Former Google software engineer Linwei Ding, also known as Leon Ding, has been sentenced to nearly one year in federal prison after being convicted of stealing confidential technology linked to Google’s artificial intelligence infrastructure.
A U.S. District Court in San Francisco sentenced Ding on September 1, 2026, to 12 months minus one day in prison, followed by two years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay more than $189,000 in restitution and a $25,000 fine.
Ding joined Google in 2019 as a software engineer working on technology supporting the company’s AI supercomputing data centers. Prosecutors said that between May 2022 and April 2023, he secretly transferred more than 2,000 pages of confidential Google information to his personal accounts.
The stolen material included sensitive details about Google’s custom Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), networking systems and software used to coordinate AI computing infrastructure. The technology is particularly valuable because Google’s AI infrastructure supports the training and operation of large-scale artificial intelligence models.
While still employed by Google, Ding was also pursuing business opportunities in China. Prosecutors said he became involved with Chinese technology companies and eventually founded an AI startup in China. Evidence presented during the case showed that he promoted his ability to replicate Google’s AI supercomputing technology to potential investors.
Authorities also said Ding took steps to conceal his activities, including having another Google employee use his access badge to make it appear that he was working from Google’s U.S. office while he was actually in China.
Ding was initially convicted in January 2026 on seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of theft of trade secrets following an 11-day trial.
However, in August, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria overturned the seven economic-espionage convictions. The judge ruled that prosecutors had not provided sufficient evidence that Ding knew his actions would benefit the Chinese government, which was required for those particular charges. His seven convictions for stealing trade secrets remained intact.
During sentencing, Judge Chhabria said the standard sentencing range did not adequately reflect the seriousness of Ding’s conduct.
The judge described the theft as a systematic and brazen attempt to take Google’s property, rejecting Ding’s request for a non-custodial sentence. Ding’s lawyers had asked for home confinement, arguing that he had already suffered significant professional and personal consequences and was the primary caregiver for his young son.
The case comes as the United States and China continue to compete aggressively over advanced artificial intelligence and semiconductor technology. It also highlights growing concerns among technology companies and U.S. authorities over the theft of intellectual property that could provide competitors with access to years of expensive AI research and development.
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