Major Chinese technology firms such as Alibaba, ByteDance, and Meituan are expanding their artificial intelligence (AI) departments in Silicon Valley, according to the Financial Times. This strategy aims to draw in elite US professionals to help these companies dominate the profitable AI industry. Alibaba is seeking engineers, product managers, and AI scientists for its AI search engine, AI Accio. Meituan is building a team oriented towards functions like AI-powered menu translations. Moreover, ByteDance is continuously developing its Doubao language model and incorporating AI into TikTok.
Despite the US prohibiting high-end AI chip exports, essential for AI model development, to Chinese companies, these restrictions don’t apply to US-based entities affiliated with or owned by Chinese firms who acquire high-end AI chips through US data centres. However, new rules proposed in January require cloud providers to confirm the identities of users who are training AI models, and to report their activities.
The expansion of these Chinese tech giants in Silicon Valley occurs amid escalating US-China tensions. Following former President Trump’s reelection, there were fears of a possible extensive trade conflict between the two nations. In spite of this, Chinese President Xi Jinping has shown China’s readiness to cooperate with any US administration, pledging to work with the US to maintain dialogue, expand cooperation, and manage differences for mutual benefit.
