US Residents Flock to Escape to China, Turns Out This Is the Reason
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Elite artificial intelligence (AI) talents who previously worked in the United States (US) are now flocking back to China. In the last 12 months, this wave of “reverse migration” has even begun to alter the map of global AI competition.
Several prominent names have been recorded leaving Silicon Valley. Wu Yonghui left Google DeepMind to lead the development of the next-generation AI model at ByteDance. Yao Shunyu also departed from OpenAI to bolster Tencent’s AI division. Not only that, senior scientist Roger Jiang quit OpenAI to establish a robotics startup in Shenzhen, while Zhou Hao was recruited by Alibaba from Google DeepMind.
Technology headhunters report that more than 30 US-based AI researchers have been relocated to China in the past year, a sharp increase compared to before.
This phenomenon is not merely nostalgia for returning home. China now offers significant opportunities deemed more attractive than Silicon Valley.
Unlike the US, which is still debating AI ethics, China directly applies the technology across various sectors. From driverless taxis in Beijing to AI-based trading in Shanghai, the implementation of technology is developing rapidly and on a massive scale.
Additionally, China has an advantage in the hardware supply chain, particularly for robotics. Shenzhen has even become an industrial hub with hundreds of humanoid robot companies. This situation allows researchers to directly test technologies in the real world.
Another magnetic factor is compensation. Top AI researchers’ salaries in China are said to have surpassed those in Silicon Valley after adjustments for taxes and cost of living. With the same income, researchers in China can afford to buy a house, hire domestic assistants, and enjoy world-class facilities.
Social conditions also play a role. Modern infrastructure, low crime rates, and a competitive education system are considered more appealing to professionals wanting to build families.
“I returned to Shanghai because I think it’s a better place to build a family. China offers a stricter, merit-based education system and a safer environment,” said Jonathan Zhou, a Harvard graduate and quantitative fund manager with a two-year-old child, quoted from the Financial Times on Monday (13/4/2026).
There is also a “push” factor from the United States, namely geopolitical tensions and increasingly strict immigration rules that make it difficult for many Chinese researchers to obtain a green card.
As a result, many talents are beginning to view China as a long-term career choice. Even now, only about 20% of Tsinghua University engineering graduates apply for PhDs in the US, down from around 50% before the pandemic.
The return of these engineers signals that China’s technology sector is becoming increasingly mature. China is no longer just consuming US innovations but starting to create its own.