BEIJING: When Will Wang left Apple in Silicon Valley in 2018, he was not chasing the next tech startup.He was looking for a place to build hardware.A graduate of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and UC Berkeley, Wang worked on the Apple Watch team before returning to China.After stints at Chinese consumer electronics companies including Anker Innovations and Oppo, he founded Shenzhen-based smart glasses startup Even Realities in 2023.
The reason, he said, was simple.“Silicon Valley doesn't really (reward) making hardware anymore,” Wang told CNA, adding that the industry’s focus had shifted to software, data - and now artificial intelligence.For Wang, China offered the engineers, supply chains and manufacturing ecosystems needed to build the next generation of AI hardware.“If I wanted to (lead) in AI, I needed to be in Silicon Valley,” Wang said.“But if I want to innovate in hardware, I need to be located in the heart of hardware.”
Will Wang, founder and chief executive of Even Realities, speaks during a presentation on the company’s smart glasses technology. (Photo: Even Realities)
Wang’s decision reflects a broader shift unfolding at the centre of the global AI race.For decades, talent moved freely between China and the United States - but today, that once-familiar talent flow is becoming increasingly complicated.As Beijing and Washington compete for AI leadership, talent is increasingly viewed as a strategic resource alongside advanced semiconductors, computing power and data.Governments have been tightening scrutiny over technology transfers, investment and research collaboration, while companies on both sides are competing for a relatively small pool of elite engineers and scientists capable of pushing the frontiers of AI.The contest is no longer just about who builds the best models, experts said - it is also about where the world’s most valuable researchers, founders and engineers choose to live, work and build.Interviews with founders, recruiters and researchers suggest the result is not a simple reversal of talent flows from the US to China.Instead, a more selective and politically charged pattern is emerging, one that could reshape how innovation moves between the world's two leading AI powers.
