The Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Court has handed down a first-instance verdict in the case involving Zunpai Communications Technology (Nanjing) Co., Ltd. founder Zhang Kun and others accused of infringing upon Huawei's trade secrets. Zhang Kun was sentenced to six years in prison and fined 3 million yuan for illegally acquiring Huawei's Wi-Fi 6 chip technology. The case encompassed 14 suspects, several of whom were former Huawei R&D personnel who allegedly stole technical information before departing the company to utilize it in Zunpai's chip design processes. Upon analysis, it was revealed that the infringing chip technology aligned closely with Huawei's trade secrets across 40 technical aspects. Following the resolution of the case, the infringing chips were confiscated, the funds of the related companies were frozen, and the companies themselves were dissolved.
Xiaomi, which had previously invested in Zunpai, denied any involvement in the theft of technology. Huawei emphasized that this verdict represents a significant triumph for intellectual property protection.