China Bans US Company’s Chip Sales

A Chinese court temporarily banned Micron Technology Inc. chip sales, cutting the US company off from the world’s largest semiconductor market, Taiwanese rival United Microelectronics Corp. said, Bloomberg reported. In a patent ruling in favor of UMC, the Fuzhou Intermediate People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China issued a preliminary injunction stopping Micron from selling 26 products, including dynamic random access memory and Nand flash memory-related products, UMC said in a statement Tuesday. Micron said it hasn’t been served with the injunction and won’t comment until it does. Shares in the Boise, Idaho-based company dropped as much as 8%. UMC took legal action against Micron in January, alleging that the US company infringed on patents in China related to memory storage and other products. Among the remedies it sought was to stop Micron from making, importing or selling the allegedly infringing products and also destroy all inventory and pay compensation. Shares of UMC rose as much as 3.9% in Taipei while Micron slumped 5.5% in New York. The US government Monday blocked China Mobile from offering services to the American market, recommending its application be rejected on grounds of “national security risks”.