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

Posted by BeauHD on from the trade-disputes dept.

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.

9 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. And this... by GerryGilmore · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...is exactly why - in the same way that a broken clock is right twice a day - Trump is correct to start tightening the screws on China.
    Granted, it's about 30 years too late, but....

    1. Re:And this... by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 2

      Actually, Trump has it backwards.

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    2. Re:And this... by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 2

      ... and the notion that we have to put up with it without sanctions is YOUR fantasy.

    3. Re:And this... by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 2

      and we have some fucking idiot president in the USA who, just like you, anonymous coward, wants to get all uppity and "protect america's rights"... by starting a trade war?? i mean wtf?? are you high? are you smoking crack??

      The problem of course, is that the time to retaliate against China was a long long time ago. Maybe the latest possible window was early in Bush # 1's presidency.

      Trying to reset the clock to the 1950's simply will not work almost 70 years later

      Somewhere, some how, some people in the US seem to think that the USA can force the rest of the world to kowtow to our economic might, that we can to put up tarriffs, which were once considered economic suicide, but have somehow magically transformed into Republican dogma, and a true lynchpin of the free market.

      Who knew that other countries could put up tarrifs on US goods in retaliation for US tarriffs? This reaction is truly the telltale sign that Republican rule has taken America to a place where any respect is gone.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  2. You are surprised? by thesupraman · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You mean their reaction to the US banning chip supplies to ZTE by banning chip imports from Micron is... what... surprising? unexpected?

    If you want to be the playground bully, it pays to make sure you can hold that position...

    1. Re:You are surprised? by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 3, Insightful

      China is not an ally.

      And ZTE was caught spying on both government and private owners of their products.

    2. Re:You are surprised? by sd4f · · Score: 4, Informative

      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.

  3. China has a history of stealing Semiconductor IP by Nova+Express · · Score: 5, Informative

    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...

    --
    Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)

    http://www.lawrenceperson.com/

  4. Re: No, moron by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 2

    Harley is moving some production out of the US because non-US customers are a growth area for them. US H-D customers are in decline, while in the EU there is growth. American millineals are not motorcycle buyers. They buy shitty scooters with two cycle engines.