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[posting]22913749[/posting]Interview mit Harold Hughes: Q&A: Rambus’ Harold Hughes Rambus is on a roll, and part of that is successfully suing other companies. July 17, 2006 Print Issue It’s payback time as far as Harold Hughes is concerned. Mr. Hughes, CEO of semiconductor technology licensing company Rambus, has waged long legal wars against several large makers of dynamic random access memory (DRAM), which stores data in computers and consumer electronics. Last April, Rambus won a key victory when a federal jury in San Jose, California, decided Hynix Semiconductor should pay $307 million for using 10 Rambus patents without paying royalties. The case against Seoul-based Hynix isn’t over—the company is likely to appeal and has pending claims to invalidate Rambus’ patents. But the jury verdict bolstered Rambus’ claims in additional cases against Hynix and other DRAM companies, including Samsung in South Korea, Micron Technology in the United States, and Nanya Technology in Taiwan. Based in Los Altos, California, Rambus has spent millions on legal battles in the last six years (See Rambus Lawsuits Continue). In 2005, court awards accounted for 24 percent of the company’s revenue, or about $38.2 million. If Rambus seems lawsuit happy, that’s because the 16-year-old public company’s survival depends on it, says Mr. Hughes, who became chief executive in January 2005. Rambus doesn’t make and sell chips, but instead licenses its technologies for speeding up communication between memory and the main processor of an electronic device. As well as DRAM companies, Rambus also counts makers of microprocessors and electronic gadgets as its customers. - ADVERTISEMENT - Its vault of patents—now 500 strong—and the engineering services Rambus provides generated $157.2 million in revenue last year, up 8.5 percent from 2004. The company made $33.7 million in profit in 2005, up 3.6 percent from the previous year. Intel, Toshiba, and Elpida Memory are major customers. Mr. Hughes is proud to point out that Sony’s PlayStation 3, due out in November, will contain Rambus’ technology. Rambus is counting on more legal victories against large DRAM makers, although its success isn’t assured. Last year, a federal judge in Virginia threw out Rambus’ claims against Munich-based Infineon Technologies, which later settled with Rambus and agreed to pay a quarterly licensing fee of $5.9 million for two years. Red Herring recently caught up with the globe-trotting Mr. Hughes to ask him about technology trends, the Asian market, and the case for litigation. Q: Why is Rambus so litigious? A: In the licensing world, you can’t be shy. We want to protect our customers. We have obligations to them to deal with competitors who have not taken a license but who have used the technologies nonetheless. Q: Why should DRAM makers choose Rambus? A: DRAM is a highly cyclical business and requires heavy investments. One of the ways you might gain competitive advantages is to outsource R&D and work closely with IP [intellectual property] vendors. Q: What’s a key trend in your business? A: As the density of memory goes up, the requirements for the interface go up. You need a faster interface to get the information in and out. If it’s a life-like graphics application, then it requires extremely high-performing input/output. Like the performance we’ve got in PlayStation 3. Q: The DRAM business has experienced tough times in recent years. Did that contribute to your protracted legal battles? A: It’s not because the business is tough; there is a reluctance or ability to pay. We would like to translate legal victories into licenses. Q: Are you finding new business opportunities in other parts of Asia, such as Taiwan? A: We have litigation against Nanya, but we have not focused on DRAM suppliers in Taiwan. The opportunities we have are with large companies. Q: How about China, which is hungry for all sorts of electronic devices? A: It’s nascent. At this point, it’s not high on the priority list. Six months from now that might change. Contact the writer: UWang@RedHerring.com |
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| Autor (Datum des Eintrages): | Ronni007 (22.07.06 22:43:03) |
| Beitrag: | 6,116 von 7,076 (ID:22934364) |
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