Nikkei Shimbun recently reported that Taiwan’s Intellectual Property and Commercial Court issued a first-instance verdict on April 27 in a case involving the leak of Taiwan’s national core technology. A former employee of Tokyo Electron’s Taiwan subsidiary was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The case involves confidential information related to advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes and has drawn significant attention across the industry.
According to the indictment, the former employee had previously worked at TSMC before transferring to Tokyo Electron’s Taiwan subsidiary. He is alleged to have illegally obtained confidential information related to advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes for the purpose of improving etching equipment used in circuit formation. In addition to the 10-year prison sentence handed to the former employee, the court found Tokyo Electron’s subsidiary liable for supervisory failures, imposing a fine of NT$150 million (approximately ¥760 million), with a three-year suspended sentence. Tokyo Electron and TSMC have reached a settlement.
DSET CEO Chang Chih-cheng, in an interview with Nikkei, stated that following this verdict, “compliance standards required of semiconductor equipment manufacturers will rise even further.” He emphasized that companies must narrow the scope of confidential information sharing and establish stricter information management frameworks.
Nikkei noted that TSMC has established a dominant position in the advanced semiconductor market, and serves as a “teacher customer” for equipment manufacturers — a partner that helps suppliers sharpen their technological capabilities. Tokyo Electron ranks fourth globally in semiconductor equipment, holds approximately 90% of the global market share in coater-developer systems, and has maintained a long-standing and deep presence in Taiwan.
Regarding the impact of this incident on the relationship between the two companies, Waseda University Business School Professor Atsushi Osanai noted that “Tokyo Electron is an important partner that is difficult for TSMC to replace,” and assessed that the overall impact would likely be limited. Tokyo Electron issued a statement saying it “takes seriously the finding that it failed to sufficiently fulfill its supervisory obligations,” while clarifying that no organizational involvement by the company or leakage of confidential information to third parties has been confirmed, and that no material impact on business performance is expected.
