It’s not even halfway into a week, and TSMC has already managed to identify and put under the spotlight one of the recipients of its leaked 2nm trade secrets: Tokyo Electron. Adding insult to injury, the company is also a business partner.
It turns out that, among the six individuals charged with corporate espionage by TSMC, one of them had been a former employee at Tokyo Electron. As the Taiwanese semiconductor maker was a major client and supplier of chipmaking tools, it’s easy to see how the former staff gained access to sensitive trade secrets and chipmaking technology.
You probably don’t know much about the Japanese provider of chipmaking tools, and that’s actually by design. The company purposely keeps a low profile, but in its field, it’s what many consider to be a “tech linchpin”. “The fact that Tokyo Electron has come under the spotlight in this way feels like an unfortunate accident,” said Atsushi Osanai, a professor at Waseda University.
To recap, TSMC took legal action against six individuals, all former staff, for leaking trade secrets and information about its advanced 2nm chip technology. The technology is set to enter mass production later this year.
Tokyo Electron said that it has since fired the employee at its Taipei unit, but the event has raised questions within the company as to why its employees would even be involved in corporate espionage. Industry veterans say all this has done was to draw the ire from a major client, and that it now runs the risk of having its relationship broken off by TSMC.
(Source: Bloomberg via Business Times)
