Rambus Shares Dive On Antitrust Trial Delay

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Shares of memory chip designer Rambus Inc. plunged Tuesday after a California judge delayed a lawsuit brought by the company against rival chip makers.

BWS Financial analyst Hamed Khorsand said California Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer allowed a delay of the trial due to a lead attorney for Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. being gravely ill.

"The legal process occurring is the DRAM (dynamic random access memory) makers trying to avoid a case we believe Rambus has an 80 percent probability of winning," he said in a research report. "The delay removes a catalyst for the stock."

The trial was pushed to January from September.

Rambus sued Micron Technology Inc., Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor Inc. in 2004, claiming the chip makers conspired to fix prices of certain chips to make Rambus-designed chips more expensive and keep the company out of the market.

Rambus stands to gain licensing fees and royalties if it wins the case, which revolves around a dispute over patents on DRAM, or dynamic random access memory, chips.

Shares of Los Altos, Calif.-based Rambus fell $2.82, or 14.8 percent, to $16.28 in afternoon trading.