Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) and its IC design subsidiary ASMedia Technology Inc (祥碩) yesterday said they have agreed to pay VIA Technologies Inc (威盛電子) US$15 million to settle a four-year patent infringement dispute in Taiwan and the US.
Asustek and ASMedia will each shell out US$7.5 million as part of the settlement agreement, the two companies said in separate filings with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
“The case will not have a significant impact on Asustek’s finance and operations,” Asustek spokesman Nick Wu (吳長榮) said by telephone.
Asustek is considering booking the payment as a one-off expense in last quarter’s financial statements, pending discussions with its accountants, Wu said.
The payment is estimated to reduce Asustek’s earnings per share (EPS) by NT$0.3, based on the company’s 742.76 million outstanding shares.
The settlement is forecast to have a bigger impact on ASMedia, cutting its EPS by NT$3.97, based on its 57.07 million outstanding shares.
ASMedia’s stock price plunged 5.81 percent to close at NT$373 in Taipei trading yesterday.
VIA — an affiliate of HTC Corp (宏達電) — had accused a former executive, Lin Che-wei (林哲偉), and four other former employees who joined ASMedia of disclosing the firm’s confidential technologies on USB 3.0 chips to ASMedia.
VIA in November 2012 accused ASMedia of patent infringement and in 2013 filed a civil lawsuit against Asustek, Asustek CEO Jerry Shen (沈振來) and Lin, and asked for NT$4.13 billion (US$136.5 million) in damages.
Asustek chairman Jonney Shih (施崇棠) in 2013 held a press conference at the Taiwan Stock Exchange, defending the companies and Shen.
VIA chairman Chen Wen-chi (陳文琦) said Shih should state the truth and admit his mistakes.
VIA said in a filing on Monday with the Taiwan Stock Exchange that the company, Asustek and ASMedia reached a settlement on Saturday last week after four years of lawsuits.
“We [VIA, Asustek and ASMedia] are satisfied with the result,” VIA said.
The details of the settlement is protected under a confidentiality agreement, the companies said.
RUN IT BACK: A succesful first project working with hyperscalers to design chips encouraged MediaTek to start a second project, aiming to hit stride in 2028 MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip supplier, yesterday said it is engaging a second hyperscaler to help design artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators used in data centers following a similar project expected to generate revenue streams soon. The first AI accelerator project is to bring in US$1 billion revenue next year and several billion US dollars more in 2027, MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) told a virtual investor conference yesterday. The second AI accelerator project is expected to contribute to revenue beginning in 2028, Tsai said. MediaTek yesterday raised its revenue forecast for the global AI accelerator used
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically made artificial intelligence (AI) chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centers that are less than 30 percent complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage would be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a
RSS