Investigators yesterday said they have raided 16 Chinese-funded companies suspected of illegally poaching high-tech talent to steal secrets from the nation’s chip industry.
Taiwan is a global powerhouse in semiconductor manufacturing, with more than half of the world’s chips and nearly all of the high-end ones made here.
China is racing to develop the advanced chips used to power artificial intelligence (AI) systems, as it faces export restrictions imposed by the US.
Photo: AFP
Hundreds of officials searched 70 locations across the country and questioned 120 people from July 15 to Wednesday, the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau said.
The probe is still underway and no charges have been filed, a bureau investigator surnamed Gu said, adding that there were “around 25 to 30” such investigations every year.
Intelligence shared by the bureau indicated “several illegal mainland-funded enterprises have been stealing Taiwan’s high-tech secrets through illegal poaching,” said the Hsinchu District Prosecutors’ Office, which was involved in the raids.
The companies targeted had “used diverse and highly harmful infiltration methods,” it said.
Among the firms searched were Goertek Inc (歌爾聲學), a major Apple Inc supplier, and US-listed VNET Group.
Taiwan has long accused China of carrying out espionage activities in the nation, as Beijing is pushing hard to develop its own chip capabilities.
Taiwan put Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and chip titan Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯) on an export blacklist this year, further squeezing Beijing’s access to the technology needed to build the most advanced chips.
Local companies wanting to ship high-tech products to Huawei, SMIC or any other entity on the list would have to obtain permission from the government.
The Investigation Bureau in March said that SMIC and other Chinese companies were being probed on suspicion of illegal talent poaching.
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