Rambus yesterday confirmed that it was the subject of an Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation. Shares fell 5 per cent on the news in after-hours trading.
The FTC will not say what the probe is about, but rumours are circulating that it is considering an antitrust suit against the firm.
DRAM makers are unhappy with Rambus"s royalty rates, which they consider are far too high. Of course, Rambus has a monopoly over RDRAM design, which means the DRAM companies have to pay to play with this memory technology.