A story for $1.8 billion in damages: An ex-Samsung employee accused of selling RAM intel to China

A tale as old as time: one man works at the company “A”, and has a nice, well-paid job; but then, out of the blue, the company “B” enters the stage. “B” offers so much money for secrets from “A” that our protagonist simply can’t resist. He switches sides. And then, he’s arrested and indicted. The end.

That’s the story of Kim. So far, there’s no confirmation if we’re talking about a real name (or a pseudonym), but his criminal misfortunes are very real (via SamMobile).

According to the latest reports, Kim is an ex-Samsung employee who was issued an arrest warrant because he was accused of leaking Samsung chip technology to a Chinese company. Korean media reports state that Kim previously served as the department head at Samsung.

Kim was charged by the prosecutors on charges of violating the industrial technology protection law, as per the officials. The ex-Samsung employee was accused of stealing Samsung's information related to the 16-nano DRAM semiconductor and selling it to the Chinese semiconductor manufacturer ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT).

People familiar with the crime say the Samsung 16-nanometer DRAM tech leak is worth about 2.3 trillion won ($1.8 billion) in damages.

Tom’s Hardware offers some insights on the wrongdoings of Kim: apparently, he retired in 2016 and subsequently went to CXMT in China. He’s said to have been a full-time employee at Samsung. Allegedly, CXMT paid Kim “several million dollars in annual salary”, which seems “extraordinary”. It is claimed that Kim shared experience and tech concerned with semiconductor deposition technology.

Also, there’s another person arrested – Bang, who’s simply described as a “former Samsung subcontractor”.

The two suspects (Kim and Bang), residing in China, recently returned to South Korea and were promptly arrested on charges of violating South Korea’s Prevention and Protection of Industrial Technology Leakage Act.