Is This the Biggest Industrial Espionage Campaign in History?

The FBI is now investigating more instances of Chinese espionage than ever before. Since 2014, there’s been a 1300% increase in counterintelligence cases involving China. US law enforcement is likely to get even busier now that the United States and other allied countries have imposed major restrictions on the export of related technologies to try to slow China’s progress in semiconductors.

In October 2022, and again a year later, the US and other countries restricted sales of certain chips to Chinese firms and limited their workers from collaborating in the country. US officials are currently in talks with Japanese and Dutch counterparts to further tighten the controls. They want leading companies like ASML and Tokyo Electron to slow down servicing, software updates, and maintenance of their chip-making machines used in China.

“There’s no doubt that China’s efforts to acquire sensitive IP and trade secrets have intensified in the wake of US export controls on advanced chips and machinery,” Sam Howell, an associate fellow in the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for New American Security, told Freethink. “We’ve seen a marked increase in the number of IP theft lawsuits brought by US companies against Chinese entities since the US unveiled its new export control regime. Anecdotally, multiple major semiconductor companies have also reported unprecedented levels of attempted IP theft, compelling significant increases in their spending on security measures.”

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