News has hit the airwaves that four current and former Samsung employees have been accused of stealing highly prized proprietary semiconductor technology. They were then supposed to reveal it to foreign companies.
As reported by the agency Jonhap, the Seoul Public Prosecutor's Office charged the four employees with violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Act and the Industrial Technology Protection Act. Two of the accused are former Samsung engineers, while the rest work as researchers for the Samsung Engineering division.
One of the former employees, who worked for Samsung's semiconductor division, was supposed to obtain detailed plans and operating manuals of the ultrapure water system and other critically important technical data. Ultrapure water is water purified from all ions, organic substances or microbes, which is used for cleaning in the semiconductor manufacturing process. He was then supposed to hand over these documents to a Chinese semiconductor consulting firm when he applied for a job there, which of course he got.
You could be interested in
A second former Samsung employee stole a file containing key semiconductor technology, according to the indictment. He reportedly passed it on to Intel while still working for the Korean giant. The agency did not say what punishments the accused face.
