From CNET: GlobalFoundries, a US-based semiconductor foundry, is suing chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company over patent infringement. GF claims that TSMC violates 16 of its patents and is looking to block devices that have the offending technology from entering the US and Germany.
While not widely known to US consumers, TSMC-made chips can be found in a host of consumer electronics from the likes of Apple, Qualcomm, Google, OnePlus, TCL, Lenovo and Motorola.
Whereas companies like Apple and Qualcomm design their own processors -- such as Apple's latest A12 Bionic and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855 -- TSMC is the one who does the manufacturing of the alleged infringing chips, which then make their way into the aforementioned companies' devices, such as the iPhone XS and Google Pixel 3.
A total of 20 companies are listed as defendants in GF's lawsuits, which were filed Monday in the US International Trade Commission, the US Federal District Courts in the Districts of Delaware and the Western District of Texas, and the Regional Courts of Dusseldorf and Mannheim in Germany.
In addition to looking to block the import of products that have chips that infringe on its patents, the company also says it is seeking "significant damages from TSMC based on TSMC's unlawful use of GF's proprietary technology in its tens of billions of dollars of sales."
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