10 Former Samsung Employees Arrested for Leaking DRAM Tech to China

South Korean prosecutors have arrested 10 former Samsung employees accused of industrial espionage for allegedly leaking 10-nm DRAM technology to China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT). The group includes five key development personnel, including a former executive, and several section heads responsible for research and development.

Prosecutors say CXMT, founded in 2016, actively recruited Samsung executives and engineers—the only company mass-producing 10-nm DRAM at the time. The leaked technology reportedly enabled CXMT to produce China’s first 10-nm DRAM in 2023 and mass-produce HBM2 memory in 2024. Analysts estimate CXMT could capture up to 15% of the market, contributing to trillions of Korean Won in losses for Samsung and the national economy. Samsung’s sales reportedly fell by about 5 trillion Won last year.

Investigations reveal that sensitive information was manually transcribed to avoid detection, and the group used shell companies, constantly moved offices, and even employed cryptography for emergency communications. This case surpasses previous South Korean tech espionage incidents in scale, highlighting ongoing concerns over intellectual property leaks to Chinese chipmakers.