Tech Explained: Here’s a simplified explanation of the latest technology update around Tech Explained: Tencent, ByteDance, Other Chinese Tech Giants Vie for AI Interns in Simple Termsand what it means for users..
(Yicai) March 11 — Tencent Holdings, TikTok owner ByteDance, and other leading Chinese tech firms are battling it out for interns in the artificial intelligence arena, offering a record number of positions with a particularly strong demand for algorithms, engineering, and product development roles.
Tencent plans to recruit over 10,000 interns worldwide, with a significant increase in the number of jobs related to AI, the Shenzhen-based firm announced earlier this month. ByteDance plans to recruit more than 7,000 interns from global universities, including over 4,800 in AI research and development roles.
Baidu also launched its largest-ever internship recruitment, offering more than 5,000 summer posts for students graduating next year, with over 90 percent of roles related to AI. Meituan is expected to recruit 6,000 graduates from the class of 2026 and open more than 3,000 internship-to-full-time roles for students graduating in 2027.
Ant Group has not disclosed spring recruitment plans. However, according to campus recruitment information released yesterday, over 70 percent of its offers will be related to AI and cover multiple Chinese cities as well as San Francisco, London, Bangkok, and other overseas locations.
Companies are offering generous salaries and benefits to compete for top talent, with R&D or product interns at ByteDance able to earn as much as CNY500 (USD72.70) a day, while the daily pay at other posts ranges from CNY100 to over CNY400. Meituan announced an “unlimited” salary system for its Beidou Program, while Ant promises new employees a diverse range of benefits, including housing subsidies and health care.
Opportunities for taking a full-time role after an internship have also become a key incentive. ByteDance said that the conversion rate for interns this year will exceed 50 percent, while a representative from Baidu promised that outstanding interns will have the chance to secure a formal job offer from the company.
Competition for AI talent has become the “main battlefield” in this year’s spring recruitment in China, with the number of AI roles offered surging about 12 times from a year earlier, accounting for 26 percent of all job openings, up from just 2.3 percent in the same period last year, according to data from Chinese career and social-networking platform Maimai.
In addition, companies are offering an average monthly salary of up to CNY60,738 (USD8,845) for candidates applying for AI roles. The biggest demand is for large language model algorithm professionals, closely followed by product managers and algorithm engineers.
Tech giants are willing to invest heavily to expand their recruitment efforts and provide systematic training mechanisms for candidates, aiming to gain a talent advantage in the AI competition over the next decade and beyond, industry insiders told Yicai.
Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev