Chinese Employee Sentenced to 5 Years for Stealing SK Hynix Semiconductor Technology

A former employee of SK Hynix, identified as A (37), has been sentenced to five years in prison for stealing key semiconductor technology. This decision was made by the Suwon High Court on May 7, 2025, which overturned the initial ruling of 18 months in prison. The court emphasized the need for strict penalties due to national security concerns. A, who joined SK Hynix in 2013 and worked in the defect analysis department, left the company in 2022 for a higher-paying position at Huawei in China. Prior to his departure, he printed over 4,000 pages of documents containing solutions to semiconductor process issues. In court, A claimed the documents were for handover purposes, but the first trial found him guilty, imposing a fine of 20 million won. The appellate court, however, deemed the offenses more serious, stating that such crimes jeopardize the survival of domestic companies and harm national industrial competitiveness. The court noted that the extent of financial damage to the affected company and South Korea as a whole is incalculable, and highlighted that A showed no remorse while the victim company sought severe punishment.