Former Google engineer convicted in US for stealing AI trade secrets linked to China

A former Google software engineer has been convicted by a federal jury in San Francisco for stealing confidential artificial intelligence-related information from the tech giant while secretly working with Chinese companies, according to the US Department of Justice.

Linwei Ding, a 38-year-old Chinese national also known as Leon Ding, was found guilty after an 11-day trial on 14 charges, including seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets. Prosecutors said Ding unlawfully obtained thousands of pages of proprietary material related to Google’s AI hardware and software systems.

The stolen information reportedly focused on the infrastructure that supports Google’s supercomputing data centres, which are used to train large-scale AI models. Authorities said some of the material included sensitive chip design details that were intended to help Google maintain a competitive advantage over cloud rivals such as Amazon and Microsoft, while reducing dependence on Nvidia-manufactured chips.

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Each economic espionage charge carries a potential sentence of up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $5 million, while each trade secret theft charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.

Ding is scheduled to appear at a status conference on February 3. His legal counsel did not immediately respond to requests for comment following the verdict.

Court filings show that Ding joined Google in May 2019 and allegedly began stealing confidential data in 2022, around the same time he was being approached by an early-stage Chinese technology firm. Prosecutors said he was also connected to a second China-based company while still employed at Google.

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The case was handled under the US government’s Disruptive Technology Strike Force, an interagency initiative launched in 2023 to prevent sensitive technologies from being transferred to foreign adversaries.

Google was not accused of wrongdoing and has stated that it cooperated fully with investigators. The company declined to comment immediately after the verdict.