Professor, Chinese University Conspired To Steal Trade Secrets

The DOJ announced the conviction of Professor Zhang Hao, a Chinese national who stole trade secrets from two U.S. tech companies. He worked with China’s Tianjin University, and a firm he and a co-defendant started, to unfairly compete in the multi-billion-dollar market for radio frequency filters on electronic devices. Zhang stole trade secrets from Silicon Valley-based Avago, where he was employed and Massachusetts-based Skyworks. He launched a business in China while he was working for Avago and his accomplice, Pang Wei was employed by Skyworks. Both later became professors at Tianjin University and worked with the school to form another company, Novana, using information they stole from the U.S. companies. Zhang patented the stolen trade secrets. He was arrested in Los Angeles during a trip he was making to Phoenix for the international microwave symposium, in 2015. Zhang’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 31. He faces up to 15 years in prison for economic espionage and 10 years for theft of trade secrets