TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Prosecutors expanded the TSMC trade secrets case on Thursday with an additional indictment, transferring a former employee to the Intellectual Property and Commercial Court to rule on continued custody.
Prosecutors said former TSMC employee Chen Wei-chieh (陳韋傑) was implicated in the theft of data related to technologies below 14 nm, per CNA. Chen, who has been detained during the investigation, was escorted to the court and declined to respond to media questions.
The court said case files had not yet arrived and a hearing is expected later in the day to rule on whether Chen’s detention will continue during trial proceedings.
The case stems from an investigation into leaks of TSMC’s advanced semiconductor technologies, including the 2 nm process. Prosecutors allege former engineer Chen Li-ming (陳力銘) sought to benefit Tokyo Electron after joining the company, by obtaining confidential TSMC information to help improve equipment performance, per UDN.
From mid-2023 to mid-2024, Chen Li-ming allegedly persuaded incumbent TSMC engineers Wu Ping-jun (吳秉駿) and Ko I-ping (戈一平 ) to provide trade secrets. Prosecutors filed indictments against all three last year for violating the Trade Secrets Act and the National Security Act.
Prosecutors later added Tokyo Electron’s Taiwan unit to the case, accusing the firm of failing to adequately prevent misconduct despite its duty to supervise. They said sensitive TSMC data was found in the company’s cloud storage during the investigation.
After Chen Li-ming confessed and implicated Chen Wei-chieh, investigators carried out searches and secured the latter’s detention in November. Prosecutors are now seeking an eight-year and eight-month sentence for Chen Wei-chieh.
