Rambus Sues Hitachi for Patent Infringement in Germany

Mountain View, CA - April 11, 2000 - Rambus Inc. (Nasdaq: RMBS) asserted its European patent rights yesterday, by filing suit in the District Court in Mannheim, Germany against Hitachi Europe GmbH.

Rambus is seeking injunctions to halt the importation, sale, manufacture and use of Hitachi SDRAM and DDR SDRAM memory devices which are alleged to infringe the Rambus® intellectual property protected by European Patent EP 0 525 068. The '068 patent stems from Rambus' original 1990 disclosure and covers fundamental technology relating to synchronous memory devices.

Rambus has previously filed actions against Hitachi in U.S. District Court and with the United States International Trade Commission for infringement of a total of 8 U.S. Patents covering these same products. The 8 U.S. Patents are also based on Rambus' original 1990 disclosure. The U.S. actions are still pending.

Rambus is a pioneering technology company that has invested hundreds of engineer-years and over $100 million in the development of high-bandwidth chip-connection technologies. To date, these efforts have resulted in more than 80 U.S. and foreign patents issued to Rambus.

Under a licensing agreement, Rambus transferred technology to Hitachi for the sole purpose of enabling Hitachi to manufacture and sell memory and logic products which are compatible with RDRAM® specifications issued by Rambus. The suit filed yesterday does not relate to Rambus-compatible memory and logic products.

Rambus invented fundamental aspects of high-speed memory interfaces which are currently being implemented in SDRAM and DDR SDRAM and anticipates that semiconductor companies will want to license its technology for use in non-RDRAM-compatible products.

Rambus Inc. is an intellectual property company that designs, develops and licenses high-bandwidth chip-connection technologies which enable semiconductor memory devices to keep pace with faster generations of processors and controllers. Rambus has licensed its technology to over 30 semiconductor companies for the development, manufacture and sale of Rambus-compatible ICs. Providers of Rambus-based integrated circuits include the world's leading DRAM, ASIC, controller and microprocessor manufacturers.

This release contains forward-looking statements with respect to anticipated results. Actual results could differ materially. Among the factors which could cause results to differ materially is that demand for licenses could be lower or that the courts might disagree with Rambus' patent position.
 

Rambus and RDRAM are registered trademarks of Rambus Inc.

Contacts: Kristine Wiseman