Rambus Inc. (RMBS) shares climbed as much as 24 percent after settling legal disputes with Micron Technology Inc. (MU), which will pay the high-speed memory chipmaker as much as $280 million over seven years to license patents.
The companies will drop all pending litigation, they said in a statement yesterday. Rambus, based in Sunnyvale, California, will receive quarterly royalty payments of as much $10 million a quarter over the life of the agreement.
Rambus has spent more than a decade in legal disputes with the largest makers of computer-memory chips, arguing that its patents cover some of the fundamentals essential to the design of the components. Micron, based in Boise, Idaho, is the largest maker of memory chips in the U.S. and expanded its reach this year with the acquisition of failed rival Elpida Memory Inc.
Rambus shares climbed 12 percent to $9.58, leaving them up 97 percent this year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ian King in San Francisco at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Pui-Wing Tam at [email protected]
The companies will drop all pending litigation, they said in a statement yesterday. Rambus, based in Sunnyvale, California, will receive quarterly royalty payments of as much $10 million a quarter over the life of the agreement.
Rambus has spent more than a decade in legal disputes with the largest makers of computer-memory chips, arguing that its patents cover some of the fundamentals essential to the design of the components. Micron, based in Boise, Idaho, is the largest maker of memory chips in the U.S. and expanded its reach this year with the acquisition of failed rival Elpida Memory Inc.
Rambus shares climbed 12 percent to $9.58, leaving them up 97 percent this year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ian King in San Francisco at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Pui-Wing Tam at [email protected]