by Anton Shilov
02/11/2003 | 04:18 PM
We already reported some weeks ago that Infineon had withdrawn its technology license from ProMOS beginning from the 1st January 2003. Without this license, the company does not have any rights to manufacture and sell its DRAM chips as all of them are presumably made using Infineon’s manufacturing technology. A couple of days ProMOS told its partners that a Tawanese court in a preliminary injunction had granted it the right to use process technology from Infineon Technologies AG for making DRAM chips, as reported at Silicon Strategies.
Unfortunately, not a lot of information about the situation is available now. For instance, it is not clear what the reaction of Infineon and 4 its representatives in ProMOS’ management board on the court ruling was. On the one hand, being a shareholder of ProMOS, the German company should worry about the Hsinchu-based memory maker’s financial condition, but on the other hand, presently ProMOS sells DRAM chips to Mosel Vitelic, an arch-rival of Infineon. <%BANNER[article]%>
ProMOS also said during a press conference that it had developed their own manufacturing process and now can stop utilising Infineon’s technology, though, we all remember that SiS also claimed it had its own fabrication process, but UMC still sued them accusing of numerous patents infringements. Even if Infineon now files a complaint, such legal disputes may last for years.
In short, ProMOS is back in business. But what will happen then? Stay tuned and we will report you more information about this exciting DRAM soap.