The Seoul High Court has upheld an 18-month prison sentence for a former SK Hynix employee, surnamed Kim, for leaking CMOS image sensor technology to Chinese firms, including Huawei's subsidiary HiSilicon. Kim printed and photographed confidential documents in 2022 to bolster a resume. While Kim was acquitted of leaking hybrid bonding technology because it lacked official high-tech classification, the court emphasized that lenient penalties for industrial espionage threaten national security and corporate innovation.
SK Hynix trade secrets
- ▪The former SK Hynix employee leaked trade secrets related to CMOS image sensors (CIS) in 2022 while working at the company's local subsidiary in China.
- ▪The defendant downloaded, printed, and photographed confidential documents from SK Hynix's internal document management system in violation of company security protocols.
CMOS image sensor technology
- ▪CMOS image sensors are semiconductor devices that convert light into digital signals, used for non-memory chips in smartphone cameras and laptops.
- ▪South Korea classifies CMOS image sensor technology under its industrial technology protection laws, treating its unauthorized leakage as a matter of national security.
Huawei HiSilicon job recruitment
- ▪The defendant cited and disclosed some of the stolen SK Hynix confidential materials directly within a resume submitted to a Chinese firm.
- ▪The defendant committed the leak after receiving job offers from Chinese entities, including HiSilicon, a semiconductor subsidiary of Huawei.
South Korea industrial espionage
- ▪In a separate 2024 case, a Chinese national and former SK Hynix employee was sentenced to five years on appeal for stealing semiconductor manufacturing documents before joining Huawei.
- ▪The Seoul High Court ruled the defendant not guilty of leaking hybrid bonding technology, as the technology was not classified as a protected high-tech subject by South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
18-month prison sentence
- ▪The Seoul High Court Criminal Division 10-1 upheld an 18-month prison sentence for a former SK Hynix employee, surnamed Kim, for leaking semiconductor trade secrets to a Chinese firm.
- ▪The defendant, a former SK Hynix employee surnamed Kim, admitted to all charges, and most of the leaked trade secrets were successfully recovered.
Court legal reasoning
- ▪The appellate court found no errors in the initial trial's judgment but cited the recovery of the stolen data and the defendant's confession as factors for maintaining the 18-month sentence.
- ▪The Seoul High Court stated that light punishments for technology leaks would strip corporations of motivation to develop technology and allow foreign competitors to easily hijack domestic capabilities.
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