A federal jury in San Francisco convicted former Google software engineer Linwei Ding, aged 38, on seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets for illicitly obtaining confidential information concerning Google’s artificial intelligence technology for the benefit of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The verdict followed an 11-day trial presided over by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in the Northern District of California.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg stated that the conviction exposes a calculated breach of trust involving some of the world’s most advanced AI technology during a critical development period. Authorities asserted that Ding abused his privileged access while simultaneously pursuing ventures aligned with the PRC government, thereby risking U.S. technological leadership.
Evidence presented during the trial indicated that between May 2022 and April 2023, Ding exfiltrated more than two thousand pages of confidential AI trade secrets to his personal Google Cloud account. Concurrently, Ding secretly affiliated with two PRC-based technology firms, reportedly engaging in discussions to become a CTO and later founding his own AI/machine learning company in the PRC, where he acted as CEO.
The stolen secrets detailed the hardware infrastructure and software platforms underpinning Google’s supercomputing data centers used for training large AI models. This included proprietary information on custom Tensor Processing Unit chips, Graphics Processing Unit systems, and the specialized software orchestrating these components into high-performance AI supercomputers.
In presentations to potential investors, Ding allegedly claimed he could replicate Google’s AI supercomputer capabilities by copying and modifying the stolen technology. Furthermore, Ding applied for a government-sponsored “talent plan” in Shanghai in late 2023, stating his intent to help China achieve computing power infrastructure on par with international levels.
FBI Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky noted that this case represents the first conviction on AI-related economic espionage charges, underscoring the Bureau’s commitment to safeguarding American businesses from threats posed by foreign adversaries. U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian affirmed that the jury delivered a clear message that the theft of this valuable intellectual capital will not go unpunished.
Ding, who downloaded the final set of secrets to his personal computer shortly before resigning in December 2023, faces significant penalties. He is scheduled for a status conference on February 3, 2026, and could receive up to ten years for each theft count and fifteen years for each economic espionage count.
This prosecution reinforces the federal government's resolve to enforce laws protecting critical U.S. innovation, particularly in the rapidly advancing field of artificial intelligence, where technological advantage is increasingly tied to national security and economic competitiveness.
