A former Samsung Display engineer has been sentenced to six years in prison for leaking sensitive OLED technology to China. The South Korean court found the engineer guilty of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act. The engineer, who had worked at Samsung for over a decade, had been on trial but was allowed out on bail. He was recently taken into custody and sentenced on Thursday.
The engineer was indicted in October 2023 for illegally obtaining and selling optical systems for excimer laser annealing (ELA) technology used in Samsung’s OLED displays. He also sold technology for OCR injects, used to attach outer cover glass on OLED panels, to Chinese companies between 2018 and 2020.
After leaving Samsung, the engineer founded a display company in Korea and another in China. He then used his knowledge to illegally replicate Samsung’s technology and sell it to Chinese companies. He persuaded former subordinates, juniors, and friends to join him in the crime, providing them with trade secrets that were then used to duplicate Samsung’s OLED technology.
Five people who worked with the accused were indicted in August 2020. Three of them were Samsung Display employees who were sentenced to between one and two years in prison, while two friends received suspended sentences.
Judge Ha Sang-je, in his ruling, stated that the accused party had wrongly used technology that the company had invested heavily in developing over a long period. He emphasized the need for strict punishment to protect the country’s advanced technology.
The prosecution, in a statement following the sentencing, echoed the severity of the crime. They highlighted the significant loss incurred by Samsung and the threat posed to the nation’s economy by such acts of industrial espionage. They pledged to continue rigorously addressing such criminal acts.
