A Chinese national who was a former Google software engineer has been charged with stealing intellectual property from the tech giant connected to its work on artificial intelligence (AI).
Linwei Ding (aka Leon Ding), who was hired by Google in 2019, worked on developing software deployed in Google’s supercomputing datacenters. So, he had access to sensitive information regarding the AI models running on their servers.
The indictment claimed that between May 2022 and May 2023, he began secretly uploading IP to a personal Google Cloud account – collecting over 500 files containing confidential information.
In June 2022, Ding allegedly received emails from the CEO of an early-stage tech company based in China suggesting he has been offered the role of CTO. Then a year later, in May 2023, he started his own tech firm which had a focus on AI and machine learning, and made himself the CEO.
One document issued by the company allegedly noted: “We have experience with Google’s ten-thousand-card computational power platform; we just need to replicate and upgrade it – and then further develop a computational power platform suited to China’s national conditions.”
According to the Department of Justice (DoJ), Ding tried hard to keep his IP theft hidden from Google. He allegedly copied data from Google source files into Apple Notes on his corporate MacBook, and then converted them into PDFs and uploaded them to a separate account – in order to bypass the firm’s data loss prevention (DLP) checks.
Ding also allowed a colleague to use his badge to scan into a Google building, to make it appear he was working in the US when he was actually in China.
The theft of innovative technology and trade secrets from American companies can cost jobs and have devastating economic and national security consequences. The FBI will continue its efforts to vigorously pursue those responsible for stealing US companies’ intellectual property and most closely guarded secrets.
Ding was charged with four counts of “theft of trade secrets” and he would face a 10-year imprisonment and a fine of up to $1m if found guilty.
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