Huawei cloning Apple parts, rewarding employees for tech theft
China's Huawei uses "dubious" tactics to try to reverse engineer technology from Apple and other competitors in the electronics market, a report charged on Monday.
In November, for example, a Huawei engineer heading up smartwatch development tracked down a supplier that helps build the Apple Watch's heart rate sensor, The Information said. The person arranged a meeting with the claim he could offer a manufacturing contract, but instead probed for details about the Apple Watch, an anonymous executive at the supplier said.
The engineer was accompanied by four researchers, and together the group is said to have spent an hour and a half asking about the Watch. With nothing given Huawei went silent.
Huawei has reportedly used similar tactics against companies like Cisco, Motorola, and Akhan Semiconductor. The U.S. Justice Department in fact claims that Huawei has a program that rewards employees for stealing data, with better bonuses based on how confidential information is.
An earlier Apple-related incident, according to one source, involved Huawei copying a 2016 connector design used to make the MacBook Pro hinge thinner while linking the display to the logic board. A similar component then appeared in Huawei's 2018 MateBook Pro, something achieved by shopping Apple's schematic around to various suppliers -- most of which recognized the design and refused to build it. Eventually the company found a willing partner.
Another alleged tactic is talking to people who formerly worked with Apple or its supply chain. In one case, a person interviewed with Huawei immediately after leaving Apple, only to be repeatedly asked about upcoming products and features. They refused and stopped taking interviews.
"It was clear they were more interested in trying to learn about Apple than they were in hiring me," the person explained.
Huawei has become the center of a maelstrom surrounding the Chinese government's business policies. The company is believed to have government ties, which has led to calls in the U.S. and elsewhere to ban it from supplying 5G infrastructure. Chinese operatives have regularly conducted cyber attacks in the U.S.
Huawei and its CFO, Wanzhou Meng, were recently hit with a barrage of U.S. charges accusing it of bank fraud, wire fraud, violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Theft of trade secrets is another item on the docket, though mostly because of a 2013 incident related to a T-Mobile phone-testing robot.
Legal action has only worsened relations between the two countries, which are in the middle of a trade war initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump. Among other demands, Trump has called on China to better protect the intellectual property of foreign firms.
In November, for example, a Huawei engineer heading up smartwatch development tracked down a supplier that helps build the Apple Watch's heart rate sensor, The Information said. The person arranged a meeting with the claim he could offer a manufacturing contract, but instead probed for details about the Apple Watch, an anonymous executive at the supplier said.
The engineer was accompanied by four researchers, and together the group is said to have spent an hour and a half asking about the Watch. With nothing given Huawei went silent.
Huawei has reportedly used similar tactics against companies like Cisco, Motorola, and Akhan Semiconductor. The U.S. Justice Department in fact claims that Huawei has a program that rewards employees for stealing data, with better bonuses based on how confidential information is.
An earlier Apple-related incident, according to one source, involved Huawei copying a 2016 connector design used to make the MacBook Pro hinge thinner while linking the display to the logic board. A similar component then appeared in Huawei's 2018 MateBook Pro, something achieved by shopping Apple's schematic around to various suppliers -- most of which recognized the design and refused to build it. Eventually the company found a willing partner.
Another alleged tactic is talking to people who formerly worked with Apple or its supply chain. In one case, a person interviewed with Huawei immediately after leaving Apple, only to be repeatedly asked about upcoming products and features. They refused and stopped taking interviews.
"It was clear they were more interested in trying to learn about Apple than they were in hiring me," the person explained.
Huawei has become the center of a maelstrom surrounding the Chinese government's business policies. The company is believed to have government ties, which has led to calls in the U.S. and elsewhere to ban it from supplying 5G infrastructure. Chinese operatives have regularly conducted cyber attacks in the U.S.
Huawei and its CFO, Wanzhou Meng, were recently hit with a barrage of U.S. charges accusing it of bank fraud, wire fraud, violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Theft of trade secrets is another item on the docket, though mostly because of a 2013 incident related to a T-Mobile phone-testing robot.
Legal action has only worsened relations between the two countries, which are in the middle of a trade war initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump. Among other demands, Trump has called on China to better protect the intellectual property of foreign firms.
Comments
It's always made me laugh when the haters bash everything Apple and then use clones of Apple products. It's like they are trying to clown themselves.
Actually Apple is rarely the first to market. Wireless charging is an example I guess copying that from other is only good if Apple is doing it. And then the the software gestures in ios 11 on copied from Blackberry and the upcoming three cameras copied from Huawei it is all good as long it is made by Apple
"2010: Hillary Clinton declares freedom of navigation and peaceful resolution of SCS disputes a U.S. natl interest. 2009: China responds by submitting the 9-dash line to the UN CLCS for the first time.
2011: Obama announces US increased presence in Asia during regional trip and Clinton follows this with announcement of the "pivot" (later rebalance) 2010: China responds by increasing the frequency of clashes with SEA fishers, oil and gas exploration, and law enforcement.
2013: Philippine government files arbitral case under UNCLOS against China's claims. 2012: China responds by seizing control of Scarborough Shoal.
2015: US increases frequency of long-standing SCS FONOPS. 2013-14: China responds by undertaking massive island-building campaign, resulting in three new air and naval bases in Spratlys, deploying HY981 rig off VN coast, and blockading PHL marines on 2nd Thomas Shoal.
Which brings us to early 2019 when China continues to accuse the US of militarizing the SCS, presumably in response to some step Washington will take in 2020"
SCS is South China Sea. FONOPS is Freedom of Navigation Operations.
Welcome to the next Pacific War, and yeah, the Chinese are happily stealing military technology as well.
and then;
https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinese-born-u-s-citizen-charged-with-stealing-trade-secrets-11550177074?redirect=amp#click=https://t.co/31rKlIg03s
Stole the technology to the coating in Coke Cans.
Adding a 3rd lense and adapting it in Apples own way with their own tech is not the same as cloning parts.
So Huawei isn’t happy with paying one shill (avon b7) to post on AI and decided they needed to add another?