Huawei facing fresh trade secrets theft accusations

US prosecutors are investigating Huawei over new allegations of trade secrets theft, it has been reported.

The news, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, comes after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) filed 23 criminal charges against the Chinese telecommunications firm in January.

Citing sources “familiar with the matter”, The Wall Street Journal has now reported that prosecutors are considering possible “additional instances” of trade secrets theft involving Huawei.

“Among the situations being examined are episodes in which Huawei was accused of stealing intellectual property from multiple people and companies over several years, as well as how the company went about recruiting employees from competitors,” the paper said.

Huawei denied all of those accusations.

The US government has said repeatedly that Huawei marks a threat to its national security and that of its allies.

According to the DoJ, Huawei operated a “rewards” system to encourage employees to steal technology from rivals.

In May, the US Department of Commerce added the Chinese telecommunications firm on a trade blacklist amid a trade dispute between the US and China in which IP has proven a stumbling block.

US officials have also pressured allies to block Huawei from building 5G infrastructure, citing national security concerns.

Last month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterated that stance, warning that the “threat of having Chinese telecoms systems inside of American networks or inside of networks around the world presents an enormous risk, a national security risk”.

US president Donald Trump has also said that “Huawei is a company we may not do business with at all”.

Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou is currently on bail in Vancouver following her arrest by Canadian police last year.

The US is looking to have Meng extradited to face charges of violating trade sanctions against Iran.

American semiconductor company CNEX Labs has also accused the company of recruiting a Chinese professor to pass on confidential information about technical specifications.