China’s Baidu expands in Silicon Valley

Chinese search giant Baidu is expanding its Silicon Valley footprint with a new office in Sunnyvale that’s specifically for autonomous driving and AI research, the company announced today.

With this expansion, company president and ex-Microsoft executive Ya-qin Zhang is taking on an additional title: chairman of Baidu USA.

The company’s U.S. presence in part functions as a recruiting tool for computer scientists from top schools and startups. Baidu is so eager to bring AI talent to China that the company is reportedly offering scientists 15 percent raises to relocate there.

However, Baidu’s research team was recently dealt a noteworthy blow; Andrew Ng, the company’s chief scientist who joined from Google in 2014, is leaving the company.

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