A new Google product for securely logging into web services is made by a company based in China called Feitian, CNBC has learned.

The arrangement is somewhat unusual given Google's continuing hardware push in recent years, as the company has sought to compete more directly with device makers like LG and Samsung. Google doubled down on hardware last year when it moved to acquire talent and intellectual property from HTC.

Meanwhile, China has recently been a hotspot for Google. CEO Sundar Pichai told employees earlier this month that the company was "not close" to launching a search product in China, following reports that Google was planning to return to the country.

Google announced Titan at its Next cloud conference in San Francisco last month, noting that it comes with "firmware developed by Google to verify its integrity," but the company did not identify the maker of the product. But the wireless key bears a resemblance to a wireless key product from Feitian, a security company based in Beijing that went public on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2014.

An employee who answered CNBC's phone call to Feitian's office in Santa Clara, California, confirmed that Feitian is working with Google on Titan. Another source familiar with the project also confirmed the partnership. The Information separately reported the partnership earlier Thursday.

A Google spokeswoman told CNBC that Google is Titan's "manufacturer of record" and that an unnamed third party is the one that in fact makes the Titan keys. But the spokeswoman declined to specify whether Feitian made the keys.

The arrangement has precedent for Google. In 2016 Google emphasized that it was the "seller of record" of its first Pixel smartphones even though HTC was the contract manufacturer, as Wired reported.