Taiwan investigates China's largest semiconductor maker for 'illegal poaching of tech talent'
On March 28, 2025, Taiwan's Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) announced that it had launched a simultaneous investigation into 11 Chinese companies, including Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), a major Chinese semiconductor company, for illegally poaching Taiwanese technical talent.
Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau's investigation of ``Chinese'' projects and high technology talent in Taiwan - Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau
Taiwan Probes China Chipmaker SMIC for Allegedly Poaching Staff - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-28/taiwan-probes-china-chipmaker-smic-for-allegedly-poaching-staff
Taiwan alleges China chipmaker SMIC illegally poached tech talent
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/28/taiwan-alleges-china-chipmaker-smic-illegally-poached-tech-talent.html
According to a statement from the Taiwanese authorities, SMIC is a Shanghai-based company, but it set up subsidiaries in Taiwan posing as local companies and overseas Chinese through shell companies in Samoa to illegally recruit technical personnel. In Taiwan, Chinese companies are not allowed to engage in business activities such as hiring and business without official government permission.
SMIC is China's largest semiconductor manufacturing company and was added to the Entity List, a blacklist of regulated companies in the United States, in 2020. However, in 2023, it suddenly came into the spotlight for developing the 7nm chips that were installed in Huawei smartphones. At the time, it was praised for 'mass-producing 7nm chips that even Intel struggled with,' but this investigation has revealed the possibility that these achievements were also made possible by technology stolen from Taiwan.
Chinese semiconductor manufacturer 'SMIC' mass-produces 7nm chips that even Intel struggled with, and is rapidly growing into the world's third largest foundry - GIGAZINE
by SMIC
The MJIB, which has been preparing for its investigation into Chinese companies since December 2024, conducted a simultaneous investigation from March 18 to 27, 2025, searching a total of 34 locations and questioning 90 people at 11 Chinese companies.
The companies other than SMIC that were subject to the investigation were Dongguan Aohai Technology Co., Ltd., Fine Made Electronics (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd., Zhongguan Electronics Co., Ltd., Shanghai TOSUN Technology Co., Ltd., and Fine Made Electronics Group Co., Ltd. The 10 companies are TIGO Semiconductor Group, Southchip Semiconductor Technology Shanghai, ShenZhen Torey Microelectronics Technology, TIGO Semiconductor, and TIGO Semiconductor (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.
In particular, Shenzhen Tongyi Microelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. established two unofficial bases in Taiwan without authorization from the authorities, and paid the salaries of the personnel it illegally recruited there from its headquarters in China. The results of research and development obtained in this way were transmitted to its headquarters in China via the Tencent system in order to confuse the authorities' investigation.
In addition, Wanhua Intelligent Networks (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd., which has poached talent not only from Taiwanese companies but also from well-known companies such as Intel and Microsoft, has entered Taiwan disguised as a Singapore-based foreign company and illegally operated there to poach engineers involved in chip design.
Taiwan speaks the same language as China and has the world's best semiconductor manufacturing technology, so it has been pointed out that China has often illegally poached its personnel and stolen its technology in the past.
MJIB said, 'The high-tech industry is the lifeline of Taiwan's economy, and companies with semiconductor technology and a range of related industries are the 'protectors of the nation' (referring to the Central Mountain Range that has protected Taiwan from typhoons) that maintain Taiwan's economic strength. As a result, talent in related industries has become a target for poaching by Chinese companies. In order to prevent Chinese companies from illegally poaching and conducting business activities in Taiwan, authorities launched a special program to investigate such cases since the end of 2020, and have investigated more than 100 cases so far.'
About 100 Chinese companies are under investigation for stealing Taiwanese semiconductor technology - GIGAZINE
Several international media outlets contacted SMIC, but the company did not comment.
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