2 - Former Classmates Coordinate Economic Espionage

Chinese national, Hao Zhang, was convicted of economic espionage and theft of trade secrets for his operations involving American companies Avago and Skyworks. From 2010 to 2015 he coordinated with co-conspirators from Tianjin University in China to take the IP from Avago and Skyworks and recreate the optoelectronics equipment for his own company domestically in China. According to the justice department report, Zhang was focused on stealing Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) and Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) filters which are used in wireless devices to eliminate interference from other devices and signals.

The particular technology in question relates to the Film Bulk Acoustic Resonators (FBAR) developed by Avago that allows for smaller and more efficient devices. These FBAR filters are dual use and are used in military and civilian communications technology. Zhang had an accomplice, Wei Pang, who worked at Avago at the same time as him. Both were involved in the coordination with Chinese Tianjin University and in 2009, they had relocated to China. This relocation plan was facilitated by officials from Tianjin University and was slated to result in the formation of another company, Novana, in the Cayman Islands. Novana was to be a competitor company to Avago and Skyworks for FBAR technology.