[8] The company has faced criticism in the United States, India, and Sweden over ties to the Chinese government that could enable mass surveillance.

The ban was lifted in July 2018 after ZTE replaced its senior management, and agreed to pay additional fines and establish an internal compliance team for 10 years.

[16] ZTE, initially founded as Zhongxing Semiconductor Co., Ltd in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in 1985, was incorporated by a group of investors associated with China's Ministry of Aerospace Industry.

[35] In March 2017, ZTE pleaded guilty to illegally exporting U.S. technology to Iran and North Korea in violation of trade sanctions, and was fined a total of US$1.19 billion by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

[38][39][40] At least 25% of components on recent ZTE smartphones originated from the U.S., including Qualcomm processors and certified Android software with Google Mobile Services.

[57] In December 2020, the U.S. Congress included $1.9 billion to help telecom carriers in rural areas of the U.S. to remove ZTE equipment and networks they had previously purchased.

[58] In January 2021, Gina Raimondo, President Joe Biden's nominee for United States Secretary of Commerce, said in her confirmation hearings that she would protect U.S. networks from interference by Chinese companies including ZTE.

[59] In June 2021, the FCC voted unanimously to prohibit approvals of ZTE gear in U.S. telecommunication networks on national security grounds.

[62] In 2020, it was disclosed that the United States Department of Justice opened an investigation into ZTE for potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

[72] ZTE has several international subsidiaries in countries including Indonesia, Australia,[73][74] Germany,[75] the United States,[76][77] India,[78] Brazil,[79][80] Sri Lanka,[81] Myanmar,[82] Singapore,[83] and Romania.

[85] Zonergy is a renewables company with interests in electricity generation through solar parks in China and Pakistan and palm oil cultivation in Indonesia to produce biofuels.

[102] Since 2015, several U.S.-based National Basketball Association teams have had sponsorship deals with ZTE, including the Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors, and New York Knicks.

[105][106][107][108][109] Norwegian telecommunications giant Telenor, one of the world's largest mobile operators, banned ZTE from "participating in tenders and new business opportunities for 6 months because of an alleged breach of its code of conduct in a procurement proceeding" during a five-month time span ending in March 2009.

[111][112] Court documents filed in the US show that ZTE had a practice of handing over “brown paper bags” of cash to win contracts in West Africa.

[113][114] In December 2010, ZTE sold systems for eavesdropping on phone and Internet communications to the government-controlled Telecommunication Company of Iran.

[117] In 2012, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence issued a report recommending that the government be prohibited from purchasing equipment from the firms, citing them as possible threats to national security.

[20][118][119][120] A ban on government purchases of Huawei and ZTE equipment was formalized in a defense funding bill passed in August 2018.

Research from Yale University published on 10 August 2022 identified ZTE among the companies defying demands to exit Russia or reduce business activities.