Taiwan Court Sentences Ex-Tokyo Electron Staff to 10 Years in TSMC Trade Secrets Case
A Taiwan court on Monday handed down 10-year prison sentences to two former employees of Tokyo Electron, Japan’s semiconductor equipment giant, in a high-profile case involving core manufacturing technology secrets from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest chip foundry.
Case Background
The case stems from a 2024 investigation by Taiwanese prosecutors. According to the prosecution, two former Tokyo Electron engineers illegally obtained TSMC’s core process equipment technical parameters and manufacturing workflow data during their employment and transferred them to other commercial entities.
TSMC voluntarily cooperated with prosecutors after detecting data irregularities. The investigation found that the stolen data involved critical equipment debugging parameters for TSMC’s 3-nanometer and below process nodes — information that has a decisive impact on chip manufacturing yield rates and cost control.
The Verdict
The Hsinchu District Court in Taiwan noted in Monday’s sentencing that the defendants’ actions seriously violated Taiwan’s Trade Secrets Act and relevant provisions of the Criminal Code. The court found that the technical information in question constitutes TSMC’s core trade secrets, obtained through massive R&D investment, and that the defendants’ illegal acquisition and transfer caused significant damage to TSMC’s commercial interests.
In addition to the prison sentences, the court ordered the two defendants to compensate TSMC for tens of millions of New Taiwan dollars in economic losses and banned them from engaging in semiconductor equipment manufacturing-related occupations for the next 10 years.
IP Protection in the Semiconductor Industry
TSMC is the world’s largest chip foundry, controlling more than 60% of global advanced chip manufacturing capacity. Its advanced process technologies — including 3-nanometer, 2-nanometer, and even more advanced nodes — are core resources in the global tech industry’s competitive landscape.
Tokyo Electron is one of the world’s top three semiconductor equipment suppliers and maintains a long-term business relationship with TSMC. In a statement, the company said it would cooperate with the judicial ruling and further strengthen internal compliance management, adding, “We have zero tolerance for any conduct that violates business ethics and the law.”
Industry Impact
The verdict has drawn widespread attention across the global semiconductor industry. Analysts pointed out that as global chip competition intensifies, the protection of trade secrets has become a critical element for semiconductor companies’ survival and development.
The Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association issued a statement saying the ruling “sends a clear message to the industry — intellectual property infringement will be severely punished by law.”
In recent years, the global semiconductor industry has seen multiple trade secrets litigation cases involving major players such as TSMC, Samsung, and Intel. This ruling represents one of the most severe criminal penalties for such cases in Taiwan, underscoring the government’s determination to protect the semiconductor industry’s core competitive advantages.