Latest news with #PangRuoming
Business Times
10-07-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Can China compete in the AI talent war?
THE latest eye-watering artificial intelligence (AI) outlays aren't going towards high-end chips or data-centre build-outs, but individuals. The competition for AI talent prompted Meta to reportedly offer sign-on bonuses of US$100 million to lure senior staff from rivals. It feels 'as if someone has broken into our home and stolen something', OpenAI's chief research officer said of the aggressive poaching in a memo to staff obtained by Wired. The latest victim: Apple, which just lost top executive Pang Ruoming to Meta. It's telling that so many of the superstar players US tech titans are boasting about adding to their rosters are of Chinese origin. Including Pang, eight out of the 12 new recruits to the Meta Superintelligence Labs team graduated from universities on the mainland before pursuing careers abroad. It means that a key driver of the global AI race is an intense scramble for the people building it: Chinese talent. The outsize role that they play in developing AI systems for its geopolitical rival likely isn't lost on Beijing. In other tech fields where workers hold a knowledge advantage, the government hasn't been afraid of asking them to return home. Authorities have already reportedly restricted travel for some of DeepSeek's employees. Instead of cracking down on immigration, US policymakers must now do more to entice the best and brightest from China and beyond and create an environment where they are likely to stay. But American business leaders shouldn't assume that the big pay cheques alone will win an international talent contest. Researchers at Harvard University last month said that the number of high-impact scientific publications shows that China dominates in 'raw human capital for AI'. This helps drive indigenous research despite US advantages in computing power and investment. Top workers may still be keen on making money overseas, but that doesn't mean a lot of them won't stay at home. Separate researchers at Stanford University in May analysed data on the more than 200 authors listed on DeepSeek's technical papers. The firm's success story is 'fundamentally, one of homegrown talent', they found. Half of DeepSeek's team never left China for education or work, and those who did ultimately returned to pursue AI development. This has policy implications for the US. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up China looks at international experience less as a brain drain and more as a way for researchers to acquire knowledge before returning home, the Stanford paper said. The US 'may be mistakenly assuming it has a permanent talent lead'. It aligns with other data that suggests America has been losing its allure as a destination for top-tier AI researchers. Only 42 per cent of these individuals worked in the US in 2022, compared to 59 per cent in 2019. During that same period, China was closing the gap fast, rising to 28 per cent from 11 per cent. The Chinese government, meanwhile, has been funding AI labs and research at universities as part of industrial policy. It's not clear how well this investment has paid off, but it has helped incubate talent who went on to support breakthroughs at private companies. One of DeepSeek's keystone papers, for example, was co-authored by scholars at Tsinghua University, Peking University and Nanjing University. In this way, China has been building up an ecosystem of innovation that doesn't centre around poaching individual star players. Domestic firms are less able to spend so lavishly to attract top talent. US private investment in AI was nearly 12 times the amount in China, according to one analysis. Earlier this year, state-backed news outlet the Global Times reported on the 'high-paying job offers' from DeepSeek, which could amount to annual income of some 1.54 million yuan (S$270,000) per year. It's a significant sum in urban China, but hardly the instant millionaire-minting figures being tossed around in Silicon Valley. DeepSeek is nonetheless in the midst of a recruiting blitz – one that's trying to attract overseas Chinese AI researchers to come back home. It has posted a spate of roles on LinkedIn, a platform that's not used domestically. As my colleague Dave Lee has written, this is about more than just money, but instead convincing workers that their contribution 'will matter most in the history books'. DeepSeek may be hoping that this pitch will work on homesick Chinese talent. Ultimately, just under half of the world's top-tier AI researchers come from China, compared to 18 per cent from the US. Many may be seeking opportunities abroad, but Beijing is pulling all its levers to convince at least some to stay at a time when America isn't signalling a warm welcome. Mind-boggling sign-on bonuses from Silicon Valley may be enough to win a cross-border battle for talent, but time will tell if it's enough to win the war. BLOOMBERG
Straits Times
10-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Meta poached Apple's top AI engineer Pang Ruoming with pay package over $256 million
