TSMC formally sues ex-SVP over alleged transfer of secrets to Intel

[Jert]

I know dozens of people who have jumped between TSMC and Intel. Intel hired two friends of mine from TSMC who spent 15 years architecting the EDA/IP OIP Ecosystem when Intel Foundry started up. One went back to TSMC and the other retired. Not good experiences due to the premature launch of 18A. So yes, Intel and TSMC swap employees all of the time, no problem. The key is being truthful during the exit interview.

The problem here is that WJL failed to mention he was joining Intel during his exit interview. In fact, he said otherwise (retirement/academia). I'm sure there is a paper trail on this. If he had discussions with Intel prior to the exit interview then there is a problem. That problem will be compounded if WJL had confidential information in his possession which will be discovered during the searches and legal discovery/depositions that are underway.

It certainly could be that Taiwan/TSMC is making an example of WJL and being heavy handed. But, if the TSMC Media Statement is true, which I believe it to be knowing TSMC, this is much more than a display of power.

Bottom line: Truth is a person's best defense. WJL needs to tell the truth and get on with it. The longer this goes on the harder it will be on WJL and his family, my opinion.

Someone in this forum earlier speculated that perhaps Intel's offer came up after his exit interview. I am leaning towards believing WJL's true and honest intention was to retire and/or join an academia (and thus both himself and tsmc did not think too much or making a fuzz about his 20 boxes of hand notes). Perhaps WJL feels the Intel offer is too attractive to decline (although we don't know any of the details and my guess is it's not necessary just about money).

I am guessing it's unlikely WJL actually lied during the exit interview. Him and CC Wei and Mark Liu, etc. these guys are the pillars of the tsmc coprortaiton, they worked hard and TOGETHER for 20 plus years creating this TSMC miracle, I would think the mutual trust between these guys should be deep and wide. How could him and/or CC or Mark misjudge and make such a low level mistake and why WLJ wants to lie to destroy this team legacy?

The simple issue at hand is now how to properly and in a gentlemen manner resolve the ownership of the 20 boxes of notes. And in my humble opinion, they are clearly TSMC property. WJL should simply return the boxes and get on with his new Intel mission. I am sure even Intel does not want his TSMC notes!

 

[XYang2023]

Someone in this forum earlier speculated that perhaps Intel's offer came up after his exit interview. I am leaning towards believing WJL's true and honest intention was to retire and/or join an academia (and thus both himself and tsmc did not think too much or making a fuzz about his 20 boxes of hand notes). Perhaps WJL feels the Intel offer is too attractive to decline (although we don't know any of the details and my guess is it's not necessary just about money).

I am guessing it's unlikely WJL actually lied during the exit interview. Him and CC Wei and Mark Liu, etc. these guys are the pillars of the tsmc coprortaiton, they worked hard and TOGETHER for 20 plus years creating this TSMC miracle, I would think the mutual trust between these guys should be deep and wide. How could him and/or CC or Mark misjudge and make such a low level mistake and why WLJ wants to lie to destroy this team legacy?

The simple issue at hand is now how to properly and in a gentlemen manner resolve the ownership of the 20 boxes of notes. And in my humble opinion, they are clearly TSMC property. WJL should simply return the boxes and get on with his new Intel mission. I am sure even Intel does not want his TSMC notes!

If they are personal notes, could the boxes also contain notes he brought to TSM? They are not necessarily TSM's properties even assuming the existence of the 20 boxes .

 

[lilo777]

In light of these news, I got curious about the previous case where TSMCsued the executive who joined Samsung. Here is what I found:

The justification for the Taiwanese Supreme Court's prohibitions against Dr. Liang Mong-song working for Samsung, even after his initial non-compete clause had expired, centered on the argument of irreparable harm due to the disclosure of proprietary and confidential information, specifically TSMC's trade secrets.

Here is the breakdown of the legal and commercial justification:
1. The core of TSMC's argument was that Dr. Liang, as a former executive and a key R&D leader, owed TSMC a permanent duty of confidentiality regarding its trade secrets.

• Trade Secret Definition: TSMC successfully argued that their highly advanced manufacturing processes—particularly the details concerning the successful mass production of the 28-nanometer (nm) process—constituted protected trade secrets, not just general professional knowledge.
• Irreparable Harm: The court accepted that Dr. Liang's transfer of knowledge directly to Samsung in a short timeframe allowed their chief competitor to rapidly narrow the technological gap between the two companies. This constituted an immediate and quantifiable threat to TSMC's commercial survival and market dominance.

2. The ruling was a landmark decision in Taiwanese law, establishing that a contractual non-compete period may not be the sole boundary when significant commercial interests and proprietary technology are at stake.​

• Knowledge Transfer: TSMC provided evidence showing a clear correlation between Dr. Liang's work for Samsung and the competitor's sudden improvements in their manufacturing yields.
• The "Head Start" Defense: The court essentially ruled that even if the non-compete clause expired, allowing him to immediately leverage years of TSMC's proprietary, high-level, and non-public know-how for a direct competitor amounted to unfair competition and unjust enrichment on Samsung's part.

In essence, the court treated the transfer of a former top executive's specialized knowledge about a leading-edge process as the disclosure of a permanent trade secret, which superseded the time limit of the standard employment contract's non-compete clause.

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Am I the only one who thinks that this is bogus? To begin with, the dude helped TSMC improve their process. Then he did the same for Samsung. Sounds like a very capable guy. In essence, Taiwanese Supreme Court said that he can't work for any TSMC competitors anymore because he owns TSMC a permanent duty of confidentiality. Ignore the NCA. Really? Taiwanese government being TSMC puppet, it looks like Wei Lo might have problems with Taiwanese judicial system.