Taiwan Chipmaker Fined $60 Million After Stealing IP From US Semiconductor Company
A Taiwanese chipmaker pleaded guilty and was fined $60 million for conspiring to steal trade secrets from a U.S. semiconductor company, the Justice Department said Oct. 28. Taiwan-based United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) allegedly tried to steal intellectual property from U.S.-based Micron Technology to benefit Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit, a Chinese state-owned company. The $60 million fine was the “second largest ever” in a U.S. criminal trade secret prosecution, the Justice Department said.
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Authorities said UMC hired three employees -- Chen Zhengkun, He Jianting and Wang Yungming -- from Micron’s Taiwan subsidiary, who brought along “confidential information” of Micron trade secrets. The employees used “off network” laptops to access the Micron information without being detected by Micron, the Justice Department said. The information helped UMC adjust “design rules” for memory chips for Fujian Jinhua.
Taiwanese authorities eventually searched UMC’s offices, where they found one of the two off-network laptops. UMC employees were able to hide papers, notes, USB drives, a personal phone and a computer, the Justice Department said, and were able to reformat and conceal the hard drive of one of the computers. In addition to the fine, UMC was sentenced to a three-year probation period and will “cooperate” with the U.S. The Justice Department said it will continue with a prosecution of Fujian Jinhua and the three employees.