Artificer60
Well-known member
It seems just prior to leaving TSMC Wei-Jen Lo requested several boxes of TSMC proprietary information. The article goes on to say that since he was retiring he was not asked to sign a non-compete agreement. There is suspicion that he has shared that information with Intel along with taking a position at Intel where he will be responsible for 'advanced equipment and module development from R&D up to pre-mass-production'.
I don't think that TSMC process information would have a lot of direct application at Intel as Intel 18A is in production and 14A has got to be pretty far along if they are going to be rolling out their 0.5 PDK in the next few months. That said, I believe that if he were to share the information with Intel it would help them in terms of competitive analysis.
The thing that makes me question this report is that Lip-Bu Tan has a reputation as a straight-shooter and I have trouble believing he would roll the dice on what essentially amounts to corporate espionage. Poaching talent? Sure. But stealing corporate secrets? Not so much.