Semiconductor Startup CNEX Labs Accuses Huawei Deputy Chairman of IP Theft
CNEX Labs fights back against Huawei's trade secret lawsuit by accusing the Chinese firm's deputy chairman of orchestrating a conspiracy to steal its proprietary chip technology. The legal battle unfolds as Huawei faces severe U.S. trade restrictions.
San Jose-based semiconductor startup CNEX Labs accuses Huawei's deputy chairman, Eric Xu, of conspiring to steal its intellectual property in a ongoing legal battle. Backed by Dell and Microsoft, CNEX alleges that Xu directed a Huawei engineer to pose as a potential customer in 2016 to secretly analyze and file a report on the startup's proprietary technology. The startup claims this stolen information feeds directly into Huawei's internal competitor database.
This dramatic countersuit comes after Huawei initially sued CNEX and its founder in 2017 for stealing trade secrets and poaching employees. CNEX lawyers also reveal a separate scheme involving Xiamen University, which obtained a memory board for academic research but allegedly funneled all testing data directly to Huawei for use in upcoming chip projects. Huawei firmly denies these explosive allegations as both companies prepare for a June 3 trial in a Texas federal court.
The high-stakes courtroom showdown occurs at a deeply precarious moment for the Chinese telecom giant. Following a recent executive order by the Trump administration, Huawei sits on a U.S. trade blacklist that forces major American technology partners like Google, Intel, and Qualcomm to suspend business dealings. This mounting regulatory pressure heavily shadows the intellectual property dispute as Huawei fights to maintain its global supply chains.