TSMC charges employee with giving data to China rival
By Faith Hung
eet.com
EBN
March 6, 2002 (3:49 p.m. EST)
HSINCHU, Taiwan -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. has brought charges against a former employee for allegedly sending confidential business information to a rival in mainland China.
TSMC said today that it discovered the employee e-mailed information on its 8-inch wafer fabs late last year, which violated the company's policy. “The violation is going to have impact on us, though it can't be measured,” said Kuo Shan-shan, a spokesperson of the world's biggest pure-play foundry. “This is the first time that we've done such thing, and we'll continue to take actions to protect our intellectual properties should any similar cases happen again.”
The Hsinchu-based foundry, which makes ICs for integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) and fabless design houses, declined to provide details on what the information was about or where it was sent to. But according to some industry sources here, the e-mail went either to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), which already has 8-inch wafer facilities in Shanghai, or Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which is building a facility there. |
