Seoul— A South Korean appeals court has sentenced a former Chinese employee of SK hynix to five years in prison for stealing and leaking critical semiconductor technology to Chinese tech giant Huawei.
The Suwon High Court handed down the sentence along with a 30 million won (approximately $21,500) fine to the 37-year-old, who was found guilty of printing and removing around 4,000 pages of sensitive documents containing solutions to manufacturing challenges in semiconductor production. The theft occurred shortly before the employee left the South Korean chipmaker to join Huawei in 2022.
“The materials in question are of high technological and economic value and qualify as core state-level technology,” the court stated. “These business secrets have wide-reaching implications for national security and industrial competitiveness.”
The court emphasized that crimes of this nature threaten the viability of domestic companies and could undermine South Korea’s standing in the global semiconductor industry.
The ruling significantly toughened the original sentence. A lower court had previously handed down a term of 18 months and imposed a 20 million won fine in the initial trial last year.
Markets Rise on Trade Optimism
Meanwhile, South Korean stocks continued their upward momentum on Wednesday, bolstered by renewed optimism surrounding U.S.-China trade negotiations. The Korean won also strengthened, hitting a five-month high against the U.S. dollar.
The benchmark KOSPI index gained 14.01 points, or 0.55 percent, to close at 2,573.80, extending gains from Friday’s 0.12 percent rise. Markets had been closed Monday and Tuesday for public holidays—Children’s Day and Buddha’s Birthday.
Trading volume was moderate at 538.5 million shares valued at 8.79 trillion won (approximately $6.29 billion), with advancing stocks narrowly outpacing decliners, 460 to 415.
Among major movers, Samsung Electronics edged up 0.55 percent to 54,600 won, while SK hynix gained 2.58 percent, closing at 190,800 won. In the defense sector, Hanwha Aerospace surged 8.8 percent to 890,000 won, and LIG Nex1 rose 1.97 percent to 336,500 won.
However, bio-pharmaceutical shares declined, with Celltrion falling 1.29 percent to 160,300 won and Samsung Biologics dropping 4.06 percent to 1.04 million won.
