Ex-SK Hynix Employee Gets 18 Months for Leaking Trade Secrets to Chinese Companies

News Editor

2026-08-09 01:47:05

A South Korean court has upheld an 18-month prison sentence for a former SK Hynix employee who leaked trade secrets to Chinese companies, including Huawei-backed HiSilicon. The Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 10-1 confirmed the lower court's ruling that the ex-worker, identified only by the surname Kim, violated South Korea's industrial technology protection laws by printing and photographing confidential CMOS image sensor documents in 2022, then embedding part of that material in his resume to secure a job in China. The appellate court said the scale of the leak was severe and warned that lenient sentences would weaken corporate incentives for R&D while making it easier for overseas rivals to poach Korean technology through recruitment. It declined to increase the punishment, noting that Kim confessed fully and most of the materials were recovered. A related charge involving hybrid bonding technology was dismissed because that technique had not yet been included in the government's advanced technology notice at the time.

South Korea's Seoul High Court has upheld an 18-month prison sentence for a former employee of SK Hynix's China-based entity who leaked corporate trade secrets to Chinese companies. The appellate court's Criminal Division 10-1 fully sustained the first-instance verdict against the defendant, a South Korean national identified by the surname Kim, according to Yonhap News on Aug. 9.

Leak via resume

Kim worked at SK Hynix's local legal entity in China. In 2022, while seeking to move to Chinese employers including Huawei's HiSilicon unit, he violated the company's security rules. He printed and photographed large volumes of advanced technology and trade secret materials related to CIS (CMOS image sensors) from the company's internal document management system. Part of that content was copied directly into his resume and submitted to the Chinese companies, completing the leak. Prosecutors charged Kim with violations of the Industrial Technology Protection Act, the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, and breach of duty.

First-instance ruling

The district court found Kim guilty of the trade secret leakage charges and sentenced him to 18 months in prison. However, the court acquitted him on charges tied to hybrid bonding technology, ruling that the technique had not yet been listed in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's advanced technology notice at the time.

Appeal upheld

In its recent second-instance ruling, the Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 10-1 maintained the original sentence in full. The court said Kim leaked a large volume of trade secrets and submitted them to Chinese companies via his resume, calling the nature of the crime serious. The materials at issue were the result of years of R&D by the victim company. A light sentence in such cases, the court warned, would weaken corporate motivation for technology development and make it easier for overseas competitors to steal Korean technology through talent recruitment. At the same time, the court acknowledged that Kim had fully confessed and that most of the materials had been recovered. It therefore declined to increase the punishment.

This article was originally published by Bit.Fan. For more cryptocurrency news and market insights, visit www.bit.fan.

560

Disclaimer:

The market information, project data, and third-party content displayed on this platform are for industry information sharing only and do not constitute any form of investment advice or return commitment.

Cryptocurrency trading carries high risks. Users should fully assess their risk tolerance and make independent decisions. All profits, losses, and legal responsibilities are borne by the users themselves.