Linwei Ding, a 38-year-old Chinese man, was arrested on Wednesday in Newark, California, and faces four counts of federal theft of trade secrets, each punishable by up to 6 years in prison.
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The indictment alleges that Ding, hired by Google in 2019 to develop software for the company's supercomputing data centers, began transferring sensitive trade secrets and confidential information to his personal account. Google Cloud in 2021.
“Ding continued to make periodic uploads until May 2, 2023, at which time Ding allegedly uploaded more than 500 unique files containing confidential information,” the US Department of Justice said in a statement.
Prosecutors claim that after stealing trade secrets, Ding was assigned a position as chief technology officer at a startup company. artificial intelligence (AI) na China and participated in investor meetings for that company. Additionally, Ding is alleged to have founded and served as CEO of a China-based startup focused on training AI models using supercomputing chips.
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“Today’s indictments are the latest illustration of the lengths to which affiliates of companies based in the People’s Republic of China are willing to go to steal American innovation,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.
“The theft of innovative technology and trade secrets from American companies could cost jobs and have devastating economic and national security consequences.”
If convicted on all charges, Ding faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.
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The case highlights ongoing tensions between USA and China on intellectual property theft and race to master emerging technologies like AI.
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