BEIJING (Reuters) -Beijing E-Town Semiconductor Technologies, a semiconductor equipment firm backed by Beijing’s government, on Wednesday said it has sued U.S. chip equipment supplier Applied Materials over alleged trade secrets infringement.
Applied Materials had illegally obtained and used Beijing E-Town’s core technology secrets related to plasma sources and wafer surface treatment, the Beijing-based company said according to a filing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The company, which is seeking 99.99 million yuan ($13.94 million) in compensation, alleged that Applied Materials had disclosed technical secrets by applying for a patent in China and claiming the patent’s application rights.
Applied Materials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In 2016, Beijing E-Town acquired Mattson Technology, a California-based semiconductor wafer processing equipment designer and manufacturer.
Applied Materials sued Mattson in 2022, alleging that it had hired its former employees with the intention of stealing trade secrets. In 2023, Mattson countersued Applied Materials making similar accusations.
In the new case filed with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, Beijing E-Town alleged that Applied Materials had hired two former Mattson employees, who were later listed as the principal inventors behind a patent filed by Applied Materials in China.
The patent, filed with China’s intellectual property administration, disclosed confidential technical know-how jointly held by Beijing E-Town and Mattson, Beijing E-Town said.
Applied Materials’ actions, the Beijing firm said, violated China’s fair competition law and constituted infringement of its trade secrets.
The Beijing court has accepted the civil case but no court hearing has yet been held, Beijing E-Town said.
($1 = 7.1746 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom and Brenda Goh in ShanghaiEditing by Bernadette Baum and Tomasz Janowski)
