Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC), a Chinese chipmaker, sued competitor Micron Technology (MU.O.) in the United States, claiming that eight patents had been violated. On Nov. 9, YMTC filed a case in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Micron and its subsidiary, Micron Consumer Products Group.
The complaint claims that Micron used YMTC’s proprietary technology to achieve and maintain market share by thwarting YMTC’s competition. It contended that Micron was not using the patented ideas at a reasonable cost.
“While we cannot discuss the specifics of pending litigation, I can confirm that YMTC recently filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Micron Technology, Inc. for infringement of our company’s patents related to the design, manufacture, and operation of 3D NAND technology,” YMTC stated in a statement to Reuters on Monday. “We are confident that this matter will be resolved swiftly.”
When contacted after typical U.S. business hours, Micron did not reply. Along with South Korea’s Samsung Electronics (005930. K.S.) and S.K. Hynix (000660. K.S.), as well as Japan’s Kioxia, a Toshiba affiliate (6502.T), Micron is a competitor in the DRAM and NAND flash memory chip market. A much smaller competitor, YMTC, was prohibited from purchasing some American components by the United States last year.
For security reasons, the United States has tightened its export regulations on technology used in chip manufacturing to China in recent years.
China banned the procurement of Micron equipment by major infrastructure operators in May after claiming that their devices had failed a network security examination.
In 2018, Fujian Jinhua, a Chinese state-backed chipmaker, was involved in a legal fight with Micron over allegations of trade secret theft, which the company refuted. Later that year, China temporarily banned the company’s primary items from being sold there.
China used to be the largest market for Micron, accounting for half of its $20 billion in sales in the 2017 fiscal year. In 2022, the company shut down its DRAM facilities in Shanghai, dropping that stake to 16 percent.
According to Micron, it is still dedicated to China. In June, it said it would invest 4.3 billion yuan ($590 million) in its chip-packaging factory in Xian City over the next few years. This month, it made its debut at a trade show in Shanghai.
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