chief operating officer Kunitake Ando said in a joint statement.

The deal compliments an initial agreement forged in August 2001 under which Sony pledged to work with the South Korean firm to make a range of Samsung products, including DVD players and televisions, compatible with Memory Stick.

"We also look forward to the further cooperation with Sony in related applied technologies," Samsung vice chairman and chief executive Jong-Yong Yun said in the statement.

Financial details of the licensing agreement were not made public.

Sony has also sealed similar deals with US media companies Sandisc and Lexar Media as well as Fujitsu Ltd. of Japan as it works to expand the popularity of the memory device, said company spokeswoman Aki Shimazu.

Asked whether Sony was in the process of negotiating more deals she said: "We are always looking for possibilities."

Sony, which is struggling to return to a strong profitability path after a difficult year, introduced the Memory Stick in September 1998.

As of April 2003, worldwide shipments of the gadget had reached 40 million units, the same as the number of total shipments of Memory Stick compatible goods.

SPACE.WIRE