A former SK Hynix Inc. (NASDAQ:SKHY) employee has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for taking confidential semiconductor manufacturing information and disclosing some of it to a Chinese company
Former Employee Leaked Semiconductor Trade Secrets
The Seoul High Court upheld the 18-month sentence in an appeal, finding the former employee guilty of leaking confidential information related to CMOS image sensor (CIS) technology, Reuters reported, citing Yonhap News Agency.
CIS chips are used in cameras found in smartphones, laptops and other electronic devices.
The employee previously worked at SK Hynix’s office in China.
According to the court, he downloaded confidential documents from the company’s internal server and then printed or photographed some of them, violating SK Hynix’s security policies.
Semiconductor Technology Shared With Chinese Firm
The former employee later included some of the confidential information in a resume submitted to a Chinese company, although the company was not identified in the report.
The court found that his actions constituted a leak of SK Hynix trade secrets.
The employee admitted to all charges, while SK Hynix recovered most of the information he had taken, according to Yonhap.
SK Hynix did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comment.
Price Action: SK Hynix ADR closed at $137.91, down 3.92%, while the stock traded at $138.16 in Monday’s premarket, up 0.18%, according to Benzinga Pro.
Benzinga Edge Rankings place SK Hynix in the 98th percentile for Growth and the 50th percentile for Value, while the stock maintains a negative price trend across the short, medium and long term.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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