Taiwan hands out 1st convictions for leaking chipmaking trade secrets

Taiwan on Monday issued its first convictions under a 2022 law protecting "national core critical technologies," sentencing four engineers to prison for leaking chipmaking trade secrets.

Chen Li-ming, a former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company employee, was given a 10-year sentence by the Intellectual Property and Commercial Court for sharing sensitive sub-14nm "processes and related key gases, chemicals, and equipment technology," after joining Tokyo Electron Taiwan, according to Taiwanese broadcaster TVBS.

Chen reportedly asked his former colleagues for proprietary information about etching machine performance between the second half of 2023 and the first half of 2025.

Three other engineers, Ko Yi-ping, Wu Ping-chun and Chen Wei-chieh, all received sentences ranging from two to six years.

The court also fined Tokyo Electron Taiwan $150 million ($4.77 million) New Taiwan dollars, mostly payable to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.

The ruling marks the first corporate conviction under the amended National Security Act.

The court said Chen Li-ming's actions "endangered the international competitiveness of the industry and national economic security" by risking the external leakage of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company trade secrets.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company said in court filings that Tokyo Electron Taiwan is an equipment supplier, not a competitor, and that the information was not shared beyond the company and its Japanese parent.

A Tokyo Electron Taiwan executive, Lu Yi-yin, was also convicted of destroying evidence after deleting image files Chen had photographed from TSMC materials.

She received a 10-month sentence, which was suspended for three years, based on the condition of paying out $1 million New Taiwan dollars ($31,800).

The lighter sentence reflected her voluntary disclosure to the company after the deleted files were later recovered.