Taiwan court sentences former Tokyo Electron employee to 10 years in prison for stealing TSMC trade secrets

Chen Li-ming, who previously worked at TSMC before moving to Tokyo Electron's Taiwan subsidiary, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by Taiwan's Intellectual Property and Commercial Court. Four other people received sentences of up to six years, and Tokyo Electron was fined 150 million new Taiwan dollars ($5 million).

Chen allegedly used relationships with former TSMC colleagues to illegally access and collect the chipmaker's trade secrets, then photographed, copied, and passed materials to Tokyo Electron to help upgrade its technologies and improve its bids as a TSMC supplier. The court found his motivation was mainly to 'improve his personal work performance.'

The sentencing underscores Taiwan's efforts to protect its advanced technology and semiconductor sector under the national security act. TSMC is one of the world's most valuable companies and counts Nvidia and Apple as key customers.