Yangtze Memory, China's leading flash memory chip maker, files a lawsuit in the U.S. accusing Micron of infringing eight of its patents

According to news from this website on November 12, China’s largest flash memory chip manufacturer Yangtze Memory recently filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the US memory chip giant Micron and its subsidiaries, requesting the court to prohibit Micron from continuing to use Yangtze Memory’s multiple 3D NAND technologies. patent, and compensation for losses and litigation costs. Yangtze Memory stated that several of Micron's SSD products are suspected of infringing eight patents of Yangtze Memory. These patents involve the formation method, control method, through array contact (TAC), reading method and multi-layer stacking method of 3D NAND memory. etc.

According to our understanding, memory chips are mainly divided into two categories: DRAM (dynamic random access memory) and NAND (flash memory). The former is volatile Memory means that the stored data is lost immediately once the power is cut off. It is generally used as a memory to assist the CPU (central processing unit) in calculations; the latter is a non-volatile memory used to store data and is used to manufacture solid-state drives.

Yangtze Memory pointed out in the indictment that Micron used Yangtze Memory’s patented technology without authorization and competed with it in the market to protect its market share, but failed to pay reasonable fees and infringed upon Yangtze Memory’s rights. interests, hindering its motivation to innovate. The indictment also alleges that Micron cited Yangtze Memory's relevant patents in its own patent documents to prove its importance to Yangtze Memory's patent portfolio, but did not take any actual actions to obtain Yangtze Memory's patent authorization

Yangtze Memory also stated in the indictment that if the court fails to issue a permanent injunction on Micron's patent infringement, it should formulate relevant plans, such as Micron paying patent licensing fees to Yangtze Memory.

Yangtze Memory was established in July 2016 and is headquartered in Wuhan, Hubei. It mainly designs and manufactures 3D NAND flash memory chips. Yangtze Memory adopts the self-developed Xtacking (crystal stack) architecture, which has caught up with foreign giants in technology. In the NAND field, Yangtze Memory has mass-produced 128-layer 3D stacking products in 2021, and 232-layer products have also begun to increase in volume.

Micron is a leading memory chip company and competes with Yangtze Memory in the NAND market. According to data from TrendForce, in the NAND market in the second quarter of 2023, Micron's market share was 13%, ranking fifth. Compared with Micron, there is a big gap in the market size of Yangtze Memory.

Advertising statement: This content contains external links (including but not limited to hyperlinks, QR codes, passwords, etc.), which are used to provide more information. More information, saving time for screening, for reference only. All articles on this website contain this statement

The above is the detailed content of Yangtze Memory, China's leading flash memory chip maker, files a lawsuit in the U.S. accusing Micron of infringing eight of its patents. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!