- Behind Samsung and SK stock adjustments is China's CXMT chase… achieving 8% global DRAM market share
- In 2016, hundreds of Samsung 10nm process blueprints 'hand-copied'… recruiting over 100 Koreans with 3.0 billion won salaries
- Apple supply review and 14 trillion won ammunition secured… piercing US sanctions to localize DUV and mass-produce HBM2
- Amid controversies over slap-on-the-wrist punishments, the government applies up to 30 years in prison for core technology leaks starting September

Amid stock volatility for South Korea's two semiconductor giants, Samsung Electronics and SK하이닉스 (SK Hynix), warnings have emerged that the close pursuit by China's largest DRAM manufacturer, ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), lies behind the scenes. It was revealed that a fatal factor—the leakage of domestic national core technologies—existed behind the background of CXMT, which targeted the legacy DRAM market, raising its global market share to 8% and rising to 4th place globally.

According to prosecution investigations, core 10-nanometer-class DRAM process technology, which Samsung Electronics successfully developed for the first time in the world in 2016, was leaked wholesale to CXMT, which was in its early stages of establishment. A group of 10 individuals, including former Samsung Electronics department head A and former researcher B, used a bold method of manually copying hundreds of process blueprints onto paper one by one to avoid the security network. CXMT accelerated technology absorption by offering unprecedented conditions, including annual salaries of up to 3.0 billion won, housing costs, and international school tuition for children, once recruiting over 100 Korean technical personnel.

Based on the leaked technology, CXMT successfully mass-produced China's first 18-nanometer DRAM in 2023, and recently succeeded in turning a profit with 35.4 billion yuan in operating profit in the first quarter. Quality and yields have been leveled up to the point where global tech giant Apple is considering CXMT for memory supply despite opposition from the US Congress. Furthermore, by raising 14 trillion won in stock market capital, attempting self-production of deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography equipment, and even pushing for the mass production of HBM2, which is core to next-generation AI semiconductors, it is narrowing the technological gap with South Korea.

However, domestic punishments for national security-level technology leaks have continuously been criticized as a 'slap on the wrist,' amounting to only 6 to 7 years in prison compared to major countries like the US and Taiwan. Starting this September, the government has decided to significantly strengthen penalties for unauthorized overseas leaks of national core technologies such as semiconductors, applying espionage-level charges of up to 30 years in prison. Comprehensive national-level counterintelligence and support measures are urgently needed to block technology leaks while fiercely defending next-generation super-gap technologies like HBM.