AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the nation’s second-largest LCD panel maker, yesterday said former research executives stole trade secrets from the company and supplied them to a Chinese rival in exchange for hefty rewards and employment.
The Hsinchu-based company said in a statement published on its Web site that the executives offered a Chinese rival important and advanced know-how, including information on active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) technology, image quality technology and technology related to a 4-Mask process for manufacturing TFT-LCDs.
“The behavior of these former executives has not only infringed on the fruits of our investments in research and development, but also seriously hurt fair competition in the industry,” AUO said in the statement.
The company did not name its former executives nor identify the Chinese company.
AUO said it had reported the issue to the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau and filed a lawsuit against the executives in question with the Hsinchu District Court.
“The company will cooperate with the investigation and provide all necessary assistance to prosecutors and investigators,” AUO said in the statement.
Several local media, including the state-owned Central News Agency (CNA), said the AUO officials involved were a person surnamed Lien (連), who worked at the company’s display business unit, and Wang (王), who worked at the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) division.
The reports, citing sources from the Investigation Bureau, also named the Chinese company involved as China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co (華星光電), China’s No. 2 flat-screen panel maker and a member of the leading TV maker TCL Group.
The rise of Chinese TV panel makers, such as China Star Optoelectronics and its bigger peer BOE Technology Group Co (京東方), have gradually become a threat to Taiwanese and South Korean businesses thanks to the massive Chinese TV market and support from the Chinese government, David Hsieh (謝勤益), vice president of NPD DisplaySearch for the Greater China market, said in August.
The local media’s reports said the two executives joined the Chinese company in September last year, after they resigned from AUO.
Citing sources from the Investigation Bureau, the reports said Lien was serving as a vice president of TCL’s industrial research institute on a three-year US$2.5 million contract, while Wang was working at China Star Optoelectronics’ AMOLED business division, with an annual salary of NT$5 million (US$170,000).
According to the reports, investigators conducted a nine-month probe of the case and searched the two executives’ houses on Sept. 26, when they returned to Taiwan for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Following questioning of the two, prosecutors have not issued arrest warrants, but have barred the two individuals from leaving the country pending further investigation, the reports said.
Under the National Technology Protection Law (國家科技保護法), flat-panel technology is one of the nation’s most sensitive technologies, which could have a significant impact on Taiwan’s national security and technological competitiveness if exported without government approval.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its investment plan in Arizona is going according to schedule, following a local media report claiming that the company is planning to break ground on its third wafer fab in the US in June. In a statement, TSMC said it does not comment on market speculation, but that its investments in Arizona are proceeding well. TSMC is investing more than US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs. The first one has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second one would start mass production using the
A TAIWAN DEAL: TSMC is in early talks to fully operate Intel’s US semiconductor factories in a deal first raised by Trump officials, but Intel’s interest is uncertain Broadcom Inc has had informal talks with its advisers about making a bid for Intel Corp’s chip-design and marketing business, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Nothing has been submitted to Intel and Broadcom could decide not to pursue a deal, according to the Journal. Bloomberg News earlier reported that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is in early talks for a controlling stake in Intel’s factories at the request of officials at US President Donald Trump’s administration, as the president looks to boost US manufacturing and maintain the country’s leadership in critical technologies. Trump officials raised the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
CHIP BOOM: Revenue for the semiconductor industry is set to reach US$1 trillion by 2032, opening up opportunities for the chip pacakging and testing company, it said ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest provider of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services, yesterday launched a new advanced manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, aiming to meet growing demand for emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The US$300 million facility is a critical step in expanding ASE’s global footprint, offering an alternative for customers from the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China to assemble and test chips outside of Taiwan amid efforts to diversify supply chains. The plant, the company’s fifth in Malaysia, is part of a strategic expansion plan that would more than triple
RSS