TSMC 2nm leak case first-instance verdict: mastermind Chen Li-ming sentenced to 10 years, first case since the amendment of the National Security Act

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The Intellectual Property and Commercial Court has delivered its first-instance verdict in the TSMC 2nm process trade secret leakage case. The mastermind, Chen Li-ming, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, while the other four defendants received sentences ranging from 2 to 6 years. This case marks the first judgment since the amendment of the National Security Act regarding the theft of national core critical technologies. (Context: I have "TSMC-induced depression"... the mental torture of an engineer before resigning. Netizens: If you don't leave, you'll lose your mind.) (Background: The FSC introduces the "TSMC Clause"! The single-stock holding limit for Taiwan stock funds is relaxed to 25%, potentially injecting 200 billion TWD in liquidity.) The Intellectual Property and Commercial Court announced the verdict for the TSMC 2nm process leakage case on April 27. The case is subject to appeal. It involves former and current TSMC engineers, as well as Tokyo Electron (TEL), the Taiwanese subsidiary of the major Japanese semiconductor equipment manufacturer TEL. There are 5 individual defendants and 1 corporate defendant, with the core dispute centering on whether TSMC's national core critical technology was provided to a competing equipment supplier. The logic of supplier competition is the core driver of this case. TEL was eager to break into the supply chain for TSMC's 2nm process etching equipment, and Chen Li-ming served as the middleman for this illegal shortcut. After leaving TSMC, Chen continued to contact current engineers Wu Bing-jun and Ge Yi-ping starting in the second half of 2023, soliciting core parameters and process files for etching stations, which he then passed on to TEL to assist in evaluating machine design and improvement directions. The court determined that this leakage continued until the first half of 2025. During this period, the defendants not only communicated verbally but also photographed and reproduced technical data, with the ultimate goal of helping TEL obtain qualification as a supplier for 2nm mass production machines. The Intellectual Property Branch of the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office indicted Chen Li-ming, Wu Bing-jun, and Ge Yi-ping on August 27 last year for crimes including the extraterritorial use of national core critical technology trade secrets under the National Security Act. The prosecution also added TEL as a defendant, determining that the company bore supervisory responsibility over Chen Li-ming. Prosecutors further discovered that TEL's hard drives contained trade secrets such as TSMC's "IC manufacturing technology for processes below 14nm and its key gases, chemicals, and equipment technology," leading to additional indictments against Chen Li-ming, TSMC engineer Chen Wei-jie, and TEL employee Lu Yi-yin. According to the court's press release, the verdict is as follows: Chen Li-ming: Convicted of 5 counts, including the intent for extraterritorial use of general trade secrets, sentenced to 10 years in prison. Chen Wei-jie (current TSMC engineer): Convicted of the intent for extraterritorial use of national security trade secrets, sentenced to 6 years in prison. Wu Bing-jun (TSMC engineer at the time of the incident): Convicted of the intent for extraterritorial use of general trade secrets and the intent for extraterritorial use of national security trade secrets, sentenced to 3 years in prison. Ge Yi-ping (TSMC engineer): Convicted of the intent for extraterritorial use of national security trade secrets, sentenced to 2 years in prison. Lu Yi-yin (TEL employee): Convicted of destroying criminal evidence, sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for 3 years, ordered to pay 1 million TWD to the national treasury, and attend 6 legal education sessions. Regarding the corporate entity, TEL was fined 150 million TWD, but the sentence was suspended for 3 years. According to the court, TEL admitted to the crime, actively cooperated with the investigation, and reached a settlement with TSMC alongside its parent company, Tokyo Electron Limited (TEL), thereby receiving the suspended sentence. Throughout this nearly two-year legal battle, both sides have emphasized different positions. TSMC stressed its zero-tolerance policy toward any infringement of trade secrets, stating that this verdict provides full judicial protection for core technologies and that the company will continue to strengthen internal controls and monitoring mechanisms to ensure such incidents do not recur. Regarding the verdict, TEL attempted to distance itself at the organizational level, claiming that neither the parent company TEL nor the Taiwanese subsidiary TEL had organizationally intervened in the case, and that no confidential information had been leaked. This case carries clear legal significance: it is the first judgment made by a court following the amendment of the National Security Act regarding the theft of national core critical technologies. In recent years, Taiwan has officially classified semiconductor process technology as "

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Published:2026-04-28 03:12:20

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