Former Samsung Executive Sentenced to 6 Years for Technology Theft

A former Samsung Electronics manager has been sentenced to six years in prison for leaking semiconductor technology to a Chinese company. This sentence, handed down by the Seoul High Court on July 23, 2025, is a reduction from the seven-year term he received in the initial trial. The court also imposed a fine of 200 million won (approximately $170,000) on the defendant, identified as Mr. Kim, for violating the Industrial Technology Protection Act.
In a related case, Mr. Bang, a former employee of a Samsung partner company, had his appeal rejected, maintaining his original sentence of two and a half years in prison. The court emphasized that the actions of both defendants caused significant harm to the victimized company and could negatively impact national competitiveness, warranting severe penalties to deter similar crimes in the future.
The court noted that Mr. Kim's sentence was reduced because he had difficulty finding employment in South Korea after being fired from Samsung, which led him to seek work with a Chinese firm. His cooperation with the prosecution during the investigation was also taken into account.
Mr. Kim was charged in January 2024 after transferring to the Chinese startup Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT) in 2016, where he allegedly leaked critical information about Samsung's 18-nanometer DRAM semiconductor process. Mr. Bang was accused of colluding with Mr. Kim to provide design technical data from a semiconductor equipment supplier to CXMT, which later successfully developed and mass-produced the 18-nanometer DRAM.
What do you think?
0 reactions