China's quant funds boost US recruiting after Trump's visa curbs

Business Times

5 days ago

[BEIJING] Chinese quantitative hedge funds are stepping up efforts to hire science and engineering students in the US affected by US President Donald Trump's university funding cuts and tighter visa policies.
Shanghai-based Mingshi Investment Management launched a special program last month to offer full-time jobs to students unable to finish their PhDs due to the recent US policy changes. The initiative also provides internships to graduates from Chinese universities whose overseas study plans may be scuppered, the company said.
Shanghai-based Mingshi Investment Management launched a special programme last month to offer full-time jobs to students unable to finish their PhDs due to the recent US policy changes. The initiative also provides internships to graduates from Chinese universities whose overseas study plans may be scuppered, the company said.
Chinese quant funds are taking advantage of moves by the Trump administration to restrict foreign students' access to US universities. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in May that some Chinese student visas would be 'aggressively' revoked and applicants from China and Hong Kong will face heightened scrutiny.
Chinese quant firms, which have historically struggled to compete with more prestigious global giants with deep pockets, are seizing this opportunity to attract students in the US.
'The talent wars are intense among top-tier global quant funds, and now Chinese quant funds are also part of the game,' said Carrie Cheung, a Hong Kong-based partner at recruitment firm Principle Partners. 'With the recent visa constraint, it is a natural move to focus on US graduate students.'
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At Mingshi, which oversees 15 billion yuan, some of the affected students were already in their target pool. That prompted the firm to launch a special summer recruitment session, adding headcount for roles including quant developers and researchers.
The recruitment push has led to more applications from science, technology, engineering and math majors, including students in China and the US, the company said, without providing details.
'Considering their genuine challenges, this is a good opportunity to obtain the talent and it's our social responsibility to offer these students a special recruitment channel,' Mingshi wrote in a reply to Bloomberg News.
Mingshi posted on LinkedIn recently that founder Yu Yuan hosted 30 'exceptional' students from Yale University at their Shanghai office for an 'engaging discussion' on quantitative investing and strategy design.
Traditionally, more than 80 per cent of Mingshi's recruits have been returnees from international universities or companies.
The head of human resources at the eastern China-based fund, who requested not to be identified discussing personnel matters, said the shifts are clear: More Chinese students in the US are returning, while fewer are choosing to go in the first place. These trends have accelerated this year.
While the US remains the top choice for most quant talent, its lead over China is shrinking, according to some China funds. These firms are offering more competitive pay, and the industry's appeal is growing after AI startup DeepSeek stunned the world with its large language model this year.
About 40 per cent of the eastern China fund's research team were overseas returnees, mostly from the US. Some of the researchers earn more than 10 million yuan a year, the head of human resources said.
Shanghai QuantPi Investment has had 'mixed results' in the past, competing for staff against international peers. There's no doubt now that more Chinese students studying in the US will be interested in Chinese quants, according to chief executive officer Sun Lin.
China's quant industry offers greater growth potential, and the living environment is more familiar for these students, with a stronger sense of cultural identity, he said.
'The more ambitious and self-confident candidates tend to opt for domestic firms such as QuantPi,' he added.
QuantPi will not significantly adjust its recruitment strategy because it's always targeted people with US and UK study experience, he said. The company will allocate more resources to hiring, said Sun, former head of US market-making at Two Sigma Investments.
'A lot of top-tiered Chinese quant funds are expanding into global markets, not just trading China,' said Cheung at Principle Partners. 'They also intend to raise money overseas, hence a natural demand for talent with more global exposure.'
Some of the Chinese quant firms have already set up offices elsewhere, including in Hong Kong, allowing them to post some of the new recruits outside mainland China. Goku, for example, received a license in Singapore this year to accept capital from offshore investors.
One key advantage for China is that it has the world's largest pool of talent, Sun said. Chinese universities are forecast to churn out more than 77,000 Stem PhD graduates per year by 2025, compared with about 40,000 in the US, according to a research paper by Georgetown University in 2021. China would outnumber the US by more than three-to-one if international students were excluded from the US count, the report found.
That expertise is helping drive the push to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into investment decisions. More than 95 per cent of Goku's trading signals are now AI-driven, significantly surpassing most global peers, which are typically up to 25 per cent, according to Ken Chung, CEO of Goku's Singapore unit.
'The best source of AI talent is in the US and China,' Chung said. 'If the US doesn't want that talent, we would welcome them with open arms.' BLOOMBERG