Guangdong Aims to Retain AI Talent After Losing Founders to Rivals

Guangdong province, home to the founders of DeepSeek and Moonshot, is implementing strategies to attract and retain artificial intelligence talent after losing top figures to other regions. Yang Zhilin, a Tsinghua graduate with a PhD from Carnegie Mellon, returned to China and launched Moonshot in Beijing in 2023. Liang Wenfeng, who attended Zhejiang University and spent time in Chengdu, settled in Hangzhou to establish his hedge fund and DeepSeek. According to the Hurun Research Institute, Beijing leads with 19 of China's top 50 AI companies, followed by Shanghai with 14, while Guangzhou and Shenzhen hold 10 combined. Second-tier cities like Hangzhou are thriving with firms such as DeepSeek and Unitree Robotics, while Hefei and Wuhan are gaining momentum around semiconductor companies ChangXin Memory Technologies and Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp. Experts attribute the disparity to the concentration of academic talent. Guangdong's efforts aim to counter this trend and bolster its position in the AI industry.