President Donald Trump mentioned Boise-based Micron during his speech before the United Nations on Tuesday, using the high-tech company to denounce China’s trade tactics.
Micron is currently suing companies in China and Taiwan for intellectual property theft. Trump said that intel is worth $8.7 billion.
“I believe that [value] sounds reasonable,” said Jack Marr, who researches and teaches international business at Boise State University, “because there is an immense amount of research and development that goes into producing these technologies.”
The Trump administration hopes its trade war will force China to stop stealing this kind of data and open up its market to more U.S. tech companies. But Marr says some of the tactics are hurting American tech companies due to the symbiotic relationship the industry has with Chinese producers.
Find reporter Madelyn Beck on Twitter @MadelynBeck8
Copyright 2019 Boise State Public Radio
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUER in Salt Lake City, KUNR in Nevada and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.