Suspect in TSMC trade secret theft detained incommunicado

Taipei, Jan. 8 (CNA) The Intellectual Property and Commercial Court on Thursday ruled that a Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. employee be detained incommunicado for stealing the company's 14-nanometer (nm) trade secrets.

The suspect, Chen Wei-chieh (陳韋傑), was indicted on Monday on charges of reproducing trade secrets relating to national core key technologies without authorization under the National Security Act.

The court ruled that Chen is suspected of the alleged offenses after reviewing the evidence, including witness testimony, text message records, his nondisclosure agreement, and employee monitoring system records provided by TSMC.

The court noted that Chen's statements regarding his actions were inconsistent and evasive, and that he replaced his personal mobile phone and office computer after learning that co-defendant Chen Li-ming (陳力銘) was under investigation.

The court said that discarding or destroying devices suspected of being used to reproduce and transmit trade secrets could constitute destruction of evidence, indicating a risk of evidence tampering and collusion.

Moreover, the crime that he was allegedly involved in not only damaged TSMC, but also national security, industrial competitiveness and economic development, the court added.

The case came to light while the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office's Intellectual Property Branch was investigating the alleged theft of TSMC trade secrets related to its 2nm technology. The probe centered on former TSMC engineer Chen Li-ming, who was working at Tokyo Electron Taiwan Ltd. and is suspected of transmitting the secrets to the company.

During the investigation, prosecutors discovered that Tokyo Electron Taiwan's cloud storage also contained trade secrets linked to TSMC's 14nm technology. When confronted with the evidence, Chen Li-ming identified Chen Wei-chieh as being involved in the case, prosecutors said.

Chen Li-ming and two other suspects in the 2nm technology theft case have also been detained.

Meanwhile, Tokyo Electron Taiwan has also been indicted in both cases for failing to properly supervise Chen Li-ming.