Ex-Google engineer convicted in US for stealing AI secrets for Chinese company
The jury found that Linwei Ding stole more than 2,000 pages of confidential Google documents detailing trade secrets related to the hardware and software used to train and operate large AI models.
A federal jury in San Francisco has convicted former Google software engineer Linwei Ding. (File Photo)
A federal jury in San Francisco has convicted former Google software engineer Linwei Ding, also known as Leon Ding, of economic espionage and theft of trade secrets for stealing confidential artificial intelligence technology for the benefit of China, the US Justice Department said on Friday.
Ding, 38, was found guilty on seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets following an 11-day trial before US District Judge Vince Chhabria in the Northern District of California.
“This conviction exposes a calculated breach of trust involving some of the most advanced AI technology in the world at a critical moment in AI development,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said. “Ding abused his privileged access to steal AI trade secrets while pursuing PRC government-aligned ventures.”
Who is Linwei Ding
According to prosecutors, Ding was a Google software engineer who had access to sensitive information related to the company’s artificial intelligence supercomputing infrastructure. While employed at Google between 2022 and 2023, Ding secretly affiliated himself with two China-based technology firms and pursued business ventures aligned with Beijing’s national AI development goals, the Justice Department said.
Prosecutors said Ding discussed becoming the chief technology officer of a China-based startup and later founded his own AI-focused company in China, where he acted as its chief executive officer.
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“In today’s high-stakes race to dominate artificial intelligence, Linwei Ding betrayed both the US and his employer,” said FBI Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky. “This case marks the first-ever conviction on AI-related economic espionage charges.”
What prosecutors say he stole
The jury found that Ding stole more than 2,000 pages of confidential Google documents detailing trade secrets related to the hardware and software used to train and operate large AI models.
The stolen information included designs for Google’s custom Tensor Processing Unit chips, graphics processing unit systems, and the software that allows thousands of chips to operate together as AI supercomputers, according to the Justice Department. Prosecutors said Ding also took trade secrets related to Google’s SmartNIC networking technology.
“These systems sit at the core of Google’s AI capabilities,” US Attorney Craig H. Missakian said. “The jury delivered a clear message that the theft of this valuable technology will not go unpunished.”
Links to China’s talent programmes
Evidence presented at trial showed that Ding applied in late 2023 for a government-sponsored Chinese “talent plan” in Shanghai aimed at attracting overseas experts. In his application, Ding wrote that he planned to help China build computing infrastructure “on par with the international level,” prosecutors said.
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The Justice Department said Ding intended to benefit entities controlled by the Chinese government by assisting with the development of an AI supercomputer and custom machine learning chips.
“This theft threatened America’s technological edge and economic competitiveness,” said FBI San Francisco Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani.
Ding was first indicted in March 2024, with a superseding indictment filed in February 2025. He is scheduled to appear in court again on February 3, 2026.
He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each count of theft of trade secrets and up to 15 years for each count of economic espionage. Any sentence will be determined by the court under federal sentencing guidelines, the Justice Department said.
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A federal jury in San Francisco has convicted former Google software engineer Linwei Ding. (File Photo) 
