Micron filed a lawsuit against Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) on September 15 in Boise, Idaho. The plaintiff alleges that YMTC illegally acquired confidential 3D NAND manufacturing technologies by recruiting former Micron engineers who held trade secrets.
According to Micron, the stolen technical data covers high-aspect-ratio etching, gate formation, 3D NAND layer connection, vertical channel creation, and I/O circuit design. These technologies allegedly appeared in YMTC products starting from the 64-layer generation.
Micron claims that former employees registered patents based on its proprietary developments under YMTC's name. The company is now seeking legal ownership of these patents, arguing they were derived from its own confidential research and development.
The legal conflict between the two firms began in 2023, with YMTC initially accusing Micron of infringing on eight US patents. Litigation has since expanded to courts in California, Texas, China, the UK, Germany, and the EU Unified Patent Court.
In September 2026, a Munich court ruled that Micron infringed on two German utility models held by YMTC, leading to a sales ban on certain products in Germany. Micron has appealed this decision and is challenging the validity of the underlying patents.
