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Ex-employee tried to build a replica of Samsung semiconductor plant
Samsung Elec’s former senior executive has been arrested and will stand trial for his attempt to copy the company’s semiconductor plant in China.
On June 12, South Korea’s Defense Industry and Industrial Technology Crime Investigation Division (Suwon District) charged the 65-year-old ex-executive with violating the Industrial Technology Protection Act and the Unfair Competition Prevention Act.
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In addition, his five employees and an employee of a Samsung subcontractor who smuggled out the blueprints were also indicted without detention on the same charges. The main accused reportedly unlawfully acquired and used Samsung’s trade secrets, such as:
- Basic Engineering Data (BED) of the semiconductor plant
- Process layout
- Design drawings
Investigations revealed that Mr. A (accused) had attempted to build another semiconductor plant as a replica of Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor plant. It was even located just 1.5 km away from the South Korean tech giant’s real plant in Xi’an, China.
Prosecutors estimated that Samsung Elec suffered a minimum of $234 million in damages due to this technology leakage. A prosecution official said, “We have cracked down on the attempt to replicate the entire semiconductor plant, not just the leakage of semiconductor technology.”
| Via – BusinessKorea |