A federal grand jury indicted the two men of conspiring to steal high-tech trade secrets and develop them with Chinese venture capital funding.
The two, Lan Lee, 42, of Palo Alto and Yuefei Ge, 34, of San Jose, are accused of trying to steal trade secrets from their employer, chip maker NetLogics Microsystems Inc. They allegedly sought funding from China's General Arms Department and the 863 program, which is a government-led project aimed at boosting technology research in China.
Lee is an American, while Ge is a Chinese national.
However, the original indictment makes no mention of possible involvement by the government of China.