A smartphone with a Micron logo is placed on a computer motherboard
Mimir IP, a South Korea-based patent management company, has filed a complaint against Micron Technology Inc. claiming that the US chipmaker infringed on chip-related patents owned by Mimir.
According to industry officials on Sunday, the lawsuit, filed on June 3, also targets four companies using Micron products – Tesla, Dell, HP and Lenovo.
The case has been brought before the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and the US International Trade Commission (ITC).
The complaint marks the first time a Korea-based non-practicing entity (NPE) that acquired patents from a domestic chipmaker has filed a suit against a US semiconductor company.
Officials from concerned parties weren’t available for comment.
In May, Mimir IP acquired some 1,500 chip-related patents from SK Hynix Inc., the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker.
Industry officials said that Mimir has selected six patents related to circuits, voltage measurement devices and non-volatile memory devices for the lawsuit.
They said that if it wins the case, damage compensations could reach as much as $480 million.
GROWING CASES OF PROXY WARFARE IN CHIP INDUSTRY
Industry watchers said the case highlights increasing patent infringement disputes between NPEs and chipmakers amid the artificial intelligence boom.
A non-practicing entity, or NPE in short, is a person or company that acquires a patent or patent rights but does not practice the patented invention.
Industry officials said NPEs are often patent trolls – companies that use patent infringement claims to win court judgments for profit or to stifle competition.
SK Hynix’s HBM3E, the extended version of the HBM3 DRAM chip
The global DRAM market has been dominated by three major players – top player Samsung Electronics Co, SK Hynix and Micron Technology – for the past decade.
Competition among major DRAM players has been intensified in recent years due to explosive demand for the AI DRAM chip, high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which provides the much-needed faster processing speed compared with traditional memory chips.
The global HBM chip market is forecast to grow fourfold from $4.3 billion in 2023 to $16.9 billion this year.
SK Hynix is currently the only provider of the advanced HBM3E chip to Nvidia Corp., the world’s top AI chip designer.
Micron, a latecomer in the HBM market, recently developed the fifth-generation HBM3E chip, pitting itself against SK Hynix for orders from Nvidia.
“SK Hynix and Micron are DRAM rivals. The fight over industry hegemony is spreading beyond technology competition to patent rivalry,” said an industry official.
Last year, a former SK Hynix chip design researcher was ordered by a Seoul court from working for Micron, citing a possible technology leak.
SK Hynix’s HBM3E AI chip supplied to Nvidia
NPEs THRIVE
In March 2023, Micron Technology reportedly transferred over 400 chip-related patents to Lodestar Licensing Group, an NPE, marking the first time that the US chipmaker has done so since 2013.
Industry officials said the move could be a preliminary measure for Micron to prepare for legal disputes with its competitors.
In June 2023, Samsung Electronics handed over 96 US chip patent rights, including the right to file patent infringement complaints, to IKT, an affiliate of Samsung Display Co.
Industry officials said Intel, via patent management firm Daedalus Prime, filed patent infringement suits against Samsung and foundry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) in September 2022.
TSMC is said to have transferred over 50 US-registered chip patents to Advanced Manufacturing Innovations in June 2023.
Last November, Chinese chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC) filed a lawsuit against US rival Micron alleging infringement of its 3D NAND flash patents at the US District Court for the Northern District of California.
By Eui-Myung Park
uimyung@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.
