Former Samsung Staff Arrested for Leaking Chip Tech to China's CXMT

• Ten former Samsung employees, including a senior executive, arrested for illegally transferring proprietary 10-nanometre DRAM technology to Chinese firm ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT).
• The alleged leak violated South Korea’s Industrial Technology Protection Act and is estimated to have caused a 5 trillion won sales decline for Samsung last year, with potential long-term damage in trillions.
• CXMT, founded in 2016, aggressively recruited experienced Samsung engineers and used the leaked know-how to produce China's first 10-nanometre DRAM chip in 2023 and plans HBM2 production in 2024.
• "Mr A" led CXMT's 10nm DRAM work, while "Mr B" manually transcribed sensitive manufacturing details to evade Samsung's security systems.
• This incident is part of a growing trend of industrial espionage cases involving South Korean semiconductor technology being leaked to Chinese companies, raising national security concerns.

Why It Matters: South Korea arrests former Samsung staff for leaking critical chip tech to China, highlighting industrial espionage threats.