A former Intel employee was indicted in California yesterday by a US grand jury on charges of stealing trade secrets pertaining to the company's Itanium microprocessor and disclosing them to a new employer, which happens to be an Intel competitor. Malaysian Say Lye Ow faces an incredible 30 years in prison and US $1.5 million in fines for taking documents and computer files relating to the design and testing of the Itanium 64-bit processor, which is being developed jointly with Hewlett-Packard. He'd probably get off more lightly for stealing State Secrets. Prosecutors are withholding the name of Ow's current employer because the company is cooperating in the investigation. No further details were available at press time. ®