The ministry said Taiwan began investigating the issue in December 2024. Eleven Chinese enterprises suspected of paoching talent were investigated, it said, with agents conducting searches at 34 locations and questioning 90 individuals.
SMIC is China's biggest semiconductor manufacturing firm. It was thrust into the spotlight in 2023 when it was revealed to be the maker of the 7 nanometer chip in Huawei's smartphone at the time. A few years prior, SMIC was put on a U.S. government export blacklist.
China has been trying to ramp up its chipmaking capabilities via SMIC, but the company remains behind competitors like TSMC in Taiwan. Chip export restrictions imposed by the U.S. also mean SMIC is unable to access the latest chipmaking tools from critical suppliers like ASML that could allow it to catch up.