The technology Intel Corp. was working on was so promising — and secret — that the company says it has invested more than $1 billion in the project.
Only a few hundred people worldwide know the details of the memory technology known as 3D XPoint, and the processes for developing it “are not written in any textbook or taught in any school,” according to Intel.
But in September that world of high-tech secrecy nearly collapsed as an Intel computer hardware engineer at the company’s Folsom campus tried to download details of the project the night before leaving for a competing firm, a lawsuit filed in federal court in Sacramento Tuesday alleges.
The lawsuit names engineer Doyle Rivers, who worked at Intel’s Folsom campus, and alleges that he violated confidentiality agreements and trade secrets by trying to access Intel’s computer files late on the night of Sept. 9 as he prepared to leave his job for one with competing Micron Corp.