While countries like the U.S. is declaring tariffs war and trying to end the Ukraine War, and countries like Malaysia continues to protect hate preacher Zakir Naik and busy promoting religious radicalization, China is charging ahead to dominate a new global economy – Artificial Intelligence (AI) – which could worth a staggering US$15.7 trillion in 2030, according to PwC.
However, the Middle Kingdom also faces a new problem – shortage of Artificial Intelligence talents. From start-ups like DeepSeek to industry giants such as ByteDance, top Chinese technology companies are hunting – even poaching – people for jobs in AI. The lack of supply is so serious that headhunters have to recruit top AI talent from overseas, including the U.S., Europe and Singapore.
Following the global success of China’s newest AI darling DeepSeek, there have been a surge in interest of skilled AI workers. Job applications for AI engineers rose 69.6% in the first week after China’s spring recruitment season kicked off in February 4. Even AI-related sectors such as the computer hardware industry saw more job openings for technical talent like engineers for research on humanoid robots.
Sure, AI still cannot predict winning lottery numbers, even though there has been a spike in gamblers trying to use AI technology as a prediction machine. But the mismatch between AI talent demand and supply has created a new goldmine – AI-related job openings. Besides offering huge salary to entice the existing talent, some companies have to resort to stealing talents from rival companies.
The demand for AI talent in China has been skyrocketing since American AI company OpenAI’s ChatGPT was released in late 2022. Even though Chinese universities are investing in training AI talent, in order to do cutting-edge research and development (R&D), candidates typically need to have PhDs. Therefore, the output of AI-trained PhD holders is relatively low.
But even back in 2020 before ChatGPT was unleashed, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of China reported that the country faced a shortage of more than five million AI professionals, with only one qualified person for every 10 AI jobs. If the talent shortfall fails to get “urgent priority” and China does not “scale up talent production”, the talent gap will exceed 10 million by 2025.
Since 2024, domestic generative video AI models have experienced explosive growth in China. New job roles have emerged, such as AI content creators, AI director assistants, and AI scriptwriters. In 2024 alone, China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security introduced 19 new professions, including generative AI systems operator.
Already, more than 500 universities and colleges in China have rolled out an AI major since 2018, a year after Beijing unveiled its plan to become the world leader in AI. Still, the only way Chinese tech companies could compete for talent shortage is with attractive salaries. Graduates with PhDs could command an annual salary of between 800,000 yuan (US$110,000) and one million yuan (US$140,000).
The highest salary offered to top talent was between 10 million yuan (US$1.1 million) and 20 million yuan (US$2.2 million) per year. DeepSeek’s highest offer is a monthly salary of between 80,000 yuan and 110,000 yuan, which, coupled with the company’s 14-month pay system, could mean an annual income of up to 1.54 million yuan (US$212,000) for deep learning researchers.
At the end of his internship at Nvidia in 2023, Zizheng Pan, a young artificial-intelligence researcher from China, faced a critical decision – stay in Silicon Valley with the world’s leading chip designers or return home to join DeepSeek, then a little-known startup in eastern China. Pan chose DeepSeek without much hesitation, suggesting that talents do not necessarily attract to America.
Of course, less than two years after Pan joined DeepSeek, the Chinese company catapulted to global fame when it released two AI models that were so advanced, and so much cheaper to build, that the news wiped nearly US$600 billion off Nvidia’s market value. Pan’s story reflects a growing trend among China’s AI talents to reject Silicon Valley jobs for the AI industry in China.
Besides lower living costs and proximity to family, working in China also means opportunity to take on significant roles early in their careers. For example, DeepSeek filled its ranks with young graduates and interns from elite Chinese universities, such as Tsinghua University and Peking University. Nearly half the world’s top AI researchers completed their undergraduate studies in China.
Even American companies hire Chinese interns with strong engineering or data-processing capabilities to work on AI projects, either remotely or in their Silicon Valley offices – proof that the U.S. recognizes Chinese students known for doing very solid work. Many Chinese students actually are not that interested in full-time jobs in America due to worries over anti-immigration policies and anti-Chinese racism there.
