Former Samsung Researcher Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison for Leaking Chip Technology
On April 22nd, the Seoul Central District Court stated that a former researcher at Samsung Electronics was sentenced to seven years in prison for leaking semiconductor technology to a Chinese company. The court determined that the defendant, whose surname only was released, violated the "Industrial Technology Protection Act," and the leaked data was classified as "national core technology," and he conspired with others to commit the leak.
The 56-year-old former researcher was one of 10 suspects indicted last year by South Korean prosecutors, accused of leaking storage chip manufacturing processes to Chinese storage chip manufacturer Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT). South Korean authorities said at the time that the case helped China "pave the way" for the development of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), a key component for artificial intelligence computing. Samsung Electronics declined to comment, and Changxin Memory has not yet responded to a request for comment.
According to the Yonhap News Agency, the researcher joined Changxin Memory with a former Samsung executive after leaving Samsung Electronics, and provided the company with Samsung's DRAM process technology during the process. The agency cited a prosecution source as saying the defendant received approximately 2.9 billion Korean won (approximately $1.96 million) in compensation from Changxin Memory over six years. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office could not immediately comment when contacted by Reuters.
Changxin Memory announced last year that it plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO) by issuing 10.6 billion shares in Shanghai, raising 29.5 billion yuan (approximately $4.33 billion). The company said the proceeds would be used to upgrade its production lines and related technologies to expand DRAM capacity and improve process levels. The report also cited the exchange rate on the day, stating that 1 US dollar was equivalent to 6.8204 yuan and 1477.45 Korean won.