(Yicai) Aug. 14 -- Beijing E-Town Semiconductor Technology, a leading Chinese semiconductor equipment firm, has filed a lawsuit against US competitor Applied Materials for allegedly infringing its trade secrets.

E-Town alleges that two employees at Mattson Technology, a US firm it acquired in 2016, stole core production technology secrets owned by the unit, resigned, and then joined Applied Materials, where they developed products using the technology and promoted them to Chinese customers.

Applied Materials attempted to appropriate the technology by filing an invention patent application with the China National Intellectual Property Administration, Beijing-based E-Town also alleged yesterday.

E-Town is asking the Beijing court to which it filed the lawsuit to order Advanced Materials to cease all infringement activities, and pay a compensation of three times the amount of its losses plus reasonable expenses incurred to stop the infringement for a total of CNY100 million (USD13.9 million). The court has accepted the case, but no trial date has been set yet.

E-Town designs and makes chip production equipment. Its products have entered the supply chains of the world’s top 10 chipmakers and leading Chinese firms. Last year, E-Town’s sales revenue from the Chinese market accounted for 67 percent of its entire income.

E-Town’s shares [SHA: 688729] closed down 1.8 percent at CNY22.46 (USD3.13) each today, after gaining by as much as 2.2 percent in morning trading. The company listed on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style Star Market on July 8.

Editor: Futura Costaglione