Engineer convicted of illegally exporting missile chips to China
An electrical engineer has been convicted in the US of conspiring to illegally export semiconductor chips with guided missile applications to China.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) confirmed yesterday, July 2, that Yi-Chi Shih, 64, was found guilty after a six-week trial at the US District Court for the Central District of California.
According to the DoJ, Shih conspired with a co-defendant, Kiet Ahn Mai, 65, to obtain the chips under false pretences in order to export them to China.
The DoJ did not name which company manufactured the chips, but said its customers included the US Air Force, Navy and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
According to the DoJ, Shih was able to access the company’s computer systems after Mai posed as a domestic customer seeking to obtain the chips for use exclusively within the US.
The defendants concealed “Shih’s true intent to transfer the US company’s products to the People’s Republic of China”, the DoJ said.
The chips were then shipped to Chengdu GaStone Technology Company (CGTC), a Chinese firm of which Shih was president.
CGTC was building a site to manufacture the chips themselves, the DoJ added, and had previously been placed on a US Department of Commerce watchlist.
Prosecutors cited court documents which stated that the Department of Commerce had named CGTC on its Entity List in 2014 as it “had been involved in the illicit procurement of commodities and items for unauthorised military end use in China”.
Paul Delacourt, assistant director in charge at the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Los Angeles field office, said that the FBI would continue to “hold accountable individuals who plunder our research or IP at the expense of the American people and our national security.”
Mai had previously plead guilty to one count of smuggling and is due to be sentenced on September 19.
Assistant attorney general for national security John C Demers said that the DoJ was committed to “preventing and prosecuting thefts of American technology and IP for the benefit of China”.
Shih was convicted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which prohibits certain unauthorised exports.
WIPR has contacted Shih’s lawyer for comment.
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