Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) has filed a lawsuit against rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), claiming TSMC engaged in “unfair competition” and hurt its reputation by suing SMIC for alleged violations of an earlier settlement.
TSMC “rather than competing fairly in the marketplace, have undertaken a concerted effort to infringe SMIC’s legal rights unfairly,” SMIC said in a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange. SMIC, which is based in Shanghai, filed the lawsuit in the High People’s Court in Beijing.
In addition to charging TSMC with unfair competition, SMIC alleged in the suit that the Taiwanese government had restricted its “development in China,” the filing said.
Reached for comment on Friday afternoon, J.H. Tzeng, a spokesman for TSMC, said the company had not yet seen the complaint and could not immediately comment on SMIC’s allegations.
The SMIC lawsuit is the latest legal challenge in the ongoing battle between the two contract chip makers. In August, TSMC sued SMIC in a U.S. court for violating the terms of a 2005 settlement that ended a patent-infringement lawsuit between the two companies.
