[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Six current and former employees of major domestic conglomerates and mid-sized companies were caught for smuggling national core semiconductor technologies overseas. The crime was led by an employee who was passed over for an executive promotion. The estimated damage caused by the leakage of core technology is at least 100 billion KRW.
The Patent Office's Special Judicial Police for Technology Design (hereafter Technology Police) and the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office announced on the 26th that they arrested three former employees of semiconductor companies A, B, and C on charges of leaking semiconductor wafer polishing (CMP) related technology to China, and sent three current and former employees of companies A and B to prosecution without detention.
According to the Technology Police and Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, the main culprit D (55, detained) was investigated to have led the process of leaking confidential data of company A to a Chinese company out of resentment for failing to be promoted to an executive position.
First, while working at company A in June 2019, D agreed to a joint venture with a Chinese company for the semiconductor wafer polishing agent (CMP slurry) manufacturing business and simultaneously managed the establishment of polishing agent production facilities and the business in China through messengers and other means. He also scouted researchers E (52, detained), F (42, detained), and G (35, not detained) from companies B and C, transferring them to the Chinese company first, and around May 2020, he himself moved to the Chinese company as a president-level executive.
The technology leakage was carried out by D and others accessing confidential company data such as semiconductor wafer polishing process diagrams through the internal company network before moving to the Chinese company, photographing them with mobile phones, and delivering them to the Chinese side.
The leaked materials were found to include advanced technologies (trade secrets) related to semiconductor wafer polishing agents and polishing pads of companies A and B, as well as national core technologies (trade secrets) related to semiconductor wafer polishing processes of company C.
The estimated economic damage caused by the technology leakage by D and others exceeds 100 billion KRW. In the case of company B, when combining the R&D costs of the leaked technology (42 billion KRW) and the annual domestic market size in the relevant field (650 billion KRW) multiplied by the company's market share (10%), the damage to company B alone is analyzed to be about 107 billion KRW.
The Technology Police and Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office emphasized that by apprehending the group before the leaked materials were fully utilized locally in China, they were able to prevent additional damage.
The Technology Police began investigating the technology leakage in March last year after receiving intelligence from the National Intelligence Service's Industrial Secret Protection Center about two researchers (F and G) from company B who had moved to a Chinese company. From April, they sequentially arrested the group members who temporarily returned from China, secured related evidence, and through digital forensic evidence analysis, identified two additional accomplices. In total, six people were involved in leading or participating in the technology leakage.
The Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office indicted all six individuals sent by the Technology Police on charges of violating the Industrial Technology Protection Act and the Unfair Competition Prevention Act (including overseas disclosure of trade secrets).
Kim Si-hyung, Director of the Industrial Property Protection Cooperation Bureau at the Patent Office, said, "In the era of technological hegemony competition, 'technological capability' is equivalent to national power," adding, "The Patent Office will take the lead in protecting national core technologies by strengthening the role of the Technology Police and concentrate institutional capabilities to fundamentally block technology crimes."
Meanwhile, companies A, B, and C, which suffered technology leakage damage through D and others, are all listed on the KOSPI or KOSDAQ, with a combined market capitalization of 66 trillion KRW.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
