Tokyo Electron Receives NT$150 Million Fine For TSMC Trade Secret Theft

Prosecutors have filed charges against four individuals under the National Security Act for allegedly stealing core semiconductor technology. The suspects include Chen Li-min, engineers Wu Bing-jun and Guo Yi-ping, who allegedly stole 2nm process secrets, and Chen Wei-jie, accused of leaking secrets related to processes below 14nm. The case is being heard by the Intellectual Property and Commercial Court. The theft involves critical national core technologies. The stolen information involves critical 2-nanometer chip manufacturing processes and processes below 14 nanometers. The Taiwan Stock Exchange responded with a 1,107-point surge to 40,390. A commercial court in Taiwan issued sentences for four TSMC engineers and a female executive from Tokyo Electron in a trade secret leak case. One engineer, Wu Bing-jun, allegedly conspired with the Tokyo Electron executive starting in 2023 to steal 2nm process secrets.