Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co. Ltd. or JHICC is a Chinese
state-owned
State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownersh ...
DRAM
Dynamic random-access memory (dynamic RAM or DRAM) is a type of random-access semiconductor memory that stores each bit of data in a memory cell, usually consisting of a tiny capacitor and a transistor, both typically based on metal-oxid ...
manufacturer
Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ran ...
based in Fujian, China. It is part of the
Made in China 2025
Made in China 2025 ()[Made in China 2025](_blank)
. CSIS, June 1, 2015. (MIC25, MIC 2025, or ...
program,
a component of China's strategy to gain self sufficiency in the semiconductor industry, and had claimed to be a national leader in China's tech industry.
Founding and purpose
Fujian Jinhua is a Chinese state-owned company, founded in February 2016, with an investment of US$5.6 billion from the Chinese national government and
Fujian
Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...
provincial government.
Its management, as reported by
''China Daily'', said that its goal is to "fill the gap in the domestic market by producing integrated circuit products for mobile phone manufacturers in the country."
It was part of the Chinese government's plan to reach 70% self-sufficiency in semiconductors by the year 2025,
and not be reliant on countries like
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
.
Fujian Jinhua was to concentrate on DRAM development, along with
Changxin Memory Technologies, previously known as Innotron.
Fujian Jinhua planned to develop its production capacity for DRAM chips in servers, in cooperation with Taiwan-based
United Microelectronics Corporation
United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC; ) is a Taiwanese company based in Hsinchu, Taiwan. It was founded as Taiwan's first semiconductor company in 1980 as a spin-off of the government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) ...
(UMC).
Fujian Jinhua's production facility is in
Jinjiang, Fujian.
It was expected to be China's largest single integrated circuit manufacturing facility and have its first phase completed in September 2018. Fujian Jinhua planned to produce products worth $6 billion each year.
Along with other state-backed chip companies like
Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. and Changxin, Fujian Jinhua was seen as crucial for China's self-sufficiency in the semiconductor industry.
Dispute with Micron
Micron Technology
Micron Technology, Inc. is an American producer of computer memory and computer data storage including dynamic random-access memory, flash memory, and USB flash drives. It is headquartered in Boise, Idaho. Its consumer products, including ...
, a U.S. memory chip maker, accused Fujian Jinhua and UMC of stealing Micron chip designs.
It accused UMC of hiring Micron employees, stealing its trade secrets, and transferring them to Fujian Jinhua. Fujian Jinhua countersued in China, successfully convincing a Chinese court to ban some of Micron's chips in China.
U.S. government sanctions and indictment
In October 2018, the U.S. placed Fujian Jinhua on the
Bureau of Industry and Security
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce that deals with issues involving national security and high technology. A principal goal for the bureau is helping stop the proliferation of weapo ...
's
Entity List
The Entity List is a trade restriction list published by the United States Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), consisting of certain foreign persons, entities, or governments. Entities on the Entity List are subject to U ...
, meaning that it cannot buy goods with components, software or technology from American firms.
The move took place in the midst of the
U.S.-China Trade War. The Trump administration alleged that Fujian Jinhua could flood the market with cheap chips and bankrupt American firms that supply the U.S. military, and was therefore a national security threat.
China asserted that the move violated WTO rules on trade and was aimed at protecting a U.S. monopoly.
Trade experts said that the use of the entities list to protect the economic viability of a U.S. firm, rather than to sanction another country, was unprecedented.
Then, in November 2018, the U.S.
Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...
announced an indictment against Fujian Jinhua and Taiwanese company
UMC, alleging that they conspired to steal intellectual property from
Micron
The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Unit ...
.
The indictment was originally filed in September 2018.
The U.S. government sees the case of Fujian Jinhua as part of a broader pattern of IP theft. The firm plead not guilty in January 2019.
After U.S. sanctions, UMC said it suspended its partnership with Jinhua, and by early 2019, 200 of 300 UMC engineers sent to Fujian Jinhua returned to Taiwan.
Media reports suggested that Fujian Jinhua ceased production in March 2019.
In October 2020, UMC pleaded guilty to one count of receiving and possessing a stolen trade-secret, and agreed to pay a US$60 million fine, in exchange for co-operating against Fujian Jinhua.
References
External links
* {{Official website
Companies based in Fujian
Government-owned companies of China
Semiconductor companies of China
Companies established in 2016