Beijing E-Town Semiconductor Technology Co. has filed a lawsuit at the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, alleging the California firm illegally obtained, used and disclosed its core plasma-source technology for treating wafer surfaces.

The case, which has now been accepted by the court, stems from Applied’s hiring of two former employees of E-Town’s US subsidiary, Mattson.

According to E-Town, the pair had access to proprietary know-how and shortly after switching teams were listed as inventors on a Chinese patent application filed by Applied Materials.

E-Town claims the patent exposes co-owned trade secrets and breaches China’s Anti-Unfair Competition Law. The company says the Santa Clara firm has caused significant damage to its intellectual property and economic interests and is now flogging the same plasma tech to Chinese customers.

The Chinese firm wants the court to force Applied to stop using the disputed technology, destroy all related materials and cough up 100 million yuan (€12.9 million) in damages.

Applied Materials hasn’t commented, but the row ramps up tension in the already boiling chip tech standoff between China and the US. With local players pushing to home-grow semiconductor tools, lawsuits like this will only add fuel to the fire.