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. In the first two months of 2026, the number of AI-related job postings increased about twelvefold year-on-year. 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.
The new economy sector refers to industries driven by technologies such as the internet, big data, cloud computing and AI. 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. Other roles, such as simultaneous localization and mapping, navigation algorithms, and cloud computing, are also facing a crisis of talent.
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. 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.
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." Major technology companies have increased their recruitment efforts during the spring hiring season, with AI roles taking center stage.
Earlier this month, Ant Group said that 85 percent of its openings are for technical roles, with more than 70 percent of those related to AI. 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. Meituan launched its recruitment program, including the "Beidou Program", focusing on fields such as foundation models, AI applications, autonomous driving and intelligent decision-making.
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." AI-related skills are rapidly becoming baseline requirements for job seekers, rather than added advantages. The Maimai report shows that 34.39 percent of newly posted positions explicitly require AI — or large model-related skills. Job seekers are actively responding to this trend. Data from recruitment platform Liepin shows that in the first week after the Spring Festival holiday, resumes indicating proficiency in using AI tools surged 139.67 percent year-on-year.