We’ve got a juicy story out of the tech world that sounds like it’s straight out of a spy movie.
A former Google engineer, Linwei Leon Ding, is facing some serious heat, up to 175 years in prison, to be exact, for swiping trade secrets related to artificial intelligence and leaking them to tech companies in China.
The Google job
The U.S. Department of Justice dropped the bombshell that Ding, a Chinese national who worked for Google in the States, has been charged with economic espionage, with 14 counts against him, claiming he uploaded over 1,000 confidential files to his personal Google Cloud account from May 2022 to May 2023.
And what kind of secrets are we talking about? Well, they include sensitive information about Google’s hardware and software that powers its AI supercomputing systems.
Ding had been with Google since 2019 and allegedly developed secret ties with two Chinese tech firms.
According to court documents, he was not just looking out for himself, he was allegedly trying to help the Chinese government by pilfering trade secrets from one of the biggest names in tech.
A side hustle?
Ding reportedly started chatting with the chief technology officer of a Chinese tech company back in June 2022.
Fast forward to May 2023, and he had secretly launched his own AI and machine-learning company in China, where he took on the role of CEO.
The DOJ claims Ding didn’t just stop at stealing basic trade secrets, but he allegedly leaked sensitive details about Google’s custom-designed chips like SmartNICs, Tensor Processing Units, and Graphics Processing Units.
He also shared software designed for chip communications and next-gen AI innovations, all to give a leg up to the People’s Republic of China.
Multitasking
The DOJ alleges that Ding went so far as to create PowerPoint presentations for his Chinese company’s employees that cited national policies and talent programs from China.
He even claimed his work would help boost China’s computing power to match international standards.
As it stands, Ding is under investigation by the FBI, and let’s be clear, he hasn’t been proven guilty yet. He was first indicted and arrested back in March 2024 on four counts of theft of trade secrets and has been held by U.S. authorities ever since
If found guilty on all counts, seven for economic espionage and seven for theft of trade secrets, Ding could be looking at 175 years behind bars and fines reaching up to $36.75 million.
