Rambus Inc, a chip designer with a lengthy history of patent litigation, is considering a sale even as it has expanded its business to include sales of its own branded chips, people familiar with the matter said.
The Sunnyvale, California-based company is working with a financial adviser to evaluate sale options and seek potential suitors, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.
No final decision has been made and the company might choose not to pursue a sale, they said.
A representative for Rambus declined to comment.
Rambus shares on Friday jumped as much as 15 percent, the most since Dec. 10, 2013, when it settled a licensing dispute with chipmaker Micron Technology Inc.
The shares, after a brief suspension in trading, were up 9.3 percent to US$12.38 at 3:40pm in New York.
Shares in Rambus, with a market value of US$1.4 billion, have fallen about 20 percent this year, underperforming the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.
The index, composed of 30 chip-related companies, is up 16 percent this year.
Rambus, which owns more than 2,500 patents, has battled in court with many of the largest makers of computer memory chips, arguing that its patents cover some of the fundamentals essential to the design of the components.
Rambus in 2015 began restructuring and has since expanded beyond its semiconductor design and licensing businesses to start selling its own branded chips made by a supplier.
The products are part of Rambus’ push for a larger footprint in chips for data centers and mobile devices.
The company has also grown its cybersecurity division.
In February, JPMorgan Chase & Co analyst Paul Coster said the research and development initiatives launched by the company could “disrupt the data center industry,” and that success in one or more of the initiatives could make Rambus of interest to a buyer.
The company’s prospects might have peaked in the late 1990s, when Intel Corp sought to have Rambus designs adopted as an industry standard for main memory. When other companies refused to fall in line, Intel backed down and Rambus’ technology became marginalized.
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