Chinese state-backed hackers are reportedly setting their sights on Taiwan's semiconductor industry, aiming to steal valuable trade secrets.
In a recent report, cybersecurity firm Proofpoint has revealed a significant escalation in Chinese state-sponsored cyber espionage activities targeting Taiwan's semiconductor industry between March and June 2025. The campaigns, involving multiple distinct threat groups aligned with China, focused on organizations across the entire semiconductor ecosystem, including chip manufacturers, design houses, test facilities, supply chain partners, and financial analysts covering the sector.
The research by Proofpoint has attributed the activity to at least three previously undocumented China-aligned groups named UNK_FistBump, UNK_DropPitch, and UNK_SparkyCarp. A fourth group, UNK_ColtCentury (also tracked as TAG-100 or Storm-2077), attempted to establish trust before deploying a remote access trojan called Spark.
The attackers employed spear-phishing campaigns using employment-themed lures, fake business collaboration offers, and credential phishing. Some campaigns used compromised accounts from Taiwanese universities and custom Adversary-in-the-Middle (AiTM) infrastructure, allowing interception of credentials and communications. Custom malware families such as Voldemort and HealthKick were deployed alongside legitimate penetration testing tools like Cobalt Strike for persistence and remote access.
Around 15 to 20 organizations were targeted, including medium-sized businesses and major global enterprises involved in semiconductor design, manufacturing, testing, and the supply chain. Financial investment analysts specializing in the Taiwanese semiconductor market were also key targets, notably by UNK_DropPitch, which sent phishing emails purporting to be from a fictitious financial investment firm.
The strategic motivation behind these cyberattacks is believed to support Beijing's long-term goal of achieving semiconductor self-sufficiency in response to U.S. export restrictions and Taiwan's dominance in advanced chip manufacturing. The espionage aims to gather intelligence that could aid China's domestic semiconductor industry development.
The attacks showed shared infrastructure such as Russian VPS providers and SoftEther VPN servers, indicating coordination or resource sharing among the threat actors. UNK_FistBump's tactics differ enough from the well-known TA415 group to be tracked as a distinct entity by Proofpoint, despite some malware overlaps.
The report highlights a coordinated and multi-pronged cyber espionage campaign leveraging sophisticated social engineering, customized malware, and persistent access tools to infiltrate critical points of the Taiwanese semiconductor supply chain and associated financial analysts. This campaign reflects the high-value strategic intelligence prize the semiconductor sector represents, especially under current geopolitical pressures and export controls.
Meanwhile, in a separate development, it was revealed that Jacob Fox, a hardware enthusiast and philosophy scholar, led a double-life as part-hardware geek, part-philosophy nerd. Fox, who worked as a Hardware Writer for PCGamesN in 2020 and later joined PC Gamer full-time, also worked towards a PhD in Philosophy and freelanced for sites such as TechRadar, Pocket-lint, and PC Gamer. However, the report does not provide any new facts about the Chinese state-sponsored cyber attackers or their goals.
- The semiconductor industry has been a target of Chinese state-sponsored cyber espionage activities from March to June 2025, as revealed in a report by Proofpoint.
- The research attributed the activity to at least four China-aligned groups: UNK_FistBump, UNK_DropPitch, UNK_SparkyCarp, UNK_ColtCentury (also known as TAG-100 or Storm-2077).
- The campaigns involved multiple threat groups and focused on organizations across the semiconductor ecosystem, including game companies, as some phishing emails were sent by UNK_DropPitch pretending to be from a fictitious financial investment firm.
- The strategic goal behind these cyberattacks is to support Beijing's long-term goal of achieving semiconductor self-sufficiency.
- The attacks employed spear-phishing campaigns, fake business collaboration offers, and credential phishing, using custom Adversary-in-the-Middle (AiTM) infrastructure and compromised accounts from Taiwanese universities.
- The report highlights the high-value strategic intelligence prize the semiconductor sector represents, especially under current geopolitical pressures and export controls.
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