The defendant, arrested final month, labored a mixed 28 years on the South Korean chipmakers (Samsung), prosecutors mentioned. File (representational picture)
| Photo Credit: AP
South Korean prosecutors mentioned they indicted a former Samsung Electronics executive on June 12 on suspicions of stealing the corporate’s expertise to construct a chip manufacturing unit in China.
The defendant, who additionally previously labored at SK Hynix as a Vice President, is accused of illegally buying Samsung data to construct a manufacturing unit within the northwestern Chinese metropolis of Xian between 2018 and 2019, the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office mentioned in an announcement.
The trial date has but to be confirmed by the native court docket the place the indictment has been filed.
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The defendant, arrested final month, labored a mixed 28 years on the South Korean chipmakers, prosecutors mentioned. The officers didn’t establish the accused.
Reuters was not instantly ready to attain the defendant for remark.
The former Samsung executive allegedly tried to construct the manufacturing unit 1.5 kilometres (1 mile) away from Samsung’s chip manufacturing facility in Xian after establishing a semiconductor firm, prosecutors mentioned.
The try to construct the brand new plant utilizing Samsung data, nonetheless, led to failure due to funding points, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency mentioned.
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Prosecutors mentioned they’ve additionally indicted six different folks for their involvement within the alleged crime, together with an inspection firm worker who’s accused of leaking the architectural plan of Samsung’s semiconductor manufacturing unit.
Prosecutors mentioned they estimated the theft of the data to have inflicted a minimum of â‚© 30 billion ($23 million) value of losses to Samsung Electronics.
“It’s a grave crime that could deal a heavy blow to our economic security by shaking the foundation of the domestic chip industry at a time of intensifying competition in chip manufacturing,” the Prosecutors’ Office mentioned.
Samsung Electronics didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. SK Hynix declined remark.
The indictment comes as South Korea has vowed to step up help for its chip sector, with President Yoon Suk Yeol describing competitors within the business as an “all-out war” amid heightened Sino-U.S. pressure.
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South Korea’s Samsung and SK Hynix, the world’s high two makers of reminiscence chips, have invested billions of {dollars} in chip factories in China.
