▲ The Seoul Central District Court (Yonhap)

technology leak-court

Executive of SK Hynix subcontractor sentenced to 1 yr in prison for leaking core technology to China

SEOUL, Sept. 13 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul court handed down a prison term Wednesday for an executive of an SK Hynix subcontractor on charges of leaking the company's core semiconductor technology to China and stealing advanced technology from a Samsung subsidiary.

The vice president of the supplier for SK Hynix, along with seven other employees, are accused of leaking semiconductor manufacturing technology known as HKMG (High-K Metal Gate) to a rival company in China since 2018. They were also charged with developing cleaning equipment by using stolen blueprints and industry secrets obtained by former employees of Semes, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, and exporting them to China.

The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday sentenced the 59-year-old executive to one year in prison on charges of violating the unfair competition prevention act and the industrial technology protection act but exempted him from court custody.

The court also gave suspended prison terms or fines to the seven other employees and ordered the subcontractor company to pay a fine of 400 million won (US$301,072).

But the court dismissed the allegations that the defendants informed other businesses of specifications regarding the semiconductor cleaning equipment, co-produced with SK Hynix, citing the lack of relevant regulations in the contract.

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