Ex-Google tech worker is convicted of economic spying to benefit China

A federal jury has convicted a former Google tech engineer of economic espionage and theft of confidential artificial intelligence technology as part of a scheme to benefit China, federal justice officials announced on Thursday.

Linwei Ding, 38, who is also known as Leon Ding, was convicted by the jury after an 11-day trial in a federal court in the Bay Area, the U.S. Justice Department office in San Francisco announced Thursday.

The jury found Ding guilty on seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets. The jury determined Ding stole thousands of pages of confidential information containing Google’s trade secrets related to artificial intelligence technology.

“Silicon Valley is at the forefront of artificial intelligence innovation, pioneering transformative work that drives economic growth and strengthens our national security,” U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian stated in a prepared release. “The jury delivered a clear message that the theft of this valuable technology will not go unpunished.”

The FBI investigated the matter and secured the information required for Ding to be indicted and then convicted, federal officials stated.

“The theft and misuse of advanced artificial intelligence technology for the benefit of the People’s Republic of China threatens our technological edge and economic competitiveness,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani said.

In 2024, federal justice officials described Ding as a Chinese national who was living in Newark at the time Ding stole Google trade secrets and transferred them to his personal Google Cloud account, according to the indictment.

Ding, the indictment stated, secretly affiliated himself with two China-based technology companies at the same time he was still working for Mountain View-based Google.

“Between approximately May 2022 and April 2023, while a Google employee, Ding stole more than 2,000 pages of confidential information containing Google’s AI trade secrets from Google’s network,” the U.S. Justice Department stated, citing evidence presented at the jury trial.

Ding, the evidence showed, engaged in discussions to become the chief technology officer of one China-based tech firm and was the acting chief executive officer of another tech company based in China.

“In multiple statements to potential investors, Ding claimed that he could build an AI supercomputer by copying and modifying Google’s technology,” the Justice Department stated, referring to the evidence presented during the trial.

Ding, the trial evidence disclosed, aimed to help China greatly improve its artificial intelligence capabilities.

Ding downloaded the stolen trade secrets in December 2023, just two weeks before he resigned from Google, the trial evidence revealed.

“The evidence at trial showed that Ding intended to benefit two entities controlled by the government of China by assisting with the development of an AI supercomputer and collaborating on the research and development of custom machine learning chips,” the U.S. Justice Department stated.