A former Chinese employee of SK hynix has been revealed to be on trial for allegedly passing memory semiconductor technology data to Huawei.

According to industry sources on May 28, the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency last month arrested a Chinese woman in her 30s, identified as Ms. A, who worked for SK hynix, on charges of violating the Act on Prevention of Divulgence and Protection of Industrial Technology and breach of duty. Ms. A has been referred to the prosecution and is currently on trial at the Yeoju Branch of Suwon District Court.

Ms. A joined SK hynix in 2013 and was responsible for analyzing semiconductor design data. In 2020, she was dispatched to the company’s Chinese subsidiary, where she handled business-to-business customer consultations until 2020. Ms. A is accused of printing out over 3,000 pages of SK hynix semiconductor data and passing it to Huawei during her job transition in June 2022.

An SK hynix representative stated, “We confirmed that some data related to the front-end process of memory was leaked and reported it,” adding, “We are closely monitoring the police investigation.”