Google sues former engineer for leaking Pixel chip secrets

In brief: If you're going to reveal trade secrets, you might as well include some threats aimed at the company in question. A former Google engineer is alleged to have followed this questionable advice, posting secrets relating to the Pixel chip designs and including threatening comments. Unsurprisingly, Google is now suing him.

Indian semiconductor engineer Harshit Roy started working for Google in 2020 in Bengaluru after finishing university. His role involved assisting with the design, development, and deployment of SoCs used for Google's Pixel line of products: smartphones, tablets, and wearables.

In August 2023, Roy started working on the next-gen SoC being designed for then-unreleased Pixel devices. Court documents state that Google became aware that he was taking photographs of information displayed on his work computer. It addressed the issue in December 2023, and Roy said he had removed the pictures from all his devices and sent Google ...