It is reported that four current and former Samsung employees have been charged with theft of proprietary semiconductor technology. These employees reportedly stole highly valued semiconductor chip technology from Samsung and leaked them to an overseas firm.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office has indicted those four employees with physical detention for violating the unfair competition prevention act and the industrial technology protection act. Two of those employees are former engineers, while the remaining two work as researchers for Samsung Engineering.
One former employee, who worked for Samsung's semiconductor division, obtained blueprints and operation manuals for the ultrapure water system and other critical technical data while searching for a job. He then leaked that to a Chinese semiconductor consulting firm while searching for a job there. And when he got a job there, he used the stolen data and ordered an ultrapure water system.
Prosecutors said another former Samsung employee was charged with stealing a file containing key semiconductor technology. He allegedly gave that file to the company's competitor Intel while still working for Samsung. He stole data by capturing images of the data in the file.
