A Taiwanese court has sentenced a former Tokyo Electron Ltd. employee to 10 years in prison for stealing proprietary data and trade secrets from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC).
The ruling follows one of Taiwan's highest profile cases of alleged breaches of national core technologies, involving charges under the National Security Act.
In addition to the primary sentence, four other defendants received prison terms ranging between 10 months and six years.
This landmark case highlights the growing threat of industrial espionage within the island's most strategic sector.