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To: Uncle Frank who wrote (788)	9/12/2000 11:51:22 PM
From: T L Comiskey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

UF... Tuesday September 12, 11:47 pm Eastern Time NEC signs new chip licensing agreement with Rambus TOKYO, Sept 13 (Reuters) - NEC Corp , the world's second-largest chipmaker, said on Wednesday that it has signed a new chip licensing agreement with Rambus Inc (NasdaqNM:RMBS - news), a developer of technology to speed the performance of memory chips. This is the latest in a series of licence agreements between Japanese chipmakers and the Santa Clara, Calif-based Rambus, which designs, but does not actually build, memory chips. Rambus licenses its technology to chipmakers for use in their own memory products. Rambus holds 95 U.S. and foreign patents which it has licensed to over 30 semiconductor companies. The latest pact covers synchronous dynamic ramdom access memory chips, or SDRAMs, and Double Data Rate (DDR) and net-generation RDRAMs, and expands collaboration since 1991 under which NEC develops, manufactures and markets RDRAM and Rambus ASIC Cell (RAC) memory devices. The pact also includes the development of next-generation Direct RDRAM (Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory), which would deliver a 33 percent frequency improvement from the current 800 MHz RDRAM in memory applications, it said in a statement. ``We have had a long and mutually beneficial relationship with NEC,'' said Geoff Tate, Rambus' chief executive officer. "We are pleased to extend the cooperation between our two companies by agreeing to develop and market the next-generation Direct RDRAM. As part of this larger strategic agreement, NEC and Rambus also signed an agreement covering patents for fundamental aspects of high-speed memory interfaces invented by Rambus, which are currently being implemented in SDRAM, DDR SDRAM memory and controllers that directly interface with those types of memory devices. Other Japanese chipmakers such as Toshiba Corp and Hitachi Ltd have recently formed patent licensing deals, which should bring additional royalty gains for Rambus. Shares in NEC were up 0.36 percent at 2,805 yen at Tokyo midday, while Rambus shares ended at $76-13/16 on Nasdaq overnight.