The Belgian Prosecutor's Office announced this Monday that an individual with dual Belgian and Chinese nationality has been in preventive detention since May for alleged espionage and unlawful appropriation of trade secrets in a semiconductor company dedicated to technology for electric vehicles, as well as to the aerospace and military sectors.
The arrested individual, a 52-year-old man born in Beijing and residing in Leuven, was detained on May 10 at Brussels International Airport - Zaventem when he was about to board a flight to the Chinese capital. The country's authorities are still trying to locate a second person involved in these espionage activities, according to the Prosecutor's Office in a statement released by Europa Press.
The judicial police are investigating possible crimes of espionage, membership in a criminal organization, abuse of corporate assets, and unlawful dissemination of trade secrets. The suspect held a managerial position in a company called Belgan, specialized in gallium nitride semiconductors, which declared bankruptcy in July 2024 and proceeded to lay off more than 400 employees.
According to the investigations, the accused would have worked simultaneously, while holding his position in the Belgian firm, for another Chinese company in the same field, created with funding from a Chinese investment fund a few months after joining the company in Belgium.
The federal Prosecutor's Office is confident that the investigation will determine whether there was an illegal transfer abroad of sensitive intellectual property and trade secrets related to the manufacturing of gallium chips, a technology that, as the Prosecutor's Office itself recalls, is prominently used in electric vehicles, aerospace, and the military and aerospace industry.