Former Philips Engineer Convicted for Illicit Transfer of X‑Ray Technology to Chinese Firm

Legal

Dutch electronics giant uncovered the ex‑engineer’s scheme, though only after it had unraveled over a year later

A 71‑year‑old former Philips engineer was found guilty of stealing the company’s medical‑imaging trade secrets and handing them to a Chinese rival.

Chih‑Yee Jen worked at Philips’ Aurora, Illinois site, where engineers designed, developed and manufactured X‑ray tubes for the firm’s computed tomography (CT) scanners.

X‑ray tubes consist of several components that together convert electricity into X‑ray images.

Jen departed Philips on December 29, 2017. The company had announced as early as June 2017 that it would shut the Aurora plant by year‑end, affecting roughly 200 jobs and moving production to Hamburg, Germany.

Discussions between Jen and Xiaoqin Du, 64, a vice president at vacuum‑electronics firm Kunshan GuoLi Electronic Technology, began in August 2017.

Court filings show that Suzhou‑based Du enlisted Jen’s help to pilfer Philips’ trade secrets and use them to create X‑ray tubes for a Kunshan GuoLi subsidiary also located in Aurora, IL.

The documents list nine distinct categories of trade secrets relevant to the case, including seasoning protocols, component specifications, manufacturing and assembly processes, tolerance measurements, annealing specifications, and source code.

Jen, who had been developing X‑ray tubes for Philips’ Dunlee brand at the Aurora facility since 2006, was accused of taking four of those secrets by accessing internal databases and other locations.

He joined the Chinese Aurora subsidiary—referred to only as “Company A” in the filings—in January 2018, a month after leaving Philips, and proceeded to develop X‑ray tubes for Company A using the stolen Philips information.

Company A was sold to Kunshan Yiyuan in May 2018, which then marketed the X‑ray tubes in China.

Prosecutors noted that Philips requires every employee to sign an Ethics and Intellectual Property Agreement that bars the use, publication, or disclosure of any secret, confidential or proprietary information during or after employment.

They also pointed out that staff who left Philips after the Aurora closure signed a Settlement and General Release Agreement that, in effect, prohibited them from using Philips technical information to benefit competitors.

Philips filed its civil suit on April 19, 2019, although it is alleged that Jen continued to hold and conceal trade‑secret information as late as July 2022.

“The theft of proprietary information is a serious economic crime that harms American jobs and stifles the critical research and development that drives our nation’s future,” said Andrew S. Boutros, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

“When individuals, corporations, or nation‑states steal proprietary information, they threaten our country’s technological edge. The Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office will keep prosecuting trade‑secret theft to protect innovation, ensure fair competition, and safeguard national economic security.”

The lawsuit further alleged that Jen helped recruit other Philips engineers to steal trade secrets for Du and Kunshan GuoLi.

Named in the court documents are Fince Tendian, 57, of Aurora, Illinois, and Vladimir Nevtonenko, 77, of Arlington Heights, Illinois. Both pleaded guilty to their charges before trial, whereas Jen was found guilty after a week‑long jury trial.

According to the indictment, both Tendian and Nevtonenko had worked on Philips’ X‑ray tubes since 1998, before the Aurora plant even opened in 2001.

Nevtonenko is slated for sentencing on December 1, 2026. Tendian’s sentencing will follow a week later on December 8, while Jen will await sentencing until January 5, 2027.®

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