Seoul – South Korea has charged a former Samsung government accused of stealing firm secrets and techniques value lots of of tens of millions of {dollars} to arrange a copycat chip manufacturing facility in China, prosecutors instructed AFP on Tuesday.
Semiconductors have turn into a flashpoint situation between the United States and China, that are locked in a fierce battle over entry to chip-making know-how and provides.
South Korean prosecutors mentioned the 65-year-old former Samsung worker allegedly stole the corporate’s manufacturing facility blueprints and clean-room designs from 2018 and 2019.
The Suwon district prosecutor’s workplace mentioned the suspect unsuccessfully tried to arrange a copycat manufacturing facility within the Chinese metropolis of Xian – the place Samsung already has a chip manufacturing facility.
The man, who has not been recognized and is in detention pending trial, stole materials that’s categorized by South Korea as a ‘nationwide core know-how’ — a class of tech that might probably hurt nationwide safety and the financial system if disclosed abroad.
Prosecutors mentioned he had been in custody for a while and was formally charged on Monday.
They described him as a ‘prime professional in semiconductor manufacturing’, who had labored within the trade for many years.
South Korean authorities mentioned the knowledge allegedly focused within the theft would have been value a minimum of $236 million to Samsung.
‘It is a critical crime that may have an incredible detrimental influence on our financial safety by shaking the inspiration of the home semiconductor trade at a time when competitors for chip manufacturing is intensifying on daily basis,’ prosecutors mentioned in an announcement on Monday.
‘The semiconductor trade accounted for 16.5% of South Korea’s whole exports in 2022… and is a nationwide safety asset.’
Six different individuals who labored with the chief have been charged over suspected involvement within the theft.
Samsung declined to remark when contacted by AFP on Tuesday.
Chip conflict
Samsung Electronics is without doubt one of the world’s largest producers of chips and smartphones, and its guardian group’s turnover is equal to about one-fifth of South Korea’s GDP.
Like most of the world’s largest chip makers, a big portion of its manufacturing is predicated in China.
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Chips are the lifeblood of the fashionable world financial system, and China – the world’s second-largest financial system – depends on a gradual provide of chips made by international companies for its large electronics manufacturing trade.
The United States imposed a collection of export controls final yr to stop China from buying essentially the most superior chips that could possibly be utilized in cutting-edge weapons and frontier tech corresponding to synthetic intelligence.
The Netherlands and Japan adopted this yr with restrictions of their very own, with out naming China.
But the curbs have infuriated Beijing, which has accused Washington of ‘technological terrorism.’
China final month mentioned U.S. chip large Micron had failed a nationwide safety evaluation, and instructed operators of ‘vital data infrastructure’ to cease shopping for its merchandise.
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Analysts have described that transfer as retaliation for the U.S. semiconductor curbs.
‘Amid intensifying semiconductor competitors between the U.S. and China, South Korea is in a tough state of affairs because it has to facet with its safety ally U.S. whereas it clearly can not ignore Beijing and its affect,’ Kim Dae-jong, a professor of enterprise administration at Sejong University, instructed AFP.
‘Samsung Electronics ought to pay extra consideration to know-how and knowledge safety. China is making an attempt to catch up.’