China's 2025 Talent Coup: Why 7 Top Western Scientists Moved East
In 2025, at least seven top scientists and mathematicians left Western institutions for China. We analyze this new front in the talent wars amid the US-China tech rivalry.
The global map of scientific talent is being redrawn. In 2025 alone, at least seven world-class scientists and mathematicians left Western institutions for China. According to reports from the South China Morning Post (SCMP), this trend highlights China's strategic success in securing top minds amid its escalating tech rivalry with the United States.
An Exodus from North America
One of the most notable moves involves star mathematician Chen Min, who returned home after decades in the US. He has left Purdue University's maths department to join the Eastern Institute of Technology in Ningbo as a full-time faculty member, marking the latest in a series of high-profile academic returns to China.
From Canada, China secured another major academic coup with the recruitment of mathematics luminary Joshua Zahl. Zahl's move came shortly after he gained international acclaim for solving the more than 100-year-old three-dimensional Kakeya conjecture, a puzzle that had stumped mathematicians for a century.
A Magnet for AI and Foundational Science
The trend isn't limited to North America. Award-winning mathematician Professor Zhong Xiao departed Finland after nearly three decades, bringing his foundational research, which is critical to artificial intelligence (AI), back to China. Meanwhile, the move of top Harvard mathematician Liu Jun to China is seen as part of the same strategic current, underscoring Beijing's focus on building prowess in fundamental science.
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