LONDON, UK: The number of persons who face charges pertaining to the passing of process-technology secrets from Samsung Electronics Company Limited to Hynix Semiconductor Incorporated has gone up to 18.

According to media reports, it was found out a week ago that that a number of employees at the Korean subsidiary of Applied Materials allegedly stole details of the manufacturing process technology for DRAM and NAND flash memory and also investment plans for chip production and passed those information to an employee of Hynix Semiconductor Incorporated. This employee of Hynix Semiconductor has also been indicted.

The stolen information, reports said, was passed to Hynix Semiconductor between March 2005 and December 2009.

The theft of information had cost Samsung Electronics Company over $100 million, according to earlier reports. 

Though a total of 18 persons have so far been indicted, 14 of them have not been physically detained, media reports said, quoting a prosecutor handling the case. Prosecutors are also searching for a former employee of Samsung for questioning.

A vice-president of Applied Materials, who was formerly head of Applied Materials Korea, as well as and a current employee of the Korean subsidiary of Applied Materials are the two persons who have been detained.