Taiwan's memory chip makers opened the champers last night after  LSI lost its patent-infringement claims against Nanya, Powerchip and four other companies over computer chips that use tungsten.

All the winners in the case which included ProMOS, Inotera and Winbond gained shedloads on their share price after the victory was announced. LSI also sued the Israel-based Tower and its Jazz Semiconductor unit, Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing of China, and Integrated Device Technology of San Jose, California.

The US International Trade Commission ruled that there was no violation of LSI's patent rights as its patent claims were invalid. The patent, issued in 1993 to Bell Labs, covers a way of using tungsten rather than aluminium to make chips smaller.