Former Apple engineer accused of stealing automotive trade secrets pleads guilty

An aerial view of Apple Park is seen in Cupertino, California, United States on October 28, 2021.

XiaolangZhang, a former Apple employee who was accused of stealing computer files with trade secrets about Apple's secretive car division, pleaded guilty in federal court on Monday.

There is a sealed plea agreement with the U.S. government. Zhang faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for stealing trade secrets. November is when the sentencing will take place.

The 25-page document includes engineering schematics of a circuit board for an autonomously driving vehicle. Apple's prototypes and prototype requirements were allegedly taken by Zhang.

The man was arrested at the San Jose airport in July of last year. According to charging documents from the FBI and U.S. attorney's office, he was a hardware engineer on Apple's self-driving vehicle team.

The charges gave a glimpse into a secretive side of Apple that the company still doesn't often acknowledge.

In the charging documents, an FBI agent said that the company had about 5,000 employees who were not allowed to work on the project, and 2,700 employees who were allowed to work on the project.

According to the complaint, Apple uses internal software to track which employees are disclosed on which projects, and requires them to attend in-person training. There was a team that designed and tested circuit boards for sensors.

The electronics industry has some of the most valuable trade secrets.

After he went to China, Apple suspected that he stole trade secrets. According to the complaint, when he came back to the company, he told them that he wanted to go back to China to be with his mother.

His access to Apple's network was cut after he told Apple that he was going to work for Xmotors.

According to the complaint, an Apple investigation found thatZhang downloaded documents and information from the company's databases. The complaint said that Apple closed-circuit cameras captured Zhang entering the labs and removing hardware.

Jizhong Chen is accused of stealing trade secrets from Apple's electric car division. Chen planned to travel to China as well. The lawyer for Chen is the same one as the one forZhang. There isn't a trial date set. The lawyer didn't reply to the request. Apple representatives didn't reply to questions.