Samsung signs on Rambus DDR and SDRAM dotted line
PrintGood news at last for toll collector
Posted in Channel, 1st November 2000 13:49 GMT
Free research: Application platforms, the state of play
Samsung, the world's second biggest DRAM producer, has acknowledged Rambus patents for SDRAM & DDR SDRAM memory and controllers which interface with this type of memory. And it is to stump up royalty payments to Rambus when using these technologies.
At last, some good news for Rambus, possibly the world's most unpopular and, almost certainly, the most litigious semiconductor IP company.
The agreement with Samsung shows just why Rambus is so controversial - "the royalties (which Samsung will pay) on DDR SDRAM and the controllers which directly interface with DDR SDRAM are greater than the RDRAM compatible rates," the chip designer says.
In other words, Rambus is levelling the playing field by upping the costs of DDR memory, rather than lowering the royalties for RDRAM.
Samsung joins NEC, Toshiba, Hitachi and Oki as signatories to Rambus SDRAM and DDR SDRAM licences. Collectively, they account for 40 per cent of the world DRAM market, according to Dataquest figures cited by Rambus. ®
Related stories
Rambus to play bit part in Intel's 2001 plans
Intel slams Rambus 'toll collecting' tactics
Dirty, dirty PCs: The X-rated picture guide
Top 500 supers - rise of the Linux quad-cores
Early adopters bloodied by Ubuntu's Karmic Koala
Sign up, sign up for The Register IT security newsletter