Hundreds of photos with business secrets: Rapidus involved in TSMC scandal

In Taiwan, the scandal for data theft is expanding in the world’s largest chip order ready Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Numerous local online and television forecasts report on the case. Accordingly, there are now nine suspects that are said to have been involved in the passing on of internal information. Some of them worked in TSMC’s most important 2-nanometer work (FAB 20) and in the adjacent research center.

The suspects are accused of having opened and photographed internal files in the HomeOffice internal files via TSMCS 2-nanometer process generation. Over 400 pictures should According to United Daily News (UDN) were created and passed on. Already on Tuesday it was said that Taiwanese authorities had also searched offices of the supplier Tokyo Electron (Tel) in Taiwan. Tokyo Electron builds important machines for semiconductor production, including etching and coating systems that also uses TSMC.

In the meantime, there is a connection: According to the agreed media reports, the pictures are said to have reached Tokyo Electron employees who used to work on TSMC. These employees are said to have passed the business secrets to the young Japanese chip assignment rapidus.

Rapidus also builds 2-NM production

Rapidus is building its first semiconductor work with massive state funding and in cooperation with IBM, Fraunhofer and Japanese universities. There are chips with 2-NM technology, but initially to a small scale. The TSMC information should be useful to optimize the production facilities. TSMC’s knowledge is valuable, for example to increase the chip yield.

Numerous media Quote Lu Xingzhi as an experienced commentator for semiconductor topics. He puts compensation of several billion US dollars in the room that Tokyo Electron and Rapidus would have to pay in the event of a guilty verdict. However, he also asks how to assess whether Rapidus uses the illegally preserved business secrets at all: Is it a violation of the law if employees steal the information, but the company does not use it?

In the early 2000s there was already a precedent in which former TSMC engineers switched to Chinese chip assignment and passed on to business secrets. In addition to a penalty payment, TSMC received ten percent of the SMIC shares in 2010. TSMC has sold it for years, most recently in 2019. Lu Xingzhi therefore also considers it possible that TSMC will receive rapidus shares.