Huawei's efforts to steal Apple's trade secrets include an employee bonus program and other questionable tactics

Last month, the United States Department of Justice announced a series of criminal lawsuits against Chinese smartphone maker Huawei for theft of trade secrets, bank fraud, wire fraud and obstruction of justice. Today & # 39; hui, L & # 39; information has shed light on Huawei's tactic of stealing trade secrets, some of which were intended for Apple.

According to today 's report, a Huawei engineer in charge of the company' s smartwatch project has found a supplier who manufactures the heart rate sensor for the Apple Watch. The Huawei engineer arranged a meeting suggesting that he offered the supplier a lucrative manufacturing contract, but at the meeting his main intention was to ask him questions about Apple Watch.

Huawei engineer attended the suppliers meeting with four Huawei researchers. Huawei's team spent the next hour pressuring the supplier for details on the Apple Watchsaid the executive.

"They were trying their luck, but we would not tell them anything," said the executive. After that, Huawei was silent.

This event would reflect a "dubious tactics" implemented by Huawei to obtain technology from rivals, particularly from its China-based vendors. According to a Huawei spokesperson, the company did not err: "In their research and development activities, Huawei employees must search for and use publicly available information and respect the intellectual property of Huawei." third party, in accordance with our professional conduct guidelines ".

According to the US Department of Justice, Huawei has an official program that would reward employees who stole information, including bonuses that increase according to the confidential value of information collected. Although the theft of trade secrets is not new among tech companies, the new allegations against Huawei represent "a smarter and more elaborate system of covert information research". L & # 39; information reports.

Huawei's information gathering program has led to incidents such as Huawei's engineer probing a supplier Apple Watch Huawei copying a component of the MacBook Pro. Specifically, the company built a connector for its MateBook Pro that resembled the one used by Apple Macbook Pro starting in 2016, allowing the hinge of the computer to be thinner while fixing the screen to the logic board.

Huawei would have contacted many suppliers and provided them with similar patterns to those of Apple, but most recognized the piece and refused to manufacture it for Huawei. The company said L & # 39; information that it requires suppliers that they respect high ethical standards and that it does not seek or have access to the confidential information of their competitors. Huawei finally found a voluntary supplier and the connector was integrated into the MateBook Pro.

L & # 39; informationThe report contains many other examples of Huawei's attempts to steal information from Apple. A former Apple employee interviewed for a job at Huawei immediately after leaving Apple. In the interview, Huawei executives repeatedly asked questions about Apple's upcoming products. "It was clear that they were more interested in trying to get to know Apple than to hire me," said the former employee.

Huawei's accusations go far beyond Apple, including a charge of bank and computer fraud against financial director Meng Wanzhou, lying to the government, destroying documents and attempting to bring Huawei's key employees back to China to prevent it. investigation by the US Department of Justice. Another indictment has accused Huawei of stealing trade secrets, being fraudulent and obstructing justice for stealing T-Mobile USA's robotic technology to test the durability of a smartphone .