GigaOM is reporting that there’s a rumor going around that Google is investing a major stake in a Chinese P2P startup called Xunlei (or Thunderbolt P2P network) Translated Website for Xunlei

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Word on the street of Shangai is that Google and Shanghai-based venture capital firm Ceyuan Ventures plan to invest in Chinese download accelerator and peer-to-peer file sharing network operator Thunder Network Technology aka Xunlei, according to a rumor reported by eNet. A spokesperson for Shenzhen-based Thunder or Xunlei, told eNet that the start-up will close its third round of investment in two weeks. Previous rounds were for $1M and $10M from from IDG and Morningside Technologies. Xunlei’s peer-to-peer file sharing software has been downloaded 75M times. The start-up was founded by two Chinese-born techs working in Silicon Valley who moved back to China.

This type of investment would make lots of sense given the growing bandwidth costs of YouTube and Google Video.