Agreement covers SDRAM and DDR SDRAM memory controllers
Los Altos, California, United States – 07/06/2006
Rambus Inc. (Nasdaq:RMBS), one of the world’s premier technology licensing companies specializing in high-speed chip interfaces, announced today it has signed a new patent license agreement with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., commonly known by the brand name Panasonic. This five-year agreement with an effective date of October 1, 2005 grants Matsushita a license to Rambus patents for SDRAM and DDR SDRAM memory controllers. Rambus will receive royalty payments based on the shipment of these memory controllers.
“We have made great strides with our overall patent licensing program and plan to continue showcasing the value of our patent portfolio,” said Sharon Holt, senior vice president of Sales, Licensing and Marketing at Rambus. “Our focus of developing advanced interface designs and innovations help our long-time partners like Matsushita deliver high-quality products to the market as we continue to advance the state-of-the-art.”
Matsushita Electric also signed a technology license agreement with Rambus in 2004 for use of its DDR2 drop-in cell as well as its XDR™ memory interface solution. These two interface designs enable Matsushita to deliver high-volume consumer products to the market that will span a wide range of price-performance points.
Matsushita joins a growing list of semiconductor suppliers and system manufacturers who have signed patent license agreements for various products covered by Rambus patents. Other companies include AMD, Elpida, Fujitsu, Infineon, NEC, Renesas, and Toshiba.
Since its founding in 1990, Rambus has focused on advancing electronic system performance through innovations in logic and memory interfaces, controller architectures, and system design. Such innovations include the application of micro-threading to a DRAM core, the elimination of trace length matching with FlexPhase™ circuit technology, and industry-recognized dynamic point-to-point memory-enhancing technology. These and other innovations result in a broad portfolio of innovations and patents that enables semiconductor manufacturers and system designers to achieve ever-increasing levels of functionality and performance, to lower system costs, to mitigate risk with silicon-proven designs, and to reduce time to market. For more information on Rambus’ patent portfolio, please visit www.rambus.com/products/innovationslicensing/.
About Rambus Inc.
Rambus is one of the world’s premier technology licensing companies specializing in the invention and design of high-speed chip interfaces. Since its founding in 1990, the Company’s patented innovations, breakthrough technologies and renowned integration expertise have helped industry-leading chip and system companies bring superior products to market. Rambus’ technology and products solve customers’ most complex chip and system-level interface challenges enabling unprecedented performance in computing, communications and consumer electronics applications. Rambus licenses both its world-class patent portfolio as well as its family of leadership and industry-standard interface products. Headquartered in Los Altos, California, Rambus has regional offices in North Carolina, India, Germany, Japan and Taiwan. Additional information is available at www.rambus.com.