SK hynix Ex-Employee Detained By Domestic Court For Allegedly Stealing Crucial Semiconductor Technology While Being Poached By Huawei

A former employee of SK hynix is reportedly being tried in a domestic court for stealing semiconductor technology data printed on 3,000 pages before moving to Huawei. The first trial is expected to be held at the Yeoju branch of the Suwon District Court.

SK hynix has access to advanced DRAM and flash memory technologies and is currently working on HBM3e memory for NVIDIA AI GPUs, GDDR7 VRAM for upcoming consumer GPUs, and has partnered with TSMC to push forth HBM4 technology. All of this data would be essential for Huawei as it would give it an edge in various categories.

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Huawei is rumored to have used high salaries as bait to lure new employees into stealing key technologies from leading companies

A report from the Korean publication Money Today reveals that Huawei has attempted to lure former employees from potential competitors by offering them unbeatable salary packages that force them to not just leave their current positions but also steal invaluable data. Likely to withhold the former SK hynix employee’s identity, the report refers to the individual as Ms. A, a Chinese woman in her 30s who joined the Korean company in 2013 and has worked in the department that analyzes defects in semiconductor designs.

However, the report later refers to the person as Mr. A, which might be a small error on the publication’s part. Regardless, SK hynix’s ex-employee shifted to Huawei in 2020 and worked there as a team leader in the business-to-business customer consultation department until June 2022. As the person attempted to change jobs, Mr. A realized that a USB drive could not be used to extract the crucial data from SK hynix due to the tightened security.

Instead, he printed out over 3,000 sheets of A4 paper and allegedly handed them to Huawei. This information would have benefitted the Chinese firm immensely,