The reports about the investigation came shortly after the US Department of Justice charged Huawei and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, with an alleged violation of sanctions against Iran, according to CNBC. Huawei was also charged with allegedly stealing trade secrets from T-Mobile.
READ MORE: US Charges Against Huawei May ‘Toughen’ China’s Stance During Trade Negotiations
The newest investigation deals with trade secrets and the violation of federal regulations around technologies with the potential for use in defence, according to a new report by Bloomberg Businessweek.
The report says executives for an electronics component company, Akhan Semiconductor, aided an FBI investigation into Huawei’s alleged attempted to steal Akhan's smartphone glass technology called Miraj. The glass, which according to Akhan is 6 times stronger and 10 times more scratch-resistant than Gorilla Glass, is practically unbreakable due to a layer of artificial diamond, which could also hold implications for defense technology.
Khan suspected that Huawei might have attempted to steal his company’s technology, which led to the two executives later becoming part of the FBI investigation when the Bureau asked them to travel to Las Vegas and conduct a meeting with Huawei representatives at last month’s Consumer Electronics Show. Shurboff was outfitted with surveillance devices and recorded the conversation during a meeting at a hamburger restaurant in a Las Vegas casino, which was witnessed from a distance by a Businessweek reporter.
"Akhan takes seriously any unlawful use of its technology. The theft of any Akhan assets, attempted or successful, will be not be tolerated. Akhan will continue to cooperate with law enforcement and work towards an expedient resolution to this matter," the company said in a press release Monday.
Neither the FBI nor representatives for Huawei commented on the matter.
