Cross licensing definitely had a part in it. Some of that was necessity, either practical or contractual. In the 70s, before Projection Masking as a fabrication

Cross licensing definitely had a part in it. Some of that was necessity, either practical or contractual. In the 70s, before Projection Masking as a fabrication technique came into play, more complex designs could have yields as bad as 10%. As a result, 'Second Sourcing' was more frequent, and while Intel and AMD had some Cross Licensing before x86, the main reason the agreement expanded to include x86 was because IBM was still requiring Second Sources in the 80s. I know at one point, Chevron had it's tentacles on some NIMH patents via their control of Ovonics. Not sure if there are/were any similar situations for Lithium Ion technology. Also the price fixing done by Lithium companies between 2000-2011. That likely hampered adoption and perhaps improvements.