The man in his 50s, whose name has not been disclosed, was arrested at his home on suspicions of violating Beijing's anti-espionage law, which was amended to broaden the scope of espionage activities and took effect in July this year.
China has detected an "illegal activity in accordance with the law," the ministry's spokesman Lin Jian said.
Before joining semiconductor manufacturer ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) in 2016 as an engineer, he had worked at Samsung for over 20 years.
Chinese authorities suspect him of leaking key semiconductor-related technologies to South Korea while he was employed at CXMT.
CXMT, located in Hefei, eastern China, is a leading semiconductor manufacturer, accounting for about 10 percent of global DRAM production this year.
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