The crystal circle foundry Longtou Taiwan Electric has led the world's 2-nanometer process in the second half of the year. Recently, major leaks have occurred, shocking the international semiconductor industry. The inspector arrested several current and former engineers in accordance with the National Security Law, and also pointed out that the person involved was involved in the removal of national core key technologies, and the case affected the cross-Taiwan-Japanese industry cooperation.
BBC quoted reports from multiple media outlets in Taiwan in Chinese that this time was a routine monitoring of Taiwan Electricity and found that file access was abnormal. After the investigation, it was confirmed that at least nine engineers were involved in the case, three of them came from the 2-nanometer trial factory (Fab 20, Hsinchu Baoshan), and six of them were recruited as research and development support department. The three main suspects include the engineer Chen, a former employee of Taiwan Electric and later resigned to the Taiwan subsidiary of Tokyo Weili Technology (TEL), a semiconductor equipment factory, and two current Taiwanese Electric employees, surnames Wu and Ge, who both graduated from the Department of Science and Engineering of Tsinghua University.
The inspector accused the three of them of taking advantage of the convenience of working far away during the epidemic, meeting in cafes, high-speed rail stations and other places, and accurately selecting the time to log in to the system to avoid monitoring. They are suspected of shooting nearly a thousand confidential process data, including process parameters, equipment adjustment data and trial process diagrams. Before leaving, engineer named Chen collected a large amount of data and turned it to TEL to try out equipment optimization. The three were detained and banned in violation of the National Security Law, and were repatriated for protest. Although the six were not detained, they were all assigned or released. As the National Security Law after the amendment clearly stated that the removal of chip technology below 14 nanometers can be sentenced to up to 12 years in prison and a new NT$100 million in class. This will be the first applicable case after the 2022 amendment.
BBC reports, the focus extends to the dragon head TEL of Japanese semiconductor equipment. TEL is a long-term partner of TEL, with a market share of equipment under 2 nanometers exceeding 30%, which is important for chip yield and efficiency. Whether the leaked data flows to Rapidus, a 2-nanometer manufacturer supported by the Japanese government, has attracted speculation from the outside world. Rapidus targets 2 nanometers in 2027, and has received a $1.2 billion subsidy from the Japanese government. TEL is an important partner. After the incident, TEL quickly resolved the employee involved, and said that the company had not found any information leaked to a third party in the investigation, and emphasized that it would fully cooperate with Taiwan's judicial investigation. Taiwan Power also reiterated the principle of "zero tolerance", but it is not convenient to comment on the details of the case.
A bamboo engineer with a graduate degree in the Science and Engineering Department of Tsinghua University and whose pseudonym "Max" revealed to BBC Chinese that the division of labor in semiconductor processes is extremely detailed, and refers to the fact that the equipment is only responsible for a certain step of thousands of processes, and the engineer cannot grasp the whole picture.
The factory also allows many manufacturers to undertake different parts of the same process, and compete with each other without knowing each other. In order to get orders when the process changes are made, the manufacturer will design methods to get more details from the engineer. However, the process needs to be customized according to different products, and the mobile phone process may be micro-tuned for use, so even if a small part of the data is obtained, it is difficult to apply. Most of the people involved are engineers over 30 years old, and they usually cannot access core secrets. They often involve "customer relationships" between manufacturers and engineers. The supervisor sometimes defaults to facilitate cooperation, which is beneficial to KPI.
Max bluntly stated that after Taiwan's electric power promotion paperless, the machine and platform parameters can only be viewed in the dust-free room and cannot be copied outside, but the equipment provider still has various means to obtain data. Otherwise, it would be impossible to provide customers with exquisite reports quickly. This is a tacit understanding in the industry.
Taiwan has entered technical protection disputes several times in the past, including a 2003 accusation of China SMIC International Secretariat, a settlement in 2005 and a USD 175 million in patent funds. Afterwards, it settled again in 2009, with SMIC paying US$335 million and transferring 8% of its shares. In addition, Taiwan Power Corporation also sued former research and development director Liang Mengsong in 2015 to join Samsung, and the court ruled to ban the position. Liang Hou has been transferred to the executive director of SMIC.
Market analysis, the 2nm process R&D cost is billion US dollars, and it is necessary to combine cutting-edge manufacturing and top talents. Only a few companies such as Telco, Samsung, and Intel are capable in the world. According to market research company Counterpoint Research, Taiwan Power Corporation's global crystalline foundry market accounted for 64% in the third quarter of 2024, Samsung 12% and SMIC International 6%. 2 Nano is the next industry milestone, and successful production will be the first to be the best.
US technology consultant Ray Wang pointed out that TECHNOLOG 2 nanometer technology not only has better performance than competitors, but has a higher yield and stable stability, and is the core source of competition. And even if Samsung and Intel try to follow, the gap still exists. Bloomberg comments also pointed out that 2nm demand is rising and the volume is expected to be paid to NT$100 million by the end of the year.
The Hsinchu Local Inspection Office also investigated the illegal poaching and technical destruction of Chinese enterprises, and destroyed the illegal measures of five companies including Beijing Jicai North, Goertek, Tena Flying Electronics, Boliu Intelligent and Century Interconnection in Taiwan, highlighting the pressure to protect Taiwan's high-tech industries.
The outside world is concerned about whether this case has hindered Taiwan Electric's investment in Japan, including the cooperation plan between Kumamoto and Japanese companies. Taiwan Electric Power Director Liu Liangqing's strong emphasis on not affecting Japan's investment. However, analysts believe that Japan actively promoted semiconductor rejuvenation, and under the competitive relationship between Rapidus and Taiwan Electric Power, TEL has entered political and industrial risks, which will become the focus of future observation.