Dutch Chip-Equipment Maker ASML Was Victim of Corporate Espionage, Rebuts China Connection -Update
April 11 2019 - 9:21AM
Dow Jones News
(Updates with second company statement, details on lawsuit)
By Max Bernhard
ASML Holding NV (ASML.AE) said Thursday that one of its U.S.
subsidiaries was the victim of corporate espionage several years
ago, but denied the incident was connected to the Chinese
government.
The Dutch semiconductor-equipment maker said it discovered the
theft itself and immediately took legal action. The company was
responding to a report by Dutch daily Financieele Dagblad alleging
high-level Chinese employees at the company's U.S. unit stole
technology, which then ended up with a company linked to the
Chinese government.
"The suggestion that we were somehow victim of a national
conspiracy is wrong. The facts of the matter are that we were
robbed by a handful of our own employees based in Silicon Valley,
who had broken the law to enrich themselves," said Chief Executive
Peter Wennink, adding that some but not all of the individuals
involved happened to be Chinese nationals.
ASML said in an earlier statement that the issue concerned a
division that develops software for machine optimization, and that
no blueprints for its lithography machines were stolen.
A court case last year found that a company called XTAL was
found to have misappropriated ASML's confidential and proprietary
information and trade secrets in 2015, and ASML was awarded $223
million in damages. The company said it is unclear to what extend
it can collect those damages from now bankrupt XTAL.
On its website, XTAL lists Hong Kong-listed China Oriental Group
Company Limited (0581.HK) and Samsung Venture Investment
Corporation as its investors.
An ASML spokeswoman said the company never found evidence of any
link to the Chinese government, and Mr. Wennink said the event
would have no implications for ASML conducting business in
China.
In its statement, ASML called the theft an isolated incident.
"Can we do business in China? Of course we can. This was one 'bad
apple,'" it said.
Write to Max Bernhard at max.bernhard@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 11, 2019 09:06 ET (13:06 GMT)
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