Chinese AI Labs Pay Top Talent at Just 12% of OpenAI's Cost
bookwormengr · x · 2026-08-12
A tweet compares the labor costs of top AI companies in the US and China: cited data shows that in 2025, the average cost per employee (including stock-based compensation) at MiniMax and another firm is around $197k and $185k, respectively. In contrast, WSJ reports that OpenAI's stock-based compensation alone averages $1.5 million per employee in 2025.
The author points out that Chinese AI labs employ talent on par with Silicon Valley at roughly 12% of the cost, attributing this to China's overcapacity in world-class STEM education as a form of implicit subsidy.
Related event: Data Reveals Gap in Scale and Costs Between US and Chinese AI Firms(2 posts)→
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