A Taiwanese court sentenced a former employee of Tokyo Electron to 10 years in prison on Monday in a landmark case involving the theft of TSMC trade secrets. The Intellectual Property and Commercial Court determined that Chen Li-ming, a former TSMC engineer who worked at Tokyo Electron's subsidiary in Taiwan, used his connections with colleagues to illegally access and collect confidential information from the chipmaker. Judge Chang Ming-huang stated that Chen copied and passed along materials to help Tokyo Electron improve its bids as a supplier, motivated primarily by a desire to "improve his personal work performance." In addition to Chen's 10-year sentence under Taiwan’s national security act and other statutes, the court fined Tokyo Electron 150 million new Taiwan dollars, equivalent to approximately $4.8 million. Four other individuals received sentences of up to six years in jail. Prosecutors had indicted the group in August on allegations of trade secret theft after TSMC reported concerns about compromised security. While Tokyo Electron dismissed its employee and stated that internal investigations had not confirmed evidence of leaks from an organizational level, the company acknowledged the court's findings with "utmost seriousness" and pledged to strengthen its information management systems. TSMC reiterated its commitment to protecting its intellectual property, stating it maintains a "zero-tolerance policy" toward actions compromising trade secrets or harming company interests. The semiconductor industry giant, one of the world's most valuable companies and a key manufacturer for clients like Nvidia and Apple, relies heavily on its advanced technology sector for Taiwan's export-oriented economy. As artificial intelligence demands surge, this ruling underscores the high stakes involved in protecting semiconductor capabilities that remain vital to regional economic security.