As artificial intelligence continues to drive industrial change in China, data shows that AI has emerged as the most competitive talent battleground of this year's spring recruitment season, with companies racing to hire skilled professionals amid surging demand.

随着人工智能持续驱动中国的产业变革，数据显示，AI已成为今年春季招聘季竞争最激烈的人才战场，在需求激增的背景下，各公司纷纷抢聘专业技能人才。

In the first two months of 2026, the number of AI-related job postings increased about twelvefold year-on-year, far exceeding the overall growth of the new economy sector. According to a report released recently by domestic recruitment platform Maimai, the share of AI-related positions among all new economy jobs jumped to 26.23 percent from 2.29 percent a year earlier.

2026年头两个月，AI相关岗位的招聘数量同比增长约十二倍，远远超过新经济行业的整体增幅。根据国内招聘平台脉脉最近发布的一份报告，AI相关职位在所有新经济职位中的占比从去年同期的2.29%跃升至26.23%。

The new economy sector refers to industries driven by technologies such as the internet, big data, cloud computing and AI, which give rise to new products, business models and formats.

新经济领域指的是由互联网、大数据、云计算和人工智能等技术驱动的行业，这些技术催生了新产品、新模式和新业态。

Amid soaring demand, a shortage of talent is becoming increasingly evident. As of the end of February, high-performance computing engineers were among the scarcest, with a supply-demand ratio of 1:7, meaning there was only one qualified candidate against every seven vacant positions, the report showed.

在需求激增的同时，人才短缺正变得日益明显。报告显示，截至2月底，高性能计算工程师属于最紧缺的岗位之一，供求比达到1:7，即每7个空缺职位只有1名合格候选人。

Other roles, such as simultaneous localization and mapping, navigation algorithms, and cloud computing, are also facing a crisis of talent, it noted.

报告指出，其他如即时定位与地图构建、导航算法、云计算等岗位也面临人才告急。

The growing popularity of OpenClaw's open-source AI agent has further fueled demand for roles related to AI applications. According to data from recruitment portal Zhaopin, the number of AI-related job postings surged 455 percent year-on-year in the first three weeks after the Spring Festival holiday.

OpenClaw开源AI智能体的日益普及进一步刺激了对AI应用相关岗位的需求。根据招聘门户网站智联招聘的数据，春节假期后的前三周，AI相关岗位的招聘数量同比增长了455%。

Such roles offer highly competitive salaries. Maimai data shows that newly posted AI positions offer a monthly salary of 60,738 yuan ($8,837) on average, which is about 26 percent higher than the average salary in the new economy sector.

这些岗位提供极具竞争力的薪酬。脉脉数据显示，新发布的AI岗位平均月薪为60738元，比新经济行业的平均薪资高出约26%。

Experts said the surge in hiring reflects growing demand for talent as companies accelerate the commercialization of large models and expand AI applications across business scenarios.

专家表示，随着企业加速大模型的商业化应用，并在各种业务场景中拓展AI应用，招聘热潮反映了对人才的旺盛需求。

Zhu Keli, founding director of the China Institute of New Economy, said, "Over the next five years, the job structure in the internet industry will show three major trends — AI-centered roles, vertically specialized scenarios and increasingly hybrid skill sets."

国研新经济研究院创始院长朱克力表示："未来五年，互联网行业的岗位结构将呈现三大趋势——以AI为中心的岗位、垂直细分的场景以及日益复合的技能组合。"

The job landscape will shift from a software-defined model to one featuring hardware-software integration and the convergence of the physical and digital worlds, Zhu said, noting that the job value will be more closely tied to the ability to implement technologies.

他指出，岗位格局将从软件定义模式转向软硬一体、数实融合的模式，岗位价值将与技术落地能力更加紧密地结合。

Against this backdrop, major technology companies have increased their recruitment efforts during the spring hiring season, with AI roles taking center stage, he added.

他补充说，在此背景下，主要科技公司在春季招聘季都加大了招聘力度，AI岗位占据核心位置。

Earlier this month, Ant Group, which is affiliated with Alibaba, said that 85 percent of its openings are for technical roles, with more than 70 percent of those related to AI, covering areas such as large model algorithms and multimodal generation.

本月早些时候，隶属于阿里巴巴的蚂蚁集团表示，其开放职位中有85%是技术岗，其中超过70%与AI相关，涵盖大模型算法、多模态生成等领域。

ByteDance announced its largest-ever internship program, with plans to recruit over 7,000 interns, more than 60 percent of whom will be placed in research and development roles centered around AI.

字节跳动宣布了其史上规模最大的实习生招聘计划，拟招募超过7000名实习生，其中超过60%将投身于以AI为核心的研发岗位。

Meituan launched its recruitment program, which includes the year-round "Beidou Program", focusing on fields such as foundation models, AI applications, autonomous driving and intelligent decision-making.

美团启动了招聘计划，其中包括全年开展的"北斗计划"，聚焦基础模型、AI应用、自动驾驶、智能决策等领域。

New 'basic skills'

新的"基础技能"

Mo Rong, chief expert at the Chinese Academy of Labor and Social Security, said that digital literacy and the ability to apply AI are becoming new "basic skills" and, therefore, workers "need to understand AI principles and make effective use of AI tools".