US prosecutors call Huawei a ‘criminal enterprise’ as landmark trial begins

On Wednesday, a prosecutor in the U.S. stated in front of a jury in Brooklyn that Huawei was a “criminal enterprise“, which marked the start of a trial regarding trade secret theft, sanctions infringement, and bank fraud that had been delayed for a long time. Huawei has denied all charges brought against it.

Accusations date back several years, but their impact in 2026 is different. Huawei is currently involved in Beijing’s attempt to develop an AI-chip ecosystem independent of U.S. technology, while Nvidia experiences growing competition from China-based businesses.

“Theft, lies, cover-up” versus “competition, not conspiracy”

“Theft, lies, cover-up,” Justice Department trial attorney Taylor Stout told jurors, alleging Huawei spent two decades victimizing U.S. companies and abusing the financial system.

Prosecutors say Huawei conspired to steal trade secrets from five American companies, including Cisco router source code and T-Mobile phone-testing technology.

Huawei’s representative rejected that image. Attorney Brian Heberlig characterized the litigation as a matter of “competition, not conspiracy,” and accused the prosecution of using only “cherry-picking isolated events.” He added that the Cisco and T-Mobile incidents did not involve the whole company but only particular employees, and the management took action upon finding out about these incidents.

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