The shift in mindset where unlike earlier generations of elite Chinese tech workers, who preferred Silicon Valley jobs for higher salaries and a chance to work alongside the world’s top innovators, a growing share of young AI engineers is choosing to stay home. There are also more opportunities for them as China’s domestic AI industry expands, with tech giants like Alibaba, Tencent, Xiaomi and ByteDance.
Still, by 2030, China’s demand for AI professionals is expected to reach six million. However, the domestic pool can provide only one-third of the talent. That leaves a shortage of about four million workers, according to a May 2023 report published by American consulting firm McKinsey. China’s severe shortage is in the top-tier talent such as AI scientists.
Top Chinese universities such as Tsinghua University and Renmin University have already established AI schools and launched AI-focused curricula to expand the talent pool. But the real long-term challenges are accumulating enough data to train AI models and increasing computing power, which is a key driver of AI progress, at a time when U.S. chip curbs are in place.
As battles for AI workers get ugly and the estimated average annual salary for an AI engineer in China skyrockets to around 380,000 yuan (US$52,000), aggressive poaching saw DeepSeek core researcher Luo Fuli jumped ship to Xiaomi after reportedly being offered an annual salary in the tens of millions. Meanwhile, Alibaba recruited Singapore-based AI expert Steven Hoi from Salesforce Research Asia.
ByteDance, on the other hand, hired computer scientist Wu Yonghui, a 17-year Google veteran. A quarter of openings among the top 20 “new economy” job types on Maimai (a Chinese professional online network similar to LinkedIn) in 2024 through October were directly related to AI, including roles like algorithm engineer, recommendation algorithm engineer, large language model (LLM) specialist.
America thinks China is trying to unseat America, but the truth is that young people were inspired by new technology developments such as OpenAI. In the early 2000s, graduates from China’s top universities were inspired by the likes of Google and Microsoft, Today, without supplies of imported advanced chips, Chinese AI developers were forced to share their work with each other and experimented with new approaches to the AI technology.
DeepSeek is a classic example of how the Chinese can build an independent AI talent development ecosystem despite U.S.’ best efforts to cripple China. DeepSeek’s founder, 40-year-old Liang Wenfeng, studied computer engineering at Zhejiang University without studying abroad. Instead of recruiting engineers from major corporations or foreign big tech firms, he formed an AI development team with young engineers who had only one to three years of experience.
The best part is, powered by the open source DeepSeek-V3 model, DeepSeek, a Chinese AI chatbot was made at a fraction of the cost (US$6 million) – significantly less than the billions spent by rivals. Crucially, it took a team of only 139 engineers – nearly all trained and experienced in China – to develop this groundbreaking AI model, challenging Silicon Valley’s top brains.
More importantly, every year, China produces 80,000 PhD graduates in AI-related science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, reinforcing a large-scale system for AI talent development. But DeepSeek is just one of China’s top seven AI companies. A U.S. think tank reported that in 2022, China accounted for 47% of the world’s top 20% of AI researchers, far outpacing the U.S. at 18%.
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February 21st, 2025 by financetwitter
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Won’t be Bolehland to help China with the shortage, I won’t be overly concerned either, the problem should solve itself along the way, Ketuanan Cina has repeatedly shown itself as highly capable of solving problems that easily cripple even pretty hunkydory Western countries.
Needless to say, patches of various “Tanah Cave Monkeys” land won’t stand a chance if ever they are confronted with problems like not being able to supply enough brains to sustain the needs of going fully AI. To begin with Bolehland is too brain-dead to go the whole halal hog into any interesting depth with AI. Another huge reason is Bolehland is never ever going to supply any decent number of brain containers with mental tauhu of any exciting quality.
Our research quality is called plagiarism, the Chinese uncles will only catch us “borrowing” their work.
So expect very few of those of very exceptional quality to fill the slack, the majority of non-China-Chinese positions will be taken by Chinese from elsewhere, and experts from other countries, yes, like Singapore, the West,
Russia, Ukraine, and so on, they are already present in Chinese academia, industry, research bodies.
