Beijing – A new wave of talent acquisition is sweeping through China’s tech landscape, with the rise of AI startup DeepSeek acting as a catalyst, reigniting fierce competition for skilled professionals among tech giants like ByteDance, Alibaba, and Xiaomi. This renewed battle for talent, characterized by multi-million-dollar salary offers, signals a shift in the dynamics of the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.
The recent high-profile talent acquisitions underscore the intensity of the competition. As reported by Red Star News, AI expert Luo Fuli, who was allegedly courted by Xiaomi’s Lei Jun with a lucrative multi-million-dollar package, has officially joined the company. ByteDance has poached Wu Yonghui, former Vice President of Research at Google DeepMind and a key contributor to the Gemini series of models. Meanwhile, Alibaba has recruited Xu Zuhong, a globally renowned AI scientist and former Group Vice President at Salesforce, as its Group Vice President.
While the financial details of ByteDance and Alibaba’s offers remain undisclosed, Xing Ze, founder of headhunting firm Jiaming, specializing in serving tech giants, estimates that the annual salaries for individuals in such positions would undoubtedly exceed 10 million yuan, with a significant portion potentially structured as stock options tied to performance metrics.
DeepSeek’s emergence has not only invigorated the market for top-tier talent but has also spurred a renewed demand for general AI professionals. Over the past year, as the pace of technological advancements in large language models (LLMs) slowed, the competition for talent had shown signs of easing. Tech giants began prioritizing selective hiring, leading to a decline in demand for roles such as data annotation engineers, testing engineers, and even pre-training algorithm specialists, according to Li Nan, an HR professional at a major tech company.
A 2024 talent white paper corroborates this trend. According to data from 51job, a leading recruitment platform, the attrition rate in high-tech industries, including LLMs, decreased from 17.7% in 2023 to 16.1% in 2024. This decline reflects a weakening demand for talent within the LLM sector.
However, just as the industry seemed to be consolidating into a capital-driven game dominated by established players and well-funded AI startups, DeepSeek’s recent performance has disrupted the status quo. Its impressive advancements in the past month have forced a re-evaluation of priorities, pushing companies back to focusing on technological innovation and research and development capabilities.
This renewed emphasis on innovation has, in turn, reactivated the demand for general AI talent. Alibaba, for instance, has signaled its intentions by actively recruiting for AI-related roles in its consumer-facing (To C) businesses following the acquisition of Xu Zuhong.
DeepSeek’s rise serves as a wake-up call to established players, highlighting the importance of continuous innovation and the need to secure and nurture talent across all levels. The AI talent war is far from over, and the coming months will likely witness even more aggressive recruitment strategies as companies strive to maintain their competitive edge in this rapidly evolving landscape.
References:
- Letter List. (2025, February 23). 梁文锋惊醒张一鸣雷军 [Liang Wenfeng wakes up Zhang Yiming Lei Jun]. 36Kr. https://36kr.com/p/2130189132883201
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