Chinese tech and auto companies are pulling AI recruitment down into high school as the shortage of elite engineers deepens, according to Rest of World. Tencent started camps in June for 13- to 18-year-olds covering robotics, quantum computing, and AI product management, while ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming co-founded a nonprofit center in October 2025 that brings on 30 teenagers a year to do full-time research in AI, math, and computer science. Geely went further in March with a program that recruits straight out of high school and guarantees graduates a job at university-graduate pay. McKinsey estimates China could be short 5M AI workers by 2030, and job listings ran 3.08 openings for every qualified AI candidate between January and May, per recruitment platform Zhaopin.
