Samsung is years ahead of its competition in several key business segments, particularly memory semiconductors and OLED displays. No wonder, then, that the company has repeatedly been the target of corporate espionage activities.
There have been several instances across group companies of employees getting caught for allegedly selling sensitive technology to Chinese companies. It appears there’s been another incident at Samsung Display, the company responsible for all of the conglomerate’s advancements in display technologies.
It’s been a recurring problem at Samsung companies
Local media reports that the Industrial Technology Security Investigation Team of the powerful Seoul National Police Agency has begun investigating the leak of Samsung Display’s latest technology to a Chinese company.
The law enforcement body searched Samsung Display’s Asan campus yesterday to get to the bottom of this matter. The investigation is said to be in the early stages as the agency probes allegations that multiple employees may be involved in leaking the display technology to a specific Chinese competitor. If the allegations are true, someone is definitely going to get arrested.
This is far from the first instance where something of this sort has happened. South Korea had formally charged two former Samsung researchers with leaking OLED secrets to China back in 2020. Another Samsung Display researcher was arrested and indicted in 2023 for leaking proprietary OLED technologies worth $300 million to China.
Samsung Electronics, which covers everything from smartphones to semiconductors, has had similar problems. One of its former employees was arrested in 2023 on allegations of stealing sensitive semiconductor data and attempting to start a new firm in China based on it.
Samsung has intense security measures in place to ensure that its sensitive technologies do not fall in competitors’ hands. Given Samsung’s importance to South Korea’s dominance in segments like semiconductors and displays, the government itself takes a keen interest in ensuring that one of its top companies isn’t harmed by corporate espionage.
