A former Google engineer accused of stealing hundreds of the corporate’s confidential paperwork to construct a startup in China has been convicted within the U.S., the Division of Justice (DoJ) introduced Thursday.
Linwei Ding (aka Leon Ding), 38, was convicted by a federal jury on seven counts of financial espionage and 7 counts of theft of commerce secrets and techniques for taking on 2,000 paperwork containing the tech big’s commerce secrets and techniques associated to synthetic intelligence (AI) know-how for the good thing about the Individuals’s Republic of China (PRC).
“Silicon Valley is on the forefront of synthetic intelligence innovation, pioneering transformative work that drives financial progress and strengthens our nationwide safety,” stated U.S. Legal professional Craig H. Missakian. “We’ll vigorously shield American mental capital from international pursuits that search to achieve an unfair aggressive benefit whereas placing our nationwide safety in danger.”
Ding was indicted in March 2024 for transferring delicate proprietary info from Google’s community to his private Google Cloud account. The stolen paperwork included particulars concerning the firm’s supercomputing information heart infrastructure used for operating AI fashions, the Cluster Administration System (CMS) software program for managing the info facilities, and the AI fashions and functions they supported.
Particularly, the commerce secrets and techniques pertained to –
- Structure and performance of Google’s customized Tensor Processing Unit chips and programs, and Google’s Graphics Processing Unit programs
- Software program that enables the chips to speak and execute duties
- Software program that orchestrates hundreds of chips right into a supercomputer able to coaching and executing cutting-edge AI workloads
- Customized-designed SmartNIC, a sort of community interface card used to facilitate high-speed communication inside Google’s AI supercomputers and cloud networking merchandise
The theft came about between Might 2022 and April 2023. Ding, who joined Google in 2019, is claimed to have affiliated himself with two tech corporations based mostly in China, together with a startup named Shanghai Zhisuan Applied sciences Co., which he based in 2023, whereas he was employed by the agency. Ding downloaded the paperwork to his pc in December 2023, lower than two weeks earlier than resigning from Google.
“Round June 2022, Ding was in discussions to be the Chief Know-how Officer for an early-stage know-how firm based mostly within the PRC; by early 2023, Ding was within the technique of founding his personal know-how firm within the PRC targeted on AI and machine studying and was performing as the corporate’s CEO,” the DoJ stated.
The 2024 incident additionally alleged that the defendant took various deceitful steps to cowl up the theft of commerce secrets and techniques, together with copying the info from Google supply information into the Apple Notes software on his company-provided MacBook after which changing the notes to PDF information earlier than importing them to his Google account.
Moreover, prosecutors accused Ding of asking one other Google worker to make use of his company-issued entry badge to scan into the doorway of a Google constructing, and provides the impression that he was working from the workplace when, actually, he was in China. The scheme unravelled in late 2023 when Google discovered that he had given a public presentation in China to potential traders about his startup.
In line with Courthouse Information, Ding’s lawyer Grant Fondo reportedly argued that Google didn’t do sufficient to guard the knowledge, and that they might not have contained commerce secrets and techniques as a result of the paperwork in query have been accessible to hundreds of workers. “Google selected openness over safety,” Fonda stated.
In February 2025, Ding was charged with financial espionage, with the superseding indictment additionally claiming he utilized to a Shanghai-based “expertise” sponsored by Beijing. The indictment additionally referred to as out these expertise applications for encouraging people engaged in analysis and growth exterior the nation to come back to China to contribute to the nation’s financial and technological progress.
“Ding’s software for this expertise plan acknowledged that he deliberate to ‘assist China to have computing energy infrastructure capabilities which are on par with the worldwide stage,'” the DoJ stated. “The proof at trial additionally confirmed that Ding supposed to profit two entities managed by the federal government of China by aiding with the event of an AI supercomputer and collaborating on the analysis and growth of customized machine studying chips.”
Ding is scheduled to look at a standing convention on February 3, 2026. He faces a most sentence of 10 years in jail for every rely of theft of commerce secrets and techniques and 15 years in jail for every financial espionage rely.
