An Israeli man living in Scottsdale received a three-year probationary sentence for taking part in corporate theft and sharing semiconductor trade secrets he used to benefit a Taiwanese rival, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Arizona.
Over eight months beginning in January 2025, Guy Galanti sent to an undisclosed partner photos, information and software involving technology to detect microscopic defects on semiconductor wafers made of glass rather than silicon.
Galanti, 48, did so from his post as a senior level manager at Green Technology Investments in Scottsdale, the Attorney's Office said.
GTI services equipment that tests semiconductor machines and sells semiconductor testing machines retrofitted with GTI’s Glass Detect Design technology.
The person Galanti sent the material to operated a company in Taiwan that directly competes with GTI and sought to match the new technology, according to government prosecutors. The theft involved an estimated economic loss to GTI between $150,000 and $250,000.
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“To conceal their interactions, Galanti and his co-conspirator communicated over an encrypted messaging system, deleted emails and transaction data sent from Galanti’s work email, and created fictitious invoices to document the transfer and potential payment of funds to Galanti,” the government said.
On June 23, U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow sentenced to Galanti to three years of supervised release in addition to the time he has already spent behind bars, the Attorney's Office said. Galanti has been in custody since his arrest in September. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal a trade secret on May 26. As an Israeli national, Galanti could be subject to deportation.
The technology theft is part of a multi-billion dollar problem afflicting the semiconductor industry worldwide. The U.S. government has for years sought to clamp down on theft involving the technology used to power consumer staples ranging from cell phones to cars.
The effort has had mixed results.
In 2024, for example, the Chinese state-owned company Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit was acquitted of corporate criminal theft charges leveled against it by the U.S. government on behalf of Idaho-based chipmaker Micron Technology.
In January 2025, the Chinese-based Hytera Communications Corp. pleaded guilty in federal court in Chicago to conspiring to steal digital mobile radio trade secrets from Illinois-based Motorola Solutions. Hytera was later fined $50 million after it made $214 million in restitution payments to Motorola for lost profits.
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