HTC Corp (宏達電), the world’s No. 5 smartphone maker, lost the latest patent infringement lawsuit filed against it by Apple Inc as an initial ruling by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) said yesterday that HTC illegally used two patents held by Apple.
To safeguard shareholders’ interests, HTC said it would appeal the ruling. Apple originally alleged that HTC infringed 10 of its patents used in iPhones in a complaint filed in March last year.
“We are highly confident we have a strong case for the ITC appeals process and are fully prepared to defend ourselves using all means possible,” HTC general counsel Grace Lei (雷憶瑜)said in a statement released yesterday.
“We strongly believe we have alternate solutions in place for the issues raised by Apple,” Lei said.
In a counter-suit launched by HTC, the ITC ruled that Apple was infringing the patents held by HTC’s subsidiary S3 Graphics Co, HTC said.
On July 6, HTC said it would acquire S3 Graphics for US$300 million from subsidiaries of local chip designer VIA Technologies Inc (威盛電子). HTC chairperson Cher Wang (王雪紅) also chairs VIA.
Ahead of the ITC’s announcement, HTC shares tumbled 2.37 percent to NT$907 on Friday.
However, Samsung Securities analyst Chialin Lu (呂家霖) said investors have over-reacted to the potential impact of the lawsuit with Apple, a report said on Wednesday.
The likely scenario was that HTC would end up paying a license fee to Apple if HTC lost the case, while a ban on HTC exporting its phones to the US was unlikely, Lu said, citing historical rulings by the ITC on similar cases.
The licensing fee would be less than US$5 per device, which would lead to a less than 8 percent reduction of HTC’s net profits of NT$72.86 billion (US$2.5 billion) this year, according to the report. Lu’s forecast of patent licensing fees were lower than the range from US$5 per unit to US$10 per unit by other analysts, according to the report.
A patent lawsuit HTC previously lost to Microsoft Corp could set an example, Lu said. HTC has agreed to pay US$5 per Android phone for patent licensing from Microsoft, Lu said.
Lu reiterated his buy rating on HTC with target price at NT$1,430.
LIMITED IMPACT: Investor confidence was likely sustained by its relatively small exposure to the Chinese market, as only less advanced chips are made in Nanjing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) saw its stock price close steady yesterday in a sign that the loss of the validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing, China, fab should have a mild impact on the world’s biggest contract chipmaker financially and technologically. Media reports about the waiver loss sent TSMC down 1.29 percent during the early trading session yesterday, but the stock soon regained strength and ended at NT$1,160, unchanged from Tuesday. Investors’ confidence in TSMC was likely built on its relatively small exposure to the Chinese market, as Chinese customers contributed about 9 percent to TSMC’s revenue last
With this year’s Semicon Taiwan trade show set to kick off on Wednesday, market attention has turned to the mass production of advanced packaging technologies and capacity expansion in Taiwan and the US. With traditional scaling reaching physical limits, heterogeneous integration and packaging technologies have emerged as key solutions. Surging demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing (HPC) and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips has put technologies such as chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS), integrated fan-out (InFO), system on integrated chips (SoIC), 3D IC and fan-out panel-level packaging (FOPLP) at the center of semiconductor innovation, making them a major focus at this year’s trade show, according
DEBUT: The trade show is to feature 17 national pavilions, a new high for the event, including from Canada, Costa Rica, Lithuania, Sweden and Vietnam for the first time The Semicon Taiwan trade show, which opens on Wednesday, is expected to see a new high in the number of exhibitors and visitors from around the world, said its organizer, SEMI, which has described the annual event as the “Olympics of the semiconductor industry.” SEMI, which represents companies in the electronics manufacturing and design supply chain, and touts the annual exhibition as the most influential semiconductor trade show in the world, said more than 1,200 enterprises from 56 countries are to showcase their innovations across more than 4,100 booths, and that the event could attract 100,000 visitors. This year’s event features 17
Germany is to establish its first-ever national pavilion at Semicon Taiwan, which starts tomorrow in Taipei, as the country looks to raise its profile and deepen semiconductor ties with Taiwan as global chip demand accelerates. Martin Mayer, a semiconductor investment expert at Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI), Germany’s international economic promotion agency, said before leaving for Taiwan that the nation is a crucial partner in developing Germany’s semiconductor ecosystem. Germany’s debut at the international semiconductor exhibition in Taipei aims to “show presence” and signal its commitment to semiconductors, while building trust with Taiwanese companies, government and industry associations, he said. “The best outcome
RSS