NEW YORK, March 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gainey McKenna & Egleston announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against United Microelectronics Corporation (“UMC” or the “Company”) (NYSE: UMC) in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of those who purchased or acquired the securities of UMC between October 28, 2015 and November 1, 2018, inclusive (the “Class Period”), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants’ violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder.
The Complaint alleges Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) UMC conspired with Fujian to steal trade secrets from Micron relating to its research and development of DRAM; (2) UMC hired former Micron employees for the purpose of stealing such information from Micron; (3) the foregoing conduct placed UMC and certain of its employees at an increased risk of criminal and regulatory investigation by the U.S. government; and (4) as a result, UMC’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
On May 13, 2016, the Company announced that it had entered into a Dynamic Random-Access Memory (“DRAM”) Technology Cooperation Agreement with Fujian Jianhua Integrated Circuit Co. Ltd. (“Fujian”). Under the agreement, Fujian was to provide UMC with related equipment for its research and development, as well as service fees subject to the progress of the technology development. UMC was to develop DRAM related technologies for Fujian and deliver such development results to Fujian before May 12, 2021. The developed technologies were to be jointly owned by both parties. DRAM is a memory device product used in electronics to store information. DRAM is a technologically advanced commodity that is widely used in digital electronics, as well as leading-edge computing, consumer, networking, automotive, industrial, embedded, and mobile productions.
At all relevant times, one of UMC’s primary competitors has been Micron Technology, Inc. (“Micron”), a leading U.S. semiconductor company known for its development and production of DRAM products.
On November 1, 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) indicted UMC, Fujian, and Chen Zhengkun a.k.a. Stephen Chen (“Chen”), a former Micron employee hired by UMC, for conspiracy to commit economic espionage, conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets, and economic espionage (receiving and possessing stolen trade secrets). The indictment stated that the companies conspired to steal trade secrets from Micron relating to its research and development of memory storage devices. According to the indictment, the conspiracy to commit economic espionage began in or around January 2016, the conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets began in or about October 2015, and the economic espionage (receiving and possessing stolen trade secrets) began in or about February 2016.
Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares during the Class Period should contact the Firm prior to the May 13, 2019 lead plaintiff motion deadline. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. If you wish to discuss your rights or interests regarding this class action, please contact Thomas J. McKenna, Esq. or Gregory M. Egleston, Esq. of Gainey McKenna & Egleston at (212) 983-1300, or via e-mail at tjmckenna@gme-law.com or gegleston@gme-law.com.
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