Micron and UMC announced global settlement of trade secret theft dispute

　On November 26, 2021, Micron Technology, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “Micron”) and United Microelectronics Corporation (hereinafter referred to as “UMC”) announced a settlement agreement between the two companies worldwide, according to which the companies will withdraw their complaints against each other and UMC will pay a one-time payment of an undisclosed amount to Micron and the two companies will engage in business cooperation.  

　Micron filed a lawsuit against UMC in Taiwan in February 2017, accusing UMC of taking advantage of three UMC employees, who worked at Micron before joined UMC, to assist Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Fujian Jinhua”) in stealing Micron’s confidential information with respect to Micron’s DRAM process technology and conveying the same to Fujian Jinhua.  In December 2017, Micron initiated a civil action against UMC in California, USA.  Further in January 2018, UMC and Fujian Jinhua sued Micron in China on the ground that Micron’s subsidiary in China infringed upon UMC’s patent right.  Also in November 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice charged UMC and Fujian Jinhua, and the three employees of UMC with crimes relating to trade secret theft and economic espionage.  After that, in October 2020, UMC issued a press release to the effect that they reached a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice with respect to the trade secret theft crime by pleading guilty to a trade secret theft case and agreeing to pay TWD60 million fine and also to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Justice for the three years of probation.  (Released 2021.11.26)  

/CCS