Chipmaker Rambus announced that is has ended its patent-infringement lawsuit against Hitachi, Ltd., as the companies have agreed on a licensing deal. As part of the agreement, Hitachi will pay Rambus an up-front settlement fee and subsequent royalty payments each quarter. Specific amounts and further financial terms were not disclosed.

　　The license agreement involves patented technology developed by Rambus that is now being used in Hitachi's Synchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM), Double Data Rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), and the controllers that directly interface with those two types of memory. An example of this is the SDRAM controller configuration in the Hitachi SH-4 chip, which is used in the Sega Dreamcast and other platforms.

　　"Our objective is to produce innovations that will benefit the semiconductor and systems industries and licensing these innovations to generate a return on investment to our shareholders," said Geoff Tate, chief executive officer of Rambus. "Developing and marketing the Rambus memory interface has been and remains our top priority, but we are willing to license our IP for other memory interface solutions as well. We are pleased that Hitachi chose to license our patents for SDRAM and DDR SDRAM memory and controllers. We look forward to renewing a long-term relationship with Hitachi."

　　Last week, Toshiba Corp. settled a similar suit with Rambus.