TSMC Trade Secret Leak Case Finalized: Two Former Engineers Sentenced to 10 and 6 Years; Tokyo Electron Fined NT$150 Million

Chen Liming and others, former engineers at TSMC, were found guilty of leaking TSMC's trade secrets. The Intellectual Property and Commercial Court of Taiwan sentenced Chen Liming to 10 years in prison and Chen Weijie to 6 years under the National Security Act and related charges. On the 30th, the Supreme Court rejected their appeals, finalizing the verdict. Both individuals are currently in custody and will be transferred to prison for execution of their sentences.

Additionally, Lu Yiyin, a senior executive at Tokyo Electron, was convicted of destroying criminal evidence. Having admitted her offense, the Intellectual Property and Commercial Court sentenced her to 10 months in prison, suspended for 3 years, requiring her to pay NT$1 million to the public treasury and attend six sessions of legal education programs. Lu appealed the decision, and the case remains under review by the Supreme Court.

Other defendants and prosecutors did not appeal after the Intellectual Property and Commercial Court's ruling in April, making their sentences final. Former TSMC engineers Wu Bingjun and Ge Yiping were sentenced to 3 years and 2 years in prison, respectively. Tokyo Electron received a 3-year suspended sentence and was ordered to pay TSMC NT$100 million and NT$50 million to the public treasury.

This case marks the first conviction under the amended provisions of Taiwan's National Security Act concerning the overseas use of core national technological trade secrets.

The Intellectual Property Division of the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office stated that from 2023 to 2025, Chen Liming, aiming to help his new employer Tokyo Electron secure more equipment supply contracts in TSMC's advanced processes, repeatedly requested then-TSMC engineers Wu Bingjun and Ge Yiping to provide key technologies and trade secrets. These secrets were photographed and replicated to help Tokyo Electron improve its etching equipment performance, aiming to qualify for mass production equipment supply in TSMC's 2-nanometer process etching stations.

On August 27 last year, prosecutors indicted Chen Liming, Wu Bingjun, and Ge Yiping under the National Security Act for intending to use core national technological trade secrets overseas. Subsequently, prosecutors determined Tokyo Electron bore supervisory responsibility for Chen Liming and added the company as a defendant.

Further investigation revealed that Tokyo Electron's hard drives still contained TSMC's core national technological trade secrets, specifically 'IC manufacturing technologies for processes below 14 nanometers, and their key gases, chemicals, and equipment technologies.' This led to additional charges against Chen Liming, TSMC engineer Chen Weijie, and Lu Yiyin.

Following trial proceedings, the Intellectual Property and Commercial Court ruled in April that Chen Liming was guilty of five charges, including general trade secret infringement with intent for overseas use, resulting in a 10-year sentence. Wu Bingjun was convicted of both general and national security-related trade secret infringement, receiving a 3-year sentence. Ge Yiping was sentenced to 2 years for national security-related trade secret infringement. Chen Weijie received a 6-year sentence for the same charge.

Regarding Lu Yiyin, she deleted image files of TSMC's trade secrets that Chen Liming had photographed, constituting destruction of criminal evidence. However, upon discovering that the deleted electronic records had inexplicably recovered, she proactively reported the incident to Tokyo Electron, which then notified the investigating authorities. She also admitted her offense during preparatory proceedings. As a result, the Intellectual Property and Commercial Court granted her a conditional suspended sentence with protective supervision.

Chen Liming, Chen Weijie, and Lu Yiyin appealed the ruling. The Supreme Court reviewed the case and concluded that the original verdict contained no errors in fact-finding or legal application and that the sentencing was appropriate. On the 30th, it rejected the appeals of Chen Liming and Chen Weijie, finalizing their sentences. Lu Yiyin's appeal remains under review by the Supreme Court.