Rambus cutting 15% of workforce

Rambus cutting 15% of workforce

SAN FRANCISCO—Semiconductor technology licensor Rambus Inc. plans to cut its workforce by about 15 percent--or about 75 jobs--as part of a restructuring plan expected to save the company $30 million to $35 million, the company said Wednesday (Aug. 22).

Rambus (Sunnyvale, Calif.) said the majority of the cuts would be made in general and administrative operations.

"After reviewing our expenses in detail, we have concluded that the support infrastructure can be reduced to improve profitability," said Ronald Black, Rambus CEO, in a statement. "While we have refined some of our R&D investments, we are preserving all of our strategic initiatives as we believe they will drive significant growth in the future."

The reductions in expense and associated workforce will begin in the coming weeks and are expected to be completed during the fourth quarter, Rambus said.

Rambus said it expects to take a charge of about $6 million for severance costs over the next two quarters. "We are also reviewing our assets, businesses, and other contractual obligations and may take additional charges by the end of the year," said Satish Rishi, Rambus chief financial officer.

As part of the restructuring, Rambus split its organization into three business units: Memory and Interfaces, Cryptography Research Inc. and Lighting and Display Technologies, the company said.

Sharon Holt, senior vice president and general manager of Rambus' Semiconductor Business Group, and Christopher Pickett, senior vice president of licensing, are each leaving the company and have announced their decision to pursue non-competing opportunities outside of Rambus, the company said.

Rambus said its engineering design teams, Rambus Labs and other strategic initiatives will be consolidated under Martin Scott, who will take the new role of chief technology officer. The company also named Jerome Nadel to the position of chief marketing officer.

A spokeswoman for Rambus said the company has about 500 employees worldwide. Fifteen percent of that total would translate into roughly 75 jobs.

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