Rotterdam Court to Hear Case of Former ASML Employee Accused of Stealing Intellectual Property

A Rotterdam court is scheduled to hold an initial hearing on Monday in the case of a former Russian employee of Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML, who is suspected of having stolen intellectual property.

A spokesperson for the Netherlands' national financial crimes office confirmed that an initial pretrial hearing will take place on Monday, without verifying details of the case initially reported by television program Nieuwsuur on Friday.

Nieuwsuur reported that the unnamed male suspect, a 43-year-old Russian national, allegedly earned tens of thousands of euros by selling manuals owned by ASML and its Mapper subsidiary to Russian buyers.

A spokesperson for ASML said the company was aware of the criminal case. "In accordance with our policy, we have also filed a complaint ourselves," they said, adding they would not comment further while the legal processes are running.

Nieuwsuur reported that the suspect was in custody. It was not clear when he had been arrested.

ASML bought Mapper, a Dutch firm, out of bankruptcy for 75 million euros in 2019. That, according to the 2024 book, Focus: The ASML Way, assuaged concerns by the Dutch government and U.S. military that it would be taken over by a Russian or Chinese buyer.

Mapper was trying to make a lithography product similar to ASML's, but using electrons rather than light to print the tiny circuitry of chips, a technology known as E-beam. That product did not succeed but the fast-growing ASML integrated the firm's 100 engineers into its smaller metrology, or chip-measuring, business.