A Rotterdam court is holding its first hearing in the case of a former Russian employee of ASML accused of intellectual property theft.
A spokesperson for the National Financial Crime Office announced on Monday that an initial pre-trial hearing has been scheduled. The suspect, identified as German Aksenov, a 43-year-old Russian national, previously worked for ASML’s subsidiary Mapper and the chip technology firm NXP.
According to reports, Aksenov allegedly stole design manuals related to microchips, equipment, ASML, Mapper, NXP, and technologies potentially linked to military applications from Dell Technologies and other sources.
While the exact date of his arrest remains undisclosed, authorities confirmed that the suspect is currently in custody.
An ASML spokesperson acknowledged the company’s awareness of the criminal case.
The spokesperson stated that ASML has filed a formal complaint in accordance with company policy and added that the company will refrain from further comment while the legal proceedings are ongoing.
In 2019, ASML acquired the struggling Dutch firm Mapper for €75 million ($79 million), easing concerns from the Dutch government and U.S. military about potential acquisition by Russian or Chinese buyers.
Mapper aimed to develop lithography products similar to ASML’s but utilized electron beam technology, known as e-beam. This technology uses electrons instead of light to print minuscule circuits on chips.
Although Mapper’s product line proved unsuccessful, the rapidly expanding ASML integrated 100 engineers into its small-scale metrology and chip measurement operations.
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