China IC firm employee indicted over illegal operations in Taiwan

Taipei, May 11 (CNA) A Taiwanese employee of Chinese IC design company Novosense Microelectronics has been indicted for allegedly operating the company's business in Taiwan without government approval.

Kidder Shen (慎基德), 43, the company's East Asia sales director, was indicted Monday by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office for alleged violations of the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area.

According to the indictment, Shen joined Novosense Microelectronics in 2021 and rented an office in Taipei to serve as the company's local base of operations.

Prosecutors allege that Shen later hired four former employees of Texas Instruments to conduct sales, customer service and related operations in Taiwan for the Chinese company.

Because Novosense Microelectronics had not obtained government approval to establish operations in Taiwan, those activities were illegal under Taiwanese law, prosecutors said.

Under Article 40 of the Act, Chinese companies and companies invested by Chinese entities in a third region are prohibited from conducting business activities or establishing a branch or office in Taiwan without approval from the competent authorities.

To evade scrutiny, Novosense Microelectronics allegedly did not register Shen and the other employees for standard employee insurance coverage in Taiwan, prosecutors said, adding that the employees were paid in U.S. dollars through Singapore- and Hong Kong-based human resources firms.

The case was among 16 cases involving Chinese companies accused of illegally recruiting Taiwanese talent that were made public by the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) in August 2025.

Other companies implicated in the investigations included Shenzhen Huntkey Chiyuan Science & Technology Co., a major Chinese IT hardware manufacturer, and Victory Giant Technology (HuiZhou) Co., one of China's leading printed circuit board manufacturers.