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AMD and Nvidia Silicon Manufacturing Secrets Allegedly Stolen, Sold To China (pcgamesn.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the chamber-of-secrets dept.

According to a report on DigiTimes, a former TSMC engineer has been accused of stealing the secrets of their 28nm manufacturing process and taking them across the Taiwan Straits to Chinese rival, HLMC. "The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) produce the chips for the great and the good of the PC hardware market, specifically Nvidia and latterly AMD," reports PCGamesN. From the report: The report claims the former engineer, known only as Hsu, has been accused of taking details and materials relating to TSMC's 28nm manufacturing process and handing them over to Shanghai Huali Microelectronics (HLMC) after being offered a job there. The engineer was arrested before he even had a chance to start his new job on mainland China. This isn't the first reported instance of potentially shady dealings involving HLMC. DigiTimes previously reported that the Chinese foundry had headhunted a team of up to 50 research and development engineers from Taiwan's first semiconductor company, United Microelectronics (UMC), to help them get their 28nm production process up to speed. DigiTimes also alleges that some Chinese memory manufacturers have been doing the same thing, headhunting Taiwanese talent to get their own fabs off the ground, and that Micron are taking legal action against some of their Taiwan partners for allegedly nicking their tech and handing it over to China-based RAM companies.

4 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. This keeps happening by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    But we're all too willing to buy all kinds of Chinese shit.

    Because cheap - and that's it.

  2. Smarter than Americans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Americans are bogged down in R&D when China can just steal it.

    Theft is *much* more efficient than doing it all in house.

  3. Western arrogance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's painful to watch all this oozing of western arrogance (and I say that as a Westerner, mind you).

    Kids, you seem to have forgotten Uber has just pulled off that same thing on Waymo (ex-Google). It's standard operating procedure in industry, sadly. NSA/CIA are known to have spied on behalf of US industry, and if other states' intelligence agencies haven't done so, it's for lack of means, not will.

    Just continue believing the Chinese are idiots until "they" own all intellectual property of relevance and turn the ever more draconian laws "we" have been sharpening all those years against us. Because by then, "they" will have better lawyers. You'll see who are the idiots, then.

    Or alternatively, work hard to establish a "we" in which one's person well-being hasn't to be to the detriment of others, difficult as that may seem. It should be worth it.

  4. AMD and Nvida secrets, no. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    TSMC is alleging that TSMC's 28nm process was stolen. What does AMD and Nvidia have to do with it? I thought AMD spun off it's Fabs to Global Foundries (not TSMC), and if Nvidia ever had a Fab I would be surprised. They are now 'just' TSMC customers. So are a lot of other people.

    Oh. Those are the companies American people know, and some one wants to cause a ripple in their stock.
    Got it.