The U.S. criminal case against Huawei opened in Brooklyn, with a federal prosecutor describing the Chinese telecommunications giant as a criminal enterprise that stole from American companies to build its business.

Taylor Stout, an attorney for the Department of Justice, told the jury that Huawei committed multiple crimes over roughly two decades, including trade-secret theft, bank fraud and sanctions violations. Prosecutors allege an elaborate operation in which employees who stole valuable information from competitors were rewarded with bonuses.

The charges stem from a superseding indictment that accused Huawei and its subsidiaries of racketeering — a charge more commonly aimed at organised crime networks. The company has denied wrongdoing and fought the case for eight years.

The trial lands in a tense diplomatic moment. It began weeks before a planned meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and it adds another flashpoint to a technology relationship already defined by export controls, blacklists and restrictions on advanced chips.

Huawei has long been at the centre of Western security concerns: the United States has barred its equipment from domestic networks and pressed allies to do the same, citing espionage risk. The company has consistently rejected those claims.

For the U.S. government, the case is a test of whether it can secure a criminal conviction against a major Chinese corporation in an American courtroom. For Huawei, it is an effort to clear its name in a market it has been shut out of. The trial is expected to run for weeks.

Sources