TSMC sues former executive over alleged trade‑secret transfer to Intel

TSMC filed a lawsuit against former senior vice‑president Lo Wei‑jen, saying there is a “high probability” he passed confidential material to Intel, where he now works as executive vice‑president.

The company said the case was sent to the intellectual property and commercial court and is tied to Lo’s contract, his non‑compete deal, and Taiwan’s trade secrets law. Lo retired in July, and TSMC said he moved to Intel right after leaving.

TSMC also said Lo told its lawyer during his exit talk that he planned to join an “academic institution,” which turned out to be false.

According to the lawsuit, Lo was moved to TSMC’s corporate strategy unit in March last year, but he still met with research and development teams, and those meetings were allegedly used “to provide information for him to understand the advanced technologies currently, and planned to be, under development by TSMC.”

TSMC also said that it believes Lo “uses, leaks, discloses, delivers, or transfers TSMC’s trade secrets and confidential information to Intel.”

Taiwan watches the case and industry feels the impact

Taiwan’s economic affairs ministry said it will “closely monitor any impact on the industry” and will work with prosecutors and investigators to see whether the situation touches “violations of the National Security Act.”

The ministry said it wants to understand whether this case goes beyond a contract issue and enters national‑security territory.

The lawsuit comes while TSMC sits in the center of the global AI boom. Companies like Nvidia and Apple, two of TSMC’s largest clients, are pushing huge amounts of money into chips, servers, and data‑center builds.

Nvidia has already said it will put US$5 billion into Intel, which has struggled to rebuild its chip leadership, as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to increase domestic semiconductor output.

Intel CEO Lip‑Bu Tan told Bloomberg last week that his “company respects intellectual property rights” and denied that Intel did anything wrong.

Markets reacted fast. Intel’s stock slipped 1.5% in mid‑morning trade. TSMC’s stock moved in the other direction and traded 3% higher on the day.