Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯) of China, facing a lawsuit from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in a US court over alleged breaches of a commercial agreement between the companies, has responded with a suit claiming the Taiwanese company didn't honor the accord.
The Shanghai-based company, China's largest made-to-order chipmaker, also filed a response "strongly denying" allegations made by TSMC in its complaint, SMIC said in an announcement yesterday.
"The lawsuit by TSMC shows it's taking SMIC seriously in China," said Pranab Kumar Sarmah, head of electronics research at Daiwa Institute of Research in Hong Kong who has an "outperform" rating on both companies.
"Since Taiwan doesn't allow it to put advanced technology fabs in China, there's potential for customers" to go to SMIC, he said.
SMIC said in a statement it will "vigorously pursue" a cross-complaint and defense against the Taiwanese chipmaker's claims. TSMC spokesman Tzeng Jin-hao (
"We have no further comment at this time," he said.
TSMC filed a suit on Aug. 25 in the California Superior Court of Alameda County, alleging that SMIC didn't comply with an agreement inked in January of last year that settled an earlier suit brought by the Taiwanese chipmaker, which said that the Chinese company had violated trade secrets.
SMIC agreed last year to pay TSMC US$175 million in installments stretched over six years to settle the earlier suit, the Taiwanese company said in a release on its Web site. That agreement included a cross-licensing accord that will run until December 2010, according to the release.
The cross-complaint alleges, among other things, that TSMC has "undertaken a concerted effort since the previous lawsuits to discredit SMIC by making unfair and misleading accusations," SMIC said in its statement.
The chipmaker said that it is seeking damages for TSMC's "breach of contract and breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing."
The Chinese company also said the Taiwanese chipmaker was using the lawsuit to "disrupt SMIC's business and valued relationships" with its customers.
"Some of SMIC's customers may get nervous because of these legal disputes, Sarmah said.. Customers of the Shanghai-based chipmaker include Infineon Technologies AG and Elpida Memory Inc.
TSMC controls 50 percent of the world's market for customized chips, while SMIC, the industry's fourth-biggest manufacturer, holds 7 percent, according to IC Insights.
Shares in SMIC rose 2.9 percent to close at a two-month high of HK$1.05 (US$0.13) in Hong Kong. The stock has gained 8.3 percent since falling to a record low on Aug. 29 after the company said it was being sued. TSMC shares closed 3 percent higher in Taiwan, at NT$58.40 (US$1.77).
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day