The District Court of Rotterdam sentenced to three years in prison a 43-year-old engineer who passed corporate information of ASML and NXP to Russia.
The convict, according to the court, has a significant work record in the high-tech sector. He had previously worked for these companies, and for more than four years he copied information from ASML and NXP servers and stored it on his computer. For 18 months, he passed the information to the Russian. It is about information about the configuration of the production lines of chip manufacturing.
According to the Dutch Broadcasting Corporation (NOS), the convict is a Russian engineer German A., but his nationality is not specified. During the trial, he denied being a Russian spy. According to Dutch intelligence, the man was in contact with the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.
The prosecutor’s office said during a hearing that he had flown regularly to Moscow, and had travelled to Russia via Turkey and Serbia after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The oversight body said that he received “significant sums” after travelling to Russia. Thus, according to the agency, between 2021 and 2024, he deposited 43,900 euros in cash into his account, but the court found that evidence that he received money for the information he passed on was not proven.
The man was found guilty of breaching EU sanctions. He also pleaded guilty to computer hacking. According to court records, he accessed ASML and NXP systems without authorisation and for a purpose unrelated to work.
“The fact that the files contain outdated information is irrelevant because the information could be of great value to a country with a lower level of knowledge. The possibility of a belligerent country benefiting from advanced technology must be prevented,” the court said in a press release.
ASML is a major manufacturer of microelectronics equipment needed to make microchips and microprocessors. NXP manufactures semiconductor components for various devices used in automotive, space radio and mobile devices.