Micron Now the Subject of Taiwanese Anti-Dumping Case

Computergram International, April 13, 1999

Micron Technology Inc, which last year accused its Taiwanese memory chip competitiors of dumping products onto the US market, has now been accused itself of dumping DRAMs in Taiwan. IBM Corp and Texas Instruments Inc were also named in the suit, filed by the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association and related to sales during 1997 and 1998.

TI has now exited the DRAM market after selling all its memory chip interests to Micron last June for $800m (CI No 3,435). Earlier in 1998, TI also sold off its 33% stake in the TI-Acer joint venture. IBM's presence in Taiwan has mostly been through licensing its manufacturing technology to Taiwanese companies. But Micron makes around 10% of its revenues from the Taiwanese market, and since buying TI's business it has around 50% of the Taiwanese DRAM market. Micron's case, filed last year with the US international Trade Commission, accused nine Taiwan DRAM manufacturers and four chip design firms of exporting their products to the US at prices below fair market value or production costs. The case is still pending. The TSIA has filed its case with Taipai's International Trade Commission, which promises a ruling within the next 45 days.