Advertisement
Struggling Huawei loses ‘Genius Youth’ recruit Peng Zhihui, dealing a fresh blow to tech giant’s talent acquisition drive
- High-profile recruit Peng Zhihui has decided to leave Huawei, where his annual pay reportedly reached up to US$287,000, to pursue a new endeavour
- His departure has put a dent in the sustainability of Huawei’s ‘Genius Youth’ programme, which rewards successful candidates with fat pay cheques
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
20
Ben Jiangin Beijing
When Huawei Technologies Co founder and chief executive Ren Zhengfei initiated a programme known internally as “Top Minds” in 2019, just months after the company was blacklisted by the US government, he committed to write fat pay cheques to woo top talent to join the telecommunications equipment maker’s ranks and “energise the organisation”.
Advertisement
That recruitment drive, later dubbed as the “Genius Youth” programme, gave priority to candidates whose research had produced “tangible and impactful” results, research papers or patents; those from top-notch laboratories or honours programmes; and winners of top international competition in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, according to the advertisement posted by Huawei on Weibo at the time.
Of the many skilled young talent recruited under the programme, Peng Zhihui emerged as the most high-profile hire. The 29-year-old wunderkind from Ji’an, a prefecture-level city in eastern Jiangxi province, joined in 2020 to work on artificial intelligence (AI) projects at Huawei’s computing division and became a viral sensation on Chinese social media for posting his inventions, including an Iron Man-inspired robotic arm and a self-driving bicycle.
Advertisement
But Peng, who reportedly drew an annual salary of up to 2 million yuan (US$287,000), on Tuesday announced on video-sharing platform Bilibili that he was leaving Huawei to start a new endeavour, dealing a fresh blow to the Shenzhen-based tech giant’s efforts to bolster its roster of talent amid its continuing struggles with US sanctions.
Advertisement