A former Google software engineer, Linwei Ding, has been hit with a new 14-count indictment, accusing him of stealing artificial intelligence trade secrets to benefit two Chinese companies. Ding, 38, a Chinese national, was charged by a federal grand jury in San Francisco with seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets. The charges stem from his actions during his time at Google, where he allegedly stole sensitive information related to the company’s supercomputing data centers, which are crucial for training large AI models.
Each economic espionage charge carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence and a $5 million fine, while each theft of trade secrets charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Ding was originally indicted in March 2023 on four counts of theft of trade secrets. He remains free on bond as his case proceeds. His defense lawyers have not yet commented.
The case is part of a broader initiative by the Biden administration, known as the Disruptive Technology Strike Force, which was launched in 2023 to prevent advanced technology from being acquired by adversarial countries like China and Russia. According to prosecutors, Ding began stealing proprietary information in 2022, after being recruited by a Chinese startup, and allegedly uploaded more than 1,000 confidential files before May 2023. These files reportedly included chip blueprints aimed at giving Google an edge in the competitive cloud computing industry, particularly against rivals like Amazon and Microsoft, as well as reducing its reliance on Nvidia chips.
Ding’s alleged thefts were discovered when he circulated a PowerPoint presentation detailing his plans for China’s AI industry to employees of the startup he co-founded. Google has not been charged and has cooperated with law enforcement throughout the investigation.
The case is being closely watched and may go to trial, although discussions have been held about a potential resolution.