Two former Samsung employees prosecuted in alleged technology leak case

Samsung headquarters in Seoul’s Seocho district (Image courtesy of Yonhap)

SEOUL, September 10 (Korea Bizwire) – Two former Samsung Electronics employees arrested for stealing the chip giant’s trade secrets and personnel to build a copycat factory in China have been handed over to prosecutors where they could potentially face charges, police said on Tuesday.

The two are the 66-year-old head of Chengdu Gaozhen (CHJS), surnamed Choi, and the Chinese company’s 60-year-old chief designer, surnamed Oh, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) said. Choi previously worked as a senior executive at Samsung Electronics and the predecessor of SK hynix Inc., while Oh was a senior researcher at Samsung.

Choi, who formed a joint semiconductor company with a Chinese local government in September 2020, is accused of leaking and misusing Samsung’s core memory semiconductor technologies after recruiting a large number of South Korean chip experts, including Oh.

Choi is alleged to have stolen core technologies developed by Samsung with the goal of producing 20-nanometer DRAM semiconductors and manufactured basic products in April 2022. Oh is accused of playing a key role in the alleged technology theft after joining CHJS.

The SMPA estimated the economic value of the leaked Samsung technologies at 4.3 trillion won ($3.2 billion). The police agency also said it was investigating whether there were further technology leaks by other former Samsung employees who moved to CHJS.

(Currant)