Federal prosecutors are investigating Huawei for reportedly stealing trade secrets and misappropriating technology from its US partners.
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the investigation is said to be coming to a close and was launched after several civil lawsuits were launched targeting Huawei. An indictment is expected soon.
One US partner Huawei is suspected of misappropriating technology from is T-Mobile. A Seattle jury found Huawei liable for robotic technology from T-Mobile’s Bellevue, Washington lab in 2017.
Huawei rejected the court’s decision and said the “company continues to believe in the merits of its defense to the allegations made by T-Mobile.”
The Trump administration is pressing China to clamp down on cases of technology theft or face additional tariffs.
In November, the Justice Department said it would collaborate with the FBI to stop trade secret thefts. Where cases occur, the department would take action to prevent the export of products from China with US technology designs.
Lawmakers continue to put Huawei under scrutiny. A bipartisan group proposed legislation this week that would put strict penalties on the company if passed.
Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), a co-sponsor of the bill, said:
“Huawei is effectively an intelligence-gathering arm of the Chinese Communist Party whose founder and CEO was an engineer for the People’s Liberation Army. It’s imperative we take decisive action to protect U.S. interests and enforce our laws.
If Chinese telecom companies like Huawei violate our sanctions or export control laws, they should receive nothing less than the death penalty – which this denial order would provide.”
This latest report comes just a day after Huawei's founder held a rare press conference to address the security concerns about the company. While it’s likely the firm wanted to put 2018 behind it, the outlook for this year isn’t looking much better.
Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this? Attend the co-located IoT Tech Expo, Blockchain Expo, AI & Big Data Expo, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo World Series with upcoming events in Silicon Valley, London, and Amsterdam.
