Taiwanese prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for OnePlus chief executive officer Pete Lau, accusing him of involvement in the illegal recruitment of local engineers. According to Bloomberg, the Shilin District Prosecutors Office has also indicted two Taiwanese citizens who allegedly worked for Lau and helped recruit more than 70 engineers in Taiwan without authorisation.
The case comes as Taiwan steps up enforcement against Chinese companies accused of poaching local talent, particularly from high-tech and semiconductor-related industries. Its authorities argue that unchecked recruitment from these sectors could pose risks to national security due to the strategic importance of the expertise involved.
Prosecutors allege that the defendants violated the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area. Under current regulations, Chinese companies are not allowed to establish local operations or hire Taiwanese employees without formal government approval.
While Lau did not immediately respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment, OnePlus said in a statement that its business operations remain normal and unaffected by the case. The company did not directly address the allegations surrounding the recruitment activities.
Taiwanese officials say some Chinese technology firms have attempted to bypass restrictions by setting up local offices under the guise of foreign or domestic entities. In one high-profile case last year, investigators said Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) established a Taiwan presence disguised as a Samoan company to hire local engineers.
As part of its crackdown, Taiwanese investigators raided 34 locations across the island last year in connection with probes into 11 Chinese tech companies. Bloomberg adds that the Investigation Bureau later revealed that it has opened more than 100 investigations into illegal recruitment by Chinese firms since forming a dedicated task force in 2020.
Pete Lau began his career as a hardware engineer at OPPO before leaving the company in November 2013. He went on to found OnePlus a month later alongside Carl Pei, who later left the company in 2020 and now serves as CEO of Nothing. Despite the brand sharing parts of OPPO’s manufacturing and supply chain, Lau has consistently maintained that OnePlus operates independently and is not a subsidiary of the Chinese smartphone giant.
(Source: Bloomberg)
