US chipmaker Micron faces a new lawsuit: What is it about

A new lawsuit has accused US-based chipmaker

Micron

of patent infringement. The lawsuit has been filed by Chinese chipmaker

Yangtze Memory Technologies Co

(YMTC) against its US rival.

YMTC

has alleged that Micron has infringed on eight of its patents.
According to a report by news agency Reuters, the lawsuit against Micron and unit Micron Consumer Products Group was filed on November 9 at the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

The lawsuit claims that Micron used YMTC’s patented technology against them to gain and protect market share. The company also noted that Micron is not paying its fair share to use its patented inventions.
YMTC’s rivalry with Micron

Micron makes

DRAM

and NAND flash memory chips. The US chipmaker competes with South Korea’s

Samsung Electronics

and

SK Hynix

as well as Japan’s

Kioxia

, a unit of

Toshiba

. In comparison, YMTC is a much smaller rival.
In recent years, the US has increased restrictions on exporting chipmaking technology to China on security grounds. In 2022, the US barred YMTC from buying certain American components.
Micron’s China ‘problems’

In May, China said Micron products failed a network security review. Operators of key infrastructure were barred from purchasing chips from the company.
In 2018, Micron also got involved in a dispute involving Chinese state-backed chipmaker

Fujian Jinhua

. The Chinese chipmaker accused Micron of (which it denied) trade secret theft. The company’s main products were subjected to a temporary sales ban in China later that year.

Micron generated half of its $20 billion annual revenue from China when it was the company’s biggest market in 2017. In 2022, when Micron closed DRAM operations in Shanghai that share shrank to 16%.
Last month, the company started the construction of its $2.75 billion semiconductor factory in India. Micron also recently started hiring its first batch of engineering students in the country.