Rambus Reports Second Quarter Earnings

Earnings per share of 8 cents for second quarter with revenue growth of 20% over the same quarter last year

LOS ALTOS, Calif., July 15, 2004 - Rambus Inc. (Nasdaq: RMBS), a leading developer of chip interface products and services, today reported financial results for the second quarter of 2004. Earnings per share for the quarter were 8 cents, compared to 4 cents in the second quarter last year and 7 cents in the previous quarter. Net income for the second quarter was $8.3 million (24% of revenue), compared to $4.5 million in the second quarter last year and $8.3 million in the previous quarter. Revenue for the second quarter was $35.0 million, up 20% over the same quarter last year and up 7% from the previous quarter. >

"This was a very successful quarter with record revenue," said Geoff Tate, chief executive officer of Rambus. "We are delighted with the new Cadence relationship announced today which strengthens our serial link portfolio and gives us the opportunity to reach many new potential customers. Earlier in the quarter, we announced the addition of DDR and DDR2 interfaces to our technology portfolio. Also, our long-standing relationship with Elpida now includes an extended and expanded patent license into 2008 for DDR, DDR2 and FB-DIMM memory types."

Second quarter results reflected $5.3 million in contract revenues, up 43% over the same period last year and up 5% from the previous quarter. This increase in contract revenues over the same period last year primarily reflects revenues from contracts signed in 2003 for our XDR memory interface and Redwood interface technologies. Second quarter results include $29.6 million in royalties, up 16% over the same period last year and up 8% from the previous quarter.

Total costs and expenses were $24.4 million compared with $23.9 million in the second quarter last year and $23.9 million last quarter. This 2% increase in costs and expenses was primarily attributable to a $0.6 million increase in litigation expense.

Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities decreased $8 million to $232 million since March 31, 2004. This decrease resulted from common stock repurchases of $14 million which were partially offset by operating cash flow of $6 million.

The earnings announcement call will be broadcast live on our website (www.rambus.com) at 2:00 p.m. PDT today. Please log-on early if you do not already have the necessary software to listen to the call.

The conference call replay number is 800-642-1687 and the ID number is 8505606. For international callers, the number is 706-645-9291. The replay will be available on our website beginning at 5:00 p.m. PDT today.

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About Rambus Inc.

Rambus is one of the world?s leading providers of advanced chip-to-chip interface products and services. Since its founding in 1990, the Company?s innovations, breakthrough technologies and integration expertise have helped industry-leading chip and system companies solve their most challenging and complex I/O problems and bring their products to market. Rambus?s interface solutions can be found in numerous computing, consumer, and communications products and applications. Rambus is headquartered in Los Altos, California, with regional offices in North Carolina, Taiwan and Japan. Additional information is available at www.rambus.com.

This release contains forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including our CEO?s statements contained herein regarding the strengthening of the Company?s intellectual property portfolio and the potential benefits of certain strategic and customer relationships. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the Company?s industry, management?s beliefs, and certain assumptions made by the Company?s management. Actual results may differ materially. Among the reasons which could cause actual results to differ materially are the uncertainty of realizing any benefits from our new relationship with Cadence or the broadening of our intellectual property portfolio. Our business generally is subject to a number of risks which are described in our SEC filings including our 10-K and 10-Qs.