Commercial Times, A5 [Report by Li Shu-liang / Comprehensive News]
As the chip war between China and the United States intensifies, China is trying to use patent wars as a negotiation chip. Foreign media revealed that China’s 3D NAND Flash giant Yangtze Memory Technology Corp. (YMTC) recently filed another lawsuit against the US memory giant Micron Technology Inc. (Micron) in California, accusing Micron of infringing on 11 of its patents involving 3D NAND Flash and DRAM products. YMTC requested the court to order Micron to stop selling infringing memory products in the U.S. and pay patent royalties.
According to foreign media reports on the 20th, YMTC, established in Wuhan at the end of 2016, is a major manufacturer of memory (DRAM) and flash memory (NAND Flash) in China and has received huge support from “big funds” to become China’s domestic chip supply chain representative enterprises. However, the U.S. Department of Commerce included YMTC in the entity list in October 2022, making YMTC impossible to obtain advanced equipment from the U.S. companies to manufacture 3D NAND chips with 128 layers and above.
Before being export controlled by the U.S., YMTC’s 128-layer 3D NAND chip products had already entered supply chain of Apple Inc. (Apple) and obtained Apple’s technology certification and quality certification. At that time, Apple hoped to use YMTC’s chips not only for cost considerations, but also to prevent excessive concentration of flash memory in Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron.
According to the report, YMTC’s accusation this time stated that Micron’s 3D NAND Flash of 96-layer (B27A), 128-layer (B37R), 176-layer (B47R) and 232-layer (B58R), as well as some DDR5 SDRAM products (Y2BM series), infringed YMTC’s 11 patents or patent applications filed in the United States.
It is worth mentioning that last November, YMTC also filed a lawsuit against Micron and its subsidiaries in District Court of the Northern District of California in the U.S., accusing them of infringing 8 of YMTC’s U.S. patents related to 3D NAND Flash. In addition, on 7th June this year, YMTC filed a lawsuit in California, accusing Strand Consult, a Danish consulting company funded by Micron, of spreading false information and damaging YMTC’s market reputation and business relationships.
The market participants said that in recent years, China’s scientific and technological strength has greatly improved, and enterprises have actively applied for patents at home and abroad. With the support of the Chinese government, the enterprises have also begun to frequently litigate patent rights. Last year, Chinese courts received 5,062 technology-related intellectual property rights and monopoly cases. YMTC’s attempt to counter Micron through patents should be to gain leverage against the U.S. government’s suppression, rather than to sue the other party or get money. “Stop the war” is the real purpose.
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