In July, the Taiwanese engineer Wei-Jen Lo left his job after 21 years at the world’s leading computer chip maker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. He soon started work at one of TSMC’s rivals: Intel, the struggling Silicon Valley chip maker that the Trump administration has wagered $8.9 billion to transform into the U.S. national champion.

今年7月，台湾工程师罗唯仁在全球领先的计算机芯片制造商台积电工作了21年后离职。不久后，他加入了台积电的竞争对手——陷入困境的硅谷芯片制造商英特尔。特朗普政府已投资89亿美元，希望将其打造成美国的本土冠军企业。

Intel said that Mr. Lo’s decision to hop from one job to another was routine in a competitive industry. But in Taiwan, government prosecutors saw it as a potential threat to national security and started an investigation. Late last month, officials raided Mr. Lo’s homes in Taipei and Hsinchu, the heart of Taiwan’s chip industry, where they took computers and flash drives. A court also approved the seizure of Mr. Lo’s stocks and real estate.

英特尔表示，罗唯仁换工作的决定在竞争激烈的行业是很平常的行为。但在台湾，检方将其视为对国家安全的潜在威胁，并启动了调查。上月末，官员突袭搜查了罗唯仁位于台北和台湾芯片产业核心地带新竹的住所，查扣了电脑和闪存盘。法院还批准扣押其股票和房产。

The case is part of a new push by Taiwanese prosecutors to protect the trade secrets of the island’s world-beating chip makers. Taiwan is the source of most of the world’s advanced computer chips, which are essential to virtually everything from iPhones to cars. But as countries try to boost their domestic chip makers, the authorities in Taiwan are taking a stronger hand in protecting its prized technology.

这起案件是台湾检方为保护岛内全球顶尖芯片制造商的商业机密而采取的新举措之一。台湾生产了全球大多数的先进计算机芯片，它们应用于从iPhone到汽车的几乎所有领域。但随着各国竞相扶持本土芯片制造商，台湾当局正加大力度保护这一宝贵技术。

For the first time, the government is invoking a 2022 law that made chip makers’ trade secrets subject to protection on national security grounds.

这是台湾政府首次援引2022年出台的一项法律，将芯片制造商的商业机密纳入国家安全保护范畴。

On Dec. 2, in a separate case, prosecutors indicted the local unit of one of TSMC’s suppliers, the Japanese equipment maker Tokyo Electron, accusing it of failing to stop a former employee from stealing details about TSMC’s most advanced chips. It was the first time that a company was indicted under Taiwan’s National Security Act over stealing chip trade secrets.

12月2日，在另一起案件中，检方起诉了台积电供应商、日本设备制造商东京电子的台湾子公司，指控其未能阻止前员工窃取台积电最先进芯片的相关细节。这是台湾首次依据《国家安全法》，以窃取芯片商业机密为由起诉企业。

Semiconductor technologies “are the lifeline of our country’s industry,” prosecutors said, adding that their theft threatens the international competitiveness of Taiwan’s chip companies.

检方表示，半导体技术“是我国产业的生命线”，窃取行为威胁台湾芯片企业的国际竞争力。

Many in Taiwan have long viewed the island’s dominance of advanced chip making as a “silicon shield” to deter military action from China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory.

长期以来，台湾许多人将该岛在先进芯片制造领域的主导地位视为“硅盾”，可以威慑声称对台湾拥有主权的中国采取军事行动。

The trade war between the United States and China during President Trump’s first term and the Covid-19 pandemic underscored how much the world depended on Taiwan for advanced chips. China, the United States, South Korea and Japan have spent billions to boost their own chip makers, many of which use the same suppliers and have repeatedly recruited Taiwanese engineers.

特朗普政府第一任期内的美中贸易战以及新冠疫情凸显了全球对台湾先进芯片的依赖程度。中国、美国、韩国和日本已投入数十亿美元扶持本土芯片制造商，这些企业大多使用相同的供应商，并多次挖角台湾工程师。

All this pushed Taiwan’s lawmakers to expand its national security law to cover semiconductor trade secrets, according to Liu Yi-Chun, a prosecutor at Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice.

台湾法务部检察官刘怡君表示，这一切促使台湾立法者扩大了《国家安全法》的适用范围，将半导体商业机密纳入其中。

“It became apparent that Taiwan supplied a significant portion of the world’s semiconductor production capacity,” Ms. Liu said. “Maintaining that competitiveness is crucial.”

“显然，台湾承担了全球相当大一部分半导体产能供应，”刘怡君说。“维持这种竞争力至关重要。”

After Taiwanese prosecutors opened the national security inquiry into Mr. Lo late last month, TSMC filed a lawsuit against him. TSMC said in a statement that Mr. Lo had told the company in an exit interview that he planned to join an academic institution and had not mentioned Intel.

