The 4DS Memory Ltd (ASX: 4DS) share price is partaking in the broader market rally after it released its quarterly update.
Shares in the computer chipmaker jumped 3.5% to $0.15 during lunch time trade and is outperforming the IT sector.
In contrast, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index:^AXJO) gained 0.9% on the back of gains on Wall Street as worries about COVID-19 lockdowns receded.
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4DS share price jumps on research update
Management announced it received two lots of wafers from its research partner imec. First is the Second Platform Lot of 18 wafers, while the other was the Third Non-Platform Lot consisting of 23 wafers.
It's a good thing that imec had spare capacity at its state-of-the-art production facility to producer the Non-Platform Lot.
This will ensure 4DS can continue to build an extensive data set around the process parameters for its Interface Switching ReRAM technology.
Key results next month to watch for
"As expected, the analysis of both sets of wafers is extremely time-consuming due to the large amount of different test structures available on these two types of Lots," said 4DS.
"The Company is pleased to advise the results of both sets of wafers will be released by the middle of August 2021 barring any unforeseen equipment or other technical difficulties."
4DS is in the process of developing the next generation of system memory chips by combining the best of both DRAM and NAND silicon storage.
Its memory chips have the potential to improve system memory used in mobile phones to laptop computers.
4DS share price outperforming its peers
ASX technology shares have been hot property over the past year or so, but the 4DS share price has stayed under the radar for most.
This is despite the fact that the 4DS share price has increased by three-fold over the past year.
In comparison, the Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price and Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) share price have "only" jumped by 40% plus each.
Links to Western Digital
It helps that one of the world's leading hard drive makers, Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ: WDC) is backing 4DS.
The ASX small cap tech company signed a joint development agreement with Western Digital's subsidiary HGST. This agreement was renewed in May this year.
More patents granted
Further, 4DS announced in the quarter that it was granted additional US patents for its technology. This brings its portfolio of US patents to 31. All of the intellectual property is fully owned by 4DS.
"The Company has also filed two (2) USA patent applications to protect its stream of innovations and to strengthen its intellectual property portfolio in the field of Interface Switching ReRAM for Storage Class Memory," said the company.
4DS has $4.3 million in the bank as of 30 June this year to fund its research and development program.
