Dec. 23 (Asia Today) -- South Korean prosecutors said Tuesday they have indicted 10 people, including a Samsung Electronics executive, on allegations they stole core semiconductor technologies from Samsung Electronics and SK hynix and provided them to Chinese competitors.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office's IT Crime Investigation Division said five suspects, including a former Samsung Electronics employee identified as A, were indicted and detained on charges including violations of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act. Five members of Chinese memory chipmaker Changxin Memory Technologies' development team were indicted without detention on similar charges.
Prosecutors said the alleged leakage of 10-nanometer DRAM process technology from South Korea's top two memory chipmakers caused damage to the national economy estimated at at least tens of trillions of won (about tens of billions of dollars).
Prosecutors said A, a former Samsung department head, and another former Samsung researcher identified as B are accused of obtaining Samsung's 18-nanometer DRAM process information in September 2016 and passing it to Changxin Memory Technologies. The company's technology was described as a first-of-its-kind process developed over five years at a cost of 1.6 trillion won (about $1.08 billion).
