Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it had filed a lawsuit against former executive vice president Lo Wei-jen (羅唯仁) claiming he contravened the terms of his employment, amid suspicion that Lo stole TSMC’s trade secrets and leaked them to its US competitor, Intel Corp.
In a statement, TSMC said it had filed a suit against Lo at the Intellectual Property and Commercial Court, citing contraventions of the Trade Secrets Act (營業秘密法), the terms of his employment, and confidentiality and noncompete agreements he had signed.
The company said it hired Lo as vice president in 2004, and he was promoted to senior vice president in 2014.
Photo: CNA
The 75-year-old retired from TSMC on July 27.
In March last year, Lo was appointed senior vice president for corporate strategy and development, a department that advises the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, but does not oversee or have management responsibility for research and development (R&D), TSMC said.
Despite taking his new corporate strategy role, Lo continued convening meetings and requesting reports from the R&D department to understand technologies being developed, the company said.
During his tenure, Lo signed confidentiality and noncompete agreements, and upon his retirement, he received a briefing from TSMC’s chief legal officer on the legal restrictions he would remain under.
Lo at the time said that he planned to enter academia, and did not reveal plans to take a position at Intel, TSMC said.
By subsequently taking an executive vice president position at Intel, Lo is “highly likely” to have used, disclosed, delivered or transferred TSMC’s trade secrets or confidential information to a competitor, it said.
Lo’s actions “necessitated” a legal response from TSMC, including seeking compensation for contraventions of contract, the company added.
TSMC’s lawsuit comes after the High Prosecutors’ Office announced last week that it had initiated a probe into the actions of Lo, who is suspected of stealing restricted information on TSMC’s 2-nanometer, A16 and A14 processes before his retirement.
Prosecutors have not filed criminal charges against Lo.
Intel did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of regular office hours.
In an interview with Bloomberg News last week, Intel chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) dismissed speculation about any wrongdoing and said his company respects intellectual property rights.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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