Micron, an American chip maker, grew suspicious after discovering one of its departing engineers had turned to Google for instructions on how to wipe a company laptop.
"This is how you lose a major tech company. First, a Beijing-backed buyout offer. Then friendly Chinese partnership proposals. Then the tech gets stolen. Then when you file a complaint in court, you get hit with investigations in China, your biggest market."
"Inside a Heist of American Chip Designs, as China Bids for Tech Power" by PAUL MOZUR via NYT *****PBhSThxW7O
— Tech Startup (@TechStartupIdea) June 22, 2018
This is the long and strong arm of Chinese industrial policy. It’s not just massive subsidies or regulatory pressure or ip theft, it’s all three working together with a massive market that can be weaponized to help domestic companies and slam foreign ones.
— Paul Mozur (@paulmozur) June 22, 2018
That means we’ll probably see more cases like this. China’s government is moving as aggressively as ever to get the ability to make its own tech. As the US pushes back, China is unlikely to give.
— Paul Mozur (@paulmozur) June 22, 2018
The efforts sometimes seem ham-handed. For instance the engineer in this case raised suspicions because he Googled how to wipe his work computer. Later the Chinese company used Micron’s own code names in slides that were supposed to be about its internally developed products.
— Paul Mozur (@paulmozur) June 22, 2018
The tech that Idaho-based Micron says was taken will likely end up in this factory. It was put up in just 2 years on farm fields in the Chinese city of Jinjiang. Funded by local governments, the same hearing the patent lawsuit filed against Micron. pic.twitter.com/YscecKzwXc
— Paul Mozur (@paulmozur) June 22, 2018
