WASHINGTON — The United States has charged companies in China and Taiwan and three individuals with stealing trade secrets from a U.S. semi-conductor company, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

The prosecution comes amid heightened trade tensions and as American officials raise alarms about Chinese economic espionage.

The Justice Department said the defendants, including a Chinese-owned company singled out this week by the Trump administration, targeted Idaho-based Micron over a technology it produces that stores memory in electronics. Tensions over trade have exacerbated relations between the two nations.