Former Google engineer convicted of economic espionage after stealing thousands of secret AI, supercomputing documents

Linwei Ding told Chinese investors he could build a world-class supercomputer

Google logo pictured above the entrance to the company's King's Cross office in London, UK.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

A former Google software engineer has been convicted on seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of AI trade secrets after stealing sensitive company documents.

Linwei Ding, also known as Leon Ding, 38, stole thousands of pages of confidential information containing Google trade secrets related to AI technology. The jury’s verdict followed an 11-day trial before US district Judge Vince Chhabria.

"Silicon Valley is at the forefront of artificial intelligence innovation, pioneering transformative work that drives economic growth and strengthens our national security," said US attorney Craig Missakian.

"The jury delivered a clear message today that the theft of this valuable technology will not go unpunished. We will vigorously protect American intellectual capital from foreign interests that seek to gain an unfair competitive advantage while putting our national security at risk."

According to the evidence presented at the trial, while working at Google between May 2022 and April 2023, Ding stole more than two thousand pages of confidential information.

He then uploaded them to his personal Google Cloud account in December 2023, less than two weeks before he resigned from Google.

Working with Chinese companies

Prosecutors said Ding secretly hooked up with two China-based technology companies and began founding his own technology startup, applying for a Chinese government-sponsored “talent plan”.

This program was designed to encourage people working in research and development outside China to send their knowledge and research back to China in exchange for salaries, research funds, lab space, or other incentives.

In a PowerPoint presentation that formed part of his application, Ding claimed that his company’s product “will help China to have computing power infrastructure capabilities that are on par with the international level.”

The trade secrets he stole related to hardware infrastructure and software platforms that allow Google’s supercomputing data center to train and serve large AI models.

They included detailed information about the architecture and functionality of the company's custom Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) chips and GPU systems, for example, as well as its custom-designed SmartNIC AI supercomputer network interface card.

Ding will next appear at a status conference on 3 February and faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each count of theft of trade secrets.

“This conviction reinforces the FBI’s steadfast commitment to protecting American innovation and national security. The theft and misuse of advanced artificial intelligence technology for the benefit of the People’s Republic of China threatens our technological edge and economic competitiveness,” said FBI special agent in charge Sanjay Virmani.

“The FBI San Francisco division serves Silicon Valley and the companies who lead the world in innovation, and we are committed to safeguarding their work.”

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Emma Woollacott

Emma Woollacott is a freelance journalist writing for publications including the BBC, Private Eye, Forbes, Raconteur and specialist technology titles.