Security News > 2020 > June > Man Convicted of Stealing High Tech Trade Secrets for China
A federal judge has convicted a Chinese national of economic espionage, stealing trade secrets and engaging in a conspiracy for the benefit of his country's government.
The decision comes five years after Zhang was indicted on charges of conspiring to steal technology from two companies shortly after graduating from the University of Southern California.
The trade secrets were heisted from Zhang's former employer, Skyworks Solutions in Woburn, Massachusetts, and Avago Technlogies, a San Jose, California, company later acquired by chipmaker Broadcom.
The conviction is part of efforts to crack down on China's alleged theft of patented technology created in the U.S, a problem underlying the costly trade war between the two countries in recent years.
The verdict "Is an important step in holding accountable an individual who robbed his U.S. employer of trade secrets and sought to replicate the company's technology and replace its market share," said John Demers, the Justice Department's assistant attorney general for national security.