Former and current TSMC engineers have been hauled through hearings and are now facing legal action for an alleged tech theft tied to the N2 process.
UDN says the engineers were found to be in violation of the “National Security Act” during proceedings that led to a local court investigation.
The prosecution stated that from 2023 to the first half of last year, to help Tokyo Power become a supplier of equipment for more sites in TSMC’s advanced process, Chen Liming repeatedly asked Wu Bingjun and Ge Yiping, TSMC engineers at the time, to provide key technologies and trade secrets.
After filming and documenting the supplied information, Tokyo Power reviewed and improved the performance of the etching equipment to obtain qualification to supply mass-production equipment for TSMC’s 2-nanometer process etching site.
It was previously reported that TSMC’s internal security systems flagged people trying to access databases illegally, with phones used to snap sensitive documents tied to N2.
The alleged ringleader is described as former TSMC employee Chen Weijie, who is now at Tokyo Electron, helping tune etching gear and win more of TSMC’s orders.
Taiwan treats technology theft as a top-tier crime, so prosecutors are pushing hard, and the case is being pitched as a warning shot to anyone tempted by a quick “semiconductor heist”.
There is even a parallel probe into Intel employee Wei-Jen Lo, another ex-TSMC worker accused of shifting sensitive technology, and the island’s lawyers look keen to make examples.
