TAIPEI, March 28 (Reuters) - Taiwan authorities said on

Friday they were investigating whether China's largest chipmaker

SMIC illegally lured Taiwanese tech workers under

cover of a shell company on the island masquerading as Samoan.

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has been

stepping up efforts to stop what it considers illegal activities

by Chinese firms to steal know-how and attract talent, often

using fake companies as a cover, given the island's dominance in

making advanced semiconductors.

In a statement, the investigation bureau of Taiwan's justice

ministry said SMIC had set up a subsidiary in Taiwan posing as a

firm from the Pacific state of Samoa to try and hire engineers.

It gave no details apart from saying the company operated in

Hsinchu county, next to Hsinchu city, Taiwan's main

semiconductor hub and headquarters of the world's largest

contract chipmaker, TSMC.

SMIC, which has ramped up investment to expand production

capacity and strengthen China's domestic semiconductor

capability in the face of sweeping U.S. export controls, did not

immediately respond to a request for comment.

The bureau said this month it had sent 180 people to raid 11

companies operating in Taiwan suspected of such illegal

targeting of talent, including SMIC, searching 34 premises and

interviewing 90 people.

Since 2020, when the bureau set up a task force on the

matter, it has investigated more than 100 cases, it said.

"The high-tech industry is the lifeblood of our nation's

economy, and companies with semiconductor technology and the

related industrial chain are the 'mountains protecting the

country' to maintain our economic strength," it said.

"Talents in the related industries have thus become the

target of poaching by Chinese enterprises."

Many such companies trying to take Taiwanese engineers

disguise themselves as Taiwan or foreign companies, illegally

sending headhunters to work with Taiwan manpower firms or simply

setting up underground offices, it said.