In many ways, the coming shortage of brains is not a problem for our monkeys, we ain’t got the problem in caveman Bolehland and we ain’t going to be able to go many place when AI meets Bolehland. All Bolehland can do is supply the Tok, other than others contributing to the heartbeat Tik that makes AI work, Bolehland can, as usual, come up with precious nothing, zilch, and pure certified halal bollocks.
Not that being left behind is ever any problem for our monkeys, we are doing just great being left behind in everything. If you are permanently in noddyland, and dazed in a bomoh-induced trance, nothing matters. If ever we have any problem, we can always depend on our Chinese uncles to come save us from ourselves and make Bolehland great again, all ham dulilah!
Near twenty years of unbelievable massive financial loss and a permanent state of near bankruptcy death have made us crawl to Ketuanan Cina to perform the miracle out of the deluded fantasy of Ketuanan Bolehland. Who else but our Chinese uncles can perform the miracle of raising Proton from the dead?
For Allamighty’s sake I’d simply leave the issue of the shortage to the Chinese. Since all we can contribute would be a fcuking great mess. And since Bolehland cannot handle the tiniest of its own problems. Unlike the highly capable and hands-on Chinese who are extremely good at solving anything, we’ll only sleep on the problem, pretend it doesn’t exist, or file it NFA. And that’s Bolehland’s true religion.
Thank Allamighty, we’ll always have our Chinese uncles we can always run or crawl to to save Bolehland. Hasn’t the holy scriptures said the faithful should go as far as China to learn?
This is another great topic although it won’t mean much or anything for us since we’re not getting out of the Stone Age for a very long time yet. Our only involvement with AI would be some of our more awake ones going to Singapore and elsewhere to help with AI elsewhere – make other countries great again.
As far as Bolehland is concerned, AI would be running us in a few years time since our ketuanan can’t deliver anything, anything else would be a great idea including upgraded monkeys and donkeys, they would still work better than the blessed wisdom of brand Ketuanan.
AI certainly would work, it is more “neutral” too. But then AI itself has to be run by those savvy folks, you do really need those bright sparks with excellent and even exceptional ability to even make AI work. I’m not talking super robotic ATM machines that polish your sandals and suggest presents for your mistress while putting more sugar in your coffee, all at the same time, no siree, if you don’t get what I’m saying then you must be a Bolehland politician who is “blurr” about everything, anyway.
That’s also why Uncle Elon doesn’t want to drop by us, we’re just too freaking dumb to talk AI with him. Even if Tesla dies in China, it is still better than for Elon to see it die in Bolehland. At least the dying would not be so horrible, slow, and painful. And expensive.
Our caveman punters have yet to know the least bits about AI, that, like any subject with Bolehlanders would take many many more years called forever for them to still “catch no ball” with anything. However, that won’t matter since with our half-awake monkeys, nothing ever matters. Bolehland has always been ignorant and clueless about everything and we’ve survived.
Take driving for example, very very few can drive in Bolehland, we’ve survived ok, it’s the others that died on our roads. If there’s any issue on the road, you just take out your samurai sword and menace the other moron. Even our good doctors trained to save people take their samurai swords to sort out things than ask Siri or Alexa for intelligent solutions to anything petty.
With AI for us, what matters is if we don’t strive to make gigantic effort toward understanding it, work it, let alone being creative with it – which I very much doubt will happen in good time – or ever (as with most things). Sorry, Bolehland is a dull, lazy, anything is can do with our sh*thole patch of ground, the monkeys chatter, blabber, moan just too much – and will never change. The monkeys just hang around and expect things to happen – and that will be the usual blessed disasters!
What will happen eventually will be capable and dynamic countries like China gobble up Bolehland on the cheap (without using AI) and use the backward backyard patch for its slave labour and as its dumping ground, what else do you think the esteemed uncles can do with a colony of slow-witted, half-awaked, lazy dedak eaters? Selling Bolehland to Ketuanan Cina is better than to sell it to the Yahudi BlackRock.