Two Samsung Display researchers and an external co-officer were arrested last week after South Korean prosecutors accused of corporate espionage that benefited China and cost the Seoul-based holding millions of dollars. The identities of the two men, aged 46 and 37, who were charged were not disclosed, but officials confirmed that they both had senior positions within the firm.
The other person detained was a manager of a display hardware manufacturer with which Samsung had a stake in the past. Their exact role in the incident is no longer obvious, but their accusation of failing to protect sensitive technology leaks likely suggests a more passive role.
The South Korean media write that the case is about Samsung's pioneering in using inkjet printing technology in OLED production. Korean prosecutors believe the two investigators leaked the process specifications that Samsung Display was testing in in the second half of last year. After the investigations, several top level officials from the sub-company of the Chinese firm, whose name was not given, were also arrested on charges of technology theft.
There are several reasons why inkjet printing has been shown as the future of serial OLED production for a while, but the primary reason for this is cost. Analyst assumptions state that contemporary 65-inch 4K TVs could be 20% cheaper for manufacturers with inkjet technology. Naturally, scale economics comes into play here, and it can be easily said that the return will be much higher for smaller panel sizes. But for this process, R&D studies are still continuing ...
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