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A large number of former Samsung Electronics employees, who are alleged to have disclosed semiconductor technology—created by Samsung Electronics as a global pioneer—to a Chinese firm, have been sent for trial.

The Information Technology Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (led by Kim Yoon-yong) stated on the 23rd that it has charged five people, including former Samsung Electronics executive A, with offenses such as violating the Industrial Technology Protection Act (exporting national core technology abroad), and has non-custodially indicted five former researchers.

In January of last year, prosecutors initiated a direct investigation following the discovery of evidence suggesting that Samsung Electronics’ key semiconductor technology had been leaked to China since 2016, when A transitioned from Samsung Electronics to Changxin Memory, a Chinese semiconductor firm.

B, a former researcher at Samsung Electronics, is charged with disclosing the company’s ’10-nanometer DRAM manufacturing details’ by copying it onto 12 pages of paper when he joined Changxin Memory in September 2016.

It was discovered that B carefully wrote down about 600 steps related to DRAM production procedures and machinery, thinking that transferring files from a computer or taking photos with a mobile phone would be simple to detect. This represented a key technology created by Samsung Electronics as a global first, developed through an investment of roughly 1.6 trillion South Korean won over five years.

The prosecutors concluded that the group consistently disclosed technology by creating front companies, regularly moving their offices, and distributing guidelines like “always operate under the assumption that the National Intelligence Service is close by.” It was also discovered that they developed their own set of rules, including disseminating a “four-heart” cipher among colleagues during emergencies such as travel restrictions or arrests, in an effort to avoid being detected.