TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A man surnamed Lee (李) was indicted on Tuesday (March 29) for allegedly setting up a company in Taiwan on behalf of a Chinese fabless design company to engage in integrated circuit (IC) design R&D.
Authorities say he is in violation of the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area.
Article 40-1 of the act specifies, “Unless permitted by the competent authorities and having established in the Taiwan Area a branch or liaison office, no profit-seeking enterprise of the Mainland Area may engage in any business activities in Taiwan.”
The "competent authorities" in the act refers to the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Investment Commission.
The Hsinchu District Prosecutors Office said in the indictment issued that Lee had allegedly set up MLink Co in Hsinchu County's Zhubei City in November 2018 as Beijing-based KTMicro Co’s extension in Taiwan in order to evade the Investment Commission’s screening. Lee then recruited more than 10 Taiwanese engineers to form a R&D team and sent their chip design results back to KTMicro.
The prosecutor's office said it will continue to crack down on foreign companies trying to recruit talent from other domestic corporations and engage in illegal business activities to ensure that Taiwan’s competitiveness in the high-tech industry will not be undermined.
