A former employee of the Dutch company ASML, which makes state-of-the-art semiconductor circuits, has been accused of stealing its technology from a Chinese corporation backed by Beijing.
Zongchang Yu worked as an engineer at ASML until 2012, after which he founded Dongfang Jingyuan Electron Ltd., a firm based in Beijing. He is now on a wanted list in California, accused of stealing technology from his previous companies.
The Netherlands-based firm is the world’s only manufacturer of extreme UV lithography machines, which cost more than $160 million and are the size of a bus. The devices build tiny circuits on silicon wafers, resulting in some of the most advanced microchips in the world.
China has been barred from buying the company’s latest machines, forcing the country to rely on outdated technology and struggle to stay competitive in the global market.
But ASML in an annual report accused Dongfang Jingyuan of stealing its trade secrets. In 2018, the company filed a lawsuit against Xtal, a now-defunct US-based firm affiliated with Dongfang and founded by Yu in 2014, resulting in the company’s bankruptcy.
Dongfang and Xtal were discovered as a single corporation operating under two different names. The architect behind the merger, according to the 2018 California Trial, ASML, Yu. was a former employee of
Another report stated that the criminal aims to retrieve the technology from ASML and then transfer the IP to China.
According to ASML’s lawyer, Yu was providing the country with a “secret” to help the semiconductor sector flourish.
According to the transcripts of the proceedings, the engineer was also involved in the robbery of two million of the source code from ASML. It was also said that employees of both Dongfang and Axtel in China and the US obtained the software.
According to Patrick Ryan, ASML’s chief counsel, this was not an accident, rather, the tactic was designed to steal technologies for the benefit of the Chinese government.
It should be noted that while China excels in gaming, aerospace and military technologies, it lags behind in advanced chip production. US President Joe Biden’s decision to impose tougher regulations on SMIC has suddenly made exporting semiconductors much more difficult.
Meanwhile, it was also reported that officials raided 10 Chinese companies or their R&D centers that operate on the island suspected of illegally poaching chip engineers and other technical talent, according to Taiwan’s Bureau of Investigation , the latest crackdown on Chinese enterprises to defend Taiwan’s chip supremacy.
The fact is that China has the potential to catch up to international chip makers but it will still need equipment from some foreign competitors to do so.
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