More Chinese AI researchers are staying in their home country for work, helping China become the top destination for elite AI talent, a Carnegie China study found.

Data from Flourish and carnegieendowment

For the 2025 NeurIPS cohort, observed in 2026, 40.6% were counted as working in China and 34.2% in the U.S., reversing 27.1% and 46.4% for 2022.

Carnegie says stronger domestic job availability and tighter U.S. visa restrictions likely contributed to the retention increase, framing them as likely factors rather than measured causes.