The Samsung etching process formula has been exposed to have flowed multiple times to the Lam Research Korea company

According to the South Korean semiconductor media THE ELEC, the etching process formula used by Samsung Electronics for semiconductor manufacturing has been reported to flow to the equipment supplier Lam Semiconductor's Korean company. An internal investigation by Samsung found that data transmission beyond authorized limits had occurred multiple times and regarded this matter as a serious technology leak incident. Lam Semiconductor is the equipment supplier for Samsung's semiconductor production line, primarily providing etching and deposition equipment.

Data generated during equipment operation is stored in systems such as internal monitoring servers within the factory. According to the agreement between both parties, Lam Semiconductor can obtain some equipment data within a limited scope for performance optimization and maintenance, and its Korean company submits data requests to Samsung. Samsung's investigation revealed that some unauthorized process formulas were transmitted to Lam's Korean company in the form of independent documents, with the related transmissions originating from non-compliant requests, not being a one-time occurrence. Samsung discovered this issue in the second half of this year.

The semiconductor process formula records key parameters such as equipment temperature, chamber pressure, gas flow, and processing duration, which directly affect chip yield, performance, and production stability, and are considered core technical data of wafer manufacturing enterprises. Lam Semiconductor's Korean company announced on November 6 that Kim Tae-won would replace Park Jun-hong as CEO. Some industry insiders have linked this leadership change to the data leak incident, but there is currently no public information proving a direct relationship between the two. Neither Samsung Electronics nor Lam Semiconductor's Korean company has responded to inquiries from THE ELEC.