At a glance
Rambus Inc is worth $9.75B, about 43 times its fiscal 2025 earnings. Revenue grew 27.1% to $707.6M in fiscal 2025, with 32.6% kept as profit; over 5 years it has grown 23.5% a year. It pays no dividend; it spent $421.5M buying back its shares over FY2021–FY2025. The stock returned −12.2% over the past year with dividends reinvested and +31.4% a year over five years, against +11.5% and +11.7% for the S&P 500. At its worst it fell 43.4% in the 2020 crash (S&P 500: 33.7%) and 38.7% in the 2022 bear market (S&P 500: 24.5%), and was back at its earlier high 3 months and 4 months after the lows.
The business in plain English
Rambus designs chips and chip blueprints for data centers and artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Its main products are memory interface chips. These are small chips on DDR5 server and PC memory modules that handle timing signals, power and temperature, so data moves quickly and reliably between processors and memory. Rambus is “fabless”: it designs the chips and pays outside factories to make them. Customers include memory module makers, equipment makers (OEMs) and hyperscalers, the giant cloud operators.
In fiscal 2025, which ended December 31, 2025, revenue was $707.6 million, up 27.1% from fiscal 2024. Chip sales brought in 49.1%. Royalties added 39.5%, and that figure includes occasional patent sales. Rambus licenses its patents on memory, high-speed links and security to companies such as Samsung, SK hynix, Micron, NVIDIA and Qualcomm, under deals that typically run up to ten years. Rambus also licenses silicon IP. These are ready-made circuit designs, such as controllers for high-bandwidth memory and security blocks, that chipmakers build into their own chips. Contract and other revenue made up the remaining 11.4%.
Most revenue comes from outside the US. In fiscal 2025, South Korea accounted for 46.5%, Singapore 23.2%, the US 17.5% and other countries 12.8%. In chips, rivals include Montage Technology, Renesas, Texas Instruments and Monolithic Power Systems. In silicon IP, they include Cadence and Synopsys. Rambus says many of its competitors are larger than it is.
Price history
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RMBS -12.2% over the year to Oct 28, 2026, total return with dividends reinvested.
How it makes money
By product or service
| Product Revenue | $347.8M | 49.1% |
| Royalty | $279.4M | 39.5% |
| Contractandother Revenue | $80.5M | 11.4% |
By geography
| KR | $329.3M | 46.5% |
| SG | $163.8M | 23.2% |
| US | $124.1M | 17.5% |
| Other Countries | $90.5M | 12.8% |
Latest results
- In Q3 FY2026 (ended Sep 30, 2026), revenue was $218.3M, up 22.3% from a year earlier, and net income was $74.6M (+54.1%).
- For fiscal 2025, revenue was $707.6M (+27.1% year over year; +23.5% a year from FY2020 to FY2025) with a 32.6% net margin.
Financial health check
| Revenue growth a year (FY2020–FY2025) | +23.5% good |
|---|---|
| Operating margin | 36.8% good |
| Free cash flow margin | 47.1% good |
| Return on equity (FY2025) | 16.9% good |
| Return on assets (FY2025) | 15.1% good |
| Cash and investments | $776.9M (no borrowings found in the filings) good |
| Fiscal year | Revenue | Net income | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | $246.3M | $-40.5M | $155.7M |
| FY2021 | $328.3M | $18.3M | $195.4M |
| FY2022 | $454.8M | $-14.3M | $212.9M |
| FY2023 | $461.1M | $333.9M | $172.5M |
| FY2024 | $556.6M | $179.8M | $199.9M |
| FY2025 | $707.6M | $230.5M | $333.2M |
Valuation snapshot
| Market value | $9.75B |
|---|---|
| P/E ratio | 43.1 |
| Dividend yield | None |
Rank among 1514 US companies
Market value at each year end
Rambus’s market value went from $1.52B at the end of 2016 to $9.75B on Oct 28, 2026, about 6.4 times as much; since the end of 2025 it is down 1%.
