2025.11.26 10:30 (Updated 2025.11.26) | Lü Xuanhuai
TSMC plant area. (TSMC)
TSMC officially took legal action against its former senior vice president, Lo Wei-jen, yesterday, filing a lawsuit in the Intellectual Property and Commercial Court. The lawsuit accuses him of violating his non-compete obligations and potentially leaking the company's advanced process technology secrets to competitor Intel. This case has shaken the technology industry, and both the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the investigative authorities have launched investigations.
TSMC stated that Luo Weiren joined the company in 2004 and had long been responsible for research and development and strategic planning. In March of last year, Luo was transferred to the "Corporate Strategy Development Department," which is an advisory unit for the chairman and president, and was no longer responsible for research and development management.
However, TSMC pointed out that after Luo Weiren was transferred, he still repeatedly asked his subordinates to provide briefings on advanced processes such as 2nm, A16, and A14, and also requested to hold meetings with the R&D department, which exceeded the scope of his duties.
TSMC's Chief Legal Officer, Fang Shuhua, revealed that during his exit interview in July, the company specifically reminded Luo Weiren to abide by the confidentiality and non-compete clauses. Luo also promised to work in an academic institution after retirement and did not disclose that he would join Intel. However, only three months after retiring at the end of July, he appeared at Intel at the end of October as an executive vice president, raising serious concerns at TSMC.
Public attention is also focused on whether he "took away" advanced process data before retiring. Investigators have opened separate cases to investigate whether he violated the Trade Secrets Act and the National Security Act, and TSMC is continuing to gather evidence.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs stated that it respects TSMC's legal action and will closely monitor whether the incident affects the security of core national technologies. Furthermore, regarding the controversy surrounding Lo Wei-jen's election as an ITRI academician in September, witnessed by Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, the Ministry of Economic Affairs stated that it has asked ITRI to consider whether to revoke his qualification.
According to industry insiders, when Luo Weiren was asked about his plans after retirement at a banquet in September, he simply smiled and brushed it off, indicating that his plans had already been finalized. The subsequent developments in this case are attracting considerable attention.
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