TSMC Files Counter-Charge Against GlobalFoundries for Patent Infringement

TSMC has filed a counter-charge against competitor GlobalFoundries for alleged infringement of 25 patents. The manufacturer does this in Germany, the United States and Singapore. GlobalFoundries sued TSMC for the same reason last month.

According to TSMC, GlobalFoundries has infringed 25 patents in its 40nm, 24nm, 22nm, 14nm and 12nm processes. The 25 patents in question are related to various techniques, including the production of finfet chips and specific lithographic processes. These processes are at the heart of modern semiconductor manufacturing, according to TSMC.

The company says it has “invested tens of billions of dollars in innovation,” thereby contributing “substantially to advances in semiconductor manufacturing technologies.” With the lawsuit, the company says it hopes to protect these investments and TSMC’s reputation, and demands that the production and sale of the infringing products be stopped. TSMC also hopes for a “substantial financial compensation” from its American competitor.

In August, GlobalFoundries sued TSMC for alleged patent infringement. With this, it hoped to block the supply of tech products that use TSMC chips. According to the company, TSMC has been illegally taking advantage of GlobalFoundries’ multi-billion dollar investments for years. The company has demanded undisclosed damages from TSMC for the “tens of billions of dollars” the company allegedly lost as a result of the patent infringement.

TSMC is one of the largest manufacturers of semiconductors and supplies chips to Apple, Nvidia and Qualcomm, among others. GlobalFoundries started in 2009 as a joint venture of AMD and ATIC, with AMD owning about 34 percent of the shares. After GlobalFoundries stopped developing semiconductors at 7nm and smaller in 2018, AMD also switched to TSMC semiconductors for its processors and GPUs, which are currently produced at 7nm. Last week, GlobalFoundries announced that the company wants to go public in 2022.