AI Talent War Escalates as "Icy" Competition Heats Up in Job Market

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Securities Times reporter, Zhou Chunmei

The flow of talent is a microcosmic and effective window for observing the development of an industry.

Recently, tech giants such as Baidu, ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent have launched their campus recruitment drives for 2026, with many increasing their recruitment efforts in AI-related positions, triggering a new round of competition for AI talent among 2026 graduates.

According to reports from the Securities Times reporter who interviewed various companies, job seekers, and recruitment platforms, the current AI job market presents an "icy" landscape with a significant gap between supply and demand. From the demand side, top-notch enterprises are eager for talent and have intensified their recruitment efforts, while smaller and medium-sized enterprises are struggling to find suitable candidates.

From the supply side, top AI talents have multiple job offers and an annual salary of RMB 300,000 as a starting point, while many job seekers are stuck in the "sea of applications" and lament the lack of job opportunities.

In the midst of the fierce competition in the AI industry, top-notch talents have become the coveted "morsel" for tech giants, but ordinary job seekers are engaged in a brutal struggle at the bottom of the pyramid.

Data shows that as of this year, there are already over 621 regular colleges and universities in China that have successfully established AI undergraduate programs, with professional settings rapidly expanding, but the underlying structural contradictions remain unresolved.

The Securities Times reporter also interviewed various companies, job seekers, and recruitment platforms to gain insight into the current state of the AI job market.

According to statistics from the "2025 Spring Campus Recruitment White Paper" by NiuKan, a popular campus recruitment platform, in the first half of this year, AI-related job positions increased by 36.82%, but the talent gap has already exceeded 500,000 people, with AI talents facing a high level of supply and demand imbalance.

However, the vast talent gap does not necessarily mean that many AI graduates can find their ideal jobs. Qianhe, a postgraduate student majoring in AI at Tsinghua University, said that the competition for AI-related job positions is extremely fierce, with many applicants holding multiple job offers and high expectations.

As a leading technology, the AI industry has higher requirements for students' academic backgrounds, professional skills, and practical experiences. Data shows that 49.9% of enterprises have increased their demand for graduates from top-tier universities, while 26.2% of companies prefer candidates with master's or doctoral degrees.

In the context of this structural mismatch between education and industry needs, it is crucial to bridge the "gap" between schools and industries through innovative education models and collaborative training programs that cater to the diverse needs of AI talents.