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.
After several years flying high as Asia’s best Nvidia Corp proxy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is increasingly vying with other artificial intelligence (AI) stocks for investor attention. Stock traders are chasing a wider array of beneficiaries as mainstream usage of AI creates demand for hardware beyond the most-advanced chips TSMC makes for Nvidia. Subthemes from the deepening memory crunch to advances in robotics are also luring bids. At the same time, investment caps on single stocks are pushing funds to diversify, while retail investors long familiar with TSMC through its US depositary receipts are being offered a broader set of
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
Nvidia Corp yesterday announced that CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) would attend an employee meeting in Taipei tomorrow to celebrate the launch of the company’s Taiwan headquarters project. Huang would attend a gathering at the site of Nvidia’s planned headquarters in Beitou Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區), the company said in a statement. After arriving in Taiwan on Saturday last week, Huang told reporters that he plans to meet with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and would attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Nvidia’s Taiwan headquarters tomorrow. Nvidia has not yet applied
RSS