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To: Dr. Id who wrote (26501)	6/19/2000 11:03:00 AM
From: Dr. Id	Respond to of 54805

Gorilla watch... quote.bloomberg.com. NEC, Others Likely to Follow Toshiba on Rambus, Analysts Say By Minoru Matsutani Tokyo, June 19 (Bloomberg) -- NEC Corp., Japan's biggest chipmaker, and Hitachi Ltd. will probably follow Toshiba Corp.'s decision to pay royalties to Rambus Inc. for use of memory chip technology, analysts said. Some manufacturers have balked at making Rambus-based products, saying they're difficult and expensive to make. Others have pushed alternatives to keep from having to pay royalties, though Rambus says its patents cover the alternatives. The Toshiba decision to recognize the patents could force others to pay. Toshiba, Japan's second-largest chipmaker, signed an agreement with Mountain View, California-based Rambus on Friday, covering use of Rambus' technology in high-speed dynamic random access memories, the most commonly used memories for computers. ``NEC should enter the same contract (as Toshiba) because it's difficult to produce memories for fast computers without Rambus technology,'' Yoshihide Ohtake, an analyst at Tsubasa Research Institute Ltd. Hitachi, Japan's third-largest chipmaker, would follow NEC, because the two companies have a joint venture to develop DRAMs, he said. Earlier this year, Rambus sued Hitachi for violating the same patents that Toshiba has agreed to recognize. Samsung, Fujitsu Rambus' computer-memory technology helps speed personal computers and other devices by taking full advantage of faster processors from chipmakers like Intel Corp. NEC spokesman Aston Bridgman declined to comment on whether NEC would follow Toshiba's lead. ``We are watching what's happening between Rambus and Hitachi very closely because NEC is involved with both companies,'' Bridgeman said. Korea's Samsung Electronics, the world's largest computer memory chipmaker and the largest producer of Rambus technology- based chips, said it's already paying royalties. ``Rambus has worked closely with us in designing our chips,'' said company spokeswoman Cho Sung In. Japanese chipmakers lost money on DRAMs last year as rivals, such as Korea's Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology Inc. of the U.S., lowered prices. To compete, NEC and Hitachi said they would jointly develop DRAMs. Other Japanese chipmakers cut the portion of DRAM output in their overall chip production. Fujitsu may be the last Japanese chipmaker to agree to pay the royalties, Ohtake said, because it's scaling down its DRAM business. Eventually, however, ``all the DRAM makers will end up having to pay royalties to Rambus,'' said Steve Myers, an analyst at Jardine Fleming Securities Japan Ltd. ``I think those who settle earlier will pay somewhat lower royalties than those who settle later.''