A Chinese employee accused of stealing SK Hynix's core semiconductor technology was sentenced to prison in the first trial.
On the 7th, the Criminal Division 1 of the Yeoju Branch of Suwon District Court (Presiding Judge Im Dae-ho) sentenced former SK Hynix employee A (36, female, Chinese national), who was charged with violating the Industrial Technology Protection Act, to 1 year and 6 months in prison and a fine of 20 million won.
The court stated, "The semiconductor technology printed out by the defendant in documents just before resigning from Hynix was designated as a national core technology in 2022," and added, "Although the defendant claimed that the printing was for study and work handover purposes, this was not convincing based on investigation records, and all charges were judged to be guilty."
It also ruled, "It is unusual that the defendant printed about 4,000 pages of technical documents on A4 paper over four days at the poorly secured Shanghai branch in China just before resignation. It is reasonable to suspect that she carried about 300 pages daily in her backpack and shopping bag when leaving work, and all these suspicions are deemed justified."
Regarding the purpose of the leak, the court explained, "Considering that the defendant was employed by Huawei in China after resigning from Hynix, it is a reasonable inference that she leaked the information to gain recognition of her value," but also noted, "It is unclear whether the defendant utilized the leaked technology, and the damage to the victim company has not been revealed," as reasons for sentencing.
A joined SK Hynix in 2013 and worked continuously in a department analyzing defects in semiconductor design. From 2020 to 2022, she served as a team leader-level employee in the corporate customer consultation team at the local Chinese subsidiary. Around June 2022, A returned to Korea and in the same month moved to Huawei in China with a high salary.
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