Intel confidential data leak: For many IIT graduates, landing a job at big tech names like Google, Microsoft or Intel feels like a dream come true. But one former Intel employee, Varun Gupta, found himself in serious trouble after he got accused of leaking thousands of Intel’s private files to Microsoft. Intel is the world’s third-largest chip maker, and the company said Gupta’s actions broke their trust and hurt their business.
Varun Gupta had studied at the Indian Institute of Technology and later joined Intel, where he worked almost ten years as a product marketing engineer. During his time at Intel, the company discovered that he copied thousands of internal files.
These files were not ordinary they included Intel’s pricing plans for important clients, inside presentations, and detailed competitive analysis that the company used for its business decisions. Investigators said Gupta did not just keep them for himself but shared them with Microsoft when he joined them in 2020 after leaving Intel.
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Prosecutors argued that the leak was not an accident. They said Gupta wanted these documents to make sure he got a leadership role at Microsoft and at the same time, the information could help Microsoft in its talks with Intel. According to the company’s side, just before leaving, Gupta spent most of his time downloading and transferring files that had sensitive trade secrets.
The case later moved to court where Assistant US Attorney William Narus handled the prosecution. Narus told the judge that “Gupta had purposefully and repetitively accessed secret documents.” He asked for eight months in federal prison, saying Gupta knew exactly what he was doing and kept doing it again and again.
But Judge Amy Baggio took a different view. She refused to send him to jail. Instead, she ordered Gupta to pay a fine of USD 34,472, which is about Rs 29 lakh. The judge explained that this amount matched the cost of the eight-month prison sentence the prosecution wanted.
hIs lawyer, David Angeli, told the court that Gupta’s reputation had already been badly damaged and that he would never be able to work for a big tech company again. He also revealed that Gupta had already paid USD 40,000, around Rs 33.4 lakh, to Intel as part of a civil settlement, reported DNA India.
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Intel had actually filed a civil case against Gupta in February 2021, and even after settlement, the criminal case went ahead. In December 2024, the court formally charged him with stealing trade secrets. By February 2025, Gupta pleaded guilty and admitted what he did was wrong. He told the government, Microsoft and Intel that he regretted his actions.
After everything, he decided to leave his career in technology behind. He moved to Europe with his family and enrolled in a course on vineyard management. His plan now is to start fresh in the wine industry, far from the world of chips and tech giants where his troubles began.
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