TSMC: GlobalFoundries allegations of patent infringement are baseless

Chip manufacturer TSMC has given a brief response to the patent cases that competitor GlobalFoundries has started against the Taiwanese company. TSMC says it is disappointed with GlobalFoundries’ move and considers the allegations to be unfounded.

TSMC says it is in the process of reviewing GlobalFoundries’ charges, but the company says it is confident the allegations are unfounded. “We are disappointed that a foundry peer has opted for fruitless lawsuits instead of competing with technology in the marketplace.” The company says it will fight fiercely and use all options to protect its own technologies, which it says include more than 37,000 patents. With this, the company seems to indicate that it will defend itself in court against all charges.

The Taiwanese chip manufacturer does not say it literally, but implies with his statement that GlobalFoundries can more or less be regarded as a patent troll. TSMC thus portrays its American competitor as a company that tries to enforce its rights on the basis of patents and patents, but produces little or nothing in that area itself.

On Monday it became clear that GlobalFoundries had started patent cases against TSMC in the United States and Germany. These countries were deliberately chosen because the patents in question are registered by GlobalFoundries in those two countries. GlobalFoundries claims that TSMC infringes its intellectual property in its 7nm, 10nm, 12nm, 16nm, and 28nm process. The manufacturer has previously stopped developing its 7nm process and focuses on the existing 12nm and 14nm designs.

GlobalFoundries hopes not only to be able to claim damages, but also wants to enforce sales bans on tech products with chips made by TSMC. The American company specifically mentions companies such as Apple, Broadcom, Mediatek, Nvidia, Qualcomm and Xilinx as fabless chip designers, but also the necessary smartphone makers. These companies all have products with chips manufactured by TSMC. The sales bans, such as for smartphones from Apple and video cards from Nvidia, would only apply to Germany and the US.