US Indicts Jinhua, UMC and 3 Taiwanese for Stealing from Micron

choi

News release: PRC State-Owned Company, Taiwan Company, and Three Individuals Charged With Economic Espionage. US Department of Justice, Nov 1, 2018
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/p ... -economic-espionage

Quote:

"Attorney General Jeff Sessions, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division Brian A Benczkowski, United States Attorney Alex G Tse of the Northern District of California [based in San Francisco], and FBI Special Agent in Charge for the San Francisco Field Office John F Bennett made the announcement [today (Nov 1) at Department of Justice headquarters].  In addition, the United States filed a civil lawsuit seeking to enjoin the further transfer of the stolen trade secrets and to enjoin certain defendants from exporting to the United States any products manufactured by UMC or Jinhua that were created using the trade secrets at issue.  The indictment was filed [by 'a grand jury in San Francisco'] on September 27, 2018, and unsealed today. The civil lawsuit was filed today.

" 'No country presents a broader, more severe threat to our ideas, our innovation, and our economic security than China,' said FBI Director Christopher Wray.

"According to the indictment, the defendants were engaged in a conspiracy to steal the trade secrets of Micron Technology, Inc * * * Micron is the only United States-based company that manufactures DRAM.

"Prior to the events described in the indictment, the PRC did not possess DRAM technology, and the Central Government and State Council of the PRC publicly identified the development of DRAM and other microelectronics technology as a national economic priority.  The criminal defendants are United Microelectronics Corporation ('UMC'), a Taiwan semiconductor foundry; Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit, Co, Ltd ('Jinhua'), a state-owned enterprise of the PRC; and three Taiwan nationals: Chen Zhengkun 陳正坤, aka Stephen Chen, age 55; He Jianting 何建廷, aka JT Ho, age 42; and Wang Yungming 王永銘, aka Kenny Wang, age 44.   UMC is a publicly listed semiconductor foundry company traded on the New York Stock Exchange * * * According to the indictment, Chen was a General Manager and Chairman of an electronics corporation [瑞晶電子股份有限公司 Rexchip Electronics Corp -- a joint venture of 力晶科技股份有限公司 Powerchip Technology Corp (of Taiwan)  and Elpida Memory, Inc (of Japan)] that Micron acquired in 2013.  Chen then became the president of a Micron subsidiary in Taiwan, Micron Memory Taiwan ('MMT')" 台灣美光記憶體

My comment: There is no need to read the rest, because we are quite familiar with it.