Show as a table
| Year end | Market value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 28, 2026 | $9.75B | -1.4% |
| 2025 | $9.89B | +75.6% |
| 2024 | $5.63B | -23.2% |
| 2023 | $7.34B | +90.6% |
| 2022 | $3.85B | +19.8% |
| 2021 | $3.21B | +61.6% |
| 2020 | $1.99B | +29.5% |
| 2019 | $1.54B | +84.5% |
| 2018 | $832.2M | -46.7% |
| 2017 | $1.56B | +2.6% |
| 2016 | $1.52B |
Price behavior
| YTD | 1 yr | 3 yr | 5 yr | 10 yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RMBS price data to Oct 28, 2026 | -0.9% | -12.2% | +20.8% | +31.4% | +22.4% |
Show as a table
| Year | Price data |
|---|---|
| 2026 (to date) | -0.9% |
| 2025 | +73.8% |
| 2024 | -22.6% |
| 2023 | +90.5% |
| 2022 | +21.9% |
| 2021 | +68.3% |
| 2020 | +26.8% |
| 2019 | +79.6% |
| 2018 | -46.1% |
| 2017 | +3.3% |
| 2016 | +18.8% |
| 2015 | +4.5% |
| 2014 | +17.1% |
| 2013 | +94.5% |
| 2012 | -35.5% |
| 2011 | -63.1% |
| 2010 | -16.1% |
| 2009 | +53.3% |
| 2008 | -24.0% |
| 2007 | +10.6% |
| 2006 | +16.9% |
| 2008 financial crisis stocks fell Oct 9, 2007 – Mar 9, 2009 | Lost 62.6% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 78.8%, back to its old high 13.1 months after the low |
|---|---|
| 2020 COVID crash stocks fell Feb 19, 2020 – Mar 23, 2020 | Lost 41% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 43.4%, back to its old high 2.8 months after the low |
| 2022 bear market stocks fell Jan 3, 2022 – Oct 12, 2022 | Lost 11.4% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 38.7%, back to its old high 4.1 months after the low |
Insider activity
Form 4 filings from 2025-10-29 to 2026-10-29 (25 read): 0 open-market purchases and 18 sales ($14.8M), 8 of them under pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plans.
| Date | Insider | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 26, 2026 | Xianzhi Sean Fan EVP, COO | sell | $5.7M |
| May 8, 2026 | Necip Sayiner Director | sell | $1.3M |
| Apr 14, 2026 | Meera Rao Director | sell (plan) | $1.0M |
| Jun 3, 2026 | Necip Sayiner Director | sell | $851K |
| Jun 2, 2026 | Emiko Higashi Director | sell | $815K |
Who owns it
Large shareholders (13G filings)
| BlackRock, Inc. | 10.4% | Sep 30, 2026 |
| FMR LLC | 10.4% | May 29, 2026 |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | 6.23% | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Invesco Ltd. | 6% | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Vanguard Capital Management | 5.22% | Mar 31, 2026 |
| T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. | 3.1% | Mar 31, 2026 |
ETFs with the most weight in RMBS
| SMHX VanEck Fabless Semiconductor ETF | 4.45% |
| XSD SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF | 3.11% |
| SNSR Global X Internet of Things ETF | 2.89% |
| GRPM Invesco S&P MidCap 400 GARP ETF | 2.19% |
| ILDR First Trust Innovation Leaders ETF | 1.2% |
| FSGS First Trust SMID Growth Strength ETF | 0.98% |
| PEXL Pacer US Export Leaders ETF | 0.95% |
| SCDS JPMorgan Fundamental Data Science Small Core ETF | 0.88% |
What could go wrong
- A few customers bring in much revenue. Much of Rambus's revenue comes from a small number of customers. Losing one through a contract ending, an acquisition or other means could cut revenue substantially.
- Patent royalties could shrink or stop. Royalties were 39.5% of fiscal 2025 revenue. Licensing deals are slow and costly to win. Some can convert to fully paid-up deals with no further royalties, and Rambus's patents expire between 2026 and 2044.
