GlobalFoundries has filed multiple lawsuits in the US and Germany alleging that semiconductor manufacturing technologies used by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) infringe 16 GF patents. The lawsuits include a suit at the US International Trade Commission requesting a ban on imports of infringing TSMC products in the US.
The other suits were filed in the US Federal District Courts in Delaware and the Western District of Texas, and the Regional Courts of Dusseldorf and Mannheim in Germany.
GF said it seeks orders that will prevent semiconductors produced with the infringing technology by TSMC from being imported into the US and Germany. This may affect companies such as Apple that use TSMC as a contract manufacturer. GF also seeks significant damages from TSMC for the alleged unlawful use of GF’s proprietary technology.
In a statement, GF highlighted how the suits are designed to support investments in the US and Europe. "While semiconductor manufacturing has continued to shift to Asia, GF has bucked the trend by investing heavily in the American and European semiconductor industries, spending more than 15 billion dollars in the last decade in the US and more than USD 6 billion in Europe's largest semiconductor manufacturing fabrication facility," the company said. "This action is critical to halt Taiwan Semiconductor’s unlawful use of our vital assets and to safeguard the American and European manufacturing base."
