Two employees of major semiconductor manufacturer and design company TSMC, as well as one former employee, have been arrested over claims they stole proprietary technology, according to the Financial Times. This is the first trade secrets case to be filed under Taiwan's new national security law, which is designed to clamp down on the sale and theft of trade secrets of "national core technologies," from the country's hugely important chip design sector.
Taiwan is home to much of the world's chip design and fabrication infrastructure, headed by TSMC's cutting-edge facilities and intellectual property. In recent years, it has leapt ahead of traditional rivals Samsung and Intel and now produces most of the world's most advanced silicon. That makes it a key target for IP theft, however, and over the years, TSMC has struggled with engineers defecting to competitors and taking trade secrets with them.
