SEOUL: A former employee of South Korean semiconductor maker SK Hynix has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for leaking semiconductor manufacturing technology to a Chinese company, Yonhap News Agency reported Sunday.
The Seoul High Court upheld the sentence on appeal after finding the former employee guilty of leaking classified information related to CMOS image sensor technology to a Chinese firm in 2022.
What Technology Was Leaked?
The leaked information involved CMOS image sensors, a type of non-memory semiconductor technology widely used in smartphone cameras and laptops.
According to Yonhap, the information concerned semiconductor manufacturing technology that SK Hynix had classified as confidential.
The former employee was accused of providing the information to a Chinese company in 2022.
What Did the Court Decide?
The Seoul High Court upheld the lower court’s 18-month prison sentence in the appeal case.
The ruling highlights South Korea’s efforts to protect sensitive semiconductor technologies as competition in the global chip industry intensifies.
SK Hynix is one of South Korea’s major semiconductor manufacturers and a leading producer of memory chips. The company has also expanded its activities in advanced semiconductor technologies as global competition over chip manufacturing and intellectual property grows.
The case comes amid heightened scrutiny of the transfer of sensitive semiconductor technology between South Korea and China.