Former employee of TSMC suspected of giving away 12-inch chip fab secrets to SMIC, China
E020307X4 Apr. 2002（E32）
TSMC suspected a former female manager surnamed Liu had stolen vital information relating to the establishment of 12-inch chip fabs and leaked out such information to its competitor, the Shanghai-based SMIC.
According to procuratorial authority, TSMC expressed that an ex-project manager employed with TSMC had stolen from other staff vital information in connection with the design of 12-inch chip fabs and the process and formula of wafer manufacturing in the early 2001 by taking advantage of her position. She uploaded such information to a free e-mail account, and then e-mailed such information to SMIC's top executive. She is suspected of larceny, misappropriation, and breach of trust.
As the person at issue is currently a top executive and shareholder of SMIC, the prosecutor and police suspect they are dealing with a case of profiteering and planned commercial espionage. However, since SMIC is incorporated in Mainland China and it is difficult to take cross-strait action, this case is very likely to be turned into an action over civil damages and violation of intellectual property rights across the strait. After giving consideration to the foregoing, the police focused their investigation only on the computer crime resulting from Liu's use of e-mail to leak secrets.
Source: Economic Daily News 03/07/2002
