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China Recruiting Korean OLED Engineers
Samsung and LG are under attack from China, where local companies target Korean employees with lucrative job offers. Also, corporate espionage campaigns attempt to steal trade secrets from key sectors where Samsung and LG have immense expertise, including OLED tech. Nikkei Asia explains in a detailed report that the South Korean government is very much aware of the corporate espionage, helping local companies guard their tech secrets. The report focuses on Samsung, but Chinese companies are also targeting other South Korean companies, like LG. In the five years ending in 2019, 123 cases of tech leaks from South Korea were recorded, according to data from the nation’s top intelligence agency, the National Intelligence Service (NIS). Most of those leaks (83) went to China, many involving technologies where South Korean companies have a lead on competitors, including semiconductors, displays, and shipbuilding. Three men were caught last August attempting to leak Samsung OLED secrets to China. They are currently facing at least three years in prison as a result, according to the report. Samsung has strict security practices in place to prevent employees from stealing sensitive data. The camera and audio-recording functions of smartphones belonging to employees are disabled in labs and factories. The printing paper at one laboratory includes metal foil so metal detectors placed at the doors will prevent employees from leaving with sensitive information. Samsung also forbade employees from taking documents with technical data out of the office during the novel coronavirus pandemic, even though many people were working from home. But Samsung can’t force employees to stay at their jobs. Samsung has a workforce of over 287,000 workers worldwide, and headhunters from China are targeting these individuals with better job offers. Nikkei explains: Openings posted on online job-hunting sites in South Korea often include such phrases as “Work location: inland region of China” or “Wanted: workers from display-related companies,” alongside the promise of “favorable treatment for workers from companies S and L.” The S and L stand for Samsung and LG. The employees who do accept job offers in China attempt to hide that they’re working in China. Some adopt aliases to keep authorities and former employers from tracing them. And they might use particular routes to return home, like flying from Hong Kong or Shanghai, busy destinations that allow them to blend in.
The report notes that Chinese display maker BOE, which has been vying for Apple’s iPhone business for years, has hired around 120 South Koreans, including more than 50 former Samsung engineers who led the development of OLED screens for the iPhone. A BOE plant in Chengdu has production lines set up just like Samsung Display’s main plant in South Korea. BOE supplies OLED screens for the iPhone repair market, but it’s not a certified iPhone screen provider. The South Korean government has designated OLED technologies as “national core technologies,” with NIS having a section dedicated to making sure those secrets stay in Korea. The report also notes that China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), which is on a US government blacklist, has also hired many South Koreans, with at least 62 people appearing in SMIC-related patents. Headhunting of Samsung employees with expertise in chip production tech has increased just as the US-China tech tensions started heating up.
Multiple headhunting firms have recently posted job offers for South Korean OLED experts to work in China. The offers include OLED material R&D engineer positions, mask and deposition expert positions and mobile flexible OLED panel engineer positions. The offers are for those who worked for at least 10 years in a major South Korean display manufacturer and are willing to reside in China. The offers come with high salaries and various incentives, including a house in China and an annual pay of more than 100 million won.
Although the offers are anonymous, the providers are likely to be major display panel and electronics manufacturers in China, which is concentrating on the growth of its OLED industry. “Similar attempts by China have continued for long in a wide variety of industries, including LCD and semiconductor,” said an industry source, adding, “Such offers have been made on SNS as well as recruitment portals.”
Samsung and LG are under attack from China, where local companies target Korean employees with lucrative job offers. Also, corporate espionage campaigns attempt to steal trade secrets from key sectors where Samsung and LG have immense expertise, including OLED tech. Nikkei Asia explains in a detailed report that the South Korean government is very much aware of the corporate espionage, helping local companies guard their tech secrets. The report focuses on Samsung, but Chinese companies are also targeting other South Korean companies, like LG. In the five years ending in 2019, 123 cases of tech leaks from South Korea were recorded, according to data from the nation’s top intelligence agency, the National Intelligence Service (NIS). Most of those leaks (83) went to China, many involving technologies where South Korean companies have a lead on competitors, including semiconductors, displays, and shipbuilding. Three men were caught last August attempting to leak Samsung OLED secrets to China. They are currently facing at least three years in prison as a result, according to the report. Samsung has strict security practices in place to prevent employees from stealing sensitive data. The camera and audio-recording functions of smartphones belonging to employees are disabled in labs and factories. The printing paper at one laboratory includes metal foil so metal detectors placed at the doors will prevent employees from leaving with sensitive information. Samsung also forbade employees from taking documents with technical data out of the office during the novel coronavirus pandemic, even though many people were working from home. But Samsung can’t force employees to stay at their jobs. Samsung has a workforce of over 287,000 workers worldwide, and headhunters from China are targeting these individuals with better job offers. Nikkei explains: Openings posted on online job-hunting sites in South Korea often include such phrases as “Work location: inland region of China” or “Wanted: workers from display-related companies,” alongside the promise of “favorable treatment for workers from companies S and L.” The S and L stand for Samsung and LG. The employees who do accept job offers in China attempt to hide that they’re working in China. Some adopt aliases to keep authorities and former employers from tracing them. And they might use particular routes to return home, like flying from Hong Kong or Shanghai, busy destinations that allow them to blend in.
The report notes that Chinese display maker BOE, which has been vying for Apple’s iPhone business for years, has hired around 120 South Koreans, including more than 50 former Samsung engineers who led the development of OLED screens for the iPhone. A BOE plant in Chengdu has production lines set up just like Samsung Display’s main plant in South Korea. BOE supplies OLED screens for the iPhone repair market, but it’s not a certified iPhone screen provider. The South Korean government has designated OLED technologies as “national core technologies,” with NIS having a section dedicated to making sure those secrets stay in Korea. The report also notes that China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), which is on a US government blacklist, has also hired many South Koreans, with at least 62 people appearing in SMIC-related patents. Headhunting of Samsung employees with expertise in chip production tech has increased just as the US-China tech tensions started heating up.
Multiple headhunting firms have recently posted job offers for South Korean OLED experts to work in China. The offers include OLED material R&D engineer positions, mask and deposition expert positions and mobile flexible OLED panel engineer positions. The offers are for those who worked for at least 10 years in a major South Korean display manufacturer and are willing to reside in China. The offers come with high salaries and various incentives, including a house in China and an annual pay of more than 100 million won.
Although the offers are anonymous, the providers are likely to be major display panel and electronics manufacturers in China, which is concentrating on the growth of its OLED industry. “Similar attempts by China have continued for long in a wide variety of industries, including LCD and semiconductor,” said an industry source, adding, “Such offers have been made on SNS as well as recruitment portals.”
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