This week, the Taiwanese government arrested six suspects alleged to have stolen business secrets related to TSMC’s 2-nanometer technology. The case involves Tokyo Electron, a semiconductor equipment manufacturer based in Japan. Tokyo Electron has stated that they have terminated an employee from their Taiwan subsidiary.
This is the first time Tokyo Electron has issued a public statement regarding the incident. In their statement, the Japanese chip equipment manufacturer said they are cooperating with the ongoing investigation, but it is currently unclear if any data has been shared with third parties.
Taiwanese prosecutors have arrested six individuals suspected of stealing TSMC’s intellectual property, including someone identified by local media as a former Tokyo Electron employee. Tokyo Electron is one of the major semiconductor manufacturing tool and equipment suppliers for TSMC, which uses these tools to produce NVIDIA’s AI accelerators and Apple’s iPhone processors.
Most advanced semiconductors in the world are produced in Taiwan, and Taiwanese companies are facing threats of espionage from the Chinese Communist Party as it strives to enhance its independent chip manufacturing capabilities.
Atsushi Osanai, a professor at Waseda University, told Bloomberg, “Tokyo Electron attracting attention in this way feels like an unfortunate mishap.”
According to a source familiar with the matter, Tokyo Electron’s management has flown to Taiwan to manage the aftermath.
Tokyo Electron has stated that so far, they have not found any evidence indicating the leakage of business secrets to third parties. The company has mentioned that they are unable to provide more details about the case as it is under judicial review.
Taiwanese prosecutors have not disclosed further details about the investigation.
Similar to Applied Materials Inc. and Lam Research Corp., Tokyo Electron provides support to global chip manufacturers such as TSMC, Samsung Electronics, and Intel. They manufacture equipment used for coating, etching, processing, and cleaning silicon wafers for semiconductor production.