The US Department of Commerce has imposed another ban on American companies doing business with a Chinese firm. This time the company is semiconductor group Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit, which has been fighting an intellectual property dispute with US-based Micron Technology.
As of 30 October, exports from the US to jinhua are banned, due to the potential risks to US national security, the Commerce department said. Jinhua is nearing completion of substantial DRAM production capacity. "The additional production, in light of the likely US-origin technology, threatens the long term economic viability of US suppliers of these essential components of US military systems," the department said in a statement.
In July, Jinhua and UMC obtained a court order blocking sales of certain Micron products in China due to alleged patent infringements. Micron has disputed the validity of the Chinese companies' patents and filed its own infringement suits in US court against the groups.
