US DOJ Charges Chinese Companies With US Chipmaker Trade Secrets Theft 

US claims that Idaho based chipmaker Micron was systematically targeted over a sustained period of time.  

The United States Department of Justice has charged a state-run company in China of the theft of trade secrets from an American based semiconductor company that specializes in making DRAM. 

The announcement came on the same day that the DOJ revealed a new iniative that focused specifically on what it referred to as the growing threat of Chinese economic espionage.

“Chinese economic espionage against the United States has been increasing — and it has been increasing rapidly,” Jeff Sessions, the US Attorney General, said in a statement. “We are here today to say: Enough is enough. We’re not going to take it anymore. This initiative will identify priority trade theft cases and ensure we have enough resources dedicated to them.”

The revelation is just the latest accusation levelled against China in recent times in relation to industrial espionage. The latest charges claim that Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co. and Taiwan’s United Microelectronics are responsible for stealing proprietary technology from Micron.

DRAM (dynamic random access memory), was a type of memory that Chinese companies did not possess until the data theft, prosecutors have said.

If convicted, each individual charged faces up to 15 years in prison and a $5 million fine.

“We appreciate the US Department of Justice’s decision to prosecute the criminal theft of our intellectual property,” said Joel Poppen, Micron’s senior vice president for legal affairs. “Micron has invested billions of dollars over decades to develop its intellectual property. The actions announced today reinforce that criminal misappropriation will be appropriately addressed.”

The US views China as an existential major cybersecurity threat. Despite a formal 2015 agreement between Chinese President Xi Jinping and then US President Barack Obama that banned government spying on industries, China has been accused by several countries of high-level industrial espionage.