Taiwanese technology giant Delta Electronics’s charging pile-related secret was stolen by a former senior executive surnamed Ruan to a newly appointed Chinese technology company. The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office ruled on the 30th that Ruan was sentenced to 2 years in prison for violating the Trade Secrets Act and has the right to appeal.
In 2023, Delta Electronics experienced a case of commercial secrets being stolen by an insider. After the former senior executive surnamed Ruan stole the confidential research and development project of the factory and left, he transferred to the power supply manufacturer Feihong Technology, where he was responsible for the software and hardware development of electric vehicle charging piles. Eventually, Ruan left Feihong and brought the technology of Tesla’s “wall-mounted AC charging pile” developed by Delta Electronics and Feihong’s confidential information to a Chinese technology company for development.
Prior investigations revealed that after the former senior executive surnamed Ruan from Delta Electronics switched to a Chinese company, he was also suspected of instigating a former subordinate named Zhang, who worked at Feihong, to steal trade secrets, which was eventually exposed by Feihong’s information security personnel. Prosecutors believe that these stolen secrets could assist Chinese companies in shortening the development time for electric vehicle charging piles, greatly impacting the competitive advantage of Delta Electronics and Feihong in the charging pile market, leading to commercial losses.
The Taoyuan District Court in Taiwan ruled that Ruan’s actions resulted in huge annual business losses for Delta Electronics, infringed upon legal interests, caused significant losses, and were intended for use in mainland China. Therefore, on the 30th, he was sentenced to 2 years in prison for violating the Trade Secrets Act, with the right to appeal.
The judgment pointed out that Ruan had served as a research and development personnel at Delta Electronics and was well aware that the aforementioned technical information was Delta Electronics’ trade secret. If used by a competitor, it would not only adversely affect Delta Electronics’ products in the global charging pile market but also impact Taiwan’s high-tech industry severely, despite intending to use it in mainland China, infringed upon Delta Electronics’ trade secrets.
According to Delta Electronics’ report, these trade secrets in the electric vehicle charging pile industry are unique and technologically leading, classified as extremely confidential files, with very minimal chances for other manufacturers to independently develop designs with similar specifications and technologies. The estimated total cost invested in research, development, and production of the trade secret files involved in this case amounts to approximately NTD 134.95 million (about USD 4.37 million), with annual revenue of up to USD 160 million from the project sales related to the second-generation wall-mounted AC charging pile for Tesla.