South Korean prosecutors stated they indicted a former Samsung Electronics government on Monday on suspicion of stealing the corporate’s know-how to construct a chip manufacturing facility in China.
The defendant, who additionally previously labored at SK Hynix as a vice chairman, is accused of illegally buying Samsung knowledge to construct a manufacturing facility within the Chinese metropolis of Xian between 2018 and 2019, the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office stated in an announcement.
The trial date was but to be confirmed by the native courtroom the place the indictment has been filed.
The defendant, arrested final month, is denying the allegations, a prosecutor stated.
He labored a mixed 28 years on the South Korean chipmakers, prosecutors stated. The officers didn’t determine the accused.
Reuters was not instantly in a position to attain him for remark.
The former Samsung government allegedly tried to construct the manufacturing facility 1.5 km (1 mile) away from Samsung’s chip manufacturing facility in Xian after organising a semiconductor firm, prosecutors stated.
The try and construct the brand new plant utilizing Samsung knowledge, nevertheless, resulted in failure because of funding points, a prosecutor stated.
Prosecutors stated they’ve additionally indicted six different folks for his or her involvement within the alleged crime, together with an inspection firm worker who’s accused of leaking the architectural plan of Samsung’s semiconductor manufacturing facility.
Prosecutors stated they estimated the theft of the information to have inflicted at the very least 300 billion received ($233 million) value of losses on Samsung Electronics.
“It’s a grave crime that could deal a heavy blow to our economic security by shaking the foundation of the domestic chip industry at a time of intensifying competition in chip manufacturing,” the prosecutors’ workplace stated.
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix declined to remark.
The indictment comes as South Korea has vowed to step up help for its chip sector.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has described competitors within the trade as an “all-out war” amid heightened Sino-U.S. tensions.
South Korea’s Samsung and SK Hynix, the world’s prime two makers of reminiscence chips, have invested billions of {dollars} in chip factories in China.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
