Former Samsung Electronics researcher jailed for leaking chip technology to Chinese firm

SEOUL: A South Korean court said on Wednesday it had sentenced a former researcher at Samsung Electronics to ​seven years in prison for leaking semiconductor technology ‌to a Chinese company.

The Seoul Central District Court found the defendant, identified only by his surname, guilty of violating the Industrial Technology ​Protection Act, ruling that the leaked data constituted ​a national core technology and that he had conspired ⁠in the breach.

The 56-year-old was among 10 people indicted last ​year on suspicion of leaking memory chip manufacturing technology to ​Chinese chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), a case authorities said helped pave the way for China's development of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), a critical component ​for artificial intelligence computing.

Samsung Electronics declined to comment. CXMT ​did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Yonhap News Agency reported ‌that ⁠the defendant leaked Samsung's DRAM process technology to CXMT after moving to the Chinese firm with a former Samsung Electronics official. Citing the prosecution's office, Yonhap also said he ​received about 2.9 ​billion won ($1.96 ⁠million) over six years from CXMT in return.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office was ​not immediately available for comment when contacted by ​Reuters.

Last ⁠year, CXMT said it planned to raise 29.5 billion yuan ($4.33 billion) through an initial public offering of 10.6 billion shares in ⁠Shanghai. ​The leading Chinese chipmaker said it ​would use the listing proceeds to upgrade production lines and technologies.