Samsung, LG's key display technologies leaked by Israeli firm

"According to the prosecution, the indicted employees photographed circuit diagrams of yet-to-be-released 55-inch AMOLED television panels when they were let into Samsung and LG's manufacturing factories to check defects of inspection equipment from November of last year to January of this year.

They stored the images on portable memory cards and slipped them into their shoes, belts and wallets to avoid suspicion, prosecutors said. AMOLED displays have a faster response time then their passive-matrix OLED counterparts and are more power-efficient, and the advantages make them well suited for growingly popular portable electronics devices. Samsung and LG are by far the leading makers of AMOLED displays, for which the global market is estimated to be worth 90 trillion won (US$77.8 billion). South Korea rigorously prohibits leakage of the technologies as it tags them as the nation's core industrially strategic tech.

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"It is very likely that the stolen technologies have been given by the Israeli firm to foreign rivals," a prosecution official said. "This may expectedly deal a massive economic blow to the entire nation and can cause a sea change in the landscape of the global display market."

According to industry watchers, Samsung spent nearly 1.4 trillion won in developing its AMOLED technologies with LG funneling nearly 1.3 trillion won into its research and development." via Yonhap News Agency