---
id: "2026-10-19-us-paipa-sanctions-miracleplus-zhisuan-google-tpu-secrets"
url: "https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-10-19-us-paipa-sanctions-miracleplus-zhisuan-google-tpu-secrets/"
as_of: "2026-10-20T15:06:00+02:00"
date: "2026-10-19"
date_precision: day
category: policy-safety
importance: 3
confidence: medium
status: [Partly confirmed]
sources: 3
editor: human editor
human_review: null
version: "2026-10-20"
---

As of: 2026-10-20 15:06 CEST.
Researched and written by AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code), with a human editor. How we work: https://postcutoff.com/about/
Canonical page: https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-10-19-us-paipa-sanctions-miracleplus-zhisuan-google-tpu-secrets/

# US sanctions MiraclePlus (ex-YC China) and Linwei Ding's startup Zhisuan over stolen Google AI chip secrets, first PAIPA action against China

On Oct 19, 2026 the US State Department sanctioned five Chinese entities under the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act over the theft of Google AI trade secrets: Shanghai Zhisuan Technology, founded in 2023 by ex-Google engineer Linwei Ding, the Beijing venture firm MiraclePlus (the successor of Y Combinator China, founded by former Microsoft and Baidu executive Qi Lu) that seeded it, and three MiraclePlus funds or related entities. Measures include asset freezes and bans on transactions with US persons.

## Key facts
- Announced Oct 19, 2026 by the State Department under PAIPA (in force since Jan 2023); per Startup Fortune it is the second PAIPA use and the first against China, after a Feb 2026 action against Russian exploit broker Operation Zero
- Entities (Startup Fortune): Shanghai Zhisuan Technology, MiraclePlus, Beijing Qiji Chuangtan Phase I and Phase II, and an unnamed Phase I subsidiary; Seoul Economic Daily describes them as Zhisuan, MiraclePlus, two MiraclePlus funds and a management entity
- Measures: asset freezes, transaction bans with US persons, limits on credit, foreign-exchange and banking transactions
- State Department allegation (as reported): MiraclePlus seeded Zhisuan for an ownership stake and helped it market itself on Ding's Google background and claimed ability to replicate Google's AI infrastructure
- Underlying case: Ding (hired by Google in 2019, arrested March 2024) uploaded confidential AI supercomputing files, including TPU designs, to a personal cloud account (May 2022 – April 2023). Per Startup Fortune, a jury convicted him in January 2026, a judge acquitted him of the economic-espionage counts on Aug 20, and on Sept 1 he was sentenced on the remaining trade-secret counts to 12 months minus a day and ~$198,000 restitution; reports differ in details
- Secondary sources only: we could not open Bloomberg's report or a State Department release

## What happened

The State Department used the rarely applied PAIPA to sanction not only the startup built by a convicted former Google
engineer but also the venture firm that funded it. MiraclePlus is one of China's best-known startup accelerators, spun out of
Y Combinator's short-lived China unit in 2019. The same day, DHS ordered federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek.

## Why it matters

Sanctioning an investor, not just the thief, widens the cost of AI trade-secret theft to the Chinese funding ecosystem, as
US agencies push harder on AI-related security (DeepSeek ban, distillation warnings). Details of the court case vary
between reports; confidence medium.

## Your AI and this story

- GPT-6 Astra (training cutoff April 2026): 172 days after its cutoff
- Claude Opus 5.5 (training cutoff June 2026): 111 days after its cutoff
- Gemini 4 Argon (training cutoff March 2026): 202 days after its cutoff
- Grok 4.7 (training cutoff May 2026): 141 days after its cutoff

## Sources

1. [Bloomberg: US sanctions China's Y Combinator in Google AI secrets case (Oct 20; not fetchable to us)](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-20/us-sanctions-china-s-y-combinator-in-google-ai-secrets-case) (bloomberg.com, press)
2. [Startup Fortune: US sanctions Chinese Y Combinator successor MiraclePlus over Google trade secrets](https://startupfortune.com/us-sanctions-chinese-y-combinator-successor-miracleplus-over-google-trade-secrets/) (startupfortune.com, press)
3. [Seoul Economic Daily: US sanctions five Chinese firms over stolen Google AI secrets](https://en.sedaily.com/international/2026/10/20/us-sanctions-five-chinese-firms-over-stolen-google-ai) (en.sedaily.com, press)

## Changes

- 2026-10-20 (filed): Created (Techmeme)

## Related

- 2026-10-19: [DHS orders all US federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek products](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-10-19-dhs-bans-deepseek-federal-civilian-agencies/index.md)