Infineon Seeks to Block U.S. Chip Imports by Elpida

(Susan Decker — Bloomberg)

Infineon AG, Europe’s second-largest chipmaker, filed a patent-infringement complaint that seeks to block U.S. imports of computer-memory chips by Japan’s Elpida Memory Inc.

In a complaint filed Feb. 19 with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, Infineon claims Elpida infringes four patents related to dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, which acts as the main memory in computers.

“Infineon has always been at the forefront of advanced semiconductor processing technologies,” Hermann Eul, an Infineon management board member, said in a statement. “We will protect our intellectual-property rights, which arise from our commitment to cutting-edge research and development.”

Should it win the case, Infineon might be able to shut Elpida, Japan’s biggest DRAM maker, out of the U.S. market. The global market for DRAM chips is expected to surge by more than 40 percent this year to $31.9 billion as prices rise and demand for personal computers recovers, research firm ISuppli Corp. said last week. Read more here.