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The Intellectual Property and Commercial Court (IPCC) of Taiwan has ordered one former employee and two current employees of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to be detained and held incommunicado for allegedly stealing sensitive trade secrets involving the company's advanced 2 nanometer (nm) process.
According to a report by Focus Taiwan, the ruling was handed down after the three suspects named Chen Li-ming, a former TSMC engineer, and two current engineers, Wu Ping-chun and Ko Yi-ping, were referred to the IPCC on Monday morning. A three-judge panel at the IPCC said the suspects deleted their communications records after their conduct was discovered. The judges noted that there were reasonable fears the three could continue to destroy evidence and collude with one another in making false statements. The panel further stated that since the alleged actions could harm national security and affect market competition, the three should remain detained to ensure smooth court proceedings. Focus Taiwan also shared that on August 27, the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office Intellectual Property Branch indicted the suspects for their roles in the alleged theft of trade secrets and for violating the National Security Act by obtaining national core technology secrets for use abroad. Prosecutors are seeking prison terms of 14 years for Chen, nine years for Wu, and seven years for Ko. Chen, who now works at Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TEL), a Japan-based supplier to TSMC, allegedly asked Wu and Ko during the second half of 2024 and the first half of 2025 to provide him with trade secrets they had access to. Prosecutors said Chen claimed the information would help TEL secure more contracts with TSMC. TSMC detected irregularities and filed a lawsuit against the three in early July. Prosecutors then carried out searches and raids from July 25-28 and secured approval from the IPCC to detain the suspects for investigation. The case was later referred to the court, where a hearing was held to decide on continued detention. In late August, TEL said an internal investigation had so far found no evidence that confidential information about TSMC's 2nm process was leaked to a third party. TSMC is currently developing its 2nm process, with mass production scheduled to begin in the second half of this year. At present, the 3nm process remains the company's most advanced technology in commercial production. (ANI)
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