After five years of litigation, the US finally admits defeat? The mainland chip company was found not guilty
Recently, there was good news, after five years of lengthy litigation, Fujian Jinhua integrated circuit *** won justice, and the U.S. court ruled that Fujian Jinhua was not guilty of stealing trade secrets of the U.S. integrated circuit company.
It's a long story, but let me tell you more about it.
In 2016, the company established three major memory chip bases, namely YMTC with NAND flash memory, Changxin Storage with DRAM memory as the core, and Fujian Jinhua with DRAM memory as the core.
Fujian Jinhua cooperated with UMC, commissioned UMC to research and develop in the early stage, and the two sides shared the technology, and after the overall technology was completed, it was handed over to Jinhua for mass production.
The initial plan is to invest more than 20 billion yuan, which will be constructed in three phases, with an investment of 5.3 billion yuan in the first phase, which will be put into operation in the third quarter of 2018, with a monthly production capacity of more than 60,000 pieces after completion.
Just when things were going well, in September 2017, Micron, a U.S. memory chip company, stepped in, claiming that UMC employees had stolen Micron's DRAM trade secrets and then used them to help Jinhua develop DRAM products.
Why did Micron change jobs? This is not difficult to understand, Micron is a global storage wafer giant, when the revenue in China accounts for as much as 40%, Micron of course does not want to see the rise of China's storage wafers, so it is natural to go out of the game.
Subsequently, Micron sued Fujian Jinhua, saying that it used Micron's technology, and the United States included Jinhua"Entity Inventory"Export controls were carried out, and later Fujian Jinhua also sued Micron, claiming that Micron violated its rights.
Later, in November 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Fujian Jinhua and UMC for stealing trade secrets.
Under pressure, UMC pleaded guilty in 2020 and accepted a $60 million fine, opting to settle the matter. In 2021, Micron reached a global settlement with UMC, and UMC withdrew from both lawsuits.
However, the lawsuit between Micron and Fujian Jinhua has not yet ended, and the U.S. lawsuit against Fujian Jinhua is still ongoing.
It was not until December 2023 that Micron and Fujian Jinhua reached a global agreement, and there were no longer any infringements, lawsuits, and other issues between the two parties.
However, the U.S. Department of Justice is still pushing ahead with legal proceedings against Fujian Jinhua, in the final analysis, its purpose is not only to suppress Fujian Jinhua, but more importantly, to suppress the development of Chinese science and technology, and wants to take advantage of the opportunity"Protecting American technology"obstructing the development of China's science and technology.
However, it is clear that there is a problem involved"Stealing U.S. trade secrets"The accusation now has eyebrows, and behind this, I think it also means that the United States admits defeat, after all, the rise of memory chips from China is inevitable, but Micron is in China, more is better than less, and has to admit defeat in exchange for Micron's development in China.
However, as after that, it is estimated that it is difficult for Micron to return to the first, and in the Chinese market, it is estimated that it is impossible to return to 40%, after all, domestic memory chips are developed, and Changcun and Changxin will not educate Micron.