A former Samsung executive stole blueprints and trade secrets from his ex-employer — and then tried to set up a microchip factory in China less than a mile away from Samsung's own, prosecutors said.
Plans to establish a copycat factory — in what would be less than a 20-minute walk from one of Samsung'sin China — had begun to make progress before prosecutors intervened. The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office said Monday that it was taking"stern legal measures" against the former executive, according to aIn a statement, prosecutors described the arrested man as an"undisputed top domestic expert in semiconductor manufacturing." After an 18-year career at Samsung, he held executive roles for a decade at SK Hynix, another major South Korean chipmaker, which trails Samsung in the memory chip market, according to prosecutors.
The manufacturing secrets that prosecutors said were taken from Samsung included processing blueprints and"basic engineering data" for designing clean-room environments to prevent contamination during semiconductor manufacturing, which prosecutors described as"core national technologies."