Toshiba Corp yesterday said it had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against four Taiwanese companies in the nation’s Intellectual Property Court.
The Japanese electronics company alleged that the four companies — Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶), Zentel Electronics Corp (力積), Powerflash Technology Corp (智旺) and CTC Co (瑄譽) — have infringed on patents for its NAND flash memory-related products.
NAND flash is a type of memory chip used in storage products such as memory cards and universal serial bus (USB) items.
Toshiba said that the four companies had offered NAND flash memories without obtaining its license.
While the company has issued notices to Powerchip regarding its use of Toshiba patents, the Taiwanese firm has ignored all of its notices, leaving the company no recourse other than taking legal action, Toshiba said in a statement posted on its Web site.
Hsinchu-based Powerchip, led by chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁), has shifted its business away from the volatile DRAM business over the past two years to focus on foundry sales.
Zentel, which designs niche memory chips primarily used in consumer electronics, was also founded by Huang in 2002.
“Toshiba is asking the court to enjoin the firms to stop manufacturing and selling NAND flash memory products that infringe the patents,” Toshiba said in the statement.
The Japanese company said it is also seeking compensation from the four Taiwanese firms, but did not specify cash amounts in the statement.
A Toshiba spokesman told Reuters yesterday that the company was seeking NT$100 million (US$3.3 million) in compensation in the case.
NAND memories are a key source of profit for Toshiba, whose key competitors include South Korean firm Samsung Electronics Co and US chipmaker SanDisk Corp.
Shares in Taiwan closed at a new high yesterday, the first trading day of the new year, as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) continued to break records amid an artificial intelligence (AI) boom, dealers said. The TAIEX closed up 386.21 points, or 1.33 percent, at 29,349.81, with turnover totaling NT$648.844 billion (US$20.65 billion). “Judging from a stronger Taiwan dollar against the US dollar, I think foreign institutional investors returned from the holidays and brought funds into the local market,” Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺) said. “Foreign investors just rebuilt their positions with TSMC as their top target,
REVENUE PERFORMANCE: Cloud and network products, and electronic components saw strong increases, while smart consumer electronics and computing products fell Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted 26.51 percent quarterly growth in revenue for last quarter to NT$2.6 trillion (US$82.44 billion), the strongest on record for the period and above expectations, but the company forecast a slight revenue dip this quarter due to seasonal factors. On an annual basis, revenue last quarter grew 22.07 percent, the company said. Analysts on average estimated about NT$2.4 trillion increase. Hon Hai, which assembles servers for Nvidia Corp and iPhones for Apple Inc, is expanding its capacity in the US, adding artificial intelligence (AI) server production in Wisconsin and Texas, where it operates established campuses. This
H200 CHIPS: A source said that Nvidia has asked the Taiwanese company to begin production of additional chips and work is expected to start in the second quarter Nvidia Corp is scrambling to meet demand for its H200 artificial intelligence (AI) chips from Chinese technology companies and has approached contract manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to ramp up production, sources said. Chinese technology companies have placed orders for more than 2 million H200 chips for this year, while Nvidia holds just 700,000 units in stock, two of the people said. The exact additional volume Nvidia intends to order from TSMC remains unclear, they said. A third source said that Nvidia has asked TSMC to begin production of the additional chips and work is expected to start in the second
US President Donald Trump on Friday blocked US photonics firm HieFo Corp’s US$3 million acquisition of assets in New Jersey-based aerospace and defense specialist Emcore Corp, citing national security and China-related concerns. In an order released by the White House, Trump said HieFo was “controlled by a citizen of the People’s Republic of China” and that its 2024 acquisition of Emcore’s businesses led the US president to believe that it might “take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.” The order did not name the person or detail Trump’s concerns. “The Transaction is hereby prohibited,”
RSS