Friday, February 17th 2023
ASML's Ex-Employee in China Allegedly Stole Confidential Information
The Netherlands-based ASML has reportedly launched a comprehensive investigation into the company's branch in China following reports that one of its former employees allegedly stole confidential information. According to Bloomberg, the employee in question was part of a product life cycle management (PLM) program for ASML's advanced lithography solutions. Specifically, the employee worked for the Teamcenter software division responsible for lithography tool management. This software was used to create digital twins of scanners and other tools and allowed information to be shared among the company's employees. In ASML's case, the software contained all the confidential information about the scanners and how they work, which makes it a target for IP theft. We do not know if this is a China-sponsored action to boost its domestic lithography tool development; however, ASML has issued a statement below.
Sources:
Bloomberg, via Tom's Hardware
ASMLWe have experienced unauthorized misappropriation of data relating to proprietary technology by a (now) former employee in China. We promptly initiated a comprehensive internal review. Based upon our initial findings we do not believe that the misappropriation is material to our business. However, as a result of the security incident, certain export control regulations may have been violated. ASML has therefore reported the incident to relevant authorities. We are implementing additional remedial measures in light of this incident.
33 Comments on ASML's Ex-Employee in China Allegedly Stole Confidential Information
The mirrors alone will require much more rnd than most think
This isn't going to effect anything for years if at all.
I know how to make a nuke, can I though.
I have no sympathy for "businesses" who only see potential profits and go to communist/dictatorship countries and then cry when something bad happens there.
It's like insurance. Insurance wont help you if you were stupid and did stupid things.
What's interesting is that currently there are major companies beginning to look towards India as labor in China is becoming more expensive, Apple is currently one of these companies. At the same time, Modi is constantly increasing and consolidating his power and the power of the state (for example, Indian authorities actually raided BBC offices in India because they aired a documentary critical of Modi....silencing the press for being critical of the government is a hallmark of authoritarianism) which only makes it even more attractive to business interest....coincidence?
You live in a bubble, a very judgemental bubble He lives in a childish 2-bit dreamworld where
west = good (actually perfect)
rest = bad
It's also unfair to compare theft protected by a Chinese dictatorship to countries like Japan and Korea that have great companies and actively develop technology that we all use.
And... Yes, dictatorship and theft is bad, are there any kids here who don't understand that?
You are comparing apples to oranges.
Also, the whole idea of the sanctions is not to prevent them from getting to the same place as the US and the western world. They will get there regardless, if they pay the R&D price. But the R&D price is great and, if they actually have to do the R&D instead of just stealing IP, they will have to choose their battles and will not be capable to advance in leaps on all fronts.
So it will not stop them from actually discovering boiling water, they will just have to do their honest work like everybody else to get there. And when they do that, guess what, it will take longer and it will leave them less money to put in their armies, or in buying land from poor third world countries (the so called belt and road initiative).
On top of that the Russians had helped North Korea get it's nuclear program off the ground and China endorsed it as it provided a destabilizing force in the region.
To say that it was their developments is incorrect, stolen technology is inherently not theirs. There is no "common practice" on "how to fab 5nm chips" or how to make EUV machines. ASML is the only company in the world that can make these machines. This is not something China can "figure out" is some neanderthal fashion by banging two rocks together. It requires decades of experience in the field, highly trained staff, resources, and supporting logistics and infrastructure. China's recent development of 232 layer flash (the exact same layer count as Micron's next gen flash suspiciously) going from no flash portfolio to having the exact same as the best in a mere 3 years isn't them developing their own products, it's extremely clear that China is doing what China always does, steal IP. Both Samsung and SKHynix next-gen flash all have different layer counts, the Chinese didn't even both to make an attempt to hide that they copied the tech.
This logic is backwards, China can't diverge technologically until they are at the same level as everyone else? It makes zero sense, how can you be doing your own research and the result over and over again is a carbon copy of something someone else has already done? It would make more sense for China's technology to diverge early on because there are many ways to do things in a less efficient manner, especially in the chip world.
They are probably going to pat him on the back, increase his social credit score and allow him to rent a fancy apartment in the big city. "Well done comrade!"
Motorola went to China in 90s and eventually had a ton of their tech stolen. Motorola then went under yet all the companies in China who stole the tech are doing amazing today.
There was a reason why during the Cold War it was illegal to trade computers and engines to the USSR and other communist nations, it was called "Coordinating Committee for the Multilateral Export Control". In Communist countries IP protection is never enforced and all the tech you create will be stolen and used by them. Modern China of course IS NOT A COMMUNIST country but a single party dictatorship in bed with corporations and using western capitalisms as a tool for their enrichment.
remember the capitalist will sell the rope which will be used to hang them.