China Restricts Overseas Travel for AI Talent at DeepSeek and Alibaba — Bloomberg Exclusive

Bloomberg·high signal

Bloomberg reported on May 26 that Chinese government agencies have begun imposing overseas travel restrictions on individuals involved in advanced AI work at private firms including Alibaba and DeepSeek, requiring them to obtain approval from relevant authorities before traveling abroad. These restrictions were previously reserved for nuclear scientists and senior executives at state-owned firms — their expansion to AI researchers signals Beijing now views top AI talent as a national-security asset. For builders: this escalates the US-China AI talent competition and could accelerate brain drain of Chinese AI researchers who leave before restrictions tighten further.