The joint venture between  Huawei Technologies and Symantec is on the verge of break-up because Symantec feared the alliance with the Chinese company would prevent it from obtaining United States government classified information about cyberthreats, reports New York Times

Huawei Symantec is a Hong Kong-based joint venture established by Huawei and Symantec in 2008. The tow companies entered into an agreement on a transaction where Huawei acquired Symantec''s 49 percent stake in Huawei Symantec Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Symantec) for USD $530 million.

The company provides customers with innovative security, storage and systems management solutions. Over the past few months, Huawei and Symantec have held several rounds of discussions and negotiations over the future of the joint venture. Huawei and Symantec have mutually agreed that the next stage of growth for the joint venture would benefit from the direction of a singleowner.

The newspaper quoted two sources to suggest that Symantec’s decision was a pre-emptive political maneuver timed to coincide with the United States government’s efforts to share more classified cyberthreat information with the private sector. People with knowledge of the venture, who would speak only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak, said Huawei had already laid off several workers in Huawei Symantec’s Silicon Valley offices this month and planned to move its entire operation out of the United States, largely because of increased American government oversight.

It said that in the next two weeks, Symantec, the Mountain View, Calif., computer security software firm, is expected to sell its 49 percent stake in the venture to Huawei for $530 million. The companies first announced the sale last November.