Former Google Engineer Convicted of Economic Espionage, Marking First U.S. Jury Verdict Involving AI Trade Secret Theft

A federal jury in San Francisco has convicted former Google software engineer Linwei Ding, also known as Leon Ding, on fourteen felony counts tied to the theft of confidential artificial intelligence technology and economic espionage conducted for the benefit of the People’s Republic of China. The verdict follows an eleven-day trial before U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria and represents the first jury conviction in the United States involving AI-related economic espionage charges.

The jury found Ding guilty on seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets, concluding that he deliberately abused privileged internal access to steal thousands of pages of highly sensitive AI infrastructure documentation while simultaneously pursuing technology ventures aligned with Chinese government priorities. Prosecutors characterized the conduct as a calculated breach of trust occurring at a critical moment in the global race to dominate artificial intelligence capabilities.

According to evidence presented at trial, Ding systematically removed more than two thousand pages of proprietary information from Google’s internal systems between May 2022 and April 2023, uploading the data to his personal cloud storage while still employed as a software engineer. The stolen material was not abstract research or academic theory. It consisted of detailed technical documentation governing the hardware and software architecture that powers Google’s large-scale AI supercomputing infrastructure.

The trade secrets at issue included designs and operational details for Google’s custom Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) chips, its GPU-based AI systems, and the orchestration software that coordinates thousands of processors into unified supercomputers capable of training and deploying large-scale AI models. Prosecutors also demonstrated that Ding exfiltrated information related to Google’s proprietary SmartNIC networking technology, a critical component enabling high-speed data transfer within AI data centers and cloud environments.

This infrastructure sits at the core of modern artificial intelligence development. It is not consumer-facing code, nor application-level tooling. It is the underlying machinery that determines who can train, scale, and deploy advanced AI systems at national and industrial scale. Control over this layer translates directly into economic leverage, military relevance, and long-term technological advantage.

While removing these materials, Ding simultaneously pursued business relationships in China that prosecutors argued were directly enabled by the stolen technology. Evidence showed that by mid-2022, Ding was in discussions to serve as chief technology officer for a China-based startup. By early 2023, he had begun founding his own AI and machine-learning company in China, presenting himself to potential investors as capable of building an AI supercomputer by copying and adapting Google’s internal designs.

In presentations reviewed by the jury, Ding explicitly referenced Chinese national policy initiatives prioritizing artificial intelligence development and computing infrastructure. In late 2023, he applied to a government-sponsored Chinese “talent plan” in Shanghai, a program prosecutors described as part of a broader state strategy to recruit technical expertise capable of advancing China’s strategic industries. In that application, Ding stated his intent to help China achieve computing power infrastructure on par with international competitors.

The government further introduced evidence that Ding intended to benefit entities controlled by the Chinese state by assisting in the development of AI supercomputers and collaborating on the research and design of custom machine-learning chips. Less than two weeks before resigning from Google in December 2023, Ding downloaded the stolen trade secrets directly to his personal computer.

Federal officials emphasized that the case sits at the intersection of economic competition and national security. Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg described the conduct as a threat not only to Google’s intellectual property, but to U.S. technological leadership at a moment when AI capabilities are increasingly viewed as strategic assets rather than commercial products.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which led the investigation, framed the conviction as a warning signal to individuals with privileged access to advanced technologies. FBI Counterintelligence leadership noted that the theft of AI infrastructure secrets represents a qualitatively different threat from traditional corporate espionage, given AI’s dual-use nature across civilian, industrial, and defense domains.

U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian emphasized that Silicon Valley’s role as a global innovation hub also makes it a focal point for foreign intelligence and economic espionage efforts, requiring aggressive enforcement to protect intellectual capital that underpins national competitiveness.

Ding was originally indicted in March 2024, with a superseding indictment returned in February 2025 detailing seven distinct categories of stolen trade secrets. The jury’s verdict affirms that AI-related infrastructure qualifies as protected trade secrets under federal law and that theft undertaken for the benefit of a foreign state meets the statutory threshold for economic espionage.

Ding is scheduled to appear at a status conference on February 3, 2026. He faces a maximum sentence of up to ten years in prison for each count of trade secret theft and up to fifteen years for each count of economic espionage. Any sentence will be determined by the court following review of federal sentencing guidelines.

Beyond the courtroom, the case signals a structural shift. Artificial intelligence is no longer treated as a neutral commercial domain. The systems that train, deploy, and scale AI models are now explicitly recognized as strategic infrastructure. Theft of that infrastructure is being prosecuted not merely as corporate wrongdoing, but as a national security offense.

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