Los Altos, California–Rambus Inc. recently reported financial results for its first fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2000. Revenues for the quarter were $34.7 million, up 191% over the same period last year and up 29% from the previous quarter.
Included in the first fiscal quarter results was $26.8 million in royalties, more than ten times the amount reported in the same period last year and up 35% from the previous quarter. The quarter’s results included the initial royalties from Samsung and Mitsubishi for use of Rambus patents in SDRAMs, DDR SDRAMs, and controllers that connect to them (SDRAM-compatible ICs).
Contract revenue for the first fiscal quarter of 2001 was $7.9 million, up from $7.0 million in the previous quarter. Included in the first quarter results was approximately $1.5 million of deferred revenue recognized due to the cancellation of the contract of a licensee who is reducing activities in the merchant DRAM market.
Excluding acquisition-related costs, pro forma operating income for the first fiscal quarter was $19.9 million (57% of revenues), compared to $2.9 million (25% of revenues) in the same period last year and $14.5 million (54% of revenues) in the previous quarter.
Rambus’ tax rate for fiscal 2000 has increased to 40% from 35% last year. Based on this tax rate, and excluding acquisition-related costs, first quarter pro forma net income reached $13.2 million ($0.12 per diluted share), more than five times the amount reported in the same period last year and up 29% from the previous quarter.
“Our first fiscal quarter results continue to show the strength of the Rambus business model,” says Geoff Tate, chief executive officer of Rambus. “We are pleased with the market reception for both the Sony PlayStation2 and the Intel Pentium 4, and we are confident that these products will drive the demand for RDRAM-compatible ICs to higher levels in fiscal 2001. However, we also recognize that an increasing percentage of our revenues is due to royalties on SDRAM-compatible ICs. With the price decrease for SDRAMs in the December quarter, it is unlikely that royalties for these products in our next (March) quarter will exceed the levels included in this report unless we sign additional licensees. In addition, we have moved to larger facilities for long-term growth and will be incurring increased costs in the near term due to the new facilities as well as our continuing vigorous legal defense of our IP.”