US Indicts Chinese, Taiwanese Entities In Semiconductor Trade Theft Scheme - Sessions

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2018) A Chinese state-owned company, a Taiwanese company and three individuals were indicted in an alleged scheme to steal more than $8 billion worth of trade secrets from a US semiconductor giant, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in remarks on Thursday.

"I am announcing that a grand jury in San Francisco has returned an indictment alleging economic espionage on the part of a Chinese state-owned, government owned, company, a Taiwan company, and three Taiwan individuals for an alleged scheme to steal trade secrets from Micron, an Idaho-based semi-conductor company," Sessions said.

A former Micron subsidiary president allegedly orchestrated a scheme to steal $8.7 billion in trade secrets from the semiconductor giant on behalf of a Taiwanese firm, Sessions said.

"The Taiwan defendant company then partnered with a Chinese state-owned company so that ultimately China could steal this technology from the United States and then use it to compete against us in the open market," Sessions said.

Sessions noted that Micron, worth an estimated $100 billion Dollars, controls up to 25 percent of the dynamic random access memory industry, which is technology that China did not possess until very recently.

If convicted the defendants face up to 15 years in prison, $5 million in fines and the companies could face forfeitures and fines worth more than to $20 billion, Sessions added.

In addition, Sessions said the Commerce Department added the Chinese state-owned company to its Entity List to prevent it from buying goods and services in the United States in order to deny it profiting from the stolen technology.