Three Silicon Valley engineers face federal charges for allegedly stealing Google's Tensor chip trade secrets and transferring the technology to Iran, according to indictments unsealed February 20.
Samaneh Ghandali, 41, her sister Soroor Ghandali, 32, and Mohammadjavad Khosravi, 40 were arrested last Thursday in San Jose on 14 felony counts including conspiracy to commit trade secret theft and obstruction of justice. All three defendants are Iranian nationals with varying U.S. immigration statuses.
Soroor held a student visa while Samaneh became a naturalized citizen and Khosravi obtained permanent residency.
The indictment alleges the trio exploited their positions at leading technology firms to obtain hundreds of confidential files related to processor security and cryptography. Samaneh worked as a hardware engineer at Google before moving to another company identified only as Company 3, while Soroor interned at Google before joining the same firm.
Khosravi worked at a separate semiconductor company referred to as Company 2 despite multiple applications to work at Google.
Prosecutors claim Khosravi previously served in the Iranian military, adding national security dimensions to a case unfolding amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran.
The alleged transfer of sensitive semiconductor technology comes as the U.S. government intensifies efforts to prevent advanced American innovations from reaching adversarial nations.
Google detected the theft through routine security monitoring before alerting law enforcement.
"We have enhanced safeguards to protect our confidential information,"
spokesman José Castañeda told
CNBC.The company implemented additional protections including restricted access to sensitive data, two-factor authentication for work accounts, and logging of file transfers to third-party platforms like Telegram.
This marks the second major Tensor-related security breach in two years following a 2024 incident where Google sued an ex-engineer for leaking slide decks detailing Tensor G5 and G6 specifications. That case involved public disclosure rather than systematic theft targeting foreign governments.
The current charges carry severe penalties. Conspiracy convictions could bring 10-year prison sentences plus $250,000 fines, while obstruction counts add another potential 20 years behind bars with additional quarter-million-dollar penalties.
Tensor represents Google's pivot toward custom silicon for its Pixel smartphones, allowing tighter software-hardware integration that competitors like Apple have leveraged for performance advantages.
