A federal judge in San Francisco threw out seven economic espionage convictions against former Google software engineer Linwei Ding, ruling that prosecutors failed to prove he intended to benefit the Chinese government. The decision, handed down Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria, represents a significant legal victory for Ding, who still faces sentencing on seven separate trade secret theft counts.

Ding, a Chinese national also known as Leon Ding, was convicted in January following an 11-day trial on charges that he stole thousands of pages of confidential information from Google related to the hardware and software powering the company’s AI data centers. The jury found him guilty on all 14 counts at the time.

Chhabria’s ruling invalidated the espionage convictions, each of which carried a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a $5 million fine. The seven trade secret theft convictions remain intact, with each count carrying up to 10 years behind bars and a $250,000 penalty. Ding is scheduled to be sentenced on September 1.

The judge determined that while the evidence supported the trade secret theft verdicts, prosecutors had not demonstrated that Ding knew or intended his actions would benefit the government of China, a core requirement for economic espionage charges under federal law.

Prosecution’s Case

Prosecutors alleged that Ding joined Google in May 2019 and began stealing confidential information approximately three years later, around the time he was being recruited by an early-stage Chinese technology company. The stolen material reportedly included details about the hardware infrastructure and software platforms Google uses to train large AI models.

Some of the allegedly stolen chip blueprints were designed to give Google, owned by Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) (GOOG), a competitive advantage over cloud computing rivals Amazon.com and Microsoft, both of which design their own chips, while also reducing Google’s reliance on processors from Nvidia.

Ding was originally indicted in March 2024, with a superseding indictment in February 2025 expanding the charges. His defense team filed for acquittal approximately three weeks after the January trial verdict, arguing that the Justice Department had failed to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

Ding’s attorney said he was gratified with the ruling. The Justice Department and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Google has previously stated that it cooperated with law enforcement and was not charged in the case.

The ruling narrows the scope of potential punishment significantly. The overturned espionage counts exposed Ding to a theoretical maximum of 105 years in prison and $35 million in fines, while the remaining trade secret counts carry a combined maximum of 70 years and $1.75 million in penalties.

Alphabet shares closed lower on Thursday, with Class A stock ending the session at $340.67, down 1.17%, and Class C shares finishing at $338.20, down 1.02%.