Taiwan Prosecutors Seek OnePlus CEO Pete Lau Over Alleged Illegal Recruitment Of 70 Engineers
Taiwanese prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for OnePlus founder and chief executive Pete Lau, escalating a long running enforcement push against suspected illegal recruitment operations that target Taiwan’s high value engineering talent pool. The case, first detailed by Taiwan News and echoed by Engadget, centers on allegations that OnePlus recruited more than 70 engineers in Taiwan without obtaining the approvals required under Taiwan’s laws governing cross strait hiring and business activity.
According to reporting tied to the Shilin District Prosecutors Office, the alleged operation ran for years and relied on an indirect structure designed to avoid scrutiny. Prosecutors say a Hong Kong entity was set up under a distinct name and a Taiwan branch was later established without proper authorization, with local hiring reportedly supporting smartphone software work such as application research, development, verification, and testing. In the Taiwan News account, witnesses described software output that was used for OnePlus and Oppo devices, with administrative reporting flowing back to headquarters operations.
Engadget’s coverage frames the allegations through the lens of Taiwan’s cross strait legal guardrails, where mainland China linked firms are required to secure government approval before recruiting Taiwan based workers. That requirement exists because Taiwan treats advanced engineering and semiconductor adjacent expertise as a strategic asset, and authorities have been increasingly vocal that covert hiring structures, including shell companies and third party intermediaries, are a national security and competitiveness issue.
The broader context matters for anyone tracking the mobile and silicon ecosystem. Taiwan is a global concentration point for semiconductor and electronics expertise, which makes it an attractive target for talent acquisition by firms seeking to compress development timelines and gain execution advantages. Past investigations into multiple China based companies have reinforced Taipei’s stance that aggressive recruitment plays can create unacceptable leakage risk across advanced technology domains, particularly where semiconductor knowledge and supply chain relationships are involved.
In the reporting you shared, Taiwan News also points to a wider pattern of alleged talent poaching attempts, including claims that Huawei sought to lure engineers linked to TSMC with compensation packages that were multiples of current pay. That pattern aligns with the incentive reality: experienced Taiwan engineering teams can materially accelerate product roadmaps across mobile hardware, firmware, camera tuning, radio validation, and performance optimization, all of which directly shape consumer experience and competitive positioning in the smartphone arena.
As of the latest round of reports, Lau has not publicly commented on the warrant. Bloomberg reported that Taiwan’s justice ministry had not responded when asked about the case.
From a validation standpoint, the most consistent data points across multiple outlets are the issuing authority, Shilin District Prosecutors Office, the alleged scale, more than 70 Taiwan based hires, and the central claim that the hiring and business operations were conducted without required approvals. Where details vary is mainly in naming conventions of the alleged corporate structure and specific dates cited for the setup of the Hong Kong and Taiwan entities, but the core allegation set remains aligned across coverage.
What do you think is the most effective way for Taiwan to protect strategic talent without chilling legitimate international collaboration and career mobility for engineers?
