Micron Chip Sales Banned In China On Patent Case (bloomberg.com)

A Chinese court temporarily banned Micron Technology chip sales, cutting the U.S. company off from the world's largest semiconductor market. The news comes from Taiwanese rival United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC). Bloomberg reports: In a patent ruling in favor of UMC, the Fuzhou Intermediate Peopleâ(TM)s Court of the Peopleâ(TM)s Republic of China issued a preliminary injunction stopping Micron from selling 26 products, including dynamic random access memory and Nand flash memory-related products, UMC said in a statement Tuesday. Micron said it hasnâ(TM)t been served with the injunction and wonâ(TM)t comment until it does.

The case is part of a broader dispute between the two companies centering on accusations that UMC acted as a conduit for the theft of Micronâ(TM)s designs in an attempt to help China grow its domestic chip industry and replace imports that rival oil in total value. A Chinese antitrust regulator is already investigating Micron and its Korean rivals, the companies have said. Local media has reported that authorities are looking into increases in chip prices.

Comments

China has a history of stealing Semiconductor IP

[Nova Express]

That's pretty much what they do. They're retaliating against Micron because they got caught red-handed stealing their designs from UMC in Taiwan.

The irony is that China has no domestic semiconductor equipment manufacturers worth speaking of, so they'll still need to buy the equipment from American and Japanese firms like Applied Materials, LAM Research, and Tokyo Electron. Plus they're having extreme difficulty finding qualified semiconductor process engineers willing to move to China.

Plus they stole it for a fab that's still under production, so by the time they are producing chips using the stolen designs, Micron will probably already be fabbing their next design turn/feature shrink...

Re:You are surprised?

[sd4f]

I think this is something that will only get worse as time goes on, in that, if the USA (I've never been in the states btw, I'm Australian) wants to maintain it's global economic position (in your terms, the playground bully, and more formally speaking [and probably ironically too], maintain the pax americana), it needs to start acting against China strategically. The problem with acting now is, the USA might not be in its ideal position to do so, but I think it will only get worse for the USA as time goes on, as China isn't sitting idly; it's growing and establishing its foothold.

Now, while I'm not infatuated with the USA, I'm concerned far more by China's political interference in oceania, and their general subversive nature of establishing their own hegemony. I'm inclined to side on the countries which, at least nominally, share our values of personal liberty, democracy, and a rule of law, which arguably places most above that of China. Despite our flaws, we're still much better than a regime which denies those freedoms, and champions the idea that people are too stupid to rule them selves, therefore they must be lorded over by the select few.

Another point to consider is that the Chinese have a chip on their shoulder that westerners have been exploiting them, and that has been stymieing their development. Their concept of face means that they're proud and arrogant, to their own detriment, to the degree that they'd rather go down with the ship than change course if it means admitting they were/are wrong, or that systems of governance that encourage skulduggery, corruption, and self interest, over talent and merit, has been holding them back.

From a trade perspective, I've noticed a growing sentiment amongst Chinese that they're starting to feel superior. They feel that where once their stuff wasn't taken all that seriously, it is significantly not the case now, and relating to their concept of sociological face, while they grow with the idea that they are superior, it is us who should be grateful that they trade with us, and we need them, and not they need us. This is definitely becoming the case in Australia, where we're so exposed to China, that if they stop buying our resources, we have problems, if we stop selling residential property to them, we have problems, if we try to stop them donating money/buying our politicians, we have problems! They have us where they want us; we're reliant on their money, they're not reliant on our resources.