The New York Times - Dan Loeb Enters the Chip Wars

OMI Europe director Max von Thun was quoted on Europe’s diverging views from the U.S. on the threat emanating from Chinese-owned TikTok.

Von Thun was as quoted as saying Europe’s trade relationship with China “makes it very difficult for Brussels to reach the consensus needed to take tough measures singling out either China itself or leading Chinese companies.”  

A small computer chip design company, R2 Semiconductor, has been notching wins in a potentially big patent fight against Intel over the past few months — a dispute that could force Intel to stop selling several chip lines in Europe.

Behind R2’s legal war is one of the biggest names in hedge funds, DealBook is first to report: Dan Loeb’s activist hedge fund Third Point, the company’s majority owner, is bankrolling the lawsuits, including two new ones against Amazon Web Services and Fujitsu that haven’t been previously reported.

The context: R2 sued Intel, as well as two customers, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Dell, in Germany, alleging that the chipmaker had infringed on a patent dealing with voltage regulation in semiconductors. (Intel is indemnifying H.P.E. and Dell.)

A regional court in February issued injunctions against the sale of at least some Intel chips. And on March 8, a higher court rejected Intel’s effort to halt the decision. Meanwhile, a trial in Britain over the patent is set to begin next month.

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