South Korean prosecutors have indicted 10 people on suspicion of leaking memory chip manufacturing technology to Chinese chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), a case authorities say helped accelerate China’s development of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), a key component for artificial intelligence computing.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said on Tuesday that five suspects—including a former executive and engineers from Samsung Electronics—were charged and taken into custody for violating South Korea’s industrial technology protection law. Another five individuals were indicted without detention.
According to prosecutors, a former Samsung researcher copied hundreds of steps of proprietary DRAM manufacturing processes by hand before leaving to join CXMT. The handwritten notes allegedly detailed equipment specifications, process sequencing and yield optimisation, and were later used to reconstruct manufacturing flows at CXMT. Investigators also said CXMT obtained additional DRAM-related technology from SK Hynix via a supplier, further speeding up development.
The companies involved were not named in the initial statement, but prosecutors later confirmed the identities to Reuters. Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and CXMT declined to comment.
Prosecutors said the leaked technology involved 10-nanometre DRAM processes that Samsung spent about 1.6 trillion won developing and had been the only company to commercialise at the time. CXMT allegedly adapted and validated the stolen data for its own equipment, enabling it to begin producing 10-nanometre DRAM in 2023—the first such achievement by a Chinese firm.
Authorities said the illicit use of the technology laid the groundwork for CXMT’s move into HBM, estimating losses to South Korean companies at tens of trillions of won. CXMT, which is reportedly pursuing a Shanghai listing at a valuation of around $42 billion, last month unveiled its latest DDR5 DRAM generation, intensifying competition with its South Korean rivals.
