Former Huawei ‘genius youth’ recruit joins alma mater Nanjing University to research AI

Xu Ke, who had been a researcher at Huawei’s cloud computing unit since 2021, recently joined the School of Intelligence Science and Technology at Nanjing University as a tenure-track associate professor, according to the faculty’s website.

Xu was hired by Huawei in January 2021 as the only “genius youth” in the visualisation field at the company’s cloud business, according to a resume found on his GitHub page. During his time at Huawei, Xu led a team of researchers to launch the company’s first business intelligence platform, DataArts Insights, in 2023.

At Nanjing University, Xu will conduct research in areas including data intelligence, visual analytics and human-computer interactions, according to his profile at the school’s website.

Xu’s move followed several high-profile departures of Chinese scientists from top tech companies at home and abroad to join academia, as the nation races to catch up with the US in AI and semiconductors.