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By Pete Williams
WASHINGTON – The Justice Ministry on Thursday revealed that a federal grand jury had accused Chinese and Taiwanese companies of stealing trade secrets from Micron, the Idaho-based firm that controls up to a quarter of the RAM sector.
Federal prosecutors have said that one of the accused was president of a company acquired by Micron five years ago. According to the accusations, he went to work for Taiwan's United Microelectronics Corporation and orchestrated the $ 9 billion theft of Micron's trade secrets.
The charges were then reported by the company, which then joined a Chinese state-owned company, Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Company, to allow China to steal the technology from the United States. The random access technology in question was only recently owned by the Chinese, the Department of Justice said.
This week, the Commerce Department took steps to prevent the Chinese company from buying goods and services in the US, so that it does not take advantage of the stolen technology. And the Ministry of Justice has taken legal action, demanding a court order that would prevent Chinese and Taiwanese companies from transferring stolen technology or exporting products to the United States.
"We are not just reacting to crimes, we are acting to prevent the defendants from doing more harm to Micron," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in announcing the charges.
The sessions indicated that he was setting up a working group within the Ministry of Justice to devote more resources to the fight against Chinese economic espionage.
"It is time for China to join the community of legitimate nations.International trade has been good for China, but fraud must stop," he said.