上月末台湾检方对罗唯仁启动国家安全调查后，台积电对其提起了诉讼。台积电在声明中称，罗唯仁在离职面谈时表示计划加入一家学术机构，并未提及英特尔。

Intel has said it believes the allegations against Mr. Lo have no merit. The company maintains strict policies that prohibit the use or transfer of third-party confidential information, said Cory Pforzheimer, vice president of communications at Intel. “Talent movement across companies is a common and healthy part of our industry, and this situation is no different,” he added.

英特尔表示，它认为针对罗唯仁的指控毫无根据。该公司公关副总裁科里·普福尔茨海默称，英特尔有严格政策禁止使用或转移第三方机密信息。“企业间的人才流动是半导体行业的常态和健康生态，此次情况也不例外，”他还说。

英特尔位于亚利桑那州钱德勒市的奥科蒂洛园区。

In the separate case, Tokyo Electron said that prosecutors had not found that it had directed its former employee to improperly obtain TSMC’s confidential information.

在另一起案件中，东京电子表示，检方并未发现该公司指示前员工不当获取台积电机密信息。

Mr. Lo joined TSMC after 18 years at Intel. In a podcast interview aired in October, he described how he had led an initiative on TSMC’s research and development team to work around the clock under what he called the “Nighthawk Project.” He was also part of several crucial engineering decisions in the development of the company’s most advanced chips. Mr. Lo could not be reached for comment.

罗唯仁在加入台积电之前，已在英特尔工作了18年。在10月播出的一档播客采访中，他描述了自己如何带领台积电研发团队，在其所谓“夜鹰计划”中夜以继日地工作。他还参与了该公司最先进芯片研发过程中的多项关键工程决策。目前无法联系到罗唯仁置评。

TSMC is a giant contract manufacturer. It makes chips that other companies design. Its success depends on keeping secrets.

台积电是全球巨头级晶圆代工厂，制造其他公司设计的芯片。其成功的关键在于严守商业机密。

Among TSMC’s customers are some of the world’s most valuable companies. Apple, which uses the chips in iPhones, and Nvidia, which uses them in artificial intelligence servers. And as the United States and China vie for larger roles for their own chip makers, TSMC is closely guarding the details of its complex production process.

台积电的客户包括全球多家最具价值的企业，例如在iPhone中使用其芯片的苹果公司，以及在人工智能服务器中采用其芯片的英伟达。随着美中两国争相提升本土芯片制造商的地位，台积电正严密守护其复杂生产流程的细节。

Although rivals like Intel, China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, South Korea’s Samsung and the Japanese start-up Rapidus are spending billions to compete with TSMC, it remains several generations ahead.

尽管英特尔、中国的中芯国际、韩国三星以及日本初创企业Rapidus等竞争对手已投入数十亿美元与台积电竞争，但台积电的技术仍领先数代。

The company has strict protocols to protect its trade secrets, including an internal system that tracks which files employees open and print out, and where employees register their engineering breakthroughs. The company follows patent filings by former employees and requires many of its employees to sign noncompete agreements.

台积电拥有严格的商业机密保护协议，包括内部系统追踪员工打开和打印的文件、员工登记工程突破的流程。该公司还会跟踪离职员工的专利申请情况，并要求许多员工签署竞业禁止协议。

台积电位于菲尼克斯的工厂。

For TSMC, the legal case against Mr. Lo compounds an already complicated relationship with Intel, which is not only a competitor but also a major customer. TSMC has been making Intel’s most advanced chips for nearly a decade. Now, Intel and the Trump administration are spending billions on a factory in Arizona where Intel plans to make its own cutting-edge chips in the United States for the first time in years.

对台积电而言，针对罗唯仁的法律诉讼让其与英特尔本就复杂的关系雪上加霜——英特尔既是竞争对手，也是主要客户。近十年来，台积电一直为英特尔生产最先进的芯片。如今，英特尔和特朗普政府正斥资数十亿美元在亚利桑那州建设工厂，计划实现多年来首次在美国本土生产尖端芯片。

But Mr. Trump has also pressured TSMC to do more in the United States. TSMC has already built one chip factory in Arizona and is constructing two more. In March, TSMC said it would invest $100 billion to expand its operations in Arizona, bringing its planned total spending in the United States to $165 billion.

但特朗普也向台积电施压，要求其在美国扩大投资。台积电已在亚利桑那州建成一座芯片工厂，另有两座正在建设中。今年3月，台积电宣布将投资1000亿美元扩大亚利桑那州的业务，使其在美国的计划总投资达到1650亿美元。

Paul Triolo, a partner at DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group, said, “TSMC is in the difficult position of being both essentially the U.S. national champion now, while the Trump administration attempts to remake Intel into a viable company that can compete with TSMC.”

DGA-奥尔布赖特石桥集团合伙人保罗·特里奥洛表示：“台积电如今处于一个尴尬的境地——它实质上已成为美国的本土冠军企业，而特朗普政府却在试图重塑英特尔，使其成为有能力与台积电竞争的公司。”