Four people are indicted for smuggling semiconductor IC chips worth 10 billion won to China.

The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office today (21st) put two people, including the director of a distribution agency, on trial for helping smuggle semiconductor IC chips made by U.S. semiconductor manufacturers to China.

In addition, in August, two illegal exporters, including Mr. A, who was accused of smuggling IC chips worth 14.1 billion won, were put on trial on charges of illegally asking to steal IC chips.

They are accused of disguising more than 98,000 IC chips imported from U.S. manufacturers as samples and exporting them to China without customs declarations for four years from July 2019.

Prosecutors found that Chinese companies committed the crime to acquire the price difference between Korea and China when they were unable to purchase strategic IC chips directly or had to purchase them at a high price due to U.S. export controls.

In addition, domestic companies that import IC chips from foreign manufacturers must obtain permission from the Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy to export them to third countries, but to avoid this, they falsely reported exports as if they were exporting semiconductor devices, not IC chips.