A former Google software engineer has been convicted in the United States of stealing sensitive AI hardware information and using it to support two China-based technology startups, one of which he founded.
Linwei Leung Ding was found guilty on Thursday of seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets. Prosecutors said that while working for Google, Ding stole confidential information related to Google’s tensor processing units, graphics processing units, and SmartNIC networking technology.
Ding joined Google in May 2019 as a software engineer focused on improving GPU performance for machine learning systems used by Google and Google Cloud. In that role, he had access to proprietary technical data protected by the company’s internal security controls.
Around the same time, Ding was approached by the CEO of a Beijing-based startup focused on accelerating machine learning and was offered a senior position within the company with a lucrative package. He then visited China, attended an investor conference, and by mid-2023 established his own company, Shanghai Zhisuan Technology Co., and became CEO.
Prosecutors said internal documents and pitches to investors showed that Jixuan planned to replicate and enhance large-scale computing platforms similar to those used by Google, with the intention of selling the technology to entities connected to the Chinese state, including government agencies and academic institutions.
Suspicions against Google were further heightened in late 2023 after Ding uploaded additional files to another personal cloud account while in China. Soon after, company investigators discovered that Mr. Ding was appearing publicly as head of his own startup, even though he was still employed by Google. His access was suspended, his work devices were seized, and the FBI later executed a search warrant.
The defense argued that prosecutors had failed to prove that Ding provided secrets directly to or on behalf of the Chinese government. However, the judge said there was sufficient evidence for a trial, and the jury unanimously found Mr Ding guilty on all charges.
The U.S. Department of Justice said available evidence shows Ding intended to benefit companies controlled by the Chinese government by helping build AI infrastructure and developing custom machine learning chips.
Depending on federal sentencing guidelines, Mr. Ding could face up to 10 years in prison for each count of trade secret theft and up to 15 years for each count of economic espionage.
