Technology for ‘key semiconductor inspection component’ transferred to China... Three former employees face trial

[Financial News] Three former employees who used advanced technology for semiconductor inspection components from a domestic company to develop products at a Chinese company have been indicted. The case involved the Prosecution Office conducting a supplementary investigation through special judicial police and adding charges after prosecutors’ authority to investigate directly was abolished.
The 2nd Division for Prosecution of Serious Crimes at the Daejeon Regional Prosecution Office (Chief Prosecutor Heo Yun-hui) said on the 14th that it had indicted A, 45, while in custody, and B, 40, and C, 40, without detention on charges of violating the Act on Prevention of Divulgence and Protection of Industrial Technology and the Act on Prevention of Unfair Competition and Protection of Trade Secrets. The indictments were filed on the 8th.
According to the Prosecution Office, the three had worked as a management support team leader and engineers at domestic probe card maker Company D before resigning and moving to Chinese Company E, which was established in 2023. A, a department head at Company E, oversaw process design, including outsourced design, while B and C, both deputy department heads, were responsible for photolithography and etching process design, respectively.
They are suspected of using technical materials, including Company D’s design drawings, to develop probe cards for Company E through outsourced design firm Company F from April to September last year, with the aim of having Company E develop its own probe cards. A is also suspected of emailing Company D’s technical materials to executives and employees of Companies E and F on six occasions during this process.
A probe card is a key component used to test individual chips for electrical defects while they are still on a wafer, before the semiconductor chips are packaged. Probe cards play an even greater role in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) semiconductors, as defects must be identified before the chips are stacked. Company D is one of the few domestic companies to have successfully localized probe cards for advanced semiconductors, and has supplied leading global semiconductor companies while competing with firms in the United States and Japan.
The Prosecution Office determined that most of the materials the three used, including design drawings and simulation materials, constituted advanced technology. It also concluded that if a Chinese competitor brought forward production of advanced probe cards, the affected company would inevitably suffer irreparable harm.
The investigation began in December 2024, when special judicial police officers from the Ministry of Intellectual Property received intelligence from the National Intelligence Service. From February to September this year, the ministry conducted search and seizure operations, imposed travel bans, and analyzed evidence; on the 15th of last month, it requested arrest warrants for the three. The Daejeon Regional Prosecution Office sought the warrants, and only the warrant for A was issued on the 18th of that month. At the pre-arrest hearing, a prosecutor with a background in science and engineering personally appeared and explained the technology to establish the need for detention. The three were referred to the prosecution on the 23rd of last month.
The charge of violating the Industrial Technology Protection Act was added after the case was referred. On the 1st, the Prosecution Office questioned the three, confirmed that the technical materials they had used qualified as industrial technology under the same act, and identified additional charges. Since the 2nd, when prosecutors’ authority to investigate directly was abolished, the Ministry of Intellectual Property’s special judicial police have conducted further analysis of the technical materials.
A Prosecution Office official said, “We will do our utmost to maintain the prosecution and will continue to work with relevant agencies, including the Ministry of Intellectual Property and the National Intelligence Service’s Industrial Technology Protection Center, to respond firmly to technology-leakage crimes.” 


[email protected] Kim Dong-gyu Reporter