Why have US prosecutors labelled China’s Huawei a criminal enterprise?

The US criminal case against Huawei opened in Brooklyn federal court on September 9, with prosecutors portraying the Chinese telecommunications giant as a long-running criminal enterprise. Authorities allege the company engaged in a range of illegal activity over roughly two decades, including stealing source code and other trade secrets from US technology firms, deceiving banks to move dollars in violation of sanctions on Iran, and laundering money.

Prosecutors have pointed to specific incidents they say illustrate the broader pattern, naming alleged thefts such as internet-router source code from Cisco and a robotic arm used by T-Mobile to test phones. They also contend Huawei concealed the nature of some operations in Iran to continue moving funds through the US financial system, and supplied equipment that could have assisted Iranian authorities in monitoring protesters.

Huawei has entered a not-guilty plea and rejects the government's characterization of the company. In opening remarks for the defence, Huawei attorney Brian Heberlig argued the case concerns competition and routine corporate activity rather than a company-wide conspiracy, saying isolated actions by individual employees were being used to construct a criminal narrative. The company has called the broader prosecution an attempt to undermine its competitiveness.

The trial coincides with heightened diplomatic sensitivity: it overlaps with President Xi Jinping’s scheduled visit to Washington from September 23 to 25, where technology, trade and AI are expected to be key topics. Beijing has sharply criticised the prosecution; a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said the government opposes what it described as US suppression of Chinese companies and voiced support for Huawei safeguarding its legal rights.

The case builds on earlier controversies involving Huawei. The company was placed on a US trade blacklist in 2019 during the Trump administration, and its chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested in 2018 on a US warrant related to alleged bank fraud tied to Iranian business; Meng returned to China in 2021 under a deferred prosecution agreement. Admissions she made under that agreement were ruled admissible in the current trial in June. Separately, Belgian prosecutors opened a bribery investigation in 2025 linked to the European Parliament, and Huawei has said it will cooperate with authorities and maintains a zero-tolerance approach to corruption.