U.S. startup accuses Huawei executive of involvement in trade-secrets theft: WSJ

(Reuters) - A Silicon Valley chip startup has accused a top executive of China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, Deputy Chairman Eric Xu, of participating in a conspiracy to steal its trade secrets, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing court documents. The allegations were made in a lawsuit set for trial on June 3 in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas, in which CNEX Labs Inc claimed that Huawei engaged in a multi-year conspiracy to steal the company's solid-state drive computer storage technology, including with the help of a Chinese university, the WSJ reported. Huawei said in a statement on Thursday the allegations against Xu were "groundless". CNEX did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment. California-based CNEX is developing technology to enhance the performance of solid-state drives in data centers and has been in a dispute with Huawei since 2017. It had accused Huawei of enlisting a Chinese university professor working on a research project to improperly access the startup's technology. (Reporting by Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Anne Marie Roantree in Hong Kong; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Christopher Cushing)