Engineer at Google Faces Charges for Stealing Trade Secrets
A Chinese software engineer who previously worked for Google, a part of Alphabet Inc., is facing new charges of [[economic espionage]]. The US Justice Department alleges that he stole trade secrets to help China’s AI industry.
New Charges Filed Against Linwei Ding
Linwei Ding, also known as Leon Ding, was already indicted in March. Now, he faces seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets, according to a revised indictment announced on Tuesday. This [[news]] comes after Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign promise to “curtail China’s ability to conduct espionage” targeting the US military and technology.
Ding’s Alleged Actions and Startup
Ding, a Chinese national, joined Google in 2019. The US government alleges he stole technology related to Google’s special computer chip used for training its AI models, including Gemini, and graphical processing units (GPUs). He pleaded not guilty to the initial charges back in March. In 2023, Ding started a tech company in China. He also applied for a Shanghai-based “talent program.” This program gives money to people who bring technical knowledge back to China after working in research and development overseas. In his application, Ding highlighted a product that he claimed would boost China’s computing power to be on par with international levels. According to the indictment, an internal memo from Ding’s startup revealed plans to offer products and services to Chinese government agencies and universities.
Potential Consequences and Legal Representation
If convicted, Ding could face up to 15 years in prison for each count of economic espionage and up to 10 years for each count of trade secret theft. Ding’s lawyers have not yet commented on the new charges.
Previous Related Incident
Just last week, a former Senior Adviser for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors was also arrested in the US. He was accused of trying to steal government trade secrets to benefit China. These incidents highlight the ongoing tensions and concerns around [[tech]]nological espionage between the two countries. This