American AI Startups Relocate China-Based Engineers

Among the hundreds of American artificial intelligence startups launched in the last few years, those founded by China-born entrepreneurs exercised a unique advantage: They could hire less expensive, talented engineers based in China. Now, as the geopolitical battle between the U.S. and China increasingly extends to AI, these startups are scrambling to sever ties with their homeland.

One example is two-year-old Opus Clip, whose generative AI video-editing tool allows creators like Scott Galloway to turn longer clips into TikTok-like shorts. The Sunnyvale, Calif.–based startup is relocating its China-based engineers to Canada and Singapore, according to an employee and an investor who spoke to company leaders. And HeyGen, a Los Angeles–based startup that uses AI to generate avatars and voices for videos, earlier this year began to move its China-based engineers to Canada, according to people with direct knowledge of the relocation. Those who didn’t want to accept the Canada-based jobs resigned, they said.