Alibaba's AI lab sees talent poached by Chinese rivals

Several senior AI researchers have recently left Alibaba’s Tongyi Lab, the developer of the open-source Qwen models, to join rival tech firms in China.

Yan Zhijie, an early member of Alibaba’s Damo Academy, departed in February and joined JD.com’s Explore Academy.

He briefly worked at Tencent before exiting after an internal restructuring. Li Xiangang from 01.AI replaced Yan at Tongyi Lab in June.

Bo Liefeng, former head of Tongyi’s applied vision division, has moved to Tencent’s Hunyuan AI team.

The movement of talent highlights fierce competition among Chinese tech giants to recruit top AI experts.

ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent have each launched new AI-focused campus recruitment campaigns in recent weeks.

🔗 Source: South China Morning Post

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Tech talent poaching follows systematic patterns, not isolated incidents

Alibaba’s talent losses mirror a broader industry pattern where leading tech companies become targets for competitor recruitment.

Amazon demonstrated this approach between 2015-2017, poaching at least 30 director-level or higher executives specifically from Microsoft, showing how companies deliberately target specific rivals rather than recruiting randomly across the industry1.

The geographic concentration effect amplifies this trend. Amazon and Microsoft’s proximity in Seattle facilitated extensive talent movement, similar to how China’s tech giants operate in overlapping regions1.

This approach reflects strategic thinking where companies identify the specific expertise they need and target organizations known for developing that talent, rather than casting wide recruitment nets.

2️⃣ China’s AI talent war reflects massive market expansion driving recruitment intensity

The aggressive recruitment by JD.com and Tencent represents part of China’s broader AI talent surge, with the country’s AI recruitment market valued at $50.55 million in 2023 and projected to reach $121.0 million by 20352.

This 7.6% annual growth rate coincides with major Chinese tech companies launching extensive hiring campaigns—Baidu alone plans to recruit 21,000 interns over three years focused on AI roles3.