Former Samsung Electronics Employee Sentenced to 7 Years for Leaking Semiconductor Technology to Chinese Company
A former Samsung Electronics researcher was sentenced to seven years in prison by a Seoul court for allegedly leaking semiconductor technology to a Chinese company. Prosecutors stated that Samsung Electronics suffered massive losses due to this technology leak.
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- 📰 Published: April 22, 2026 at 17:52
- 🔍 Collected: April 22, 2026 at 18:02 (9 min after Published)
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Central News Agency
(Central News Agency, Taipei, 22nd) According to Korean media reports, a former Samsung Electronics researcher suspected of leaking semiconductor technology to China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) was sentenced to seven years in prison by a Seoul court in a first-instance trial today. Korean prosecutors previously stated that Samsung Electronics suffered massive losses as a result, with sales alone decreasing by 5 trillion Korean won (approximately 105 billion New Taiwan dollars) in 2024.
Yonhap News Agency reported that the 28th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court today delivered a first-instance verdict in the case of Samsung Electronics' semiconductor technology leakage, sentencing the suspect, identified only as Jeon, to seven years in prison.
The court recognized that the leaked technology was a national core technology of South Korea, and Jeon was involved in the process of leaking the relevant technology. Jeon leaked critical technical information, developed with massive investment by large corporations, and allowed foreign entities to use it, causing damage to the companies involved and even national interests, thus warranting severe punishment.
The report pointed out that Jeon had resigned along with former Samsung Electronics manager Kim and moved to the Chinese semiconductor company CXMT. Jeon was suspected of leaking Samsung Electronics' dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) process technology to the Chinese side during this process and was arrested and indicted in May last year. The technology involved was Samsung Electronics' latest 10-nanometer class DRAM process, which was the first in the world to be developed with an investment of 1.6 trillion Korean won.
Investigations revealed that Jeon received a total of 2.9 billion Korean won from CXMT over nearly six years in exchange for providing information related to the technology involved, including a contract bonus of 300 million Korean won and stock options worth 300 million Korean won.
According to reports, in the case of Samsung Electronics' semiconductor technology leakage, Korean prosecutors further indicted five former Samsung Electronics employees on December 23 last year and also indicted five employees of CXMT's R&D team on the same charges without detention.
Prosecutors' investigations showed that immediately after its establishment, CXMT hired former Samsung Electronics department head A as its R&D director. To acquire Samsung Electronics' unique 10nm-class DRAM process technology, A led the recruitment of key technical personnel for various core processes. During this process, former Samsung Electronics researcher B manually copied the core DRAM process technology PRP (Process Recipe) and took it out of the company, then moved to CXMT. This allowed CXMT to fully grasp the complete 10nm-class DRAM process technology, which was the only one in the world at the time.
Korean prosecutors further clarified that after absorbing multiple former Samsung Electronics employees, CXMT officially launched DRAM R&D. During the R&D period, it also additionally acquired semiconductor process-related technology from South Korea's SK Hynix through partners. After mastering the two core semiconductor technologies of Korean companies, CXMT finally achieved mass production of 10nm-class DRAM in 2023, becoming the first Chinese company and the fourth globally to master this technology.
Korean prosecutors pointed out that this technology leakage incident resulted in the loss of South Korea's core industrial technology, causing massive economic losses. According to prosecutors' estimates, Samsung Electronics' sales alone decreased by 5 trillion Korean won in 2024. If the subsequent negative impact of this incident on the overall South Korean economy is added, the total loss would be at least tens of trillions of Korean won. (Editors: Yang Sheng-ru / Qiu Guo-qiang) 1150422
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(Central News Agency, Taipei, 22nd) According to Korean media reports, a former Samsung Electronics researcher suspected of leaking semiconductor technology to China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) was sentenced to seven years in prison by a Seoul court in a first-instance trial today. Korean prosecutors previously stated that Samsung Electronics suffered massive losses as a result, with sales alone decreasing by 5 trillion Korean won (approximately 105 billion New Taiwan dollars) in 2024.
Yonhap News Agency reported that the 28th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court today delivered a first-instance verdict in the case of Samsung Electronics' semiconductor technology leakage, sentencing the suspect, identified only as Jeon, to seven years in prison.
The court recognized that the leaked technology was a national core technology of South Korea, and Jeon was involved in the process of leaking the relevant technology. Jeon leaked critical technical information, developed with massive investment by large corporations, and allowed foreign entities to use it, causing damage to the companies involved and even national interests, thus warranting severe punishment.
The report pointed out that Jeon had resigned along with former Samsung Electronics manager Kim and moved to the Chinese semiconductor company CXMT. Jeon was suspected of leaking Samsung Electronics' dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) process technology to the Chinese side during this process and was arrested and indicted in May last year. The technology involved was Samsung Electronics' latest 10-nanometer class DRAM process, which was the first in the world to be developed with an investment of 1.6 trillion Korean won.
Investigations revealed that Jeon received a total of 2.9 billion Korean won from CXMT over nearly six years in exchange for providing information related to the technology involved, including a contract bonus of 300 million Korean won and stock options worth 300 million Korean won.
According to reports, in the case of Samsung Electronics' semiconductor technology leakage, Korean prosecutors further indicted five former Samsung Electronics employees on December 23 last year and also indicted five employees of CXMT's R&D team on the same charges without detention.
Prosecutors' investigations showed that immediately after its establishment, CXMT hired former Samsung Electronics department head A as its R&D director. To acquire Samsung Electronics' unique 10nm-class DRAM process technology, A led the recruitment of key technical personnel for various core processes. During this process, former Samsung Electronics researcher B manually copied the core DRAM process technology PRP (Process Recipe) and took it out of the company, then moved to CXMT. This allowed CXMT to fully grasp the complete 10nm-class DRAM process technology, which was the only one in the world at the time.
Korean prosecutors further clarified that after absorbing multiple former Samsung Electronics employees, CXMT officially launched DRAM R&D. During the R&D period, it also additionally acquired semiconductor process-related technology from South Korea's SK Hynix through partners. After mastering the two core semiconductor technologies of Korean companies, CXMT finally achieved mass production of 10nm-class DRAM in 2023, becoming the first Chinese company and the fourth globally to master this technology.
Korean prosecutors pointed out that this technology leakage incident resulted in the loss of South Korea's core industrial technology, causing massive economic losses. According to prosecutors' estimates, Samsung Electronics' sales alone decreased by 5 trillion Korean won in 2024. If the subsequent negative impact of this incident on the overall South Korean economy is added, the total loss would be at least tens of trillions of Korean won. (Editors: Yang Sheng-ru / Qiu Guo-qiang) 1150422
Choose to stand with the facts, every sponsorship you make is a force to protect press freedom.
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The text, images, and videos on this website may not be reproduced, publicly broadcast, or publicly transmitted and used without authorization.