United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) and Micron Technology Inc yesterday said they have settled a civil lawsuit in which the US memorychip maker accused the Taiwanese company of stealing and leaking its intellectual property to a Chinese partner.
UMC is to make a one-time payment of an undisclosed amount to settle all competing claims between the companies globally, a joint statement said.
UMC said that it did not expect the payment to have any significant impact on its financial status.
Photo: Reuters
The move ends a high-profile chapter in tensions between the US and China, with the international case serving as a focal point for Washington complaints of Beijing facilitating forced technology transfers, a charge that China denies.
The case concerned an allegedly illegal transfer of Micron’s memory designs in a chip manufacturing deal between UMC and Jinjiang-based Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co (福建晉華).
Following the move, Micron said that it would continue to seek “full restitution” from UMC in a separate civil lawsuit, the statement said.
Last year, UMC pleaded guilty in San Francisco federal court in a deal with US prosecutors, who agreed to drop charges of economic espionage and conspiracy.
UMC instead admitted to trade-secret theft and agreed to pay a US$60 million fine.
Evidence submitted in connection with the guilty plea showed that the three workers — Steven Chen (陳正坤), Ho Chien-ting (何建廷) and Wang Yung-ming (王永銘) — were employed at Micron Taiwan before joining UMC.
Chen, who had been president at Micron Taiwan and was made senior vice president at UMC, brokered a deal with Fujian Jinhua to develop DRAM technology for the Chinese firm.
The US Department of Justice in 2018 formally charged UMC and Fujian Jinhua, as well as Chen, Ho and Wang, with crimes related to conspiracy to steal, convey and possess stolen trade secrets from a US firm.
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