State Department Sanctions Entities Linked to Trade Secret Theft Under PAIPA

Today, the U.S. Department of State sanctioned five entities connected to People’s Republic of China national Linwei Ding under the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act (PAIPA) for their role in the theft of trade secrets from U.S. persons. The United States remains a global leader in emerging technology development. This theft of trade secrets represents a serious threat to U.S. economic, foreign policy, and national security interests.

Today’s designations result from an investigation by the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation into Ding. On January 29, 2026, a U.S. federal jury convicted Ding on seven counts of theft of trade secrets. Ding was found guilty 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 technology companies.

Theft of trade secrets related to sensitive and emerging technologies harms U.S. jobs, companies, and investments, costing American industry billions of dollars each year. The Trump Administration remains committed to protecting American innovation and safeguarding Americans from intellectual property theft.

Today’s action is being taken pursuant to the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act (50 U.S.C. 1709). For more information on today’s action, please see the Department of State’s Fact Sheet.

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