Japanese chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron says a former employee of its Taiwan subsidiary was involved in the alleged theft of trade secrets from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.
Tokyo Electron said on Thursday that it had dismissed the person for breaching its standards for legal compliance and ethical conduct.
Prosecutors in Taiwan announced on Tuesday that they had detained three people for allegedly illegally obtaining information on sensitive technology from the world’s largest contract chipmaker.
Local media are reporting that the detained people are suspected of leaking details overseas about TSMC’s advanced 2-nanometer chip technology, whose mass production has not yet started.
But Tokyo Electron says its internal investigation has not confirmed any evidence of the respective confidential information being shared to any third parties.
The company added that it is fully cooperating with Taiwanese authorities for the investigation.
AloJapan.com