Former Broadcom engineer charged in US with stealing chip secrets for Chinese start-up
- Peter Kisang Kim, 50, pleaded not guilty to 18 counts of trade-secret theft and faces as long as 10 years in prison for each count if convicted
- US attorney general keen to pursue illegal activity by the Chinese government while avoiding negatively stereotyping Asian-Americans and citizens of China
A former veteran engineer at Broadcom Inc was charged by the United States with stealing trade secrets for chips used in high-volume data centres and taking them to his new job with a China-based start-up.
Peter Kisang Kim, 50, was a principal engineer at San Jose, California-based Broadcom and had worked there for more than 20 years when he left the company in July 2020, according to a grand jury indictment unsealed on Tuesday. About 10 days later, he started work as a director for a China-based start-up “seeking to become a leading chip designer focused on China’s domestic market”, according to the indictment, which identifies the start-up only as “Company-1”.
During the next nine months, Kim “repeatedly used Broadcom trade secrets” on devices provided by his new employer, according to a statement issued by the US attorney’s office in San Francisco.
Kim pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Tuesday to 18 counts of trade-secret theft and faces as long as 10 years in prison for each count if he is convicted.