Washington saw a lavishly sponsored initiative by China offering a high salary for scientists to attract outstanding foreign-trained scientists as a danger to U.S. interests and technical superiority for a decade until 2018.
A display panel showing a computer chip and the Chinese words for “Independence” at the World AI Conference in Shanghai in July. (Photo source: AP Photo)
3 to 5 Million China Offers High Salary for Scientists
According to three sources and a Reuters review of over 500 government documents from 2019 to 2023, China quietly revived the Thousand Talents Plan (TTP) under a new name and format two years after it stopped promoting it amid U.S. scientist investigations. The three people told Reuters that the revised recruitment drive offered home-purchase subsidies and customary signing incentives of 3 to 5 million yuan, or $420,000 to $700,000, for the first time China offers high salaries for scientists.
China offers high salaries for scientists at various government levels in China seeking Chinese and foreign professionals. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s Qiming program is the main replacement for TTP, according to national and local policy documents, online recruitment ads, and a person with direct knowledge of the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the issue’s sensitivity.
President Xi Jinping stresses China’s need to become self-sufficient in semiconductors despite U.S. export limitations, prompting the tech talent race. Oct. Commerce Department regulations prohibit U.S. citizens and permanent residents from assisting Chinese advanced semiconductor development and manufacture, among other steps. Qiming inquiries were ignored by China’s State Council Information Office and ministry. According to Xinhua, China has claimed that TTP foreign recruitment aims to establish an innovation-driven economy, facilitate talent mobility, and respect intellectual property rights.
Two persons said Qiming, or Enlightenment, recruits from “sensitive” or “classified” scientific and technology fields like semiconductors. This predecessor did not publicize honorees and was not on central government websites, which insiders said showed its sensitivity. Some documents mention Qiming and Huoju, or Torch, a longstanding Ministry of Science and Technology project to create tech clusters. The ministry did not comment.
According to sources, Qiming works with municipal and provincial recruitment programs and a government-backed hiring drive by Chinese chip giants. Reuters could not identify the companies. The U.S. has long accused China of stealing intellectual property and technology, which Beijing calls politically motivated. National Counterintelligence and Security Center spokesperson Dean Boyd about Chinese talent recruitment schemes and said that foreign antagonists and strategic competitors recognize that gaining elite U.S. and Western personnel is frequently just as important as acquiring technology. Recruitment that involves inherent conflicts of interest or commitment might jeopardize the economic and national security of the United States. Nick Marro, an Economist Intelligence Unit China expert, said talent flow-related intellectual property leakage “can run the risk of turning into ethnically-charged witch hunts”.
According to a 2021 report by the China Center for Information Industry Development, a government think tank, and the China Semiconductor Industry Association, China’s chip industry has grown but needs 200,000 engineers and designers. Three sources claimed China’s latest talent initiatives, including the TTP, favor top foreign university graduates. “Most of the applicants selected for Qiming have studied at top U.S universities and have at least one Ph.D.,” claimed one, adding that China sought experts from MIT, Harvard, and Stanford. The universities did not comment.
Though thousands have applied, Reuters’ analysis of government papers could not identify how many specialists have been recruited under Qiming or related programs. U.S. officials say talent poaching is not illegal, but university researchers risk breaking the law if they fail to disclose affiliations with Chinese entities while receiving government funds to conduct research, illegally share proprietary information, or violate export controls.
Reuters spotted more than a dozen Qiming job ads submitted by recruiters on Zhihu (2390. HK) and LinkedIn since 2022 as China offers high salaries for scientists. Chen Biaohua, who works for Beijing Talent Linked Information Technology, requested resumes from Qiming and Huoju candidates in February on LinkedIn. The post said Chen wanted “young talents” under 40 with doctorates from top universities and international experience. He wanted individuals with high positions at overseas universities or significant enterprises.
China Offers High Salaries for Scientists Continuous Scouting
In March, headhunting business Hangzhou Juqi Technology put an ad on ResearchGate, an academic social network, seeking doctorates from top universities and Fortune 500 experience to help hire 5,000 abroad researchers for Chinese companies. The ad said this endeavor will benefit Qiming and Huoju, with each researcher receiving 15 million yuan ($2.1 million). Anyone who recommends a talent program candidate will earn “diamonds, bags, cars, and houses”. Chen and LinkedIn declined to comment. Chen’s employer, Zhihu, ResearchGate, and Hangzhou Juqi Technology did not respond.
The Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) website listed one foreign-trained semiconductor expert as a 2021 Qiming recipient. Ma Yuanxiao, an associate professor at BIT’s School of Integrated Circuits and Electronics, earned his master’s at Nottingham University in 2013 and his Ph.D. at Hong Kong University in 2019.
Provincial and municipal governments across China are investing in recruitment, official documents reveal. State media reported the 2019 launch of eastern Zhejiang province’s Kunpeng Plan. The Zhejiang Daily announced in June 2022 that 48 IT specialists have been recruited in five years for the program. According to a 2022 talent policy report by the city government of Wenzhou, local authorities can invest up to 200 million yuan in each Kunpeng professional, including compensation, start-up capital, and housing.
Because it allocated 85 million yuan to Kunpeng and related programs, the Wenzhou branch of the Communist Party’s Organization Department, which handles personnel decisions, reported a 49% rise in its budget in 2022. The university’s journal revealed in 2021 that Cambridge-educated Zhejiang University professor Dawei Di received a Kunpeng for his research on semiconductor optoelectronic devices. A 2021 city decree in Huzhou, Zhejiang, allows businesses to submit individuals to Qiming for up to 1.5 million yuan in incentive payments from the city or district governments if they are accepted.
Two sources said many Chinese semiconductor professionals abroad were apprehensive about returning due to China’s political atmosphere and lower chip development position compared to the West, despite Xi’s emphasis on chip technology. “They have no idea if programs could change overnight or lose government support,” said one.
In October 2022, Zhuji, a Zhejiang county-level city, revealed that it had over 200 talent program candidates, predominantly Qiming, but only eight successful applicants from the previous year had returned to China. The Zhuji general office did not respond to a faxed request for comment. Two sources said some Chinese scientists, especially those with foreign citizenship or permanent residency, worry that joining China’s government talent programs could hurt their global prospects or lead to U.S. investigations.
These insiders urged Chinese chip firms’ worldwide divisions to hire those talents. “Safer to have one foot in China, one out,” said.
