Truck with $2 million of Maxim's chips hijacked in Asia
Company offers $50,000 reward for missing ICs
Mark LaPedus
EE Times
(04/22/2005 2:42 AM EDT)
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Chip maker Maxim Integrated Products Inc. late Thursday (April 21) said that some $2.2 million worth of untested chips were stolen in Malaysia.
Maxim (Sunnyvale, Calif.) said that a truck that was forwarding the company's devices was hijacked in Malaysia on April 16. The truck belonged to the NNR line, according to the company.
In a statement, the company said it is in the process of notifying the customers for whom these parts were intended. It is offering a reward of $50,000 for evidence that leads to the arrest and conviction of the responsible parties, including the recovery of the parts.
The stolen devices, according to the company, have not gone through Maxim's entire manufacturing process, including final test. "It is therefore possible that using these untested devices in systems could cause the systems to fail," according to Maxim. "The failure rate could be as high as 30 percent."
Maxim said it cannot be responsible for damages caused by the use of any of the stolen units.
The part numbers and date codes of the stolen units can be accessed via the Internet by going to this site.
The company also advises against the purchase of the listed devices from any seller other than those approved by the company. Contact information for Maxim's approved distributors and sales representatives, including Maxim Direct, can be found on Maxim's Web site.
It requests that anyone who is approached with an offer to purchase the above parts to contact their local Maxim representative or call Brian Marvin, director of worldwide security by phone at (408)737-7600.
Marvin can be reached by regular mail at Maxim Integrated Products, 120 San Gabriel Drive, Sunnyvale, Calif., USA 94086, or by e-mail at brian_marvin@maximhq.com.
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