Silicon Valley pays way more than any good/known tech company in China, which is why their good engineers are all emigrating to work there and to other places where life is better.
It's easy to romanticize tech in China from afar, but in reality it's like how it was in the 90's in the US and needs a lot of catch up. One issue that I'd highlight right away is that there seems to be a real lack of interest in the actual work; everything's done at breakneck speed for purely practical reasons and they wouldn't get very far without being able to copy/paste from github.
Hence throwing money at strategically important industries like semiconductors. The goal isn't to pay more the west in everything, but to enough premium attract the necessary talent to meet development objectives. Like attracting sufficient Chinese engineers from the valley to sea turtle back to bolster domestic innovation while locals spam derivative products until something competitive arises. At least data from the last few years shows it's drawing Taiwanese and Korean semi engineers. But semiconductors are very hard, like turbojet engines which China also has difficulties tackling, so who knows how well this strategy will work. Only that it's worked for everything else.
>Chinese Tech
It's not romanticization, I'm not in tech and I don't know what goes on method of cultural wise behind the scenes. I just know most everyday services I interact with when in China is ahead of the west, with exception of Google maps. Maybe the code is all duct taped from github, the workers are underpaid and overworked, but the experience is better from a consumer experience. So for me whatever is happening is sufficient, and breakneck speed for practice reasons might be the kind of consumer oriented process I prefer. Silicon Valley may poach most of the talent, and have the best pay, but they haven't made my life as convenient in comparison.
It's easy to romanticize tech in China from afar, but in reality it's like how it was in the 90's in the US and needs a lot of catch up. One issue that I'd highlight right away is that there seems to be a real lack of interest in the actual work; everything's done at breakneck speed for purely practical reasons and they wouldn't get very far without being able to copy/paste from github.