Irvine’s Netlist Inc., a maker of specialized memory products for computers that’s in the midst of reworking its business, said Tuesday it landed two U.S. patents for an invention that helps improve the performance of servers in big data centers.
Investors sent shares up 7% in midday New York trading on a recent market value of $100 million.
“The issuance of the … patents further reinforces the innovations Netlist is delivering to the market with highly differentiated products,” Chief Executive C.K. “Chuck” Hong. “These are foundational patents and with our robust portfolio of intellectual property, we can uniquely address the system challenges our customers face in the datacenter.”
The patents are a vital piece of Netlist’s new strategy of making memory boards with specialized controller chips that help manage other memory boards within servers.
The company has been wrapped up in several ongoing legal disputes over patents related to the controller chip technology, which in effect “supercharges” the memory chips inside a server, making it more efficient.
In September, Netlist filed a lawsuit against Westlake Village-based chipmaker Inphi Corp. alleging that Inphi infringed on its controller chip patent. Netlist is seeking damages and an injunction.
Netlist was slapped with a counter suit from Inphi in November. Inphi’s complaint alleges that Netlist’s memory chips infringe on two of its patents related to memory interface technologies used in corporate data storage networks.
Netlist still is a tiny player among larger competitors, such as Northern California’s Smart Modular Technologies Inc. and Fountain Valley’s Kingston Technology Co.
