South Korean semiconductor company SK hynix is known for its dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and flash memory chips. This is a vertically integrated company which means that SK hynix not only designs its own chips, it manufactures them too. Obviously, there are companies that would love to learn the company’s trade secrets; according to The Korean Bizwire a former female SK hynix employee was sentenced to 18 months in jail and fined the equivalent of $14,300 after being found guilty of breaking South Korean laws.
The former SK hynix employee reportedly stole technology related to semiconductor production and ended up leaving the South Korean company to join Huawei in 2020. She was already working in China for SK hynix at the time of her departure and her job gave her access to documents related to the production of chips. Before leaving SK hynix, she printed 4,000 documents of importance over four days.
SK hynix technology was stolen by an ex-worker who moved to Huawei. | Image credit-SK hynix
These documents contained information considered to be core technology under South Korean law. To avoid detection, she printed about 300 pages per day and hid them in her backpack and shopping bags. During her trial, she told the court that she made these copies to help her study the technology and to guarantee that her departure to Huawei would result in a smooth handover of information.
After hearing her excuses, the Yeoju branch of the Suwon District Court still ruled that her actions violated South Korea’s Industrial Technology Protection Act. The court ruled her behavior suspicious since she printed the documents just before leaving SK hynix and accepting Huawei’s offer in June 2022. The court felt that she had printed the documents to increase her worth to Huawei. In making its decision, the court ruled that the security at SK hynix’s Shanghai factory was not up to snuff.
Despite finding her guilty, the court could not find evidence that Huawei used the stolen information which kept the court from imposing a harsher sentence. Additionally, the court could not find that SK hynix had been harmed from the incident. This will be another notch on the belt for those who consider Huawei to be a bad actor on the global stage.
The company is already known as a national security threat in the U.S. As a result, it has been placed on the U.S. entity list preventing it from dealing with its U.S. supply chain. Export rules prevent foundries that use American technology to ship cutting-edge chips to Huawei.
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