By Yang Jie

Intel, the struggling chip maker now part-owned by the U.S. government, recently made an executive hire: Wei-Jen Lo, a Taiwanese engineer who has led some of the industry's biggest manufacturing breakthroughs.

But before Lo can help restore America's semiconductor champion to its former glory, he has a problem. His previous employer, global chip-making leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, says the engineer violated noncompete and confidentiality agreements when he jumped ship.

TSMC said this week it was suing Lo and alleged that he may bring trade secrets to Intel. Meanwhile, prosecutors in Taiwan say they are probing whether Lo improperly transferred technology related to national security.

An Intel representative said: "Based on everything we know, we have no reason to believe there is any merit to the allegations involving Mr. Lo." The company said it had strict controls over the transfer of confidential information. Lo couldn't be reached directly.

The case carries geopolitical implications after President Trump led a U.S. move to take a 10% stake in Intel. Washington is pressuring Intel to rebuild domestic chip production, backing it with government subsidies.

The White House has voiced concern about Taiwan's dominance in semiconductor manufacturing, and Trump has repeatedly criticized Taiwan's chip industry, saying it stole business from America. He has threatened steep tariffs on foreign--made processors.

Lo holds a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, and has been at the forefront of industry advances for decades. He joined Intel in the 1980s and contributed to the company's golden era, helping build Intel's chip factories and mass-produce Intel's 486 microprocessor.

Returning home to Taiwan in 2004, Lo was one of the engineering executives who pushed TSMC to the global lead in semiconductor manufacturing. Under what he called the "nighthawk project," engineers pursued research around the clock, matching the rigor of production-line operations.

Last year, Lo was reassigned to an advisory position. TSMC said that even after the transfer, he continued to ask engineers for briefings on closely guarded next-generation manufacturing plans. TSMC said it was taken aback when Lo joined Intel this fall because it said he had told company lawyers he planned to move into academia.

Intel's turnaround effort is beginning to show results, with a $4.1 billion profit in the most recent quarter. But it relies on TSMC to manufacture its most advanced chips, having fallen behind TSMC and Samsung in leading--edge production. Intel's own manufacturing operations are still losing money.

That is where Lo comes in. Intel said he was hired to help Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan revitalize Intel's engineering-driven culture and build a trusted U.S. chip-making business.

Even when firms develop cutting--edge chips in their labs, a breakthrough matters only if it can be scaled into mass production and supported by a stable client base, an area where TSMC has outpaced its competitors.

Lo talked about the Taiwanese company's competition in a recent podcast interview. "Rivals are all carefully studying where TSMC's weaknesses lie, and that is where they may find their chance to win," he said.

Recently, Intel's advanced packaging technology, which integrates multiple chips into a single system to boost performance and reduce energy consumption, has attracted interest from major U.S. cloud service providers including Google and Meta, according to Taiwan-based research firm TrendForce. Those customers are seeking alternatives to TSMC, which is facing supply constraints because of surging demand for artificial-intelligence processors, TrendForce said.

In September, Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute, the cradle of the island's chip industry, awarded Lo one of its highest honors for his technological feats. Now the institute is considering whether to revoke the recognition, government officials said.

TSMC is particularly sensitive about technology wizards walking out the door after a long-running clash with a former R&D executive, Liang Mong Song, who moved to Samsung and subsequently to China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International. Both companies made leaps in technology after Liang joined, fueling concerns in Taiwan about the leakage of trade secrets.

Earlier this year, Taiwanese prosecutors indicted three people in a separate case involving the alleged theft of chip-making technology from TSMC to benefit supplier Tokyo Electron. Tokyo Electron said its internal review found no evidence of confidential information being shared.

Write to Yang Jie at jie.yang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 27, 2025 04:53 ET (09:53 GMT)

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