Denying that Samsung is one of the biggest innovators in the mobile world is unfair, but so is denying that the company likes to copy other companies from time to time. The latest case of Samsung copying another company is actually more like blatant theft, as Taiwan’s top court has ruled that the company stole trade secrets from rival chip maker TSMC in order to secure the contract the manufacture Apple’s new A9 chips.
Taiwan’s top court has ruled that former TSMC R&D director Liang Mong-song revealed to Samsung trade secrets that enabled it to copy the chipmaker’s FinFET manufacturing processes, reports DigiTimes. The processes are used by both companies to produce the A9 chips used in the upcoming new iPhones. It was recently suggested that Apple was playing off the two companies against each other, with Samsung reportedly offering discounted prices in order to “grab the majority of A9 chip orders.” Liang resigned from TSMC to take up a position at a Samsung sponsored university where all the students were said to be Samsung employees. As Patently Apple notes, the penalty for passing on the trade secrets hardly acts as a deterrent: Liang has merely been banned from working for Samsung for a period of four months.