South Korean prosecutors have charged nine people of selling Samsung’s technology of flexible OLED display to a Chinese company, reported Reuters.
Toptec, a Samsung supplier which produce automated equipment for smartphone display production, has received 15.5 billion won (US$ 13.85 million) for transferring Samsung’s OLED panel technology to China.
According to the report, the CEO and eight employees of the company has formed a shell company to receive information about panel production from Samsung Display and then sell the high-profiled documents to a Chinese company. However, the suspects denied the accusation.
Samsung has invested 150 billion won (US$ 133.8 million) over six years to develop related OLED technology including “3D lamination” technology that was said to be leaked to the Chinese rival.
Samsung topped the ranking in the production volume of smartphone in 3Q18 with a quarterly production of 74.5 million units, according to Trendforce. The Korean electronics giant showcased its fordable smart phone earlier this month, hoping to take its lead in the competitive mobile market where Chinese phone makers have continued to increase their market share.