Judge Overturns Economic Espionage Charges Against Ex-Google AI Engineer

A federal judge has partially overturned the conviction of Linwei Ding, a former Google software engineer found guilty of stealing artificial intelligence trade secrets from the tech giant. U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria ruled Thursday that prosecutors failed to prove Ding intended his actions to benefit the Chinese government, a required element for economic espionage charges.

The Ruling

Judge Chhabria dismissed seven counts of economic espionage against Ding, a Chinese national, while upholding seven counts of trade secret theft. The distinction centers on intent: economic espionage requires proof that the defendant knew or intended their conduct would benefit a foreign government. The court found insufficient evidence to support that element, though the evidence did support the conclusion that Ding stole proprietary information.

Ding was convicted in January following an 11-day trial. According to Reuters, which first reported the ruling, his defense team filed for acquittal three weeks after the trial, arguing the Justice Department had not met its burden of proof.

The Stolen Technology

Prosecutors alleged Ding stole thousands of pages of confidential information related to Google's AI infrastructure. The stolen materials included details about the hardware infrastructure and software platform that enables Google's supercomputing data centers to train large AI models.

Some of the chip blueprints were designed to give Google—owned by Alphabet—a competitive advantage over cloud computing rivals Amazon and Microsoft, which design their own chips. The technology was also intended to reduce Google's dependence on Nvidia processors.

Ding joined Google in May 2019 and allegedly began stealing information three years later while being recruited by an early-stage Chinese technology company, according to prosecutors.

Why It Matters

The ruling highlights the legal complexities in prosecuting technology theft cases that involve foreign nationals and potential state interests. While the United States has aggressively pursued cases involving alleged theft of AI and semiconductor technology, proving that defendants intended to benefit a foreign government—rather than simply private companies—requires a higher evidentiary bar. The distinction carries significant consequences: economic espionage charges carry maximum 15-year prison terms and $5 million fines per count, compared to 10-year terms and $250,000 fines for trade secret theft.

Sentencing Ahead

Ding, also known as Leon Ding, is scheduled for sentencing on September 1. His attorney expressed gratification with the ruling, while the Justice Department did not immediately comment. Google, which was not charged and cooperated with law enforcement, also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The case originated with an indictment in March 2024, with prosecutors expanding the charges in a superseding indictment in February 2025.

Details of the ruling and case background were first reported by Reuters.