Apple's Chinese supplier, Luxshare Precision Industry's head has been reportedly indicted by the Taiwanese prosecutors for using a shell company to secretly take over a key local company. Luxshare Chairperson Grace Wang has allegedly used a Hong Kong firm to mask her company's identity and buy shares in Taiwan-headquartered Speed Tech in 2012.
Prosecutors alleged in a court filing that Luxshare
Chairwoman Grace Wang used a Hong Kong firm to mask her company’s identity and
buy shares in Speed Tech Corp. in 2012, according to a copy of the document
seen by Bloomberg News. Taiwanese law forbids mainland Chinese companies from
conducting business on the island without approval from the local authorities.
American agencies including the FBI have accused Beijing of
encouraging people to steal technology that advances its own interests. Taipei
sees the outflow of silicon engineers and technology to mainland companies as a
key national security issue, and this year began to enforce regulations
prohibiting Chinese firms from hiring away top-flight talent in sensitive
sectors such as chips.
Luxshare joined the exclusive club of global iPhone
assemblers in recent years, marking a seismic shift to a decade-old production
model just as Washington-Beijing tensions escalated. It struck a deal to
acquire Wistron Corp.’s iPhone unit and become the first mainland company to
assemble Apple Inc.’s marquee device.
Luxshare is among the largest of a crop of fast-rising
Chinese electronics houses increasingly snatching Apple orders away from
established firms like Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. It’s become the world’s
biggest maker of AirPods -- one of the fastest-selling consumer accessories in the
market before Covid and a global economic downturn hammered demand for
electronics.
Representatives for the company didn’t respond to requests
for comment.