Ex-Samsung exec indicted for stealing trade secrets to build copycat plant in China

[Raubern]

SEOUL, June 12 (Yonhap) -- A former senior executive of Samsung Electronics Co. has been arrested and indicted for stealing the chip giant's trade secrets to build a copycat chip plant in China, prosecutors said Monday.

The 65-year-old former executive, whose name is withheld, was charged with violating the industrial technology protection and unfair competition prevention laws, according to the Suwon District Prosecutors Office.

He is accused of attempting to build a complete copy of Samsung's semiconductor factory in China after illegally acquiring the company's confidential data, including chip plant basic engineering data (BED) and process layout and design drawings, from August 2018 to 2019.

The prosecution also indicted six other people -- one employee of a Samsung Electronics subcontractor and five employees of a Chinese chipmaker established by the former executive -- without detention on charges of colluding in the alleged technology leak.

BED is a technology needed to ensure impurities do not exist in semiconductor manufacturing facilities. Process layout contains information on the floor plan and dimension of a chip plant's eight core processes for semiconductor production. Such trade secrets essential for the manufacturing of sub-30-nano DRAM and NAND flash chips are considered national core technologies.

According to prosecutors, the former executive had attempted to use the stolen technologies and data to build a copy of Samsung Electronics chip plant just 1.5 kilometers away from the company's chip plant in Xian, western China. But his plan failed to materialize as a Taiwanese company broke its promise to invest 8 trillion won (US$6.2 billion) in the project, they said.

Instead, the former executive reportedly received an investment worth 460 billion won from Chinese investors and produced trial products from a chip manufacturing plant built on the basis of Samsung technology in Chengdu last year.

His Chinese chip plant is known to have hired about 200 people from Samsung and SK hynix Inc. He allegedly instructed his employees to obtain and use Samsung's semiconductor design data and other trade secrets and they participated in the crime according to his instructions, prosecutors said, estimating Samsung suffered damage of at least 300 billion won due to the technology leaks.

https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20230612005100315

[Mustank]

Got build 4090? 🤪

[Voodooman]

Decades ago, Samsung built its semiconductor business hiring Japanese engineers who were being laid off by Sony, Hitachi, Toshiba. What is new? 

[kobayashiGT]

On 6/13/2023 at 6:06 PM, Mustank said:

Got build 4090? 🤪

4090 Nvidia lah. hahaha

Exynos or smth is Samsung. haahhaah 

[Arogab]

One Korean friend was telling me, when they were in school days, they cannot find love. So, they buy love after they come out to work.

And it become the same, they want to surpass the Japs, they copy them. It became a national pride for them to copy the japs and surpass them.

So, it will depend on where you stand. The stealing side or the stolen sides. 😂

[Throttle2]

On 6/13/2023 at 10:44 PM, Voodooman said:

Decades ago, Samsung built its semiconductor business hiring Japanese engineers who were being laid off by Sony, Hitachi, Toshiba. What is new? 

I copy you 

you copy me

copy here and there

heehehhhehhe

[inlinesix]

On 6/14/2023 at 9:53 AM, Arogab said:

One Korean friend was telling me, when they were in school days, they cannot find love. So, they buy love after they come out to work.

And it become the same, they want to surpass the Japs, they copy them. It became a national pride for them to copy the japs and surpass them.

So, it will depend on where you stand. The stealing side or the stolen sides. 😂

Japanese controls the chemical for semiconductor printing.

[DOBIEMKZ]

On 6/14/2023 at 10:19 AM, inlinesix said:

Japanese controls the chemical for semiconductor printing.

You mean the overlay coat? That one the technology is proprietory ?

[Arogab]

On 6/14/2023 at 9:13 AM, Throttle2 said:

I copy you 

you copy me

copy here and there

heehehhhehhe

 

On 6/14/2023 at 9:19 AM, inlinesix said:

Japanese controls the chemical for semiconductor printing.

If there is no copy, there will not be any improvements 

[inlinesix]

On 6/14/2023 at 10:54 AM, DOBIEMKZ said:

You mean the overlay coat? That one the technology is proprietory ?

I think it is lithography die.