Three former Sapeon employees indicted for stealing AI core technology

SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) - South Korean prosecutors have indicted three former employees of the artificial intelligence chip company Sapeon, accusing them of leaking core technologies ahead of the company's planned merger with a domestic rival.

The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office said Wednesday it charged two of the former employees with theft of industrial technology, unfair competition, and breach of trust. A third former executive was indicted without detention on the same charges.

According to prosecutors, the stolen materials, which include source codes and technical documents for AI semiconductor architecture, are valued at approximately 28 billion won, or about $20.2 million.

The prosecutors allege that the former Sapeon employees leaked the source codes to external hard drives and personal cloud storage between January and June of 2024. The former executive is accused of leaking separate architectural materials to an external hard drive in March 2023.

The indictment states that the former executive left Sapeon before its merger with Rebellions, another domestic AI chip firm, and founded a new AI semiconductor startup. The two employees later joined his new company as engineers.

Candice Kim candicekim1121@ajupress.com