Taiwan Court Sentences Ex-Tokyo Electron Engineer to 10 Years for TSMC Trade Secrets Theft; Subsidiary Fined NT$150M

A Taiwan court on April 27, 2026 convicted and sentenced Chen Li-ming, a former engineer at Tokyo Electron's Taiwan subsidiary, to 10 years in prison for stealing TSMC trade secrets to benefit Tokyo Electron — a key global semiconductor equipment supplier. The Tokyo Electron Taiwan subsidiary was fined NT$150 million (approximately USD $4.78 million). Chen was found to have misappropriated proprietary TSMC chip manufacturing process data and passed it to Tokyo Electron to help the company develop competing equipment supply solutions targeting TSMC's manufacturing line. The case is one of the most significant trade secrets convictions in Taiwan's semiconductor sector and underscores the intensifying global competition for TSMC's advanced process technology. TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) controls approximately 72% of global foundry market share and ~92% of advanced logic chip production — making its trade secrets among the most strategically valuable industrial information on earth. The verdict reflects Taiwan's strengthened enforcement of intellectual property protection as the island faces pressure from both China (which seeks to replicate or capture TSMC's advanced processes through espionage and talent acquisition) and from US CHIPS Act-funded domestic fab competitors. The case follows a string of TSMC IP theft cases involving both Chinese state-backed actors and commercial competitors.