As China’s artificial intelligence (AI) sector accelerates, competition for top talent is intensifying among major technology companies, which are increasingly poaching from rivals while also attracting researchers from overseas hubs such as Silicon Valley.
As reported by South China Morning Post (18/4), a recent case involving the movement of a high-profile researcher, Guo Daya of DeepSeek, has drawn attention to the sensitivities surrounding AI recruitment in China’s tech sector.
Guo, a lead researcher on DeepSeek’s R1 model, has reportedly joined ByteDance’s Seed AI development team with an annual salary said to reach 100 million yuan (USD 14.7 million), according to Chinese media outlet LatePost on Thursday.
However, Li Liang, a vice-president at ByteDance’s Douyin Group, denied the reported compensation figure in a social media post on Thursday, saying that ByteDance’s Seed team operates under a standard remuneration framework that includes cash pay as well as ByteDance equity and stock options linked to Doubao.
He added that some staff could potentially earn hundreds of millions of yuan by exercising their stock options after four years, but did not confirm whether Guo had joined the company.
The South China Morning Post was unable to verify the LatePost report. “Guo’s name has not yet appeared in ByteDance’s internal staff system,” a ByteDance employee said, noting that new hires may use aliases.
Guo and DeepSeek did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday, while ByteDance declined to comment beyond Li Liang’s post.
Guo completed his PhD in computer science through a joint programme between Sun Yat-sen University and Microsoft Research Asia. He later worked at DeepSeek, where he became a core researcher and lead author of its R1 model, which propelled the Hangzhou-based start-up into global prominence following its release last year.
The scramble for talent underscores intensifying and broad-based competition for AI researchers in China, where large language model development has become a key strategic priority for major technology firms.
ByteDance has seen notable turnover in its AI division, with nearly 70 members of its Seed team departing over the past year, according to aggregated data from Maimai, a real-name professional networking platform in China.
Among them, nearly 30 have joined Tencent Holdings, mainly in AI infrastructure and data systems roles. Recent hires include former Seed visual AI platform lead Xiao Xuefeng and infrastructure specialist Zhang Chi, both now working on Tencent’s AI model infrastructure projects.
Others have moved to international technology companies including OpenAI, Google, Meta Platforms and Apple, reflecting continued global demand for trained Chinese AI engineers, according to Maimai and LinkedIn.
ByteDance’s Seed organisation remains central to its AI strategy, spanning foundation model research, coding tools such as Trae, and vision systems for image and video generation, alongside products such as CapCut and Doubao.
At the same time, a growing number of former ByteDance employees have entered the start-up ecosystem.
More than 30 AI companies founded by ex-ByteDance staff have secured funding, spanning agents, multimodal creation, embodied AI and hardware systems, increasingly competing directly with ByteDance, according to LatePost.
Notable examples include CiJian Wuxian, founded by former ByteDance executive Qi Junyuan, which focuses on AI agents and has raised funding from Sequoia China and IDG Capital, as well as Lovart, founded by former CapCut monetisation head Chen Mian, which integrates multimodal models with creator platforms. (SF/ZH)
Originally written by: Zetta Hannany, Sahrudin Fiqri M
Source: IDN Financials
Published on: 20 April 2026
Link to original article: China tech giants battle for AI talent
