Chip Engineer Indicted for Commerce Secret Theft

A California design engineer might land in federal jail for the remainder of his life after he allegedly stole commerce secrets and techniques from a significant world electronics producer.

Peter Kisang Kim, age 50, was indicted this month on 18 counts of commerce secret theft after federal prosecutors detailed his departure from Broadcom for an undisclosed Chinese language startup after greater than 20 years.

In keeping with the indictment, within the days earlier than leaving his place as a principal design engineer at Broadcom in July of 2020, Kim stole info from restricted firm paperwork associated to a household of chips used primarily in information facilities. The knowledge in query included check plans, design specs and design verification surroundings information. 

Earlier than formally beginning as a director on the new firm 9 months later, prosecutors alleged that he repeatedly used these commerce secrets and techniques on a laptop computer issued by his new employer, in addition to on different digital units.

The unnamed startup was referred to solely as “Firm-1” within the indictment, however prosecutors stated it focuses on chip design and the networking chips market.

Kim pleaded not responsible throughout an preliminary look in San Jose U.S. District Courtroom on Tuesday. He was launched on a $500,000 bond and ordered to give up his passport and different journey paperwork.

If convicted, he faces as much as 10 years in jail for every depend, together with fines of $250,000 per depend and potential supervised launch, forfeitures or restitution.

The case seems to be simply the newest in ongoing efforts by the Justice Division and federal authorities to crack down on alleged financial espionage by China.