Semiconductors Account for Nearly 40% of Korea’s Overseas Technology Leaks
South Korean intelligence data showed that semiconductor technology accounted for 40 of 107 detected overseas industrial technology leaks from 2021 through 2025, making chips the most affected sector.
Semiconductor technology accounted for nearly four in 10 overseas industrial technology leaks detected by South Korea’s intelligence service over a five-year period, highlighting the chip sector’s exposure as competition for advanced manufacturing knowledge intensifies.
The National Intelligence Service detected 107 cases in which South Korean industrial technology was leaked overseas between 2021 and 2025, according to data submitted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources to the National Assembly. Semiconductor technologies made up 40 of those cases, the largest number among the industries identified in the data.
Display technology ranked second with 21 cases. Electrical and electronics technologies were involved in 10 cases, while automotive technology accounted for seven and shipbuilding technology for six. The figures show that the cases were concentrated in industries that are central to South Korea’s manufacturing base and export competitiveness.
The data also distinguished a narrower group involving “national core technologies.” South Korea applies that designation to technologies considered important to national security and the economy because of their technological value, economic significance or growth potential. Of the 107 overseas leak cases, 31 involved technologies in that protected group.
Semiconductors again represented the largest category within the national core technology cases, with nine. Display technologies and electrical and electronics technologies followed with five cases each. The breakdown indicates that chip-related information was not only the most frequently detected category overall but also the largest category among cases involving the country’s most strategically protected technologies.
One case cited in the data involved a former Samsung Electronics manager accused of leaking the company’s 18-nanometer DRAM manufacturing technology to Chinese memory-chip maker ChangXin Memory Technologies. The process was designated as a national core technology. The allegation illustrates the type of advanced production knowledge covered by South Korea’s technology-protection framework.
The five-year figures provide a sector-by-sector view of the overseas leakage challenge rather than an estimate of financial damage. They also separate all detected industrial technology cases from those carrying the national core designation, a distinction that reflects the varying strategic importance of the information involved.
For South Korea, the concentration of cases in semiconductors is especially significant because memory chips and advanced manufacturing processes remain central to the country’s technology industry. The latest data place semiconductor know-how at the center of the broader effort to protect industrial capabilities from unauthorized transfer abroad.