AI hardware patent wars intensify across memory and optics

Troutman Pepper Locke published an analysis article warning that AI hardware is entering a patent litigation cycle, rather than announcing a new corporate transaction or product.

• The article says a Texas-based technology company filed patent infringement actions in May 2026 in the Eastern and Western Districts of Texas, the District of Delaware, and the International Trade Commission (ITC), targeting Nvidia, SK Hynix, Kioxia, Corsair Gaming, and Western Digital.
• It frames HBM, chiplet interconnects, co-packaged optics, compute-in-memory, and advanced cooling as the main patent battlegrounds, and cites figures including $795.6 billion in global semiconductor sales in 2025, $2.93 billion HBM market value in 2024, $16.72 billion projected HBM market by 2033, and $4.68 billion to $25.80 billion growth in the liquid cooling market from 2025 to 2035.