In July 2015, the president of Micron's Taiwan subsidiary, Chen Zhengkun, also known as Stephen Chen, left to join United Microelectronics Corporation, a semiconductor foundry headquartered in Taiwan. Some months later, in early 2016, Jinhua, the Chinese company, began discussions with United Microelectronics to forge a technology cooperation agreement, according to the indictment. Chen helped negotiate the agreement, and in early 2017 became president of Jinhua in charge of its DRAM factory, prosecutors said.