Insiders Leak Samsung Semiconducter Tech
18 people were indicted for stealing semiconductor technology from Samsung, and passing it on to a rival company.
There's a case of industrial espionage going on between semiconductor companies located in South Korea and the United States. The Associated Press reports that South Korean prosecutors indicted 18 people for leaking Samsung semiconductor technology to rival Hynix Semiconductor, Inc. Those involved included employees of U.S.-based Allied Materials and its South Korean branch.
Prosecutors believe that the technology was obtained from Samsung by Allied employees working at the South Korean branch, and then passed on the stolen tech to Hynix. Apparently the local Applied branch has access to Samsung's "core technology" through the installation and maintenance of the company's chip manufacturing equipment.
Out of the 18, the court has only detained four suspects: one employee from Samsung, one employee from Hynix, the former head of Applied Materials' South Korean branch, and one of the employees from the same branch. The prosecution is also considering the detainment of a former Samsung employee who is now working for Applied Materials in the U.S.
All the while, Samsung expressed great regret over the whole deal. "We are very concerned by this transgression, as it is likely to damage the semiconductor market," Samsung spokeswoman Lee Soo-jeong told the Associated Press. "We plan to take appropriate measures."
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Allied Materials or Applied Materials?
TOms, please get your allied/applied's in order... (proof read tom, proof read)
I don't want to be mean or anything but lately almost every article has grammer/spelling mistakes. Please take the extra 2 mins and proof read.
You are professional writers, right?
A spell checker function would help - both for the writers AND for the forums.
When you are tired (early in the morning or late at night) or rushed, or just going blind (man, it sucks getting old!!), having a simple spell checker would nice.
Samsung is growing up in many markets in a scary way...
Hynix decided that it's time to slow Samsung's steps.
Firefox, Opera have spell-check many other should have it too. If it's anyone's concern than just use it. It's not the site that will provide it.
I was just about to say that the browsers I use check your spelling as you're typing. And that's firefox and opera. (and apparently it thinks firefox isn't a word)
Industrial espionage - electronics - Is this the new cold war?
When did "allied" become a wrongly spelled word. It is a Typo, not a spelling error. Think before you comment please.
Yowza. I know movies may make people think this kind of thing happens a lot, they don't, and this is crazy. People may get canned for "stealing" ip, but usually this is due to a simple mistake or misunderstanding of what skills and knowledge from their last job they are allowed to carry over. Blatant theft like this (if that is what this is) is spooky.
And surprising that it didn't happen in China too.