Meta's new 'superintelligence' team, which has some of the highest compensation of any corporate job. San Francisco – Meta Platforms has made unusually high compensation offers to new members of its 'superintelligence' team – including a more than US$200 million (S$256 million) package for a former Apple distinguished engineer. Meta hired Pang Ruoming, who ran Apple's AI models team , with a pay package in the hundreds of millions over a several-year period, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Apple didn't try to match the offer, as it far exceeds pay at the company for leaders other than chief executive officer Tim Cook. That pay package is in line with other major hires for Meta's new superintelligence team focused on building AI systems that can complete tasks as well as or better than humans, the people said. The team now includes former GitHub chief Nat Friedman and AI start-up founder Daniel Gross. Meta tapped Scale AI co-founder Alexandr Wang as its chief AI officer by taking a 49 per cent stake in his firm worth US$14.3 billion. Meta declined to comment. Apple didn't respond to a request for comment. From a pure numbers standpoint, the superintelligence group has some of the highest compensation of any corporate job, including CEO roles at the world's major banks. But much of the money is tied up in performance targets and unlocked during years of loyalty, meaning it might not all be received if employees leave early or if the stock doesn't perform well. The compensation packages for hires to Meta superintelligence labs, or MSL, are comprised of a base salary, a signing bonus and Meta shares, with the stock as the weightiest part of the package. The salary and bonus to join are often significant cash payments. In cases where a recruit would have to walk away from significant start-up equity to join Meta, the signing bonus may be higher to account for that lost opportunity, the people said. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. World Trump's ambassador nominee to Singapore Anjani Sinha has a rough day at Senate hearing Asia Dr M at 100: Still haunted by the Malay Dilemma World Trump issues tariff notices to 7 minor trading partners, hits Brazil with 50% tariff Singapore Apex court upholds SMC's conviction of doctor who gave patients unapproved hormones Multimedia 60 objects to mark SG60: Which is your favourite? Singapore Singaporean fugitive arrested in Thailand for suspected drug trafficking and handed over to CNB Business US Fed minutes show divide on rate cut pace, tariff impacts Business SGX securities turnover up 23% in June, bringing financial year's gain to 28% For the stock portion, Meta tends to put in its contracts that the payouts are tied to specific metrics such as Meta's stock growing by at least a certain percentage in a given year, the people said. In many cases, the new hires are agreeing to join on contracts that exceed a typical four-year vesting schedule for stock, they added. New details of the structure of the compensation package come after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shocked Silicon Valley by describing AI talent wars with Meta on a podcast with his brother. Mr Altman said in June that Meta had offered his employees signing bonuses as high as US$100 million, along with even larger overall compensation packages, to join the company's superintelligence team. Mr Altman suggested his employees were choosing to stay at OpenAI because it had cultivated a better culture and reputation for innovation. Despite Mr Altman's remarks, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has now successfully hired more than 10 OpenAI researchers, as well as top researchers and engineers from Anthropic, Google and other start-ups. BLOOMBERG
South China Morning Post
08-07-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Meta's AI lab scoops up more Chinese experts from Apple, OpenAI in aggressive talent grab
Facebook parent Meta Platforms is adding another Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) expert to its newly established research facility, underscoring how researchers from China are increasingly sought after in the competitive global race for top tech talent. Advertisement The social media giant has recruited Pang Ruoming, who held the title of distinguished software engineer at Apple and was leading its foundation models team, according to a Bloomberg News report on Tuesday that was confirmed by Meta. Neither Apple nor Pang immediately responded to requests for comment on Tuesday. Pang is a veteran AI researcher who spent 15 years at Google before joining Apple in 2021, where he worked on diverse projects, including search and speech recognition, according to his LinkedIn profile. He earned his doctorate in computer science from Princeton University, following a master's degree and a bachelor's degree in the same field from the University of Southern California and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, respectively. Meta has reportedly hired the manager of Apple's foundation models team. Photo: dpa After Pang's departure, Apple's foundation models team will be led by another Chinese engineer, Chen Zhifeng, according to Bloomberg's report.
