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TSMC engineer charged with stealing secrets

by on03 May 2017


Passed them to the Chinese 

A former TSMC engineer has been charged with stealing secrets from the pure play foundry and giving them to the China-based Shanghai Huali Microelectronics (HLMC).

The information is apparently proprietary information and other materials related to the foundry's 28nm process technology have been passed to HLMC.

According to the Hsinchu District Prosecutors Offic,e the engineer, known only by the handle "Hsu" accepted a job offer at Shanghai Huali Microelectronics (HLMC), but was arrested before starting the new job in Shanghai.

Earlier this year HLMC had headhunted a team of nearly 50 United Microelectronics (UMC) R&D engineers to help the China-based foundry move its 28nm process technology to mass production as early as possible.

Other China-based memory chipmakers have been aggressively headhunting talent from Taiwan-based DRAM and fabless companies and the question is how much IP they are bringing with them,

Micron Technology has reportedly taken legal actions against former employees at its Taiwan-based subsidiaries Inotera Memories and Rexchip Electronics, who allegedly stole the company's trade secrets and technologies to help China-based firms develop key DRAM technologies.

Last modified on 03 May 2017
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