Former Google engineer faces 175 years for stealing secrets

Linwei (Leon) Ding, a former engineer at Google, has been charged with economic espionage for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to artificial intelligence.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced the charges on February 5, 2025, detailing a 14-count indictment against Ding.

According to the indictment, Ding uploaded over 1,000 confidential files to his personal Google Cloud account between May 2022 and May 2023.

These files reportedly included sensitive information about Google’s hardware infrastructure and software systems that support its AI capabilities.

Ding, who had been with Google since 2019, is accused of establishing secret affiliations with two technology companies based in China.

The DOJ alleges that his actions were intended to benefit the Chinese government by leaking proprietary information from Google.

In June 2022, Ding allegedly began discussions with a chief technology officer from one of these Chinese firms and later founded an AI company in China by May 2023.

The stolen data included critical details about Google’s custom-designed chips, including the Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) and Graphics Processing Unit (GPU).

Additionally, Ding is accused of creating and distributing PowerPoint presentations for his Chinese company that referenced national policies aimed at enhancing China's computing capabilities.

The DOJ's indictment emphasises that Ding's actions were part of a broader effort to strengthen China's technological infrastructure in AI.

If convicted on all counts, he faces a potential sentence of up to 175 years in prison and fines totaling $36.75 million.

Ding was initially indicted in March 2024 on four counts of theft of trade secrets but now faces additional charges.

He remains in custody as investigations continue, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation actively involved in the case.