Taiwanese authorities have detained three workers suspected of leaking trade secrets from one of the world’s most influential tech companies. Taiwan Semicndctr Mnufctrng Co Ltd (NYSE: TSM) runs the largest semiconductor foundry on Earth and produces the vast majority of the world’s most advanced chips.
The arrests, occurring late last month, were inspired by “serious suspicions of violating national security laws,” as described by the intellectual property branch of Taiwan’s High Prosecutors Office this week. Taiwan’s National Security Act protects core technologies like these that are essential for domestic security.
TSMC says it detected unusual activity during routine monitoring that led to an internal investigation. The motive remains unclear and the identities of those involved have not been disclosed. Legal obligations have prevented the company from revealing any more details.
The news follows Nikkei Asia reporting Tuesday that multiple employees had been fired for attempting to acquire critical info on the company’s 2-nanometre chip development process. It appears those believed to have been successful were the targets of the arrests. It will be the most advanced technology in the semiconductor industry once released, TSMC has stated on its website.
It also proceeds TSMC revealing that it has been exempt from Donald Trump’s newly announced 100 per cent tariff on chips because of its established infrastructure in the United States. It is currently building a large-scale facility with three fabrication plants in Arizona and has R&D centres in California and Texas.
Trump stated that companies that were “building in the United States, or have committed to build” would not be hit.
TSMC’s most notable customers are NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) (ETR: NVD) and Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL). The dominant chip maker’s products power NVIDIA’s AI accelerators and serve as critical components in Apple’s iPhone processors.
The renowned tech influence has observed 16.1 per cent compound annual earnings growth for the past 31 years. Its market cap is sitting at US$1.2 trillion, making TSMC the ninth most valuable company in the world.
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