The issue of theft of a company’s intellectual property is a very serious one, no matter where you are. But if you steal the secrets of a tech giant like Huawei, you need to be prepared to face a Chinese judicial system that will show no mercy.
That’s what is reportedly happening to 14 former Huawei employees. The group had previously left Huawei and founded their own company called Zunpai Communication Technology.
The issue is not the development of the company, but the 14 individuals have also been convicted of stealing company secrets related to their semiconductor chip development technology. Zunpai was founded in 2021 by Zhang Kun, who was previously a technology researcher at HiSilicon, the company responsible for developing Huawei’s semiconductor chip technology.
When he left Huawei in 2019, he managed to convince several other employees at Huawei to leave the company and set up new companies with him. Huawei is aware of this, and in August 2023, sued Zunpai for stealing their intellectual property.
The Shanghai court found that 40 of Zunpai's semiconductor chip technologies were too similar to those owned by Huawei and HiSilicon, which was sufficient evidence to say that they were using stolen intellectual property, and arrested 14 Zunpai's founders and brought them to court.
They have now been found guilty of stealing and using Huawei's intellectual property without permission, and will face legal action, which has not yet been officially announced. But there are sources who say that they could face fines and imprisonment for up to six years.