Taiwanese prosecutors on Tuesday charged the Taiwan unit of Japanese semiconductor equipment maker Tokyo Electron Ltd. in connection with the illicit acquisition of confidential information from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., one of the world's leading chipmakers.

A conviction could result in fines of up to NT$120 million ($3.8 million), according to the Intellectual Property Branch of the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office.

Earlier this year, Taiwanese authorities indicted three people, including a former Tokyo Electron employee, on suspicion of stealing TSMC's advanced 2-nanometer chip technology and leaking the information to the Japanese company's unit.

The former employee, who joined the major Japanese chip manufacturing equipment maker after working at TSMC, allegedly reconnected with two former colleagues to remotely access an internal system of the world's largest contract chipmaker and photograph sensitive data.

Prosecutors concluded that the Taiwan unit of Tokyo Electron "failed to make sufficient efforts to prevent the misconduct and should bear corporate criminal liability under relevant legal provisions," according to their statement.

A Tokyo Electron official said the company is confirming the details of the Taiwan authorities' announcement.

==Kyodo

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