Prosecutors yesterday charged a former Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) employee with theft related to 20-nanometer manufacturing know-how from the chipmaker, which the suspect allegedly attempted to transfer to a Chinese company.
it is the latest in a slew of corporate espionage cases uncovered by local companies in the memorychip industry, after five former employees of Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科技) were in September indicted for allegedly passing confidential information to a Chinese semiconductor firm.
The engineer, identified only as Lee, 46, was accused of stealing Nanya’s 20-nanometer technology in December last year while taking online courses provided by the company, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement.
Photo: Hung Yu-fang, Taipei Times
Lee, a former senior engineer at Nanya, memorized the manufacturing know-how from screenshots of the process technology and used it for a job interview with Xian UniIC Semiconductors Co Ltd (西安紫光國芯) in Shaanxi Province in January.
UniIC Semiconductors, owned by state-backed Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd (清華紫光), is one of the largest listed chip designers in China.
To shield Nanya from unfair competition from rival firms, Lee has been prohibited from leaving the country, the prosecutors’ office said.
“Lee has breached the Trade Secrets Act (營業秘密法) as he duplicated trade secrets owned by the company and intended to use the confidential information in China,” the office said, after wrapping up an investigation of several months.
Although the prosecutors have completed their investigation, they have not demanded a specific jail term for Lee.
Nanya Technology is migrating its 30-nanometer process technology to 20-nanometer technology on patents licensed from Micron Technology Inc, the company said, forecasting that the technological upgrade could help the chipmaker boost output by 45 percent next year.
Investigators launched the legal inquiry soon after Nanya reported Lee’s wrongdoings, the company said in a separate statement yesterday, adding that there was sufficient evidence in his case.
“Nanya will continue to investigate any illegal activities in order to protect the research and development achievements made by Nanya and its partners. We also aim to safeguard the interests of shareholders and the fairness of market competition,” the company said.
Chinese semiconductor firms have been poaching Taiwanese talent — including former Nanya chairman Charles Kau (高啟全) — to help them advance their technological capabilities, taking a shortcut to fulfill Beijing’s ambition of playing a significant role in the world’s semiconductor market.
DRAM manufacturing is the missing element in China’s plan, as it has built its own foundry, chip design and NAND flash memory capacity, as well as chip testing and packaging facilities.
The DRAM market is now dominated by three key players: South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc, and US chipmaker Micron.
Additional reporting by CNA
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