Police in South Korea have uncovered what they believe is an organized industrial espionage ring, arresting 16 employees of start-up firm Korean Semiconductor Technology Co. The engineers are accused of stealing 64MB DRAM process technology from South Korean chip giants Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and LG Semicon and selling it to Taipei, Taiwan based DRAM manufacturer Nan Ya Technology Corp. 13 of the 16 KSTC engineers arrested had previously worked as researchers for either Samsung or LG. Nan Ya said that it has a consulting contract with KTSC to help it design 64MB DRAM but strongly refuted any wrongdoing. Chuang Yen- shan, president of Nan Ya commented: We are first and foremost a law abiding company. We respect the intellectual property rights of others. Chuang said that there was not one shred of evidence linking his company to the case but vowed to terminate its agreement with KTSC and halt sales of the relevant DRAM technology if the engineers are convicted. LG Semicon last year uncovered a Southeast Asian counterfeiting ring involving the shipment of fake 16MB DRAM to the US (CI No 3,178).
