Man operating an illegal Chinese chip firm charged

Taipei prosecutors yesterday indicted a man on charges of operating an unregistered office for a Chinese semiconductor firm, seeking an 18- month prison sentence.

Lin Hao-yuan (林浩原), who headed Lontium Semiconductor Corp’s Taipei office, was charged with contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement.

Article 40-1 of the act states that Chinese companies are prohibited from conducting business in Taiwan unless they have received approval from authorities and have legally established a branch or liaison office here.

The entrance to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office is pictured in an undated photograph.

Photo: Chien Li-chung, Taipei Times

The company, based in Hefei in China’s Anhui Province had established an office in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) in 2012, but its board voted in January 2015 to close it down, prosecutors said. Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs approved the closure later that month.

However, as its business expanded, Lontium chairman Chen Feng (陳峰) allegedly instructed Lin in July 2024 to rent an office in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) to serve as its Taiwan operating base, prosecutors said.

Without prior authorization, the company allegedly recruited high-tech engineers to conduct chip research and development, testing and technical services in Taiwan, they said.

Prosecutors added that they had issued a wanted notice for Chen.

Lontium was among 16 Chinese tech companies investigated by the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau in August last year for allegedly setting up offices in Taiwan and hiring local staff without authorization.