(Reuters) — A Silicon Valley chip startup has accused a top executive of China’s Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Deputy Chairman Eric Xu, of participating in a conspiracy to steal its trade secrets, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing court documents.
The allegations were made in a lawsuit set for trial on June 3 in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas, in which CNEX Labs Inc. claimed that Huawei engaged in a multiyear conspiracy to steal the company’s solid-state drive computer storage technology, including with the help of a Chinese university, the WSJ reported.
Huawei said in a statement on Thursday the allegations against Mr. Xu were “groundless.”
CNEX did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.
California-based CNEX is developing technology to enhance the performance of solid-state drives in data centers and has been in a dispute with Huawei since 2017.
It had accused Huawei of enlisting a Chinese university professor working on a research project to improperly access the startup’s technology.
(Reuters) — Huawei Device Co. Ltd. and Huawei Device USA Inc. pleaded not guilty to U.S. fraud, trade secrets conspiracy and other charges, and a trial date was set for March 2020, the Justice Department said Thursday.