Taiwan court fines Tokyo Electron and jails five in TSMC trade secrets case

13 articles · Updated · Al Jazeera English · Apr 27

Tokyo Electron’s Taiwan unit is fined $5 million, with five defendants sentenced to up to 10 years in prison by a New Taipei court.
Chen Li-ming, a former TSMC and Tokyo Electron employee, receives the longest sentence for unlawfully obtaining TSMC’s chip technology to benefit Tokyo Electron’s equipment orders.
The case underscores concerns over industrial espionage in Taiwan’s semiconductor sector, with TSMC’s security systems reportedly detecting the theft. Both Tokyo Electron and TSMC have not commented.

Can Tokyo Electron recover its reputation after its engineer's espionage conviction and a hefty fine?

Will the new US-Taiwan trade pact actually prevent future high-stakes technology theft?

What security flaws allowed an engineer to steal TSMC's most advanced 2nm chip secrets?

With chip tech now a national security issue, is industrial espionage becoming a tool of statecraft?

How vulnerable is the global tech supply chain if one person can steal secrets to a 2nm chip?