Intel says star hire from TSMC didn’t steal secrets

Intel has defended itself against accusations that its latest executive hire stole trade secrets, as TSMC sues the exec and Taiwanese prosecutors say they’ve begun a probe into the incident.

Wei-Jen Lo, a Taiwanese engineer, joined Intel this fall, hired to help the company improve its mass production processes. He’d previously worked at the American company in the ‘80s, during its boom years, before joining TSMC in 2004, helping to oversee that company’s most successful period too.

This week TSMC announced that it was suing Lo, alleging that he violated his employment contract and noncompete agreement, along with Taiwan’s Trade Secrets Act. “There is a high probability that Lo uses, leaks, discloses or transfers TSMC’s trade secrets and confidential information to Intel, thus making legal actions necessary,” TSMC said.

The Taiwanese authorities are now involved too. Reuters reports that prosecutors have opened a probe into Lo, and that investigators have raided two of his homes, seizing computers, USB drives and other evidence. Lo’s real estate and shares may also be seized.

“Based on everything we know, we have no reason to believe there is any merit to the allegations involving Mr. Lo,” an anonymous Intel spokesperson told Reuters, defending its policies to prohibit the transfer of confidential third-party information. “We take these commitments seriously,” Intel said.

Taiwan also takes its trade secrets seriously though, and has already indicted three other people this year in a separate case involving the alleged theft of TSMC’s chip-making technology to help a Japanese rival. Intel’s involvement complicates the situation, now that the US government has a 10 percent stake in the company and hopes to revive its fortunes as a semiconductor giant and capitalize on the AI boom that TSMC is currently profiting from.