In December of 2013, Xilinx filed a lawsuit against Singapore-based electronics contract manufacturer Flextronics for fraudulently selling Xilinx semiconductor chips to customers at unauthorized prices. Xilinx claims Flextronics purchased these parts at discounted rates by ordering on behalf of Flextronics customer Airvana Network Solutions. Flextronics then sold the same parts to Checkpoint Systems at $4.50 more than what Flextronics had paid Xilinx. Xilinx further claims that Flextronics relabeled parts bought from Xilinx as higher-performance components.
Additionally, the suit charges that Flextronics has dealt in “gray markets and counterfeit,” misrepresenting Xilinx’s devices by purchasing from unauthorized dealers and reselling them to Xilinx customers, as well as making unauthorized sales to “unknown purchasers in Asia” without export licenses, which Xilinx claims not only violates US export laws, but could possibly lead to a threat in national security.