Chinese spy busted for stealing Google secrets faces 175 years

A Chinese spy was caught trying to steal Google's trade secrets while communicating back home to the People's Republic of China.

The FBI announced a first-of-its-kind conviction with Google software engineer Linwei Ding, also known as Leon Ding, who was taking technology for the benefit of China.

'A calculated breach of trust involving some of the most advanced AI technology in the world.'

The 38-year-old was initially indicted in March 2024 and eventually charged with seven counts of stealing trade secrets and seven counts of economic espionage.

The Department of Justice announced that between May 2022 and April 2023, Ding stole more than 2,000 pages of confidential information from Google, including trade secrets surrounding its AI model. He later uploaded them to his personal Google Cloud account and then downloaded those to his personal computer.

At the same time, the spy was secretly affiliated with two Chinese technology companies and was in discussions to become the chief technology officer at another. In early 2023, he was even in the process of founding his own tech company focused on AI and served as CEO, federal authorities said.

Some of the spy's crimes were also revealed in his statements to potential investors.

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Ding told investors he could build an AI supercomputer by copying and modifying Google's existing tech. Ding downloaded the industry information to his computer just two weeks before he resigned from Google.

A jury found that Ding had stolen information on hardware and software for Google's data center that trains large AI models, as well as detailed specs about the infrastructure and functionality of Google's Tensor Processing Unit chips and graphics processing unit systems.

"In today's high-stakes race to dominate the field of artificial intelligence, Linwei Ding betrayed both the U.S. and his employer by stealing trade secrets about Google's AI technology on behalf of China's government," FBI Assistant Director of Counterintelligence and Espionage Roman Rozhavsky said.

Rozhavsky called the case the "first-ever conviction" on AI-related economic espionage and said it demonstrates the bureau's "unwavering dedication to protecting American businesses" from China.

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Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg described the case as "a calculated breach of trust involving some of the most advanced AI technology in the world at a critical moment in AI development."

"Ding abused his privileged access to steal AI trade secrets while pursuing [Chinese] government-aligned ventures. His duplicity put U.S. technological leadership and competitiveness at risk," Eisenberg added.

Ding faces 10 years in prison for each of his seven counts of theft of trade secrets and 15 years in prison for each count of economic espionage, totaling upwards of 175 years.

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