Authorities said the alleged leak contributed to China’s development of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), a key component used in artificial intelligence computing, News.Az report, citing Reuters.
According to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, five of the accused—including a former Samsung Electronics executive and several engineers—were charged and taken into custody for violating South Korea’s industrial technology protection law. The remaining five individuals were also indicted but released on bail, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Prosecutors said a former Samsung Electronics researcher who was leaving his job to join CXMT copied out hundreds of steps of proprietary DRAM manufacturing processes by hand, recording detailed process recipes covering equipment specifications, sequencing and yield optimisation. The handwritten notes were later used to reconstruct the manufacturing flow at CXMT, they said.
The investigation also found CXMT obtained additional DRAM technology from SK Hynix through a supplier, further accelerating its development.
Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and CXMT declined to comment.
The statement on Tuesday did not name the companies involved, but prosecutors confirmed the names of the companies separately with Reuters.
The leaked technology involved 10-nanometre DRAM processes that Samsung spent 1.6 trillion won developing, prosecutors said, adding that Samsung was the only firm to have commercialised such technology at that time.
Prosecutors said CXMT subsequently adjusted and validated the stolen data to suit its own equipment, enabling it to achieve production of 10-nanometre DRAM in 2023, the first achievement by a Chinese firm.
The illegal use of the technology laid the ground for CXMT’s development of HBM, prosecutors said, adding the losses for companies such as Samsung Electronics were estimated to amount to at least tens of trillions of won.
CXMT, which is eyeing a Shanghai listing at a valuation of $42 billion, last month unveiled its latest generation of DRAM, known as DDR5, in a direct challenge to its South Korean rivals.
