On January 28, Taiwanese media reported a shocking incident in the semiconductor industry: a major theft occurred in the cleanroom of King Yuan Electronics’ Zhunan plant. An internal engineer surnamed Zhang is suspected of stealing testing equipment from the facility and selling it off, causing a direct loss of NT$120 million (approximately RMB 26.556 million) and raising widespread concern about corporate internal controls in the sector.
According to the report, plant management filed a police report in June of last year, and the case is now being investigated by the Miaoli District Prosecutors Office on charges including theft. As the engineer admitted to all charges in court and expressed willingness to compensate for the losses, prosecutors allowed him to post NT$50,000 bail after interrogation.
The case is particularly striking because the engineer involved had been employed at King Yuan Electronics for over 20 years. Working as a senior engineer in the equipment engineering department, he was responsible for chip‑testing tasks and held core access privileges due to his long tenure—a position that facilitated the theft.
The theft came to light during an abnormal inventory check in June last year, when King Yuan noticed discrepancies in newly logged test circuit boards. A full equipment inventory was launched, and surveillance footage revealed suspicious behavior by the engineer: on multiple occasions during work hours, he was seen leaving the plant with items wrapped in plastic bags while the cleanroom was unattended. An internal investigation confirmed that the items were circuit boards used for IC testing. The company immediately notified headquarters and filed a police report.
Further investigation uncovered the motive: the engineer was allegedly addicted to online gambling games such as baccarat and slots and had accumulated heavy debts. Unable to repay, he turned to stealing company equipment. Between April of the previous year and June of last year, he repeatedly stole over 50 test circuit boards, cable harnesses, fiber‑optic cables, and other key testing equipment, selling them through acquaintances to cover his gambling losses.
The incident has sparked widespread internal debate at King Yuan Electronics. Employees are questioning serious lapses in internal controls: why did annual routine inventory checks fail to detect the missing equipment? Why was security so ineffective? How could substantial testing equipment be easily removed from the plant without triggering alarms at production‑line checkpoints? These questions have fueled intense internal discussion.
ICgoodFind : The insider theft at King Yuan Electronics exposes critical internal‑control vulnerabilities. The case of a long‑serving engineer stealing high‑value equipment serves as a stark security warning for semiconductor companies.
