"Handing Over Everything to China for a Life-Changing Turn"... 30 Billion Won Spent, Sudden Disaster

A former employee who leaked a technology developed by a domestic semiconductor company over 10 years with an investment of more than 30 billion won to a Chinese competitor has been sentenced to 2 years and 4 months in prison.

While cutting-edge technologies leaking overseas are increasing year by year, critics point out that actual court sentences remain lenient.

Founded in 1976, domestic company Fecotec produces capillaries, components used in semiconductor assembly.

Capillaries are components used when connecting metal wires one-fifth the thickness of a human hair to semiconductor chips, and they are also used in HBM production.

Fecotec invested more than 30 billion won over 10 years to develop the related technology and currently holds over 70% of the global capillary market.

However, an individual surnamed Kim, who worked at the company for 17 years, was sent to trial on charges of taking a USB containing process information related to capillaries out of the company when moving to a Chinese competitor last year.

Kim was an employee dispatched to a Chinese plant who oversaw component production.

It was revealed that even after confirming the move to the Chinese company, Kim received related materials from former colleagues, including product defect reports, comparative analysis of competitor products, and production status.

The first-instance court sentenced Kim to 2 years and 6 months in prison in November of last year, but the sentence was reduced to 2 years and 4 months in an appellate trial last May.

The sentence reduction took into account factors such as the fact that some of the leaked materials were documents that company employees could view and print.

Overseas leakage cases of cutting-edge technologies have been increasing rapidly recently.

Technology overseas leakage cases referred to prosecutors by the police increased from 9 cases in 2021 to 33 cases last year.

Among the 103 cases caught over the past 5 years, attempts to leak technology to China accounted for 66 cases, or 64%.

By field, there were 28 cases in displays and 18 cases in semiconductors.

The National Intelligence Service estimated the damage amount from cutting-edge technology leakage crimes that occurred from 2020 to 2024 to be approximately 23 trillion won.

As technology leakage crimes continue consecutively, the Supreme Court Sentencing Commission prepared sentencing standards in 2024 to raise the recommended sentence for crimes leaking national core technologies overseas to up to 18 years in prison, but it is known that many slap-on-the-wrist punishment cases still exist in actual trials.

Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Lee Eui-seon | Design by Lee Soo-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.