SK Hynix ex-employee loses appeal over trade secrets
Crhk · 2 SOURCESabout 1 hour ago2 MIN
Summary
A South Korean appeals court has upheld an 18-month prison sentence for a former SK Hynix employee convicted of leaking company trade secrets to a Chinese firm in 2022. Prosecutors said the defendant, surnamed Kim, printed and photographed confidential materials from the company’s document management system and internal server while working for SK Hynix’s China entity. The leaked materials included advanced technology related to CMOS image sensors used in smartphone cameras and laptops, and were attached to a resume submitted during a job move to a Chinese company. The court said lenient punishment could weaken incentives for domestic technology development, though it noted the defendant admitted all charges and most of the leaked materials had been recovered.
Key Points
- Seoul High Court on Sunday, March 9, upheld the original sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment in the appeal case
- The defendant, identified only by the surname Kim, was accused of leaking trade secrets in 2022 while employed at SK Hynix’s China office.
- Court findings said he downloaded materials from an internal server, then photographed or printed them from company systems.
- The confidential documents involved advanced CMOS image sensor technology used in smartphone cameras and notebook computers.
- Source reports said the materials were inserted into a job application resume for a Chinese company; CRHK identified it as Huawei affiliate HiSilicon.
Why It Matters
For Hong Kong readers, the case underscores how semiconductor talent moves across borders can become entangled with trade-secret and national technology protection rules. It also shows how courts in major chip-producing economies are treating the handling of sensitive technical documents as a serious compliance and competitiveness issue.