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A former SK Hynix employee has been formally accused of illegally transferring technologies related to advanced chip packaging used for 3D NAND, HBM, and multi-chiplet assemblies as well as CMOS image sensors to Huawei's HiSilicon division, reports DigiTimes citing the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's office. There is an interesting wrinkle in this story: Huawei's HiSilicon did not directly ask for specific technologies.
While working at Huawei, the suspect allegedly took IP related to CMOS image sensors (CIS) and hybrid bonding chip packaging technology that is used for 3D NAND, HBM3/HBM3E/HBM4 memory, as well as advanced stacked multi-chiplet packages (e.g., TSMC's SoIC and Intel's Foveros 3D). It is unclear whether the suspect's targets were hybrid bonding and image sensors, or 'just' hybrid bonding as modern CMOS sensors also use hybrid bonding.
SK Hynix reportedly clarified that the leaked bonding-related information concerned general wafer-to-wafer processes and not the specific hybrid bonding technique currently being developed or used for commercial products.
For Chinese companies like Huawei (which does not have access to advanced process technologies and packaging methods used by TSMC and SK hynix) as well as SMIC (which does not have access to the latest lithography equipment made by ASML), getting wafer bonding know-how from SK hynix, which had licensed such technologies from Xperi, may be considered as a major breakthrough as wafer bonding is becoming increasingly important for multiple semiconductor applications.
The individual in question, a South Korean citizen named only in the complaint by his surname, Kim, previously worked for the Chinese unit of SK hynix. Authorities allege that in 2022 he secured a position with HiSilicon and, during the hiring process, improperly accessed and misused internal data belonging to SK hynix.
Kim reportedly printed out and captured photographs of internal files against policy. Investigators discovered that over 11,000 photographs of confidential content were taken, and steps were allegedly made to mask the origin by removing company identifiers such as brand logos and secrecy labels from the images.
Evidence indicates that Kim submitted these materials as part of job applications to two separate companies in China, using them to enhance his qualifications. Authorities now claim this was a calculated effort to secure employment using unlawfully obtained information from his former employer.
The report confirms that many technologies developed in China in general and by Huawei specifically originate from multi-national corporations. But there is an interesting twist: Huawei did not explicitly ask the suspect to bring it SK hynix's trade secrets (even though the company is known for poaching highly-skilled employees from world-class companies by offering them huge salaries), but accepted them as part of the hiring process.
The case has drawn attention in South Korea due to rising concerns about the outflow of specialized semiconductor knowledge, specifically as China is trying hard to achieve semiconductor self-sufficiency. It highlights the increasing risks around workforce migration and the global effort to enforce tighter control over the transmission of high-value industrial IP.
This is not the first time when an SK hynix employee left for Huawei and takes the company's IP with them. Last year the Suwon District Court sentenced one of SK hynix's employees who departed to Huawei with 4,000 secret documents to 18 months behind bars and a fine.
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