SEOUL, South Korea — A former employee of South Korean semiconductor maker SK Hynix has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for leaking information about semiconductor manufacturing technology to a Chinese company, Yonhap news agency reported on Sunday.
- Former SK Hynix employee receives an 18-month prison sentence.
- The case involved classified information related to CMOS image sensors.
- The information was allegedly shared with a Chinese company in 2022.
- The Seoul High Court upheld the lower court’s sentence on appeal.
Seoul High Court upholds prison sentence
The Seoul High Court ruled in an appeal case involving the former SK Hynix employee, upholding the 18-month sentence imposed by a lower court, according to Yonhap.
The case concerned the disclosure of classified information related to CMOS image sensors, a technology used in non-memory semiconductor products including smartphone cameras and laptops.
The information was allegedly provided to a Chinese company in 2022. Yonhap did not identify the Chinese firm involved in the case.
Documents taken from SK Hynix internal server
According to the Yonhap report, the employee had previously worked at SK Hynix’s office in China. The Seoul High Court found that he printed documents or photographed material containing trade secrets after downloading the information from the company’s internal server.
The court considered those actions a violation of the company’s security rules. The case therefore centered not only on the disclosure of semiconductor technology but also on the unauthorized handling of information protected as trade secrets.
Information was disclosed to Chinese company
Yonhap reported that the former employee disclosed some of the information in a resume submitted to a Chinese firm. The Chinese company was not named in the report.
The disclosure involved information classified as trade secrets by SK Hynix. The case highlights the legal consequences surrounding the unauthorized transfer of proprietary semiconductor technology.
Defendant admitted the charges
The defendant admitted all of the charges, according to the Yonhap report. The company was also able to retrieve most of the information that had been taken.
Despite the recovery of most of the material, the Seoul High Court upheld the prison sentence handed down by the lower court.
CMOS technology at center of case
CMOS image sensors are used in non-memory semiconductor applications, including cameras found in smartphones and laptops. The technology was specifically identified in the case as the subject of the classified information allegedly leaked to the Chinese company.
The court’s ruling follows an appeal by the defendant but leaves the original 18-month sentence in place.
SK Hynix and court response
The case involves proprietary information belonging to SK Hynix, one of South Korea’s major semiconductor companies. Yonhap reported the court’s findings and the sentence, while the Seoul High Court had not immediately responded to a Reuters request for comment outside business hours.
What the ruling means
The 18-month prison sentence underscores the legal consequences of unauthorized disclosure of semiconductor trade secrets. In this case, the court found that company documents containing protected technology had been taken from an internal system and that some of the information was subsequently disclosed to a Chinese firm.
The Seoul High Court’s decision means the lower court’s sentence remains in effect after the appeal.
Source Attribution
This report is based on information reported by Yonhap and Reuters on August 9, 2026.
