Samsung Electronics Former Employee Sentenced to 1 Year and 6 Months in Appeal Trial for 'Semiconductor Technology Leak'

A former Samsung Electronics employee accused of leaking national core technologies and trade secrets related to the latest semiconductor ultra-fine processes was sentenced to prison in the appellate court.

According to the Information Technology Crime Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Seong-beom) on the 17th, the Seoul High Court on the 14th sentenced former Samsung Electronics engineer Choi (44), who was indicted for violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Act and the Industrial Technology Protection Act, to 1 year and 6 months in prison and a fine of 10 million won, and ordered his immediate detention in court.

Choi was prosecuted on charges of attempting to leak files containing core foundry semiconductor technology to overseas competitor Intel while working at Samsung Electronics. Preparing to move to Intel, Choi is believed to have viewed 33 files related to the latest semiconductor ultra-fine processes externally, photographed them, and smuggled them out.

The prosecution sought a sentence of 5 years in prison and a fine of 100 million won for Choi, but the first trial court sentenced him to 1 year and 6 months in prison with a 2-year probation and a fine of 10 million won. The prosecution appealed.

The prosecution stated, "We will continue to respond swiftly and strictly to cases involving the leakage of national core technologies and trade secrets."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.