(Yicai) Dec. 27 -- US chipmaking giant Micron Technology and Chinese state-backed company Jinhua Integrated Circuits have reached a global settlement agreement over an intellectual property dispute that erupted six years ago.

"The two companies will globally dismiss their complaints against each other and end all lawsuits," according to an email from Micron obtained by Yicai. The settlement content is private, and Micron will not release related details, the email also showed.

The settlement between Micron and Jinhua can be regarded as the US firm's goodwill to the Chinese market, analysts said. In the fiscal year from September last year to August this year, the Chinese mainland was Micron's third-largest market, contributing USD2.2 billion or 14 percent to the company's total revenue.

In 2016, three Micron executives resigned and joined United Microelectronics, which later signed deals with Jinhua to develop an deliver 32-nanometer dynamic random-access memory technologie. Therefore, Micron sued United Microelectronics and Jinhua in Taiwan and the US for the former executive's theft of commercial secrets and IP infringements. In return, Jinhua and United Microelectronics sued Micron for suspected IP infringements of its products sold in the Chinese market.

The parties have been stuck in lengthy lawsuit procedures since then.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Commerce added Jinhua to its list of entities under export restrictions, citing national security concerns. Afterward, United Microelectronics halted the development of DRAM-related techs with Jinhua, forcing plants in which Jinhua invested USD6 billion to stop production.

In November 2021, United Microelectronics reached a settlement deal with Micron, according to which the two sides would withdraw their lawsuits, and United Microelectronics would give Micron an unknown one-off reconciliation payment.

Editors: Zhang Yushuo, Futura Costaglione