GlobalFoundries sues TSMC, The New York Times: There is a suspicion of a Sino-US trade war

GlobalFoundries sued TSMC for infringing on chip technology patents, claiming to protect US manufacturing bases. Industry experts believe that GlobalFoundries will not charge the patent license fees to other manufacturers, and will sue the court when the Sino-US trade war is hot.

GlobalFoundries announced on the 26th that a number of courts in the United States and Germany have filed a complaint against TSMC infringing 16 patents on chip and manufacturing technology and complaining to the US International Trade Commission (USITC). The complaint cited numerous TSMC partners, including Apple, Google, Qualcomm and Cisco.

In addition to making huge claims, GlobalFoundries told USITC that products such as Apple's iPhoneXS, iPadmini, AirPods and other TSMC foundry chips should be banned from importing into the United States.

The New York Times (TheNew York Times) reported that the GlobalFoundries action lawsuit highlighted how deep the electronics industry is dependent on TSMC. TSMC is a leading global foundry manufacturer, and market research firm TrendForce estimates that TSMC's wafer foundry market share is close to 50%. GlobalFoundries alleges that TSMC has nearly 90% of advanced chip production.

The report mentioned that Pentagon officials valued the reliable sources of advanced weapons and intelligence system components and relied on the status of foreign manufacturers to worry about them. US President Trump was also dissatisfied with the theft of US intellectual property rights.

Experts believe that the Trump administration's statement on the Sino-US trade war may make GlobalFoundries more courageous to launch a legal battle.

Patrick Moorhead, president of technology consultancy MoorInsights & Strategy, said: "It seems that the US State Department has opened a lawsuit for them and said that we will provide air cover."

The report pointed out that many chip factories have long recognized that the industry will use a large number of common technologies. It is more reasonable to use patents to grant * authorization than to sue for many years. GlobalFoundries is unusual in this big action.

In addition, GlobalFoundries listed a number of technology companies in the complaint to facilitate the import ban on infringing products, but may also offend GlobalFoundries existing or potential customers.

The Wall Street Journal reported that when GlobalFoundries launched a legal battle against TSMC, Trump asked companies to increase US production ratios and bring jobs that flow overseas to the United States. If USITC issues a product import ban, it may have a major impact on companies such as TSMC and Apple that rely heavily on overseas OEMs.