What a start for the tech world in just the second week of 2026, because popular smartphone brand OnePlus is now in hot water, as the name of its CEO, Pete Lau, has been written on a piece of official arrest warrant.
The accusation comes from his involvement in the illegal recruitment of local engineers, with Bloomberg reporting that the Shilin District Prosecutors Office also indicted two Taiwanese citizens said to have worked for Lau and helped recruit more than 70 engineers in Taiwan without authorization.
This comes as Taiwan steps up enforcement against Chinese companies accused of poaching local talent, especially from high-tech and semiconductor-related sectors, with authorities arguing that uncontrolled hiring from these industries could pose national security risks because of how strategically important that expertise is.
Further details from the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area explained that Chinese companies are not allowed to set up local operations or hire Taiwanese employees without formal government approval.
Despite all of that, some Chinese tech firms allegedly try to bypass restrictions by setting up offices under the guise of foreign or domestic entities, and they’ve previously cited a case where Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp was said to have established a Taiwan presence disguised as a Samoan company to hire engineers.
As part of the broader crackdown, investigators reportedly raided 34 locations across Taiwan last year in probes linked to 11 Chinese tech companies, while the Investigation Bureau later revealed it has opened more than 100 investigations into illegal recruitment by Chinese firms since forming a dedicated task force in 2020.
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