Japanese police have arrested an engineer who allegedly leaked Toshiba trade secrets to South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix, reports said Thursday.
Yoshitaka Sugita, 52, was taken into custody over allegations that he copied sensitive research data for Toshiba's NAND-type flash memory and handed it to the rival firm, major Japanese media including public broadcaster NHK reported.
In 2008, Sugita was working for Toshiba partner SanDisk where he copied the sensitive data about Toshiba's key technology -- used in smartphones and digital cameras -- and later passed it to his new employer Hynix, the reports said.
Sugita no longer works for the South Korean firm, they added.
Police declined to immediately confirm the arrest or comment on the media reports. (AFP)
