US Charges Chinese Companies in Trade Secrets Theft

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has charged companies in China and Taiwan and three individuals with stealing trade secrets from a U.S. semi-conductor company.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other officials were announcing the case Thursday.

The prosecution comes amid a mounting tariff battle between China and the U.S., and as American officials raise alarms about the threat of Chinese economic espionage.

The defendants include a Chinese-owned company singled out this week by the Trump administration. The Justice Department says the company targeted Idaho-based Micron MU over a technology that it produces that stores memory in electronics.

The Trump administration on Wednesday imposed restrictions on technology exports to one of the indicted companies, Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co.

The administration has characterized China, along with Russia, as a strategic competitor of the U.S.