--- title: China’s AI and chip firms are handing out shares to keep... description: Chinese chip and AI companies are running unusually broad equity programs to retain engineers: Cambricon has granted shares to 85.3% of its workforce, AMEC to... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/china-s-ai-and-chip-firms-are-handing-out-shares-to-keep-their-engineers-vngh04gt4 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: China’s AI and chip firms are handing out shares to keep their engineers | daily.dev og:description: Chinese chip and AI companies are running unusually broad equity programs to retain engineers: Cambricon has granted shares to 85.3% of its workforce, AMEC to... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/china-s-ai-and-chip-firms-are-handing-out-shares-to-keep-their-engineers-vngh04gt4 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/vngh04gt4.png og:image:alt: China’s AI and chip firms are handing out shares to keep their engineers og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # China’s AI and chip firms are handing out shares to keep their engineers **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Chinese chip and AI companies are running unusually broad equity programs to retain engineers: Cambricon has granted shares to 85.3% of its workforce, AMEC to more than 97%, and Zhongji InnoLight has issued high-value stock awards to key personnel. Cash is also flowing, with ByteDance and Tencent offering pay hikes up to 150% and bonuses around 35%. The moves reflect intense domestic poaching and export-control pressure that concentrates demand on a small engineering talent pool. By contrast, Europe faces a 65,000-worker semiconductor talent gap but relies mainly on training programs like the European Chips Skills Academy and Chips Act initiatives, since fragmented employee share-scheme rules across member states make equity harder to offer. The US approach, exemplified by Anthropic's high salaries, is largely to outspend competitors for talent. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How many employees at Cambricon received stock grants and how much are they worth on average? Cambricon granted 5 million shares to 944 employees, covering 85.3% of its workforce, under a plan running through 2028. Separately, it unlocked around 600,000 shares for 124 core staff, worth an average of 5.57 million yuan (about $828,000) each, tied to a revenue target of roughly $14.8 billion. _Engineers weighing equity-heavy offers against cash compensation can track compensation trends like this on daily.dev._ ### How large is Europe's semiconductor talent gap compared to its AI workforce? The European Chips Skills Academy estimates the region's semiconductor talent gap at 65,000 workers, even though Europe has more AI talent than the United States by headcount. Europe's shortage stems from a lack of easy equity tools, since fragmented employee share-scheme rules across member states make it harder for listed incumbents, research institutes, and university spinouts to offer stock-based retention. _Anyone comparing regional tech job markets can follow coverage of talent gaps like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [More elite AI researchers now work in China than in the US, study finds](https://daily.dev/posts/more-elite-ai-researchers-now-work-in-china-than-in-the-us-study-finds-dwxuibvez) · The Next Web · 3 upvotes · 0 comments - [China is increasingly keeping its best AI talent to itself](https://daily.dev/posts/china-is-increasingly-keeping-its-best-ai-talent-to-itself-rhfqhd11v) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/china-s-ai-and-chip-firms-are-handing-out-shares-to-keep-their-engineers-vngh04gt4) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"China’s AI and chip firms are handing out shares to keep their engineers","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/china-s-ai-and-chip-firms-are-handing-out-shares-to-keep-their-engineers-vngh04gt4","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/china-s-ai-and-chip-firms-are-handing-out-shares-to-keep-their-engineers-vngh04gt4"},"datePublished":"2026-08-22T16:46:24.922Z","dateModified":"2026-08-22T16:48:28.875Z","description":"Chinese chip and AI companies are running unusually broad equity programs to retain engineers: Cambricon has granted shares to 85.3% of its workforce, AMEC to...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/fdc7333482fe3a6207b24ddb6a6e38c2?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/fdc7333482fe3a6207b24ddb6a6e38c2?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Next Web","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Next Web","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tnw","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/china-s-ai-and-chip-firms-are-handing-out-shares-to-keep-their-engineers-vngh04gt4","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"career","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Web","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"China’s AI and chip firms are handing out shares to keep their engineers"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/china-s-ai-and-chip-firms-are-handing-out-shares-to-keep-their-engineers-vngh04gt4#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How many employees at Cambricon received stock grants and how much are they worth on average?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Cambricon granted 5 million shares to 944 employees, covering 85.3% of its workforce, under a plan running through 2028. Separately, it unlocked around 600,000 shares for 124 core staff, worth an average of 5.57 million yuan (about $828,000) each, tied to a revenue target of roughly $14.8 billion. Engineers weighing equity-heavy offers against cash compensation can track compensation trends like this on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How large is Europe's semiconductor talent gap compared to its AI workforce?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The European Chips Skills Academy estimates the region's semiconductor talent gap at 65,000 workers, even though Europe has more AI talent than the United States by headcount. Europe's shortage stems from a lack of easy equity tools, since fragmented employee share-scheme rules across member states make it harder for listed incumbents, research institutes, and university spinouts to offer stock-based retention. Anyone comparing regional tech job markets can follow coverage of talent gaps like this on daily.dev."}}]} ```