As Chinese AI Firms Vie for Talent, New PhD Salaries Soar to USD115,000
Wang Yufeng
DATE:  Nov 19 2018
/ SOURCE:  yicai
As Chinese AI Firms Vie for Talent, New PhD Salaries Soar to USD115,000 As Chinese AI Firms Vie for Talent, New PhD Salaries Soar to USD115,000

(Yicai Global) Nov. 19 -- Salaries for new graduates in China's artificial intelligence sector are skyrocketing as demand for talent far outstrips supply, Yicai Global has learned.

New graduates earned CNY300,000 (USD43,210) with a masters' degree and CNY500,000 with a PhD last year, and the figures seem set to keep rising, according to information garnered at the professionals and intelligence exchange meeting of the 20th China Hi-Tech Fair in Shenzhen from Nov. 14 to 18.

Employers have hiked salaries by 10 to 20 percent, with some lifting remuneration for doctoral graduates to CNY800,000 from CNY500,000. Some AI startups are even trying to poach experts from internet giants by paying top dollar.

Many AI majors are 'reserved' by companies before they graduate or quit their last job. They do not need to actively seek work, which has led to many tech companies omitting AI jobs from their recruiting information, though they are in great demand.

"We have been recruiting AI talent for a long time, though the jobs are not put on the recruiting card," said a human resource manager with a leading Shenzhen firm. The company is gearing up for self-driving now, and the main reason for its lack of AI job postings is the scarcity of AI talent attending the fair, he added.

Another Shenzhen company that researches laser radars made a rare move when it added AI jobs on its recruitment board. It has a large number of openings, 28, including positions for sensory algorithm and sensor algorithm engineers.

"We'll hire as many AI professionals as we can," the manager said, underlining the difficulty in recruiting AI staff.

Editor: Ben Armour

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Keywords:   AI,Human Resource,Shenzhen