TSMC dismisses UMC legal threat

The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has poo-poo'd warnings from United Microelectronics that it could be at the receiving end of a major lawsuit if it accepts orders from Silicon Integrated Systems.

UMC's warning comes on the heels of its legal action - filed in the US courts - against SIS for allegedly ripping off its 0.18 micron process technology, Taiwanese business paper the Commercial Times reports.

UMC chairman John Hsuan said that that action may be extended to TSMC if it signs a production contract with SIS.

TSMC's response, made by company president Tseng Fan-chen in an official statement, is simply that it will work with any company which wants to use its fab capacity.

And it's hard to see how UMC could seriously challenge TSMC, if SIS does decide to contract out chip manufacturing to its rival.

Only if SIS insists that TSMC uses the manufacturing process which it has allegedly swiped (according to UMC) could the foundry reasonably be the target of legal action. In such a case TSMC would almost certainly arrange suitable protection - so SiS picks up the tap fi TSMC is hit by UMC. ®