Three people, including a former Samsung Electronics executive accused of illegally leaking Samsung Electronics technology and leading DRAM production in China, have been indicted and detained.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office's Information Technology Crime Investigation Department (Director General Kim Yoon-yong) said on the 1st that it indicted and detained three key development personnel of CXMT (Changxin Memory Technologies), including a person surnamed A, on charges of leaking and unlawfully using Samsung Electronics' 18-nanometer DRAM process national core technology to a Chinese semiconductor company.
CXMT is China's first DRAM semiconductor company, established with a 260 billion won investment from a local Chinese government. A and others are accused of moving from Samsung Electronics to the Chinese DRAM semiconductor company Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT) and unlawfully using Samsung Electronics' 18-nanometer DRAM process national core technology to develop DRAM in China.
The national core technology leaked in this case is the latest process technology for 10-nanometer-class DRAM, which Samsung Electronics developed first in the world with a 1.6 trillion won investment. It is core information that lists, as is, the hundreds of process steps involved in manufacturing DRAM.
Earlier, prosecutors discovered indications of a leak of Samsung Electronics' national core technology and launched a direct investigation, indicting and detaining two people—Kim, a former Samsung Electronics Director General, in Jan. 2024, and Jeon, a former Samsung Electronics researcher, in May—each on charges of unlawfully obtaining national core technology. Kim was sentenced in the first trial to seven years in prison, the heaviest sentence ever for a technology leak.
A and others were found to have been paid salaries of 1.5 billion to 3 billion won by CXMT, three to five times the executive-level annual salary at Samsung Electronics.
According to prosecutors, the damage to Samsung Electronics from this case reached an estimated 5 trillion won in reduced sales for 2024 alone, with at least several tens of trillions of won in losses expected going forward. Prosecutors assess this as the largest technology leak case on record.
A prosecution official said, "We will continue to respond sternly to technology leakage crimes that threaten victimized companies and the national economy."