TAIPEI - A Taiwanese court ruled on Friday that current and former engineers from United Microelectronics Corp stole trade secrets from US chipmaker Micron Technology Inc and shared them with a government-backed mainland Chinese company, closing one chapter of a global dispute that's stoked US-Chinese tensions.
The case is part of a years-long dispute spanning two continents that's deepened divisions between Beijing and Washington. UMC said it will appeal the ruling, saying it has mechanisms to protect its customers' intellectual property rights and it did not violate trade secrets laws. In November 2018, UMC and Jinhua, along with the three individuals, were indicted in California, charged with conspiring to steal trade secrets from Micron.
"The US is intensifying its scrutiny of Chinese investors and companies and it will not allow Taiwan to become a loophole," said law professor Carol Lin of National Chiao Tung University, speaking before the verdict was announced. "Kenny Wang and Rong Leh-Tian both leaked Micron's trade secrets to UMC for the use of UMC's relevant business units... and the final research was to be transferred to Jinhua for mass production, so they had the intention to use in mainland China."
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