TSMC says employees tried to steal trade secrets on iPhone 18 chip process

Article quality and Apple framing

• Many commenters say the 9to5mac piece is almost pure headline rephrasing with filler and little substance.
• The Apple/iPhone 18 angle is seen as clickbait: the article itself reportedly only notes Apple as a potential 2nm customer, with no specific link to an “iPhone 18 chip” or to what was actually stolen.

What seems to have happened at TSMC

• Original Nikkei reporting (linked in the thread) is said to contain more detail: several workers were fired for breaching data rules involving cutting‑edge 2nm tech.
• One comment describes TSMC catching someone immediately when trying to use a USB drive; others were allegedly caught printing sensitive material (detected by metal/magnetic checks) and photographing remote laptop screens, identified via access‑log analysis near their resignations.
• TSMC is said to compartmentalize process “recipes” so no single place holds the whole picture, which limits the impact of leaks.

Industrial espionage, tacit knowledge, and copying limits

• Users cite historical and modern examples (capacitor plague, jet engines, medical devices, complex aluminum parts) to argue that knowing “the recipe” rarely suffices; tacit knowledge, process nuance, and yield optimization are crucial.
• Analogies: following a recipe doesn’t make you a good cook; copying a circus act’s notes doesn’t mean you can juggle chainsaws.
• SpaceX and reusable rockets are discussed as another domain where state actors might try to steal know‑how, but the real moat is organizational capability and deeply embedded expertise.

Security controls vs productivity

• Defending against espionage is described as “insane” in cost and difficulty; controls range from ITAR rules and physical checks to network policies and cloud‑based storage.
• Stories about Excel/VBA “abuse” and homegrown tooling in fabs illustrate how security-driven infrastructure (slow internal clouds, locked‑down systems) can push staff into creative, brittle workarounds.

Economic and ethical views on IP theft

• Some say they don’t care if foreign firms copy trade secrets, prioritizing global access and seeing corporations as unsympathetic.
• Others argue that unchecked theft erodes local industries, skills (e.g., tool‑and‑die makers), and long‑term national capacity, and would push firms toward heavier DRM and secrecy.
• There’s mention of speculation in Taiwan about leaks to Japan’s Rapidus, countered by noting its IBM‑derived 2nm process.