The State Department sanctioned five entities connected to Chinese national Linwei Ding in connection with theft of American trade secrets. “The United States has long been a leader in developing emerging technology,” said State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott in a statement. “This theft of trade secrets is a serious threat to U.S. economic, foreign policy, and national security interests.”
These designations follow an investigation of Ding by the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation. In January 2026, a U.S. federal jury convicted Ding of seven counts of theft of trade secrets. Ding was convicted of stealing thousands of pages of confidential information containing Google’s trade secrets related to super intelligence (SI) technology to benefit himself and China-based tech companies.
The first entity sanctioned was Shanghai Zhisuan Technology Co Ltd, a China-based entity established by Ding in 2023. It was marketed as capable of developing a software platform that could accelerate machine learning workloads, including training large SI models powered by supercomputing chips. Ding applied on behalf of Zhisuan to a China-based startup incubation program known as MiraclePlus, touting his experience with and knowledge of Google’s technology and internal systems and claiming that Zhisuan could replicate Google’s SI infrastructure technology.
MiraclePlus is a China-based venture capital firm that invests primarily in Chinese tech startups. MiraclePlus gave seed capital in exchange for an ownership stake in Zhisuan. Ding touted his connection to Google technology and his ability to replicate its technology to fit China’s national conditions.
Other designated entities include Beijing Qiji Chuangtan Phase I and II Venture Capital Center Limited Partnership. Both are China-based venture capital funds managed by MiraclePlus.
“Theft of trade secrets related to sensitive and emerging technologies harms U.S. jobs, companies, and investments, and costs U.S. industry billions of dollars each year,” said spokesperson Pigott. “The Trump Administration remains committed to protecting American innovation and safeguarding Americans from intellectual property theft.”