Taiwan court hands down jail terms in TSMC trade secrets case

Ex-Tokyo Electron worker sentenced to 10 years, with 4 different defendants getting betwixt 10 months and six years.

A tribunal successful Taiwan has fined the section portion of Japan’s Tokyo Electron $5m, and sentenced 5 defendants to jailhouse presumption of up to 10 years, successful a high-profile commercialized secrets lawsuit involving chipmaker TSMC.

The ruling follows 1 of Taiwan’s astir salient cases related to the island’s halfway technologies, involving the alleged theft of TSMC’s delicate machine spot exertion and charges nether the National Security Act.

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In August 2025, prosecutors indicted Chen Li-ming, a erstwhile TSMC and Tokyo Electron employee, connected suspicion of unlawfully obtaining commercialized secrets, on with different defendants, successful a bid to assistance Tokyo Electron triumph much instrumentality orders from TSMC.

Chen was sentenced to 10 years successful prison, with 3 different erstwhile employees of the world’s largest declaration shaper of precocious AI chips receiving presumption ranging from 2 to six years.

The tribunal successful Taipei’s sister metropolis of New Taipei besides gave a erstwhile Tokyo Electron worker a 10-month sentence, suspended for 3 years.

Tokyo Electron and TSMC did not instantly respond to requests for comment.