The AI arms race between the U.S. and China has escalated to a new level, and there will be some defectors in the mix intending to steal highly secretive files to give the other region an edge. As it happens, one Google engineer, Linwei Ding, also known as Leon Ding, was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly stealing trade secrets revolving around Google’s AI chip software and hardware on March 5. In a statement, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said that Ding had 500 confidential files containing AI trade secrets and was secretly colluding with China-based firms attempting to seek an upper hand in the AI race.
Engineer transferred the top-secret files to his personal Google account before attempting to flee and used other methods to avoid being discovered
As reported by The Verge, the majority of the stolen data contained information about Google’s tensor processing unit (TPU) chips. For those who do not know, Google’s TPU chips power many AI workloads and can train and run AI models like Gemini. The advertising giant also offers chips through partner platforms like Hugging Face. There were also software designs for both the v4 and v6 TPU chips, hardware and software specifications for GPUs used in Google’s data centers, and designs for Google’s machine learning workloads in data centers that were included in the 500 stolen files.
As for how Ding managed to offload heaps of confidential content without being discovered, he likely did it in interventions, as between May 2022 and May 2023, files continued to get transferred to his personal Google Cloud account. Of course, Ding had to avoid any discovery, so he copied data from the Google source files into the Apple Notes app onto the MacBook that was issued to him by the company. From there, he converted the Apple Notes to PDFs to avoid being detected by Google’s ‘data loss prevention systems.’
The Department of Justice stated that less than a month after he started stealing those files, Ding was approached by a Chinese machine learning company named Rongshu, who offered him the position of Chief Technology Officer. Ding later flew to China for five months to raise funds for the company, and during the same period, he founded and led a machine learning startup named Zhisuan. Remember that all of this was done while he was still employed and working for Google. In December 2023, he resigned from the technology giant and booked a one-way ticket to Beijing after Google grew suspicious of his activities and started questioning him about those uploads.
Ding also had a colleague who helped him in December 2023 while he was not present at Google’s offices. This employee would scan Ding’s badge during check-in, which prevented his superiors from learning that he was in China. For his crimes, Ding has been charged with four counts of theft of trade secrets, meaning that he could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count if convicted, bringing that total to an even $1 million. If you want to learn more about this incident, click the link below.
News Source: Office of Public Affairs
About the author: Omar Sohail is a reporter and analyst for Wccftech's mobile section, specializing in the technology and business of the mobile industry. His expertise lies in the intricate hardware supply chain, covering developments in semiconductor manufacturing, chip lithography, and camera sensor technology.
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