Taipei, Taiwan
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Taiwanese authorities have detained three present and former staff of the world’s largest chip producer, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), for allegedly stealing trade secrets, prosecutors stated Tuesday.
Law enforcement officers questioned a number of suspects and witnesses late final month. They searched their houses and detained three of them over “serious suspicions of violating national security laws,” the mental property department of the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office stated on Tuesday.
TSMC produces greater than 90% of the world’s superior semiconductor chips that energy the whole lot from smartphones and synthetic intelligence (AI) functions to weapons, with key purchasers together with Apple and Nvidia.
After an inner investigation, the most important Taiwanese exporter raised suspicions with authorities that its “core technologies” could have been illegally accessed by former and present staffers.
The prosecutor’s workplace stated it should probe the motives behind the alleged theft of trade secrets and whether or not TSMC’s proprietary data had been leaked to different events. It’s the primary case of its form since Taiwan tightened its nationwide safety regulation to guard its key applied sciences in 2022.
Nikkei Asia first reported on Tuesday that TSMC had fired staffers suspected of illegally acquiring enterprise secrets associated to the manufacturing technology for the corporate’s 2-nanometer chip, probably the most superior processor within the semiconductor business that’s anticipated to enter mass manufacturing this yr.
Super-advanced semiconductor chips are tough to make as a result of of the excessive value of growth and the extent of data required, which means a lot of the manufacturing is concentrated in only a handful of suppliers, resembling TSMC, Intel, Samsung and Rapidus.
TSMC stated it found the potential trade secret leak after unauthorized actions have been detected throughout routine monitoring.
“TSMC has taken strict disciplinary actions against the personnel involved and has initiated legal proceedings,” the corporate stated in a press release. “Such violations are dealt with strictly and pursued to the fullest extent of the law.”
Taiwanese native media reported {that a} former TSMC worker now works at prime chip manufacturing tools provider Tokyo Electron Ltd., and that the Japanese agency’s Taiwan workplace was raided by investigators.
On Thursday, Tokyo Electron confirmed it had dismissed an worker of its Taiwan subsidiary who was concerned within the case, and stated the corporate was cooperating with authorities.
“As of now, based upon the findings of our internal investigation we have not confirmed any evidence of the respective confidential information shared to any third parties,” it stated in a press release.
A breach of TSMC’s key trade secrets, if confirmed true, might have nationwide safety implications for Taiwan, because it might slender the technological lead the corporate has over its opponents in superior chip manufacturing.
TSMC’s technological prowess is what fuels the generally held perception in Taiwan that the island’s world dependence on its semiconductors serves as a “silicon shield” – a deterrent in opposition to a possible Chinese invasion, and a leverage in world diplomacy.
The tightened laws, which raised penalties for theft of core applied sciences and banned the use of them in overseas nations, got here after years of incidents of Chinese firms acquiring chip manufacturing knowhow by poaching Taiwanese engineers.
This article has been up to date with extra data.