China challenged the US yesterday to show evidence to support charges that Beijing backed a scheme by Taiwanese and Chinese companies to steal trade secrets from a US-based semiconductor firm.
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday accused the companies of stealing an estimated US$8.75 billion worth of know-how from semiconductor giant Micron Technology Inc.
The US Department of Justice unveiled criminal charges against Chinese state-owned Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co (晉華集成電路) and Taiwan’s United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), along with three UMC officials.
Photo: AFP
It said they conspired to steal US-based Micron’s advanced designs to turn Fujian Jinhua into a major player in the global computer chip market.
“If the US side is really concerned, they should provide concrete examples that can withstand the test of evidence and facts,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang (陸慷) told a regular press briefing.
The charges were the latest in a series of cases targeting what Washington calls an ongoing Beijing program to steal valuable US industrial and commercial secrets to advance the Chinese economy.
“Taken together, these cases and many others like them paint a grim picture of a country bent on stealing its way up the ladder of economic development and doing so at American expense,” Sessions said. “This behavior is illegal. It is wrong. It is a threat to our national security, and it must stop.”
US President Donald Trump has cited China’s alleged theft of US technological know-how among a litany of grievances in his trade spat with the Asian power.
The indictment released in the US district court in San Jose, California, alleges that three former Micron employees in Taiwan — Stephen Chen (陳正坤), He Jianting (何建庭) and Kenny Wang (王永明) — joined UMC in 2015 and 2016 with the express plan of handing over to the company Micron’s design and manufacturing processes for specific DRAM semiconductors.
Those would then be transferred to Fujian Jinhua under a contract set by Chen.
Prior to the alleged plot, neither the Chinese nor the Taiwanese company had any DRAM production capability, US prosecutors said.
Chen was originally a top executive at Micron’s operation in Taiwan. He moved in 2015 to lead UMC, a contract chip manufacturer listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and subsequently became president of Fujian Jinhua.
UMC said that it takes the theft charges leveled against the company seriously and would do everything possible to clear its name.
“For nearly 40 years, UMC has devoted countless energy and resources to the development of integrated circuit-related technology and has won thousands of patents across the world,” the company said, adding that “we will do our utmost to respond to the charges and have hired lawyers to clear our name and defend the interests of our shareholders.”
UMC said that the allegations in the indictment and complaint are “virtually the same as allegations in a civil complaint previously filed by Micron against UMC.”
“UMC regrets that the US Attorney’s Office brought these charges without first notifying UMC and giving it an opportunity to discuss the matter,” the company said.
Micron filed a civil lawsuit against UMC and Fujian Jinhua in December last year at a federal court in California, accusing the companies of intellectual property infringements related to its DRAM chips after prosecutors in Taiwan charged two Micron employees with stealing trade secrets, a Reuters report said.
In January, UMC filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Micron in China and won the lawsuit.
The US Department of Commerce on Monday placed heavy restrictions on Fujian Jinhua’s ability to buy US machinery and materials for its factories that would boost its DRAM production capabilities.
In addition to the criminal charges announced on Thursday, the US Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit to block imports of any UMC and Fujian Jinhua products using stolen Micron technology.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
‘BOOMING’: ’ The number of partners we have here is incredible. You can see from their stock prices. They’re doing so well, they’re so happy,’ Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp’s spending in Taiwan has ballooned to about US$150 billion a year, 10 times the US$10 billion to US$15 billion the company spent five years ago, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, suggesting Taiwan’s strategic importance in the global artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain. “Taiwan is the epicenter of the AI revolution. This is where the chips come, packaging comes. This is where the systems are made. This is where AI supercomputers were created,” Huang said at a meeting for the company’s employees in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei, the planned site of Nvidia’s Taipei headquarters. “Taiwan
GREATER REACH? Auto parts and wood products would face tariffs of up to 15%, matching those targeting the EU, Japan and South Korea, Vice Premier said The US has announced that preferential tariff treatment for Taiwan’s non-semiconductor Section 232 goods would take effect retroactively from May 1, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The US government yesterday posted a notice on the Federal Register’s public inspection Web site previewing tariff concessions for Taiwan under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Taiwan-US investment after two months of negotiations. The MOU signed on Jan. 15 stipulated three major preferential tariff arrangements: a 15 percent “reciprocal” tariff rate for Taiwan without stacking most-favored nation (MFN) rates; preferential Section 232 treatment for semiconductors and related products; and preferential Section 232 treatment for non-semiconductor
RSS