Chinese telecommunications company Hytera Communications has pleaded guilty in Illinois federal court to stealing Motorola Solutions trade secrets covering digital mobile radio technology, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago said on Tuesday.

The telecommunications company could face a fine of up to $60 million for stealing walkie talkie-related trade secrets.

Hytera Communications Corporation Limited has entered a felony guilty plea and executed a plea agreement to address the U.S. Department of Justice’s criminal prosecution of Hytera for misappropriation and theft of confidential trade secrets and proprietary information belonging to Motorola Solutions.

Hytera Communications Corp. admitted to recruiting and hiring former Motorola Solutions employees and directing them to steal digital mobile radio technology.

Hytera could pay a fine of up to $60 million at sentencing in November. The Shenzhen, China-based company was previously ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages in a lawsuit Motorola Solutions filed for stealing trade secrets.

Hytera pleaded guilty in federal court in Chicago to a single criminal count of conspiracy to steal trade secrets, under an agreement announced Tuesday. The company and seven employees had been indicted in 2022.

Chinese two-way-radio company Hytera Communications, whose products are sold in Australia, has admitted conspiring to steal walkie-talkie-related trade secrets from US-headquartered Motorola Solutions.

Chinese tech company pleads guilty to theft of its rival’s trade secrets to develop a competing line of radios | Hytera also reaches plea agreement with US Department of Justice in a related criminal conspiracy case. Already registered?

A Chinese telecommunications company has admitted in federal court in Chicago that it conspired to steal digital mobile

A Chinese company pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing trade secrets from Motorola Solutions. It’s the latest twist in the long-running saga of corporate espionage between Hytera Communications and Motorola that has played out around the globe for nearly a decade.