Taiwan makes arrests for theft of trade secrets against TSMC
Big news in the economic espionage world!
The Taiwanese government has detained several current-and-former employees of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) for both theft of trade secrets and national security offenses. The employees are suspected of accessing and exfiltrating secrets related to the manufacturing technology for the company’s 2-nanometer chip, reportedly the most advanced processor in the semiconductor industry, which was otherwise supposed to go into production this year.
Three employees are said to be from TSMC’s 2nm pilot line at Fab 20 in Baoshan, Hsinchu, and reportedly passed the trade secrets to an employee at Tokyo Electron, a direct competitor with similar manufacturing capabilities.
Tokyo Electron is a supplier to Japan’s Rapidus, which has sought to start its own 2nm mass production in the next year or two. Rapidus would have a discrete supply chain from Chinese and Korean manufacturers, which would have impact on defense supply chains, particularly for those allied with the United States.
Taiwanese authorities apparently have numerous open criminal investigations in the economic espionage space, most involving semiconductors.
