[Wu Blockchain News] TSMC Confirms Hacker Obtained Employee Data and Demanded 3 BTC, Says Internal Systems Uncompromised

TSMC confirmed a hacker obtained personal data on certain current and former employees and is demanding 3 BTC for an alleged 6.9GB database covering 46,000 employee records posted to an underground forum. The chipmaker said preliminary findings trace the exposed records to a third-party cloud service provider's system rather than its own internal IT infrastructure, and that production operations and customer data were unaffected. TSMC said it is notifying affected staff and working with the cloud vendor, law enforcement and outside cybersecurity firms on the investigation. The disclosure matters because it shifts scrutiny onto third-party cloud vendors in the semiconductor supply chain even as TSMC's core manufacturing and customer data remain insulated. What to watch next is whether the cloud provider is named, whether the 46,000-record figure is verified, and whether the 3 BTC ransom is paid or the data simply released.