Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC, XETRA:INL) has dismissed allegations from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing that its newly rehired executive, Wei-Jen Lo, shared confidential information from his former employer.
The US company said it had “no reason to believe there is any merit” to the claims and stressed that its internal policies forbid the use or transfer of third-party intellectual property.
Lo, a long-serving TSMC executive who oversaw the rollout of advanced 5-nanometre, 3-nm and 2-nm chip production, joined Intel in October after retiring from the Taiwanese group. He had previously spent 18 years at Intel before moving to TSMC in 2004.
TSMC said it had filed a lawsuit in Taiwan’s Intellectual Property and Commercial Court, arguing there was a high probability that Lo had used or disclosed its trade secrets.
Taiwan’s economy ministry has said it will help determine whether the case involves protected technologies or national security concerns.
Intel, which has brought Lo back into a senior role, said the engineer is “widely respected” in the industry and described staff movement between chipmakers as a normal part of the sector. Lo did not respond to a request for comment.