Taiwanese court sentences former TSMC engineer to 10 years for stealing trade secrets for Tokyo Electron
Taiwan’s Intellectual Property and Commercial Court sentenced Chen Li‑ming, a former engineer of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), to ten years imprisonment on Monday for illegally obtaining and passing TSMC’s confidential information to the Taiwanese subsidiary of Japan’s Tokyo Electron. The ruling also ordered Tokyo Electron’s Taiwan unit to pay NT$100 million (≈US$3.2 million) in damages and a NT$50 million fine.
Chen, who left TSMC to join Tokyo Electron, was found guilty of using contacts with former colleagues to supply the Japanese firm with proprietary process data that could give it an advantage in competing for equipment contracts with TSMC. The court ruled that his conduct violated Taiwan’s National Security Act and Trade Secrets Act, creating “risks to TSMC’s trade secrets and Taiwan’s economic security.”
In addition to Chen’s sentence, three former TSMC employees involved in the scheme received prison terms ranging from two to six years. A Tokyo Electron staff member who deleted image files copied by Chen was handed a ten‑month suspended sentence. The court criticised Tokyo Electron for failing to exercise adequate corporate oversight of its personnel.
Tokyo Electron responded that it takes the court’s decision “with the utmost seriousness” and asserted that internal investigations found no evidence of organisational involvement in the breach. The company said the stolen information was never disclosed to third parties and that it has implemented stricter information‑management controls. It also confirmed that Chen was dismissed from the firm following the incident.
The case underscores the growing emphasis on protecting intellectual property in the semiconductor sector, where Taiwan’s TSMC is the world’s largest contract chipmaker, supplying advanced processors to companies such as Nvidia and Apple. The severe penalties reflect the strategic importance of chip technology to Taiwan’s economy and national security.
The verdict may prompt further scrutiny of supply‑chain relationships and corporate governance practices within the global semiconductor industry, as firms seek to safeguard their proprietary processes against insider threats.
