Building a Samsung-imitating chip factory in China by stealing trade secrets

The 65-year-old former CEO was charged with violating the law on the protection of industrial technology and the prevention of unfair competition, according to the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office.

Samsung suffered at least 300 billion won in losses due to former director stealing trade secrets. (Photo: Shutterstock)

He is accused of trying to build a complete replica of Samsung's semiconductor plant in China after illegally collecting confidential company data, including chip plant basic engineering data (BED), process layouts and design drawings, from August 2018 to 2019.

Prosecutors also indicted but did not detain six others for colluding in the technology leak, including an employee of a Samsung Electronics subcontractor and five employees of a Chinese chipmaker founded by the former executive.

BED is a technology needed to ensure that impurities do not exist in semiconductor manufacturing facilities. Process layout contains information about the floor plan and dimensions of the chip factory's eight core processes for semiconductor manufacturing. Trade secrets needed for the production of DRAM below 30 nanometers and NAND flash chips are considered national core technologies.

The replica Samsung chip plant was located just 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) from the “original” in Xi’an, according to prosecutors. However, his plan fell through after the Taiwanese company failed to fulfill its commitment to invest 8 trillion won ($6.2 billion).

Instead, the former CEO is said to have received 460 billion won in investment from Chinese investors and produced test products from a chip factory built on Samsung technology in Chengdu last year.

His Chinese chip plant employed about 200 people from Samsung and SK Hynix. He is accused of directing employees to collect and use Samsung's semiconductor design data and other trade secrets. Samsung is estimated to have suffered at least 300 billion won in losses due to technology leaks.

(According to Yonhap)

Samsung 'ambitions' to usurp TSMC: We are number two, no one is number one! Samsung is present in every field, from Galaxy phones, smart TVs to washing machines or refrigerators. For more than three decades, the Korean chaebol has also been the leading name in the memory chip industry - digital data storage devices.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/xay-nha-may-chip-bat-chuoc-samsung-tai-trung-quoc-nho-danh-cap-bi-mat-thuong-mai-2153893.html