Infineon is terminating its technology license agreement with ProMOS, the Taiwanese semiconductor foundry, following court approval in Taiwan.

At the same time, the Hsinchu District Court has ordered the immediate re-instatement of two Infineon employees who were, says Infineon, "illegally removed at the Extraordinary Shareholder Meeting of ProMOS on January 10".

Infineon is a major shareholder in ProMOS and is locked in a bitter dispute with Taiwanese firm Mosel-Vitelic, the other major shareholder, and former JV partner. ProMOS makes, or rather, made DRAM chips using Infineon technology. Infineon then supplied Mosel Vitelic with DRAM chips.

Infineon walked away from the deal, in place since 1996, last year, citing "repeated breach of contract" by Mosel Vitelic. At the time, it said it hoped to renegotiate a supply relationship with ProMOS. Now it is playing hard ball. In a statement today, the German firm says: "There is no more a basis to continue this cooperation because of repeated violations of the shareholders agreement by Mosel Vitelic, the breach of the license agreement by ProMOS and further measures by Mosel Vitelic, which controls the ProMOS board, impairing the partnership." ®