Former Google engineer faces new US charges he stole AI secrets for Chinese companies

U.S. prosecutors connected Tuesday unveiled an expanded 14-count indictment accusing erstwhile Google bundle technologist Linwei Ding of stealing artificial quality commercialized secrets to payment 2 Chinese companies helium was secretly moving for.

Ding, 38, a Chinese national, was charged by a national expansive assemblage successful San Francisco with 7 counts each of economical espionage and theft of commercialized secrets.

Each economical espionage complaint carries a maximum 15-year situation word and $5 cardinal fine, portion each commercialized secrets complaint carries a maximum 10-year word and $250,000 fine.

The defendant, besides known arsenic Leon Ding, was indicted past March connected 4 counts of theft of commercialized secrets. He is escaped connected bond. His lawyers did not instantly respond to requests for comment.

Ding's lawsuit was coordinated done an interagency Disruptive Technology Strike Force created successful 2023 by the Biden administration.

The inaugural was designed to assistance halt precocious exertion from being acquired by countries specified arsenic China and Russia oregon perchance threatening nationalist security.

Prosecutors said Ding stole accusation astir the hardware infrastructure and bundle level that lets Google's supercomputing information centers bid ample AI models.

Some of the allegedly stolen spot blueprints were meant to springiness Google an borderline implicit unreality computing rivals Amazon and Microsoft, which plan their own, and trim Google's reliance connected chips from Nvidia.

Prosecutors said Ding joined Google successful May 2019 and began his thefts 3 years aboriginal erstwhile helium was being courted to articulation an early-stage Chinese exertion company.

Ding allegedly uploaded much than 1,000 confidential files by May 2023 and aboriginal circulated a PowerPoint presumption to employees of a China startup helium founded, saying that country's policies encouraged improvement of a home AI industry.

Google was not charged and has said it cooperated with instrumentality enforcement.

According to tribunal records describing a December 18 hearing, prosecutors and defence lawyers discussed a "potential resolution" to Ding's case, "but expect the substance proceeding to trial."

The lawsuit is U.S. v. Ding, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 24-cr-00141.