Belgian Chip Executive Arrested on Espionage Charges for China
A former senior research executive at BelGaN, the bankrupt chip manufacturer from Oudenaarde, Belgium, has been arrested on suspicion of espionage for China, according to VRT NWS. The 52-year-old man, identified only as H.L. and holding dual Belgian-Chinese nationality, was detained on May 10 at Brussels Zaventem airport as he prepared to board a flight to Beijing. He has remained in pre-trial detention since his arrest warrant was issued the following day.
The federal prosecutor’s office suspects H.L. of espionage, unlawful disclosure of trade secrets, participation in a criminal organization, abuse of corporate assets, and bankruptcy-related offenses. Investigators allege he transferred specialized intellectual property and proprietary knowledge about gallium nitride (GaN) chip production to a Chinese company established shortly after BelGaN fell under Chinese ownership.
A Strategic Belgian Asset Lost
BelGaN’s site in Oudenaarde was established more than 40 years ago as MIETEC and grew into a flagship of Flemish technology. The company was Belgium’s last industrial chip producer, specializing in innovative gallium nitride semiconductors — a next-generation technology used in electric vehicles, aerospace, data centers, smartphones, and military applications.
When BelGaN filed for bankruptcy in July 2024, 440 employees lost their jobs. At the time, the collapse appeared to stem from purely economic causes — the company claimed it could not secure additional investment to fund its transition to GaN technology. Revenue had fallen from approximately 120 million euros in 2021 to about 75 million euros in 2022, recovering only partially to 81 million euros in 2023.
But investigators now suspect the bankruptcy masked a far more troubling scheme. According to RTBF, which broke the story alongside De Standaard, the Chinese owners who acquired BelGaN in February 2022 may never have intended to make the company thrive — rather, they allegedly sought to extract its technology for transfer to China.
The Chinese Takeover and the Gankool Connection
In February 2022, BelGaN was taken over by a consortium of Chinese investors registered in Hong Kong. The new CEO, Alan Zhou Zhen, proclaimed he saw “the chance of my life to build a GaN-Valley from Europe.” H.L. joined the company in a leading research function in August 2022.
However, several months after the takeover, a company called Gankool was established in Fujian province, China. Gankool produced exactly the same technology as BelGaN and was financed by a Chinese investment fund. The timing and technological overlap raised immediate suspicions.
At a March 2023 conference in China, H.L. was presented as Gankool’s technical director and appeared as a keynote speaker alongside Alan Zhou Zhen — the CEO of BelGaN. Notably, H.L.’s LinkedIn profile made no mention of his role at the Chinese company, despite detailing his entire professional career up to that point.
The federal prosecutor’s office stated that “the investigation may point to the unlawful transfer of specialized intellectual property and trade secrets regarding the production of gallium nitride chips abroad.” The prosecutor added that “there are indications that the person concerned, who held a leading research function, was simultaneously active as a director of a Chinese company with similar production activities.”
Investigators suspect H.L. systematically transferred BelGaN’s knowledge and know-how to Gankool. Alan Zhou Zhen, the last CEO of BelGaN, is also wanted by Belgian authorities as a second suspect in the case.
The Mirror Company Tactic
The case has drawn attention to what Belgian intelligence describes as a well-documented Chinese strategy. In its Intelligence Report 2025, the Belgian State Security service (VSSE) explicitly warned about the use of “mirror companies” as a tool for technology acquisition.
According to the VSSE report, “Chinese companies invest in Belgian companies, research centers or spin-offs, preferably in smaller entities that develop promising technologies but struggle with insufficient funding. In this way they gain access to a certain technology. They then set up a mirror company in China that will produce the same technology on a larger scale. The parent company is then, if possible at a profit, sold off again.”
The VSSE’s annual report further noted that “China realizes that it still has a technological disadvantage compared to Europe and the US in some very specific areas. Closing that gap — and building a strategic advantage — is the absolute top priority for the Chinese regime.”
The BelGaN case appears to follow this blueprint almost exactly. Following the bankruptcy, an online auction of BelGaN’s assets raised over 23 million euros, with Chinese companies purchasing approximately 8.5 million euros worth of high-tech machinery.
Legal Proceedings and Defense
H.L. remains in pre-trial detention, though his lawyer, Dimitri de Beco, argues that the indictment chamber has already narrowed the charges. “Even if the facts were considered proven, they cannot be qualified as espionage,” de Beco told VRT NWS. “In that case, it would be about the unlawful sharing of trade secrets.”
The lawyer contends that “the file concerns economic law, and in this case there is no question of a transfer of secrets related to national security for the benefit of a foreign state, and therefore not of espionage either.”
Multiple searches have been conducted during the investigation, and data storage devices and electronic communications have been seized for analysis. The case is being handled by the federal prosecutor’s office, which has jurisdiction over espionage matters.
Broader Concerns About Chinese Espionage
The BelGaN case is not isolated. In June 2026, two Chinese researchers were questioned by federal police in a separate case of suspected academic espionage at the University of Liege, as RTBF reported. The suspects were accused of accessing restricted areas and computer systems at the university’s physics department.
The VSSE has been warning for years about China’s systematic efforts to acquire high-value European technology. In its January 2025 annual report, the service highlighted the growing threat of hybrid operations from Russia and China, including industrial espionage and technology transfer schemes.
A New Chapter for Oudenaarde
While the legal case unfolds, the BelGaN site in Oudenaarde is finding new purpose. In August 2025, Thema Foundries BV announced it had taken over the facility to produce photonic chips — components that use light particles instead of electrons. The company is investing over 200 million euros in what is expected to become Europe’s first fully dedicated photonic chip production center, potentially creating approximately 500 jobs.
The espionage case against H.L. raises fundamental questions about the vulnerability of European strategic industries to foreign technology acquisition. As Belgium’s State Security service has repeatedly warned, the protection of economic interests and intellectual property has become a national security imperative in an era of intensifying technological competition between major powers.
The investigation remains ongoing, and the full extent of any technology transfer may not be known for some time. What is clear is that the collapse of BelGaN — once a symbol of Flemish technological achievement — has become a cautionary tale about the risks facing smaller European nations in the global semiconductor race.
This article is based on reporting by VRT NWS, RTBF, Belga, and ITdaily.