Inside MH370’s Semiconductor theory which links the US government to the missing plane

It’s been ten years since the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared in 2014 with 239 people on board and was never found. Although seriously expensive government and private hunts for the plane were conducted, the aircraft was never recovered and families of the passengers continue to fight for further investigation.

There have been endless online theories – many detailed in Netflix’s recent documentary – about what actually happened to MH370. But one of the most persistent conspiracies surrounds a company called Freescale Semiconductor. So, here’s what the theory has everyone saying in case you’re confused:

Ok, so what actually is the MH370 Semiconductor theory?

Credit: Netflix

Essentially, when MH370 took flight there were 20 employees from the US tech company Freescale Semiconductor on board. Semiconductors are basically really powerful microchips which can be used in different sectors for different devices, including in the defence industry.

Of the 20 Freescale employees on MH370, 12 were from Malaysia and eight were from China. The theory goes that these staff members knew important semiconductor secrets and the US government were worried they were about to be intercepted by the Chinese authorities. So, the US supposedly hijacked the plane and took it to a US base called Diego Garcia.

However, in another variation of the Semiconductor theory, believers think Chinese authorities took control of the flight in order to question the Freescale staff and find out more about their US surveillance. Additionally, some people think the Iran government put passengers travelling under fake identities on the plane to somehow get control of the staff member’s intelligence.

After MH370 went missing, Freescale confirmed their employees were travelling on the plane to the company’s base for a review. However, the patent of a Semiconductor chip, which conspiracy theorists frequently reference, was not “military” as theorists have suggested but is instead used to optimise the number of circuits on a piece of semi-conductor material, which is much less exciting.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Phantom cell phone theory: Why MH370 passengers’ mobiles still rang after plane was lost 

• All the theories about what happened to missing MH370 plane – 10 years after disappearance

• Inside MH370’s cargo theory that links the United States Air Force to the missing plane

Featured image credit via Fazry Ismail/EPA/Shutterstock