U.S. Government charges Huawei with stealing T-Mobile’s trade secrets. Huawei is the second or third biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world, surpassing even Apple in some fiscal quarters, and the number one provider of telecoms equipment internationally. With privacy concerns mounting following the arrest of the company’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, it was only a matter of time before we saw the list of charges released. The U.S. Government has now officially charged Huawei with stealing T-Mobile’s trade secrets, along with bank fraud in order to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran. Violation of U.S. sanctions on Iran is exactly what landed ZTE in the hot water that they found themselves in last year, which could have led to them having their Android software license entirely revoked.
We’ve been hearing for a while now that Huawei has been under investigation by U.S. authorities, with the company being deemed a national security threat overall. Despite the company’s failure to enter the American market (though they certainly did try), they did very well for themselves in Europe and Asia. U.S. authorities have identified Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the company’s founder, of playing a lead role in their attempt at using subsidiaries to conduct business in Iran. She is currently living in a family home in Vancouver, Canada on bail, as she awaits a decision on a U.S. extradition request. Retaliation against Canada came in the form of two Canadians being arrested in China on the grounds of national security.
