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South Korea’s China-linked US$4 billion tech theft triggers outcry for tougher penalties
Experts warn that the Samsung case threatens South Korea’s economic security amid rising US-China tensions in the global chip market
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Calls are growing in South Korea for technology crimes to attract harsher penalties following the arrest of two former Samsung employees over a US$4 billion scheme to replicate a semiconductor plant in China using stolen trade secrets.
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Observers are increasingly concerned about the outflow of critical technology, particularly to China, amid an escalating global chip war between it and the United States – with one Seoul police official stressing that the Samsung case underscores the threats to South Korea’s “economic security”.
The primary suspect, identified only as Mr Choi, previously held executive positions at both Samsung Electronics and Hynix – now SK Hynix – and was regarded as one of the country’s leading experts in semiconductor manufacturing.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the 66-year-old Choi established a joint venture, Chengdu Gaozhen (CHIS), in collaboration with a district government in Chengdu city in 2020.
The district government contributed US$342 million in capital, while Choi recruited “Mr O”, a senior DRAM memory chip researcher from Samsung, along with about 200 other Korean engineers to operate the plant.
Choi and O are accused of orchestrating the theft of Samsung’s technology for producing 20-nanometre DRAM semiconductors, with the plant reportedly producing working pilot products by April 2022.
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