Taiwan arrests 6 in probe of TSMC chip technology leak

The chipmaker to Nvidia reported a number of former and current staff to authorities on suspicion they illegally obtained core technology. A total of six people were arrested, with two posting bail and one released afterwards, said Taiwan High Prosecutors Office spokesman John Nieh. Prosecutors searched the homes of some staff between July 25 and July 28, the agency said in a statement. It is now trying to find out if data had been leaked to other parties.

TSMC is the world’s most advanced maker of semiconductors, from Nvidia AI accelerators to Apple iPhone processors. The case coincides with a quickening race by the likes of Meta Platforms and DeepSeek to develop artificial intelligence in the post-ChatGPT era, which requires billions of dollars in servers and data centres.

On Tuesday, Nikkei reported that TSMC fired several employees suspected of trying to obtain critical information on 2-nanometre chip development. That next-generation semiconductor process is entering mass production in the second half of this year.

Local investigators also searched the Taiwanese premises of Japanese supplier Tokyo Electron, the Financial Times reported. Company representatives declined to comment.

TSMC took disciplinary action against personnel involved and initiated legal proceedings, the company said in a statement, without elaborating. It conducted an internal investigation and identified the issue “early”, the firm added in its statement.