As the AI wave surges, the battle for talent has not ceased. Lin Fan, founder and CEO of Maimai, stated that last year, the supply and demand ratio for AI talent was 1 job to 1 person. This year, it has risen to 4 people competing for 3 positions. He observed that the number of applications in the AI field increased sharply by 30% in the first half of the year, but the shortage of AI talent remains at about 5 million, with a particular scarcity of technical talent.
An industry headhunter also revealed that currently, core AI technology intern positions at major tech firms offer a daily salary of 5,000 RMB (2,951 MYR), with monthly income exceeding 100,000 RMB (59,000 MYR).
The battle for AI talent is also raging in Silicon Valley in the United States, with Chinese talent in particular becoming the focus of competition among tech companies. Tech giant Meta recently poached more than 14 core researchers from AI powerhouse OpenAI, 8 of whom are Chinese, with total bonuses reaching as high as 100 million USD (423 million MYR). Subsequently, Meta reportedly recruited Apple AI executive Ruoming Pang with a salary of more than 100 million USD.
Looking at China’s domestic market, since DeepSeek's rise has shaken up the AI industry, the once prominent "AI Six Little Dragons," including Zhipu, MiniMax (Xiyu Technology), Moonshot AI, Step Star, and others, are now facing even fiercer competition, with talent acquisition becoming the key battleground.
According to a report by The Paper, among China’s large tech firms in this talent war, ByteDance has been the most aggressive in headhunting talent. Data shows that in the first half of the year, its talent inflow-to-outflow ratio was 1.71, maintaining a high level of talent inflow. There are even rumors that ByteDance once poached a top technical manager from another major firm with an eight-digit annual salary.
From a salary perspective, a clear dividing line has emerged in China’s AI industry, with technical positions representing the concentration of high salaries. Lin Fan said that according to campus recruitment data, currently, the largest proportion of income in the AI sector is still monthly salaries below 20,000 RMB (11,800 MYR), accounting for 32.45%. Positions paying 50,000 RMB (29,500 MYR) or more per month only account for 18.17%, while over 55% earn less than 30,000 RMB (17,700 MYR) per month.