Two engineers from China are each facing a year in prison. The reason is the pressing of rare charge of economic espionage in the U.S.

On Friday in the federal court in San Jose, Fei Ye, a U.S. citizen, and Ming Zhong, a permanent resident of the U.S., were sentenced. Both the men had admitted in 2006, that they stole computer chip designs from their Silicon Valley employers and tried to smuggle the secrets to China to launch a government-backed startup there.

Under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, their guilty pleas represented the first convictions for the most serious crime. Though prosecutors did not allege that the Chinese government knew of their illegal activities, they were accused of trying to benefit China with their stolen chip designs.

Both Ye and Zhong could have received 30 years, but luckily for them, prosecutors asked for less, since the men co-operated with investigators.