Former Google engineer convicted of stealing artificial intelligence trade secrets for China

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California said on 29 January 2026 that Ding was found guilty on seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets following an 11-day trial in federal court in San Francisco. Ding, 38, was arrested on 6 March 2024 at his home in Newark, California, after then U.S. Attorney Ismail Ramsey alleged he stole more than 500 confidential files while maintaining ties to China-based companies.

Prosecutors said Ding copied more than 2,000 pages of proprietary information between May 2022 and April 2023, when he had access to Google’s most confidential systems. The materials described specifications for Google’s custom Tensor Processing Unit chips, GPU systems and software used to connect large numbers of chips into computing clusters for training AI models. The filing said Ding moved the information to a personal Google Cloud account.

The trial also detailed Ding’s contacts with China-based ventures during the period of alleged theft. Prosecutors said he discussed a chief technology officer role with a Chinese startup in mid-2022 and later founded and led his own AI company as chief executive by early 2023. They said he claimed in investor presentations that he could replicate Google’s technology and applied to a Shanghai government talent program in late 2023.

Ding faces up to 15 years in prison for each economic espionage count and up to 10 years for each trade secret theft count, the U.S. attorney’s office said, with a status conference scheduled for 3 February. U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian called the verdict a warning that theft of sensitive technology will be prosecuted. The case comes as U.S. officials increase scrutiny of AI-related technology transfers, including congressional questions in 2025 about how Chinese actors used AI tools in cyber operations and industry moves to expand open-source AI governance initiatives.