Rising appeal of Chinese tech

Ex-Microsoft exec's move to Baidu seen as positive sign for local industry

The recent departure of tech executive Zhang Yaqin from US software giant Microsoft made quite a splash, even triggering speculation from experts about the possible end of an era when top Chinese tech professionals considered overseas multinationals the favorite option for employment.

The news of Zhang, former Microsoft Corporate vice president and chairman of Microsoft Asia-Pacific R&D Group (ARD), "defecting" to Chinese search engine powerhouse Baidu Inc came on September 8.

As Zhang is an influential figure among IT researchers, his decision immediately became a hotly discussed topic in tech circles.

"Yaqin's exit from Microsoft indicates the end of an era," Zhang Hongjiang, CEO of domestic leading antivirus service provider Kingsoft, said on his Sina Weibo account about Zhang's leaving Microsoft, without giving further explanation.

Many industry analysts and experts speculated that what Zhang Hong-jiang, a fomer colleague of Zhang Yaqin at Microsoft, meant is that China has entered a new era where domestic Internet firms can lure away more talented Chinese tech professionals from multinational counterparts, due to their fast-track development and proactive overseas expansion.

An inevitable departure

It seems that it is just a matter of time before Zhang resigns from a job, as the Microsoft veteran appears to be a restless person who longs for new challenges.

In an interview with Beijing-based magazine Business Times in 2010, Zhang indicated that when he is able to handle a job with ease, it becomes time to leave that job.

While Zhang Yaqin could not be reached by press time, in a press release e-mailed by Microsoft to the Global Times, he summarized the reason for his departure as "mission completed."

One of his major tasks at Microsoft, according to the press release, was the establishment of a world-class innovation organization in the Asia-Pacific region as required by Bill Gates, Microsoft's co-founder as well as a mentor of Zhang.

Now the ARD, under Zhang's leadership, has become Microsoft's largest R&D center outside the US with over 3,000 scientists and engineers.

"I spent 16 years to fulfill my commitment. Now it's time to follow my heart and answer a new calling," said Zhang in the press release.

Besides pursuing new personal challenges, analysts think China's current antitrust probe of the US software behemoth might be another cause.

In May, Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system was banned from being installed on Chinese government computers. In August, the State Administration for Industry & Commerce confirmed that Microsoft is under antitrust investigation over alleged transparency issues and sales bundling.

Given the current sensitive relationship between the Chinese government and his former US employer, Zhang probably did not want to be "squeezed in the middle" any more, Li Yi, secretary-general of the China Mobile Internet Industry Alliance (CMIIA), told the Global Times on September 9.

A coup for Baidu

In the eyes of Zhang Yaqin, leading domestic Internet company Baidu is a suitable next stop.

"I share their [Baidu's] vision and look forward to realizing the immense potential of Baidu in this new era," said Zhang in an announcement filed by NASDAQ-listed Baidu on its website on September 9.

According to the announcement, Zhang was appointed as president in charge of new business and will report to Baidu Chairman Li Yanhong. But a PR representative refused to reveal details about the new business department when contacted by the Global Times Monday.

Some experts said that Baidu's newly developed enterprise-class cloud computing service may be put in Zhang's hands.

In April, Baidu launched a big-data engine to offer services to allow traditional companies to better use big-data technologies, which is expected to be a new profitable venue for Baidu.

Zhang Yaqin, who has significant experience regarding the development and launch of Microsoft's public cloud service Windows Azure in China, will likely improve Baidu's research capabilities in the sector, Zhang Yi, CEO of Shenzhen-based iiMedia Research, told the Global Times Sunday.

The hiring of Zhang Yaqin is expected to give Baidu a greater profile in innovation amid intensified competition against its two major Chinese rivals Alibaba and Tencent, he said.

However, CMIIA's Li is concerned that Zhang may not have a key role in Baidu's R&D facilities at the beginning, as he has not worked as a researcher for many years.

"Zhang, a former senior manager with a US firm, needs to take some time to get accustomed to domestic Internet companies' R&D management mechanism," Li said.

"Microsoft's ARD usually takes three to five years to develop a product. By contrast, domestic Internet companies usually believe one year is long enough," he noted.

Despite the concern, Li still believed that Baidu made a wise decision to hire Zhang as he is an influential figure among Chinese IT students and can help attract more talented people to Baidu.

Talent backflow

Zhang is actually not the first top talent to jump ship from a US technology company to a domestic player.

Earlier this year, for instance, Liu Yun, former vice president of Google and head of Google Greater China, confirmed his departure from the US giant, joining Beijing-based Qihoo 360 Technology Co as the company's chief business officer.

"Starting from last year, I have seen a trend of more and more Chinese talented people coming back to work for domestic companies from multinationals partly due to a Chinese anti-monopoly investigation of US tech companies," Xie Zheng, a partner with Beijing-based recruitment firm Pro-Matrix & Co, told the Global Times.

In order to cultivate a fair and competitive business climate, China launched a range of antitrust probes on industries including tech and automobile, but these were not targeted at foreign companies which accounted for only 10 percent of the companies involved, said Premier Li Keqiang on September 9.

Even top foreign tech talents have started to consider Chinese firms more attractive.

In September 2013, Hugo Barra left Google to become Xiaomi's vice president, responsible for the Chinese smartphone maker's global division.

Andrew Ng, a Chinese American who founded and led Google's Deep Learning team, is another one, having joined Baidu as head of Baidu Research in mid-May.

Thanks to increasing consumption in China, domestic tech companies are developing faster than US companies, which means they can offer higher salaries and better treatment, said iiMedia's Zhang.

As an example of domestic companies' rapid growth, Baidu recorded a 58.5 percent year-on-year surge in revenue during the first quarter of the year, hitting $1.9 billion, faster than its US rival Google's 22 percent rise year-on-year over the same period, though Google's total revenue reached $16 billion.

"In the 1990s, brilliant Chinese scientists like Zhang Yaqin were likely to seek jobs in big tech multinationals. But Zhang's decision to leave Microsoft shows young Chinese scientists that rising domestic firms can also be a good choice," CMIIA's Li said.