Prison Sentence Finalized for Vice President of SK hynix Partner Company for Leaking Core Semiconductor Technology to China
A vice president of a partner company who was indicted for leaking SK hynix's core semiconductor technology to a Chinese competitor has been sentenced to one year and six months in prison, with the sentence now finalized.
The First Division of the Supreme Court (Presiding Justice Shin Sookhee) on June 12 upheld the lower court's ruling, sentencing Shin, a vice president of an SK hynix partner company, to one year and six months in prison for violating the Act on Prevention of Divulgence and Protection of Industrial Technology and the Unfair Competition Prevention Act (including leaking trade secrets overseas). Three other employees, including a research director, also received prison sentences ranging from one year to one year and six months, while another employee received an eight-month prison sentence suspended for two years. The partner company was also fined 1 billion won.
Shin and others were brought to trial on charges of leaking core and advanced semiconductor technologies and trade secrets, including semiconductor cleaning recipes and high-k metal gate (HKMG) semiconductor manufacturing technology, which they learned while collaborating with SK hynix, to a Chinese semiconductor competitor around 2018. HKMG is a next-generation process that blocks leakage current and improves capacitance, enabling DRAM semiconductors to achieve higher speeds while reducing power consumption.
They were also accused of developing equipment for export to China by utilizing advanced semiconductor technologies and trade secrets, such as schematics for supercritical cleaning equipment from Semes?a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics?which they had secretly obtained through former Semes employees.
In the first trial, Shin was sentenced to one year in prison, but the appellate court increased the sentence to one year and six months. The three other employees, who had received suspended prison sentences in the first trial, had their sentences increased to actual prison terms of one year to one year and six months in the second trial. Another employee, who had been acquitted in the first trial, was sentenced to a suspended prison term.
Hot Picks Today
"Samsung Electronics Employee with 100 Million Won Salary Receiving 600 Million Won Bonus... Estimated Tax Revealed"
- At President Lee's Call to "Give Enough to Shock," Whistleblower Rewards Become a Real Lottery
- Lived as Family for Over 30 Years... Daughter-in-Law Cast Aside After Husband's Death
- "Is This Car Waterproof?" US Man in His 70s Makes Dramatic Escape After Driving Cybertruck Into Lake, Trusting Its Features
- Appearing in a Leather Jacket, Jensen Huang Hastily Eats $6 Noodles on the Street... Shop Instantly Becomes a Hotspot
On this day, the Supreme Court also dismissed both parties' appeals, stating, "There was no violation of the rules of logic and experience that would exceed the limits of free evaluation of evidence, nor any misunderstanding of the legal principles regarding national core technology and advanced technology as defined in the Act on Prevention of Divulgence and Protection of Industrial Technology, or trade secrets as defined in the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, in the lower court's judgment."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
