Samsung Data Theft Defendant Named!
The plan was allegedly funded by Chinese investors, probably going well till something caused the deal to fall apart and Samsung got implicated — a saga too telling of Chinese’s ambitions.
When the news broke, all that were mentioned was the defendant is in his mid 60s, experienced in Samsung and SK Hynix (both semiconductor titans). More dirt was aired when Asia Financial revealed his name – Choi Jin-seok.
Korea Times added Choi was described as a “master in production yields,”. He was formerly a senior executive at Samsung Electronics, the world’s top memory chip maker, and three-time winner of Samsung’s annual “proud Samsung men” awards.
After 18 years at Samsung, he joined Hynix Semiconductor in 2001, which later became SK Hynix, Samsung’s toughest competitor in the global memory chip sector. He was a “hidden force” in improving SK’s chip production yields.
Guilty Till Proven Innocent?
When he was named Chief Executive of a company invested in by a regional Chinese government in 2020, Seoul’s intelligence agencies raised the alarm about economic espionage and technology theft. Local prosecutors said the former executive hired some 200 ex-Samsung and SK engineers, and allegedly stole Samsung’s key factory specifications as well as clean-room designs.
If there were not enough panic, prosecution’s speculated millions of Samsung’s advanced chip facilities data sets had already been stolen. Fuelling the fire is another testimony from another former Samsung executive who was also approached by Chinese agents to work at a Chinese semiconductor firm.
“This case is an alarm bell to major South Korean tech companies and South Korea itself. Technicians, researchers and engineers at Samsung and SK are being targeted by Chinese agents. The main concern is understanding the whereabouts of skilled workers and knowledge is much harder than controlling the movement of products through restrictive measures and tightened export controls,” the source noted.
He added, “Semiconductor- and battery-related technologies, viewed as crucial for defense and backbone industries, have become much more difficult to steal or even acquire via acquisition deals, I would presume efforts by the Chinese government to scout skilled semiconductor and battery engineers will accelerate.”
South Korea is home to world-class memory chip and battery manufacturers including LG Energy Solution and Samsung SDI, the country is situated to better protect tech intellectual property. Data provided by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) showed 93 cases of suspected industrial espionage were detected from 2018 to last year. The semiconductor, display and battery industries were the prime targets.
A Question Of Ethics
The impact on the country’s economy through the loss of intellectual property is one of the main concerns among South Korean officials. Estimates by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) revealed the annual costs of intellectual property theft for the country are somewhere between KRW56 trillion and KRW60 trillion. China is responsible for at least 85% of that figure.
“Industrial espionage has already become a major flashpoint in U.S.-China relations, and will be the same for Seoul’s relationship with Beijing,” said Park Hyeong-kwan, Professor Of Department of Police Administration at Gachon University.
He added that China’s growing business intelligence targeting of U.S. officials and experienced U.S. business executives has become a major justification for U.S. technology restrictions. If the speculations are proven right, it could only further tarnish the name of China for the wrong reasons.
There is no shame in trying to be self-reliant, but when Intellectual Property Rights are added to the mix, it will be a major public relations crisis for China with the biggest blow directed at ethics.
Samsung may not be spared either — what catalysed the criminal act when the defendant has all the experience and knowledge? This came shortly after the several data leaks thanks to A.I. chatbots.
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