Chinese chipmaker’s ambitions hit hurdle with US indictment

HONG KONG/BEIJING: Chinese state-backed semiconductor maker Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co Ltd billed itself as a national leader in the tech industry.

It planned to drive a shift towards locally made chips and end a heavy reliance on imports, especially from the United States.

“The era of Chinese chips has arrived,” it said in a recent promotional online pamphlet to attract chip industry talent. Underneath was a picture of a circuit board emblazoned with the Chinese flag.

“China once relied on chip imports, but the tireless work of untold numbers of chip experts has meant that from 90 per cent imports we have been able to attain localised production,” it said, highlighting a high-skilled global workforce harking from the United States, Japan and South Korea.

“Jump with chip era that China.”

That bold ambition now faces major hurdles.

The US Justice Department on Thursday indicted Fujian Jinhua and Taiwan-based United Microelectronics Corp ( UMC) for industrial espionage.

The indictment said the companies conspired to steal trade secrets from US semiconductor company Micron Technology Inc relating to its research and development of memory storage devices.

Under a technology cooperation agreement signed in 2016, UMC develops memory-related technologies for the Chinese firm. — Reuters us into an belongs to