A jury at the Superior Court of California in Alameda County has ruled in favor of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in its case against Semiconductor Manufacturing International, reports Computerworld. The case involves theft of trade secrets, patent infringement and breach of contract over a previous settlement between TSMC and SMIC.

The next phase of the trial will be to assess damages, which could force SMIC to seek a buy-out. TSMC may be awarded up to $1 billion, and could also win an injunction to stop infringing chips from entering the U.S.

However, it's not clear how a judgement in a U.S. court would hold up in China, where SMIC is based. SMIC doesn't believe the judgement will have much impact:

According to our understanding, the U.S. court's decision would only be effective in the U.S., but would not have the power to impact our Chinese customers. SMIC's main clients are in China.