Eight Chinese enterprises are suspected of poaching talent and stealing industry secrets from Taiwanese semiconductor companies by disguising their identities with shell companies overseas or setting up branches in Taiwan, the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau said today.
Thirty locations were raided and 65 people questioned from Aug. 19 to 30 in the joint investigation launched by the Hsinchu, Taipei, New Taipei City and Shilin prosecutors’ offices, mobilizing 135 officers under the direction of the bureau.
According to investigators, the eight Chinese enterprises hid their backgrounds and poached talent from Hsinchu Science Park, attempting to acquire high-end technologies such as semiconductors and integrated circuits.
Photo courtesy of the Hsinchu District Prosecutors’ Office
The eight Chinese enterprises involved were ICOMMSEMI (中國深圳市南方硅谷半導體), Shanghai New Vision Microelectronics Co Ltd (上海新相微電子), NJAVC (南京齊芯半導體), Emotibot Technologies Ltd (中國竹間智能科技(上海)), Tongfang Co Ltd (同方), ACTT (成都銳成芯微科技), Naura (中國北方華創微電子裝備) and HestiaPower (中國上海瀚薪科技), the bureau said in a news release.
Naura headhunted engineers by setting up a Taiwan branch office, whose major clients are high-end semiconductor manufacturers including Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯國際集團) and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co Ltd (長江存儲科技), the bureau said.
HestiaPower introduced its capital in Taiwan by setting up shell companies overseas with funding from the Sub-Fund of China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund and the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund of the Chinese Ministry of Finance, the bureau said.
HestiaPower aims to develop silicon carbide as a third-generation semiconductor material for application in various high-tech industries, having a huge impact on the competitiveness of the industry, the Hsinchu District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Tongfang — owned by China National Nuclear Corp, a Chinese state enterprise that oversees military nuclear programs, information technology, and energy and environment projects — disguised its source of funding by setting up a Taiwanese company that poached a research team of nearly 100 people, attempting to acquire relevant technologies, the bureau said.
ACTT, which is a supplier of integrated circuit patents and product design, attempted to cover up its illegal business in Taiwan by telling its staff to register their health insurance at trade unions or district offices, the bureau said.
Bureau Director-General Chen Pai-li (陳白立) when he took office vowed to safeguard national security and combat the Chinese Communist Party’s stealing of state-of-the-art semiconductor technologies and talent, the statement said.
The illegal acts of the Chinese enterprises have severe impacts on the competitiveness of Taiwan’s high-tech industry, the bureau said.
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