- New chips face long customer approval. Customers run lengthy, expensive qualification tests that do not guarantee orders. Delays, or falling behind rivals in fast-changing technology, could hurt sales of new products such as its chipset for PCs.
- Defending patents can mean costly lawsuits. Rambus has gone to court before to protect its patents and may again. Lawsuits are expensive, distract management and have uncertain outcomes. They can hurt revenue and the share price.
- Most revenue comes from outside the US. Only 17.5% of fiscal 2025 revenue came from the US, while South Korea alone was 46.5%. Tariffs, trade restrictions, export controls and national security rules could disrupt sales or raise costs.
- Chip demand cycles and inventory bets. Demand for semiconductors rises and falls in cycles. Rambus orders inventory ahead of expected demand. A slump can leave it with too much stock and falling prices, and a surge can leave it short.
Recent events
- Quarterly results released
- Executive or board change
- Major agreement signed; New debt or financial obligation
- Quarterly results released
- Executive or board change
- Quarterly results released
- Shareholder vote results; Other company announcement
- Executive or board change
- Quarterly results released
For income and retirement investors
Rambus pays no dividend and paid none from fiscal 2021 through fiscal 2025. That means the shares produce no income, and any return comes from price changes. The company has used buybacks instead: $421.5 million over those five years. Buybacks fell to $7.1 million in fiscal 2025, down from $113.3 million in fiscal 2024. The share count fell 2%, from 109.3 million on January 31, 2022, to 107.1 million on September 30, 2026.
The shares have fallen hard in downturns. They dropped 78.8% in the 2008 financial crisis and took about 13 months after the low to get back to their peak. They fell 43.4% in the 2020 COVID crash and 38.7% in the 2022 bear market, recovering in about three and four months. As of October 28, 2026, the deepest drop in about 21 years of price history was 91.6%, and the shares were down 12.2% over one year. A single stock carries more risk than a diversified fund spread across many companies.
Questions investors ask
How does Rambus make money?
Rambus earns money mainly by supplying chips and licensing patents. In fiscal 2025, which ended December 31, 2025, chip sales brought in 49.1% of its $707.6 million revenue. Those chips are memory interface chips for DDR5 server and PC memory modules. Royalties from patent licenses brought in 39.5%, from licensees such as Samsung, SK hynix, Micron and NVIDIA. Contract and other revenue made up the remaining 11.4%. Rambus also licenses silicon IP: ready-made circuit designs that chipmakers build into their own chips.
Does Rambus pay a dividend?
No. Rambus paid no dividend from fiscal 2021 through fiscal 2025 and had no dividend yield as of October 28, 2026. Instead it returned cash through share buybacks, spending $421.5 million over those five years. Only $7.1 million of that came in fiscal 2025. The share count fell 2% between January 31, 2022, and September 30, 2026. For an income investor, any return from the shares comes from price changes, not cash payments.
Is Rambus an AI stock?
Partly. Rambus says its focus is data center and AI infrastructure. AI workloads need enormous memory bandwidth, and its memory interface chips help server memory modules run faster and more reliably. Its controller designs for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), the fast memory paired with AI processors, go into accelerator chips. But Rambus does not make AI processors. Also, 39.5% of its fiscal 2025 revenue came from patent royalties rather than chip sales.
What is Rambus's P/E ratio?
About 43. As of October 28, 2026, Rambus traded at 43.1 times its fiscal 2025 earnings of $2.11 per diluted share, giving it a market value of about $9.7 billion. The price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is the share price divided by a year's earnings per share. A P/E that high usually signals that investors expect growth to continue. Revenue rose 22.3% from a year earlier in the quarter ended September 30, 2026, but the price can fall sharply if growth slows.
How has Rambus stock performed over time?
Strongly over five and ten years, with deep drops along the way. Based on price, the shares returned about 31.4% a year over five years and 22.4% a year over ten years to October 28, 2026. But they lost 12.2% over the year to that date, and at one point in that year they were 52.9% below their high. Calendar-year results swung widely: down 22.6% in 2024 and up 73.8% in 2025. The worst decline in about 21 years of history was 91.6%.