Law enforcement officers on Thursday searched five locations in Taipei and New Taipei City, questioned nine people and two executives as part of a probe into alleged talent poaching by a Chinese company.
New Taipei City prosecutors collected evidence at the Taipei office of RogersAI Technology Co (羅傑斯人工智能) and other sites of the firm, which is allegedly covertly owned by China-based cryptocurrency mining company Bitmain Technologies (比特大陸科技).
RogersAI chairman Lin Chen-ting (林承廷) and chief executive officer Luo Shih-chieh (羅士傑) were released on bail.
Photo: Bloomberg
Lin and Luo allegedly sought to recruit Taiwanese engineers with expertise in artificial intelligence, facial recognition technologies, biometric authentication and other fields, prosecutor Hsu Hung-wei (許宏緯) said, adding that the firm spent about NT$150 million (US$5.05 million) on the efforts over the past two years.
RogersAI allegedly targeted talent at local technology firms, such as the research-and-development division of Delta Electronics and the Hon Hai Research Institute, enticing about 50 staff to change employers, Hsu said.
The probe focuses on fund transactions at RogersAI and its ownership structure, Hsu said, adding that the company is allegedly a subsidiary of China-based Fujian KuKe3D Technology Co (福建庫克智能科技), which is owned by Bitmain.
Hsu said RogersAI seems to have been set up solely for talent poaching purposes.
Lin and Luo allegedly hold executive positions at Fujian KuKe3D, he added.
“Illegal talent poaching by Chinese firms poses a serious threat and undermines the development of the local high-tech sector,” Hsu said.
Lin and Luo faced pending charges of contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), which requires Chinese firms to seek approval from the Ministry of Economic Affairs before investing in Taiwan.
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