Friday, October 30th 2020
IP Theft: UMC Pleads Guilty to US Court Charges of Trade Secret Theft, Faces $60 Million Fine
Taiwanese corporation United Micro Electronics (UMC) has pled guilty on charges of trade theft. The charges, originally pressed in November 2018 by US authorities, placed UMC and China's Fujian Jinhua in hot waters under suspicion of stealing trade secrets from US-based Micron technologies, one of the world's foremost players in memory semiconductor technologies. UMC's guilty plea serves as a way for the company to avoid heavier penalties, and includes a provision for the company's assistance in investigating Fujian Jinhua's actions in regards to this IP theft.
The whole story revolves around UMC's hiring of three Micron employees from Micron's subsidiary in Taiwan, Micron Memory Taiwan (MMT), back around September 2015. At least two of these employees migrated Micron trade secrets to UMC, which then inked a deal with china's Fujian Jinhua for the development of 32nm DRAM and "32Snm" DRAM technologies that Fujian Jinhua could then deploy for the manufacture of memory products - a deal which had Fujian Jinhua paying $300 million for equipment purchase plus $400 million for technology development to UMC. This all fell in line with the Chinese government's Made in China 2025 plan, which aims to bring the country to semiconductor independence from the western world. UMC says that the company itself didn't partake in the underhanded IP delivery to Fujian Jinhua, claiming instead that rogue employees did so of their own volition. The company further states that it only pleads guilty because according to the US Trade Secrets Act, the company still bears legal responsibilities for employee acts, whether or not top management is involved.
Sources:
Financial Times, The Register
The whole story revolves around UMC's hiring of three Micron employees from Micron's subsidiary in Taiwan, Micron Memory Taiwan (MMT), back around September 2015. At least two of these employees migrated Micron trade secrets to UMC, which then inked a deal with china's Fujian Jinhua for the development of 32nm DRAM and "32Snm" DRAM technologies that Fujian Jinhua could then deploy for the manufacture of memory products - a deal which had Fujian Jinhua paying $300 million for equipment purchase plus $400 million for technology development to UMC. This all fell in line with the Chinese government's Made in China 2025 plan, which aims to bring the country to semiconductor independence from the western world. UMC says that the company itself didn't partake in the underhanded IP delivery to Fujian Jinhua, claiming instead that rogue employees did so of their own volition. The company further states that it only pleads guilty because according to the US Trade Secrets Act, the company still bears legal responsibilities for employee acts, whether or not top management is involved.
31 Comments on IP Theft: UMC Pleads Guilty to US Court Charges of Trade Secret Theft, Faces $60 Million Fine
Company steals a $700 million deal: $60 million in fines.
Honestly the rest of the world should follow the US and boycott everything from them, let them keep their own crap in their own country and see how they get on with made in China 2025 then cause without all their crap exports their economy would crumble, let's stop pumping money into the communist regime who only care about control over their own people and soon if given the chance the rest of the world.
No matter where you are & who you are it's all about the money all the time, in that sense politics & power/influence trumps them all. As an aside this should also tell you that big business has an insurmountable influence even in the most powerful nation on earth.
I'm just bolding that for those that neglect the actual theft was by UMC. A Chinese company paid UMC a hefty sum for said IP. So, the basis for a neutral conclusion is UMC saw a way to profit from Chinese company and stole the IP to sell it what it wanted. While I was writing this, I then recalled all the Samsung, Apple, Nokia, etc, patent lawsuits. Ocurred to me that all tech companies dabble in IP theft and patent misappropriation (like when UBER stole tech from Google).
It's quite funny, I looked back on things and in the 1800's the UK had strict provisos on machinery for cotton manufacture and forbid skilled workers from moving ot the US. This is when the UK was far more 'advanced' than the US. But the US managed to get its hands on UK industrial IP. Without it, they'd have been way behind in industry. No more Levi's! Anyhoo, my point is, the victor always gets to slap down the minion. Those at the top got there by stealing from others. It's just that history forgets those details. Victors writing history and all. If you want to investigate the immorality of IP acquisition, try this man (who helped bomb London) - Wernher Von Braun. Hello moon landings.
$60M < $359M by a long shot, I also said at least. Double what they made from it would be fair IMO. I never said anyone needed jail time just big fines. Fines that would make another company think twice about doing the same thing.
Doing shady business had consequenses and they know it - Getting caught and having to pay a fine or something is just a risk of playing the game.
Most major nations brainwash their residents to believe it's their nation.
Not that it's much better, but it is slightly better.Militarily speaking, by budget alone, it can only be one. It's not even in the realm of question. USA spends more on military than Russia and China (and for that matter, the entire top 10) COMBINED.
And pretty much no one but third world nations question that bit.