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Technology Stocks : Rambus (RMBS) - Eagle or Penguin -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Don Green who wrote (53261)	9/13/2000 3:56:03 PM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

DRAM Face-Off: NEC to Pay SDRAM, DDR Royalties Sep 13, 2000 --- In line with its unofficial policy not to rock the boat with Rambus Inc., NEC Corp., the fourth-largest DRAM manufacturer, said late last night it has signed new licensing agreements covering SDRAM, Double Data Rate (DDR) and next-generation RDRAM with the Mountain View, Calif.-based intellectual property (IP) house. Under the licensing agreement, NEC will pay royalty rates for DDR SDRAM and the controllers, which directly interface with DDR SDRAM. Those rates are greater than the RDRAM compatible rates. The agreement also includes royalties for SDRAM and for controllers that directly interface with SDRAM, as well as a license fee for the entire agreement. Furthermore, the agreements cover the development of next-generation Direct RDRAM. The next-generation 1066MHz Direct RDRAM will deliver a 33 percent frequency improvement over the current 800MHz Direct RDRAM in main memory applications, the companies said. The companies did not say how much NEC agreed to pay, nor did they clarify the position of Hitachi Ltd., with whom NEC has formed a joint venture to build DDR SDRAM next year. As part of a strategic partnership, NEC will focus on building RDRAM and Hitachi DDR DRAM. The announcement of the concession came on the same day that Rambus launched countersuits against Micron Technologies Inc., Hyundai Electronics America Inc. and its Korean parent. Last month those memory makers launched suits against Rambus to avoid paying the very same sort of fees NEC promised last night. NEC has been developing, manufacturing and marketing RDRAMs and RACs since 1991, and the decision by NEC is in line with its policy of trying to ramp RDRAM as a high-end memory product with as little trouble as possible, according to an official familiar with the Japanese chipmaker. “NEC was quick to recognize the potential of Rambus as a technology partner, and we’ve achieved significant successes as a result of our close partnership,” said Kanji Sugihara, company president for NEC Electron Devices, in a statement. “We expect to see this success continue into other areas such as the PC, workstation and server markets, and the agreement signed with Rambus is another step toward that goal,” he said. As part of a larger strategic agreement, NEC and Rambus also signed a patent agreement covering patents for fundamental aspects of high-speed memory interfaces claimed by Rambus, which are currently being implemented in SDRAM, DDR SDRAM memory and controllers that directly interface with these types of memory. “We have had a long and mutually beneficial relationship with NEC,” said Rambus CEO Geoff Tate, in a statment. “We are pleased to extend the cooperation between our two companies by agreeing to develop and market the next-generation Direct RDRAM.”