NEC licenses Ramtron's FRAM, aims to speed integration in microcontrollers

NEC licenses Ramtron's FRAM, aims to speed integration in microcontrollers
By Semiconductor Business News
November 20, 2001 (2:45 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20011120S0014

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.-- Ramtron International Corp. here today said NEC Corp. has become the ninth company to license its ferroelectric RAM technology. Ramtron said the licensing pact is a multi-million agreement, under which NEC will pay the Colorado company future royalties, certain licensing fees, and milestone payments in return for the nonvolatile FRAM technology.

"Through this agreement with Ramtron International, NEC is aiming to accelerate the incorporation of FRAM technology with our microcomputer products such as smart cards," said Yuichi Kawakami, general manager of NEC's Microcomputer Division in Japan. "We want to become the first supplier of FRAM-embedded microcomputers using 0.25-micron-rule process."

Three months ago, Ramtron inked a licensing and development agreement with Texas Instruments Inc., which plans to use FRAM storage in its ICs (see Aug. 22 story ). Ramtron has also signed FRAM licensing agreements with Infineon, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Toshiba, Rohm, Samsung, Asahi Chemical, and other companies.

"This [NEC] agreement is further evidence that FRAM memory is gaining momentum in the industry," said Greg Jones, technology group president at Ramtron.