In a Monday statement, the Suwon district prosecutor’s office said it had charged a 65-year old former employee of what it called “Company A” over data theft. While officials did not explicitly name the company, they described it as “the world’s number one market share holder in the memory and semiconductors field.” Samsung\n \n is the world’s leading memory chip maker and is the company described by prosecutors, according to a person familiar with the matter. Samsung\n \n declined to comment.
The defendant is widely known as the “best expert” in South Korea’s chipmaking industry, having worked at Company A for about 18 years and then as vice president of another firm, referred to as “Company B,” for about 10 years, according to authorities. News agency Yonhap identified the second company as SK Hynix, another South Korean chip giant. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.