Prosecutors Indict Former Samsung Executive and Others for Leaking ‘K-Semiconductor’ Technology to China’s CXMT

Prosecutors: "Hundreds of DRAM Process Steps Copied and Leaked"
Samsung Electronics' Sales Declined by 5 Trillion Won Last Year

Prosecutors have uncovered the full scope of a case involving the leak of Samsung Electronics' state-of-the-art 10-nanometer-class DRAM, a national core technology, revealing that ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), China's first DRAM semiconductor company, succeeded in mass-producing DRAM using Samsung's key technology. This national core technology is the latest process technology for 10-nanometer-class DRAM, which Samsung Electronics developed for the first time in the world, investing 1.6 trillion won.

On December 23, the Information Technology Crime Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Yunyong) indicted five key development personnel-including a former Samsung Electronics executive who oversaw development at CXMT-on charges of violating the Act on Prevention of Divulgence and Protection of Industrial Technology (leakage of national core technology overseas, etc.), and indicted five others (including section heads responsible for development) without detention.

According to prosecutors, CXMT, which was established with an investment of 2.6 trillion won from a Chinese provincial government as China's first DRAM semiconductor company, illicitly used the world's top domestic semiconductor core technology throughout all stages of development, thereby becoming the first in China (and the fourth in the world) to succeed in mass-producing 10-nanometer-class DRAM.

Immediately after its founding in May 2016, CXMT recruited key personnel from Samsung Electronics, which at the time was the only company in the world to have succeeded in mass-producing 10-nanometer-class DRAM, and established a plan to secure this technology. Subsequently, researcher B from Samsung Electronics (currently on Interpol Red Notice) moved to CXMT, copied and leaked information on hundreds of process steps, and, during the development process, additionally secured SK hynix's national core technology, continuously modifying and verifying it to fit Chinese facilities. As a result, it was revealed that CXMT succeeded in mass-producing DRAM in China for the first time in 2023.

Prosecutors estimate that, as a result of this case, CXMT has secured world-class DRAM process technology, laying the groundwork for developing high-bandwidth memory (HBM). Meanwhile, the losses to Samsung Electronics and others are projected to amount to at least several tens of trillions of won.

Based on changes in global market share, Samsung Electronics' sales decline last year alone is estimated at about 5 trillion won. Considering the scale of the domestic semiconductor-related industry (20.8% of total exports), the damages to the national economy in the future are expected to reach at least several tens of trillions of won.