Taiwan authorities raid 8 Chinese chip companies
According to the Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau mobilized more than 100 people in this joint investigation, searched 14 locations, and questioned nearly 60 people. The eight companies investigated were located in Taipei City, New Taipei City, Taoyuan City, Taichung City, Kaohsiung City, Miaoli County, and other counties and cities, including fake Taiwanese companies, fake foreign-funded Hong Kong companies, or mainland companies' offices in Taiwan.
According to reports, the companies or R&D centers in Taiwan that were investigated this time involved industrial fields including electronic design automation (EDA) software design, third-generation semiconductor R&D and IC design, LCD driver IC design, digital multimedia IC design, image sensor CIS design, IC design customization one-stop service platform, communications and electrical and electromechanical equipment IC design, electric vehicle related components, etc.
"We have spent more than six months investigating the flow of funds and talent at these mainland Chinese companies," an official familiar with the matter told Nikkei Asia, adding that this is the largest investigation in recent years.
It is reported that the eight mainland Chinese companies under investigation include an emerging chip design EDA startup, Hefei-based Amedac, as well as local offices of chip/IP design companies including Vimicro and VeriSilicon.
The investigation comes as Taiwan faces severe worker shortages as the global chip industry rushes to expand production. To protect its critical chip industry, Taiwan is tightening laws to criminalize the unauthorized use of key technologies and trade secrets.
Meanwhile, China has been stepping up efforts to build a viable domestic semiconductor industry and reduce its reliance on overseas suppliers amid ongoing geopolitical tensions between the United States and China. This goal has increased demand for Taiwanese engineers and their key technologies to accelerate China's technological advancement.
In March last year, the Taiwanese authorities launched a massive investigation into the poaching of talents by mainland chip design companies in Taiwan. They searched several Taiwanese companies, seized a large amount of information, interviewed 19 people, and brought back four people for investigation. A mainland Chinese chip company was accused of illegally poaching hundreds of engineers in Taiwan to improve its chip R&D capabilities.
An official from the Investigation Bureau of the Taiwan Ministry of Justice said that the bureau launched 23 investigations in 2021 involving Chinese mainland companies suspected of poaching Taiwanese talent, of which 19 cases were transferred to the procuratorate for further investigation.
It is worth mentioning that in April last year, in response to the mainland's poaching of Taiwan's semiconductor talents, the Taiwan authorities sent letters to various talent recruitment agencies, requiring them not to assist any company in Taiwan in recruiting people for employment in the mainland, and requiring that if the work location of the recruitment information involves the mainland, it must be removed from the shelves first. Violators may be fined up to NT$5 million.
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