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CXMT reportedly planned from inception to use stolen Samsung DRAM process recipes, court testimony reveals
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A former Samsung engineer sentenced to seven years in prison testified that CXMT's leadership intended from the company's founding to develop DRAM by stealing Samsung's 600-step Process Recipe Plan rather than building independent R&D capability.
A complete process recipe can eliminate years of fab trial-and-error by revealing step sequences, tool parameters, and integration details, but it still requires compatible equipment and reverse engineering of physical structures to fully reconstruct a working node. The testimony raises questions about whether CXMT's 22nm-class production starting in 2019 and 18nm-class production starting in 2023 benefited from the allegedly stolen Samsung IP, given that Samsung itself reportedly took five years to develop its 18nm-class node. Only one feed is carrying this story, and the claims originate from court testimony reported by a single Korean outlet.
Written by elseif from the cluster below · every claim links back to a sourceThe three things worth knowing
Jeon, a 28-year Samsung veteran who joined CXMT around 2016, was sentenced to seven years for obtaining Samsung's 600-step Process Recipe Plan covering its 18nm-class DRAM node.
Court testimony claims CXMT's CEO and CTO planned from the beginning to develop DRAM using stolen Samsung IP, with no research facilities or intention to develop technology independently.
CXMT began 22nm-class DDR4 mass production in 2019 and 18nm-class production in 2023, timelines that raise questions about whether the allegedly stolen IP accelerated either node.
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