TSMC accuses former Senior VP, now at Intel, of trade secret theft as Intel responds

TSMC accused its former Senior Vice President, and now the Executive Vice President at Intel of stealing trade secrets after they departed from the Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer in October.

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TSMC filed a lawsuit in Taiwan's Intellectual Property and Commercial Court against Wei-Jen Lo, a former TSMC employee who worked at the semiconductor manufacturer for 21 years and, before that, at Intel for 18 years. Lo has since returned to Intel, joining the company in October, and now TSMC is accusing its former staffer of leaking trade secrets and confidential information to its direct competitor.

Intel has since responded to the allegations in an emailed statement, writing, "Based on everything we know, we have no reason to believe there is any merit to the allegations involving Mr Lo." Additionally, Intel pointed to its policies and controls it has in place that strictly prohibit the use or transfer of any third-party confidential information or intellectual property, and stated, "We take these commitments seriously."

Intel added that talent movement across companies within the semiconductor industry is common, and is a healthy part of the industry, "this situation is no different".

"There is a high probability that Lo uses, leaks, discloses, delivers, or transfers TSMC's trade secrets and confidential information to Intel, thus making legal actions (including claiming damages for breach of contract) necessary," the company told Tom's Hardware

Notably, Lo assisted TSMC in developing its 5-nanometer, 3-nanometer, and 2-nanometer processes. Furthermore, Taiwan's economy ministry said earlier this week that it will cooperate in investigating whether any infringements on core technologies occurred and whether any violations of Taiwan's National Security Act occurred.

Reuters reported that Lo did not respond to a request for comment.