Former SK Hynix Chip Engineer Gets 1.5 Years In Prison For IP Theft

A Chinese national was sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined ₩20 million ($14,400) for allegedly stealing semiconductor manufacturing technology from SK hynix, according to a South Korean court ruling.

The 36-year-old worked for the chipmaker from 2013 before being hired by Huawei in 2022, where her role initially included analyzing semiconductor defects before she moved into B2B customer relations.

According to court testimony, an investigation found that the employee printed out around 4,000 pages of SK hynix data regarding its semiconductor process. SK hynix held a ban on data storage devices for such purposes and keeps logs of printer use, it emerged.

The former employee argued it was for personal study and to facilitate a work handover, but the Suwon District Court did not accept the claim and this week found her guilty of violating the Industrial Technology Protection Act. The printed information was deemed core state technology at the time.

"It is unusual to print 4,000 pieces of related technical data on A4 paper for four days at SK hynix’s Shanghai branch, where security is poor, just before resignation,” the court reportedly stated.

The ruling reasoned the collection of materials was likely destined for Huawei, where the former SK staffer received a pay boost.

"There are reasonable grounds to suspect that she removed these documents in batches of about 300 pages daily, concealing them in her backpack and shopping bags," the court reportedly alleged.

The sentence was considered lenient and appeared to take into consideration there was no proof that the stolen technology had been used and that SK hynix could not quantify any damages, Korean outlets have reported.

The Register understands the defendant is no longer with Huawei, allegedly for reasons unrelated to the case.

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Korean press has noted that its nation's two top chipmakers, Samsung and SK hynix, have experienced an onslaught of chip engineers moving to rivals, including both Chinese and American companies.

This past September, two Samsung employees were arrested in South Korea on suspicion of stealing more than $3.2 billion in intellectual property to build their own chip factory.

However, it's not just the chip fabs that have to worry: last month, South Korea announced new measures to prevent theft and leaks from its patent office. The nation's Ministry of Economics and Finance detailed that the patent office experienced 97 attempts to leak technology overseas, 40 of which were related to semiconductors. ®