Taiwan's Intellectual Property and Commercial Court sentences ex-Tokyo Electron engineer Chen Li-ming to 10 years in prison for stealing TSMC's proprietary data

· hardware · Source ↗

TLDR

  • A Taiwanese court sentenced former Tokyo Electron engineer Chen Li-ming to 10 years for stealing TSMC proprietary data.

Key Facts

  • Chen Li-ming was a Tokyo Electron employee, not a TSMC employee, at the time of the theft.
  • Taiwan’s Intellectual Property and Commercial Court handed down the 10-year sentence.
  • The case involved theft of proprietary data belonging to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

Why It Matters

  • The sentence signals Taiwan courts will impose significant prison terms for semiconductor trade secret theft.
  • TSMC’s process data is among the most commercially sensitive in the chip industry, making this a high-profile case.

Debby Wu / Bloomberg · 2026-04-27 · Read the original

Related coverage