Netlist asks ITC to block Micron HBM chips used by Nvidia and Google, a day before Micron earnings

Netlist has asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to open a new investigation into Micron's high bandwidth memory, the stacked DRAM that sits next to AI processors, and to issue exclusion and cease and desist orders against Micron and three of its customers: Nvidia, Broadcom and Google. Netlist's release says two patents, Nos. 12,308,087 and 12,646,537, cover at least Micron's HBM3E, HBM4 and HBM4E products. Reuters framed it as a request for an import ban.

Micron barely noticed. The stock was at $1,065.50 just before noon in New York, up 1.09% on the day, according to Nasdaq, for a market value of about $1.2 trillion. Netlist, which trades on the OTCQB market, was near $5.44, according to Yahoo Finance. Stocktwits reported that JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley both stayed positive on Micron going into Wednesday's results.

A complaint is the first step of a long process

Under the ITC's own rule, 19 CFR 210.10, the commission normally decides within 30 days of filing whether to open an investigation, though supplements to a complaint can push that out. The statute then requires a target date for finishing to be set within 45 days of the start. If the commission eventually orders an exclusion, the president gets a 60-day review period and can reject it on policy grounds. During that window, the goods can keep coming in under a bond.

Netlist's own record shows how long this takes. Its first ITC case against SK hynix opened on October 7, 2016 and ended on January 16, 2018 with no violation found, about 15 months later. Its second SK hynix case began in December 2017. In October 2019 an administrative judge found a violation on two claims. The full commission reviewed that ruling, found Netlist had not proved infringement, and ended the case on April 7, 2020, roughly 28 months after it started.

The Samsung precedent is the part investors watch

Netlist has used this route against Samsung too. Federal Register notices show the ITC opened 337-TA-1472 against Samsung on December 29, 2025 and 337-TA-1511 on July 15, 2026. The two patents in today's Micron complaint were among those asserted in those Samsung cases: the '087 in the first and the '537 in the second.

Neither Samsung case reached a ruling. On August 5, Netlist announced five-year agreements with Samsung covering a license to its full patent portfolio, including its HBM patents, plus product supply and technology cooperation. The two sides agreed to settle all pending cases, and Samsung agreed to buy ten million Netlist shares. For Netlist, the ITC matters mostly as pressure toward a license. It has rarely delivered an actual ban.

Micron now faces two ITC cases

This is the second ITC complaint Netlist has filed against Micron since August. The August 12 filing covered four patents that Netlist says read on DDR5 server modules. It also named Super Micro, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Lenovo, and it came with a separate lawsuit in federal court in California. The commission opened that case as 337-TA-1523 on September 23, 43 days after filing.

Both cases seek limited exclusion orders, so they target the named respondents' imports and not every HBM stack entering the country. Naming Nvidia, Broadcom and Google matters because their AI accelerators are where Micron's HBM ends up. None of that changes anything for Micron's report tomorrow. Our earnings preview sets out the guidance the stock is being judged on, and Michael Burry's added short covers the bear case on the memory cycle. Expect questions on the call about the HBM customer base, but any real legal risk is a 2027 or 2028 issue, not a fiscal fourth-quarter one.

Sources: Netlist press releases via PR Newswire (September 29, August 12 and August 5, 2026); U.S. International Trade Commission notices in the Federal Register; 19 CFR 210.10; 19 U.S.C. 1337; Reuters; Stocktwits; quotes from Nasdaq and Yahoo Finance, which may be delayed. This is market information, not investment advice.