South Korean chip executive arrested again for allegedly leaking technology to China

By Ju-min Park

SEOUL (Reuters) – A South Korean executive accused of stealing information about semiconductors developed by Samsung Electronics has been detained again on fresh charges related to the theft of chip processing technology, a judicial official and his lawyer said on Friday.

The Seoul Central District Court on Thursday issued a warrant for Choi Jinseog’s arrest over concerns that he was a flight risk, a court official said, declining to provide further details.

Choi, a former Samsung executive who ran a chip manufacturing company in China, has already been the subject of a high-profile trial for industrial espionage since July 2023 and was arrested and released on bail last November. He has denied those charges.

He now faces fresh allegations of involvement in stealing information related to Samsung’s 20-nanometer DRAM chip processing, Choi’s lawyer Kim Pilsung told Reuters.

Kim said his client denied any wrongdoing and that the information he is accused of stealing is publicly available.

Choi has not been charged with the new allegations, his lawyer said.

Samsung declined to comment.

In a case that underscores South Korea’s efforts to crack down on industrial espionage and curb China’s progress in chipmaking, Choi was charged in June 2023 with trying to build a copycat chip factory in China using confidential information developed by Samsung.

The award-winning engineer was once considered a star in South Korea’s chip industry.

After being released on bail, Choi told Reuters in April that police were investigating him and one of his former employees, a former Samsung worker, over new allegations related to Samsung’s chip processing technology.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park; editing by Ed Davies and Jamie Freed)