Ex-ASML Employee Accused of Data Theft Is Being Probed for Ties to China
- Probe focused on whether worker in China induced to steal
- ASML theft claim comes as tensions over trade, spying grow
The ASML Holding NV manufacturing plant in Berlin, Germany.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Investigators are looking at potential ties between the Chinese government and an ex-employee accused of stealing data from ASML Holding NV — a company critical to producing the world’s most advanced computer chips.
The former employee, who was based in China, was identified as having potential ties to a Chinese state-sponsored entity and stealing the data on its behalf, according to two people familiar with the company’s probe, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The entity was one that has previously been linked to intellectual property theft, said the people, who didn’t provide the name of the group itself.