AI Talent Salaries Surge: The Market Battle Behind Monthly Salaries Exceeding 127,000 Yuan

According to the latest data from Maimai Gaopin’s 2025 Annual Talent Migration Report,

[1], a phenomenon that reflects the fierce competition in the current AI talent market.

• From January to October 2025, the number of newly posted AI positions rose by
  543%
  year-on-year, with a single-month year-on-year increase of more than
  11x
  in September[1]
• The talent supply-demand ratio for high-performance computing engineers is only
  0.31
  , meaning 3 positions compete for 1 job seeker[1]
• Talent supply is far from meeting the explosive growth demand of the industry

• ByteDance’s number of newly posted positions leads by a wide margin in both overall talent recruitment and AI talent recruitment[1]
• Xpeng Motors’ newly posted positions have an
  AI penetration rate of 19.32%
  , ranking first among all enterprises[1]
• To poach former core researchers from OpenAI, Tencent offered
  a general 50% salary increase and double the salary for top talent
  [3]

• International giants like Meta have adopted a “fast offer” strategy, skipping traditional interview processes to directly provide job offers[2]
• Top AI scientists often receive treatment worth
  millions of dollars
  , with long-term contracts totaling “hundreds of millions of dollars”[2]
• Microsoft’s internal compensation guidelines show: the highest salary package includes an annual salary of $408,000 + $1.9 million in onboarding stock rewards + nearly $1.5 million in annual stock rewards + an annual cash bonus of up to 90%[2]

• AI is evolving from a “tool” to “infrastructure”, reshaping the ecology of all industries
• Algorithm engineers and large model algorithms rank first and second in the number of newly posted positions[1]
• The salary premium brought by “AI” is significant: the average salary of AIGC algorithm engineers is nearly
  18%
  higher than that of ordinary algorithm engineers, and AI product managers are
  20%
  higher than ordinary product managers[1]

• The average monthly salary of the top 20 high-paying positions exceeds
  60,000 yuan
  , with AI R&D positions accounting for the majority[1]
• Among the positions with monthly salaries exceeding 60,000 yuan for graduates of C9 universities, AI-related positions have an absolute advantage
• The “scarcity premium” for top talent is being fully priced by the market

This talent battle reflects the strategic value of AI technology as the core driver of the fourth industrial revolution. Enterprises are willing to pay sky-high salaries for top talent, essentially paying for future technological high ground and industrial discourse power.

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[1] Maimai Gaopin 2025 Annual Talent Migration Report (https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/it/2025-12-12/doc-inhaprxf7206074.shtml)
[2] The Truth About Meta’s Instant Acquisition of Manus: How Clever Silicon Valley’s AI Talent Poaching Tactics Are (https://www.gvm.com.tw/article/127081)
[3] In the AI Era, Tencent May Suffer from Being a Latecomer (https://m.ebrun.com/632204.html)