Rambus announced a boardroom shuffle yesterday, as the memory technology company's chairman quit and replaced by its CEO, who, in turn, was succeeded by another board member.

Former chairman Bill Davidow retains his place on Rambus' board, but his role is now assumed by erstwhile CEO Geoff Tate. Tate's old job is now held by board member Harold Hughes.

Hughes most recently ran Pandesic the failed e-commerce platform venture set up by Intel and SAP. The JV partners pulled the plug on the operation in July 2000, three years after its foundation. Hughes joined Pandesic after 23 years with Intel.

Rambus will announce its latest quarterly results next week, covering Q4 FY2004. During Q3 FY2004, the company reported net income of $10.4m on revenues of $38.8m, both figures up on the previous and year-ago quarters.

The memory developer is at last reaping the rewards from its XDR memory bus technology, but it still has the weight of hefty litigation efforts, both its own and the actions of others, hanging over its head. Most recently, memory maker Infineon asked the US District Court to throw out Rambus' patent infringement action against it, alleging its opponent had engaged in a "chronic and wilful pattern of litigation misconduct". ®

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