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Sentencing Distribution in TSMC Trade Secret Case
Prison sentence terms for the five defendants convicted in the trade secret theft case.
Primary Sources
Taiwan court hands down jail terms in TSMC trade secrets case
Ex-Tokyo Electron employee sentenced to 10 years, with four other defendants getting between 10 months and six years.A court in Taiwan has fined the local unit of Japan’s Tokyo Electron $5m, and sentenced five defendants to jail terms of up to 10 years, in a high-profile trade secrets case involving chipmaker TSMC.The ruling follows one of Taiwan’s most prominent cases related to the island’s core technologies, involving the alleged theft of TSMC’s sensitive computer chip technology and charges under the National Security Act.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Video: Israeli ‘ceasefire’ violations on the rise in Gazalist 2 of 4Iran’s foreign minister leaves Pakistan, heads to Russia for more talkslist 3 of 4Oil prices rise amid stalled US-Iran peace talkslist 4 of 4Satellite images show scale of Israeli destruction of south Lebanon townsend of listIn August 2025, prosecutors indicted Chen Li-ming, a former TSMC and Tokyo Electron employee, on suspicion of unlawfully obtaining trade secrets, along with other defendants, in a bid to help Tokyo Electron win more equipment orders from TSMC.Chen was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with three other former employees of the world’s largest contract manufacturer of advanced AI chips receiving terms ranging from two to six years.The court in Taipei’s sister city of New Taipei also gave a former Tokyo Electron employee a 10-month sentence, suspended for three years.Tokyo Electron and TSMC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Taiwan court hands out jail terms of up to 10 years in TSMC trade ...
Visitors gather at the Tokyo Electron Ltd (TEL) booth at SEMICON 2025 in Taipei, Taiwan, September 10, 2025. REUTERS/Ann Wang Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tabNEW TAIPEI, Taiwan, April 27 (Reuters) - A Taiwan court fined the local unit of Japan's Tokyo Electron (8035.T), opens new tab T$150 million ($5 million) on Monday, and handed jail terms of up to 10 years to five convicted in a case relating to TSMC's (2330.TW), opens new tab sensitive chip technology.The ruling follows one of Taiwan's highest profile cases of alleged breaches of national core technologies, involving charges under the National Security Act. Sign up here.In August 2025, prosecutors indicted Chen Li-ming, a former TSMC and Tokyo Electron employee, of unlawfully obtaining the trade secrets, along with other defendants, in a bid to help Tokyo Electron win more equipment orders from TSMC.Chen was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with terms ranging from two to six years handed to three other former employees of TSMC, the world's biggest contract manufacturer of advanced AI chips.The court in Taipei's sister city of New Taipei also gave a former Tokyo Electron employee a 10-month sentence, suspended for three years.Chen was among four of the five individual defendants to plead guilty, as did the Taiwan unit of Tokyo Electron. The court said the defendants could appeal against the decision.Neither Tokyo Electron nor TSMC, the global giant that makes chips for Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab, Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab and Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab, among many others, immediately responded to requests for comment.In December, Taiwan prosecutors said they had charged the Tokyo Electron unit with violating the National Security Act and the Trade Secrets Act after Chen was indicted in August for alleged theft of trade secrets from TSMC.Tokyo Electron has said previously that the matter had no impact on its financial results.It also said it would further reinforce compliance and audit systems across the group, including its Taiwan unit, to "ensure that such incidents never occur again."Shares of TSMC closed up 3.7%.($1=T$31.4110)Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Clarence FernandezOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
Taiwan Jails Insiders in Major Chip Secrets Breach Case
A court in Taiwan has handed down prison sentences of up to 10 years in a high profile trade secrets case involving TSMC, the world's leading producer of advanced chips. The ruling also included a significant fine for the local unit of Tokyo Electron.
Taiwan Rewrites Investment Rules as TSMC Becomes Too Critical to ...
Taiwan's decision to ease investment caps for TSMC marks the transition from viewing semiconductor dominance through a diversification lens to treating it as concentrated strategic necessity.
