Prosecutors in Taiwan have charged a former TSMC employee with stealing the chipmaking giant's "core" technology and attempting to leak it to China.
The man surnamed Chen has been charged with offences under the National Security Act and the Trade Secrets Act, the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office's Intellectual Property Branch said Monday, hailing it as the first such case on the island.
Chen was working as a deputy manager at TSMC between May 2023 and February 2024 when he allegedly conspired with a Chinese man to set up a chip company in China, prosecutors said.
They intended to poach Taiwanese talent from the semiconductor industry and then have them "infiltrate Taiwan's semiconductor industry and channel technology back" to the Chinese company.
That would gradually erode "Taiwan's leading competitive position" in the global chip industry, prosecutors said.
To prove his expertise to Chinese financial backers and technical experts, Chen allegedly copied 21 TSMC documents containing the company's "national security and general trade secrets".
Chen allegedly took the documents home to study with the intention of using them in China, but TSMC discovered "irregularities" and launched an investigation.
After analysing electronic records and physical evidence, prosecutors said they "determined that the evidence of Chen's crimes was clear".
Prosecutors said they are seeking a seven-year prison term for Chen, in Taiwan's "first-ever indictment for attempted transfer of national core critical technology trade secrets" to China.
Chen's alleged co-conspirator died before he could be prosecuted, they said.
AFP
