AI Infrastructure Fight: UPC Allows German Giant to Ex Parte Dismantle Chinese Rival's Exhibit
June 1, 2026
The UPC Munich Local Division has made public two provisional measures cases on Monday in which it granted German power equipment giant Reinhausen GmbH (MR) an emergency ex parte application to dismantle, photograph and seize an on-load tap changer (OLTC) exhibited by Chinese rival Shanghai Huaming Power Equipment Co. (Huaming) at an industry trade fair in Berlin, as the two companies clash over who gets to supply a crucial component for AI data centers.
The order issued May 20 by Presiding Judge Daniel Voß (docket numbers UPC-CFI-0001751/2026, UPC-CFI-0001752/2026, UPC-CFI-0001746/2026, UPC-CFI-0001747/2026) authorizes MR, through an expert and a bailiff, to inspect Huaming’s “DET-24kV” OLTC at booth 27E40 of the CWIEME fair. The court expressly allows the OLTC “to be disassembled into its functional individual parts,” “the on-load tap-changer base plate to be removed and electrical measurements to be carried out,” and, if necessary, the physical seizure of the device itself.
The court sided with MR without hearing Huaming because it was afraid evidence would be destroyed. The order notes that Huaming is based in China and the fair ends May 21, after which “the respondent will take the OLTC to be inspected back to China, where an inspection and securing of evidence is fundamentally impossible.” The court also cited the applicant’s statement that Huaming’s 2025 exhibition device was a “non-functional dummy,” which had prevented MR from obtaining product information through other means.
The patents are EP3427284 B1, titled “on-load tap changer device” and EP3427283 B1, titled “Selector for an on-load tap changer and on-load tap changer with load transfer switch and selector". They cover components of large power transformers that regulates voltage while the transformer is live. With the boom in AI data center construction, the strategic importance of OLTCs has surged. Hyperscale AI computing centers require extremely stable voltage, making the OLTC a critical link in the power supply for computing infrastructure.
The global OLTC market is a classic oligopoly. The top three players hold 82% of the global market. MR has long been the global leader with over 40% market share. Huaming is the only Chinese company mastering the core technology, holding about 18% of the global market and 90% of the Chinese market. Hitachi Energy ranks third. Huaming’s overseas revenue has grown rapidly in recent years, with exports exceeding $100 million in 2025, up 47% year-on-year, and overseas markets now accounting for 20% of its total revenue.
The order provides that service on Huaming shall occur at the same time as enforcement, meaning Huaming may first learn of the decision when a bailiff arrives at its booth. To balance the parties’ interests, the court imposed a confidentiality regime: the expert’s detailed technical description will be filed with the court first, and Huaming will have four weeks to apply for confidentiality; otherwise, the description will be fully disclosed to MR. The court did not require MR to post security, reasoning that “unlike an injunction, the inspection and securing of evidence will at most cause minor damage to the respondent.”
If MR secures an injunction in the subsequent main proceedings, Huaming’s expansion in the European AI data center power market would be directly blocked. It is foreseeable that patent litigation related to AI data centers and infrastructure will only increase in the future.
Reinhausen GmbH was represented by Tobias Schneider and Dr. Detlef Mäder of Luther Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH, and Dr. Marius Fischer of BARDEHLE PAGENBERG Partnerschaft mbB.