New Delhi, April 28 -- A court in Taiwan sentenced a former employee of Japanese computer chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron to 10 years in prison on Monday in a landmark case over trade secrets of the island's leading chipmaker TSMC.

Tokyo Electron was also fined 150 million new Taiwan dollars ($4.8 million) and four other people were sentenced to up to six years in jail.

The heavy sentencing under Taiwan's national security act and other statutes underscores Taiwan's efforts to protect the self-ruled island's advanced technology and semiconductor sector, which are vital for its export-oriented economy as artificial intelligence booms.

TSMC, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., is one of the world's most valuable companies an...