Taiwan Court Jails Ex-TSMC Engineer 10 Years for Secrets Theft

A court in New Taipei City, Taiwan, sentenced a former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. engineer to 10 years in prison on Monday for stealing trade secrets from the company and sharing them with a supplier, in a case prosecutors described as a threat to the island's economic security.

Chen Liming, who previously worked in TSMC's yield engineering unit at its Fab 12 facility, received the longest term after the Intellectual Property and Commercial Court found him guilty of violating Taiwan's National Security Act and Trade Secrets Act. The court determined that between the second half of 2023 and the first half of 2025, Chen used his connections with former colleagues at TSMC to obtain confidential information on advanced processes, including etching equipment for 2-nanometer chip production. He photographed and copied the materials to help Tokyo Electron's Taiwan subsidiary evaluate and enhance its equipment, aiming to improve its bids for TSMC contracts.

Three other former TSMC employees involved in providing the information also faced prison sentences: Wu Pingchun received three years, Ko Yiping two years, and Chen Weichieh six years. A Tokyo Electron Taiwan employee, Lu...