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Huawei's Efforts to Steal Apple Trade Secrets Include Employee Bonus Program and Other Dubious Tactics
Last month, the United States Justice Department announced a series of criminal charges against Chinese smartphone maker Huawei for stealing trade secrets, bank fraud, wire fraud, and obstructing justice. Today, The Information has shed light on Huawei's tactics of stealing trade secrets, some of which were aimed at Apple.
According to today's report, a Huawei engineer in charge of the company's smartwatch project tracked down a supplier that makes the heart rate sensor for the Apple Watch. The Huawei engineer arranged a meeting, suggesting he was offering the supplier a lucrative manufacturing contract, but during the meeting his main intent was questioning the supplier about the Apple Watch.
According to the U.S. Justice Department, Huawei is said to have a formal program that rewards employees for stealing information, including bonuses that increase based on the confidential value of the information gathered. While the theft of trade secrets is nothing new among technology companies, the new allegations against Huawei represent "a more brazen and elaborate system of seeking out secret information," The Information reports.
Huawei's information gathering program led to incidents like the Huawei engineer probing a supplier for Apple Watch details, as well as Huawei copying a component of the MacBook Pro. Specifically, the company built a connector for its MateBook Pro that was just like the one used in Apple's MacBook Pro from 2016, allowing the computer's hinge to be thinner while still attaching the display to the logic board.
Huawei reportedly approached numerous suppliers and provided them with schematics just like Apple's, but most recognized the part and refused to make it for Huawei. The company told The Information that it requires suppliers to uphold a high standard of ethics and that it doesn't seek or have access to its competitor's confidential information. Eventually, Huawei found a willing supplier and the connector was built into the MateBook Pro.
The Information's report includes numerous other examples of Huawei's attempts at stealing information from Apple. One former Apple employee interviewed for a job at Huawei immediately after leaving Apple, and in the interview, Huawei executives repeatedly asked questions about Apple's upcoming products. "It was clear they were more interested in trying to learn about Apple than they were in hiring me," the former employee said.
Huawei's indictments extend far beyond Apple, including an accusation of bank and wire fraud against chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, lying to the government, destroying documents, and attempting to move key Huawei employees back to China to impede the U.S. Justice Department investigation. Another indictment accused Huawei of stealing trade secrets, wire fraud, and obstructing justice for stealing robotic technology from T-Mobile U.S. for testing smartphone durability.
According to today's report, a Huawei engineer in charge of the company's smartwatch project tracked down a supplier that makes the heart rate sensor for the Apple Watch. The Huawei engineer arranged a meeting, suggesting he was offering the supplier a lucrative manufacturing contract, but during the meeting his main intent was questioning the supplier about the Apple Watch.
The Huawei engineer attended the supplier meeting with four Huawei researchers in tow. The Huawei team spent the next hour and a half pressing the supplier for details about the Apple Watch, the executive said.This event reportedly reflects "a pattern of dubious tactics" performed by Huawei to obtain technology from rivals, particularly Apple's China-based suppliers. According to a Huawei spokesperson the company has not been in the wrong: "In conducting research and development, Huawei employees must search and use publicly available information and respect third-party intellectual property per our business-conduct guidelines."
“They were trying their luck, but we wouldn’t tell them anything,” the executive said. After that, Huawei went silent.
According to the U.S. Justice Department, Huawei is said to have a formal program that rewards employees for stealing information, including bonuses that increase based on the confidential value of the information gathered. While the theft of trade secrets is nothing new among technology companies, the new allegations against Huawei represent "a more brazen and elaborate system of seeking out secret information," The Information reports.
Huawei's information gathering program led to incidents like the Huawei engineer probing a supplier for Apple Watch details, as well as Huawei copying a component of the MacBook Pro. Specifically, the company built a connector for its MateBook Pro that was just like the one used in Apple's MacBook Pro from 2016, allowing the computer's hinge to be thinner while still attaching the display to the logic board.
Huawei reportedly approached numerous suppliers and provided them with schematics just like Apple's, but most recognized the part and refused to make it for Huawei. The company told The Information that it requires suppliers to uphold a high standard of ethics and that it doesn't seek or have access to its competitor's confidential information. Eventually, Huawei found a willing supplier and the connector was built into the MateBook Pro.
The Information's report includes numerous other examples of Huawei's attempts at stealing information from Apple. One former Apple employee interviewed for a job at Huawei immediately after leaving Apple, and in the interview, Huawei executives repeatedly asked questions about Apple's upcoming products. "It was clear they were more interested in trying to learn about Apple than they were in hiring me," the former employee said.
Huawei's indictments extend far beyond Apple, including an accusation of bank and wire fraud against chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, lying to the government, destroying documents, and attempting to move key Huawei employees back to China to impede the U.S. Justice Department investigation. Another indictment accused Huawei of stealing trade secrets, wire fraud, and obstructing justice for stealing robotic technology from T-Mobile U.S. for testing smartphone durability.
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Top Rated Comments
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8 months ago
They're such an absolutely disgusting company that should never be allowed to sell products in this country. Xiaomi and all the other Chinese OEMs are right behind them too. I understand wanting to save some money on a device, but I'll never understand buying one of those products to give up essentially all your privacy and supporting horrible practices.
8 months ago
I thought this was public knowledge? I am sure they all do this, but that doesn't make it okay. Coupled with their insane privacy policy, it always surprises me when people on this site point to Huawei as a legit option in tech. I wouldn't trust them with my email address, let alone anything else I keep on my phone.
8 months ago
But, I read posts from Huawei fans here about how much they spend on research and how they have hundreds of thousands of patents. That their products are the best in the PC world.
Why would they "need" to steal from the USA firms?:rolleyes:
Why would they "need" to steal from the USA firms?:rolleyes:
8 months ago
China wouldn’t exist in the shape its in today without its corporate espionage.
8 months ago
I think that Huawei doesn't do anything without the Chinese government approval.
Maybe Apple can trick Huawei into stealing the butterfly keyboard from the MacBook Pro. That should set them back a few years :).
Maybe Apple can trick Huawei into stealing the butterfly keyboard from the MacBook Pro. That should set them back a few years :).
8 months ago
Remember when Steve went to jail for stealing from Xerox? I don't remember that either.
Erm, actually Xerox invited Apple to use the technology. Not saying Apple has never taken anything but at least use a legit example.
8 months ago
Yet when anyone ever says a cross (or even a skeptical) word about Huawei the zealots always scream that we're just being xenophobes.
8 months ago
Everyone is doing it to everybody, but great excuse for some racist tub thumping.
“Because everybody does it” is not an excuse, and there is a real problem when businesses are based in two very different nations with different views on IP and different government oversight, hence the trade war. Some parts of the world don’t put much value in IP, and China has been slow to protect it.
8 months ago
That's how Apple's backdoor is broken into. Go to the suppliers, bribe them, and get info. They got caught and let's see where this goes.
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