The alleged theft poses a threat to the Taiwanese semiconductor industry’s global competitiveness, prosecutors say.
TAIPEI, Taiwan—Local prosecutors have indicted three individuals for allegedly stealing trade secrets from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TSMC) to help a Japanese equipment supplier secure more orders from the world’s largest contract chipmaker.
The three defendants, who were arrested earlier this month, were charged under the National Security Act and the Trade Secrets Act, the High Prosecutors’ Office’s Intellectual Property Branch announced in an Aug. 27 press release.
The case marks the first time Taiwan’s National Security Law has been used to prosecute the theft of what are considered Taiwan’s national core technologies, according to prosecutors.
“This case involves core technologies that are the lifeline of [Taiwan’s] industries and seriously threatens the international competitiveness of its semiconductor industry,” prosecutors wrote, according to a translation of the original text.
Among those charged was a former TSMC employee—identified only as a former yield engineer surnamed Chen—for whom prosecutors are seeking a 14-year prison sentence. After leaving TSMC, Chen joined Tokyo Electron, a Japanese supplier of chipmaking equipment, where he worked in the marketing department.
Prosecutors alleged that Chen repeatedly asked individuals still working at TSMC to obtain proprietary chip production information, to help his new company boost equipment sales to his former employer.
Two of those individuals—identified only by their surnames, Wu and Ko—allegedly aided Chen by providing him with information to photograph. Prosecutors are seeking prison terms of nine years for Wu and seven years for Ko.
The TSMC information that Chen allegedly obtained was used to improve Tokyo Electron’s etching tools that could be used in TSMC’s 2-nanometer (nm) production lines, according to prosecutors.
Etching tools typically utilize reactive gases or plasma to selectively remove specific materials during the chipmaking process.
As semiconductor chips become smaller, they typically become more efficient and can run faster while using less power. To meet the growing demand for computing power, chips need to pack in more transistors, which requires increasing their density.
By Frank Fang
