The authorities did not disclose the identities of the detainees, who are 46 and 37 years old, only confirming that both held leadership positions at Samsung Display. The third detainee is the director of a display equipment manufacturer with whom Samsung previously worked. He is accused of failing to protect the confidentiality of technological data from espionage. This means that his role in the crime occurred was more passive compared to the arrested development duo Samsung.

According to South Korean media reports, this is a technology leak related to Samsung’s innovative use of inkjet printing as an OLED production method. It allows you to reduce the cost of producing OLED TVs by about 20%.

The Korean prosecutor’s office believes that Samsung Display employees have passed on to competitors the technical specifications of the processes that Samsung Display experimented within the second half of last year. The investigation also detained several high-ranking officials of an unnamed subsidiary of a Chinese company accused of stealing technology.