Dutch chip equipment maker denies trade secrets theft was Chinese espionage

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/04/12/dutch_china_theft_claim/

By Thomas Claburn in San Francisco
The Register
12 Apr 2019

Netherlands-based ASML, which makes semiconductor manufacturing equipment, on 
Thursday insisted that it had not been the target of Chinese espionage, despite 
the fact that six former employees with Chinese names breached their contracts 
by sharing trade secrets with a competitor linked to the Chinese government.

“The suggestion that we were somehow victim of a national conspiracy is wrong," 
said CEO Peter Wennink in a statement.

"The facts of the matter are that we were robbed by a handful of our own 
employees based in Silicon Valley, who had broken the law to enrich themselves. 
All of this occurred several years ago."

ASML's statement follows a report from Het Financieele Dagblad, a news 
publication based in the Netherlands, that identified electrical design 
automation biz XTAL, a company sued by ASML in 2016 for trade secret theft, as 
a subsidiary of China-based Dongfang Jingyuan, said to have ties to the Chinese 
government.

[...]

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