A former software engineer at Google, Linwei Ding, also known as Leon Ding, has been indicted in California for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to artificial intelligence from the tech giant’s parent company, Alphabet. The charges accuse Ding of sharing these secrets with two Chinese companies he was clandestinely associated with.
The indictment, revealed by a federal jury in San Francisco, comprises four counts of theft of trade secrets against the 38-year-old Chinese national. Ding was apprehended at his residence in Newark, California, following his indictment. As of now, no lawyer has been identified as representing him.
Ding’s indictment comes shortly after the Biden administration established an interagency Disruptive Technology Strike Force, aimed at preventing the acquisition of advanced technology by countries such as China and Russia, which could potentially pose a threat to national security. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland emphasized the Justice Department’s commitment to combatting the theft of trade secrets and intelligence.
According to the indictment, Ding allegedly pilfered detailed information concerning the hardware infrastructure and software platform utilized by Google’s supercomputing data centers for training large AI models through machine learning. The stolen information encompassed specifics about chips, systems, and software vital for powering a supercomputer capable of executing cutting-edge machine learning and AI technology.
Some of the chip blueprints allegedly stolen by Ding were purportedly designed by Google to gain a competitive advantage over cloud computing rivals like Amazon.com and Microsoft, who develop their own chips, and to diminish reliance on Nvidia chips.
Ding, who was hired by Google in 2019, purportedly initiated his thefts in 2022, while he was being courted for the role of chief technology officer at a Chinese tech startup. By May 2023, he had reportedly uploaded over 500 confidential files. The indictment claims that Ding established his technology company in May 2023 and shared a document in a chat group, suggesting the replication and enhancement of Google’s computational power platform.
Google grew suspicious of Ding in December 2023 and confiscated his laptop on January 4, 2024, one day before Ding planned to resign from the company. Jose Castaneda, a spokesperson for Google, stated that the company maintains strict safeguards to prevent the theft of confidential commercial information and trade secrets. Following an investigation, it was discovered that Ding had allegedly stolen numerous documents, prompting Google to refer the case to law enforcement promptly.
Ding faces a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each criminal count. The case underscores the importance of safeguarding intellectual property and trade secrets, particularly in the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence, where technological advancements are highly sought after and fiercely competitive.
