Rambus saw is first-quarter income slide despite a year-on-year jump in sales, the memory technology developer announced last night. Revenues for the three months to 31 March 2006 reached $47.2m, up 36 per cent on Q1 FY2005's $34.7m and up 13.5 per cent on the previous quarter's $41.6m.

However, income dropped sequentially, from $9.4m (nine cents a share) to $1.8m (two cents a share). This time last year, Rambus posted earnings of $4.4m (four cents a share).

Rambus experienced a big jump in operating expenses, from $34.m in the previous quarter to $47.7m in Q1 FY2006, thanks to higher spending on general costs and marketing, and on R&D. The company said the revenue rise was the result of royalties accrued from licensing agreements signed with AMD and Fujitsu in Q4 FY2005 and Q1 FY2006, respectively. However, its contract revenues were down sequentially and year on year, even as the cost of winning those sales rose.

Rambus said it quit the quarter with $390.7m in cash and equivalents, up $35.3m during the three-month period. ®