Meta keeps stealing top talent: after Google and DeepMind, now it’s targeting Apple.

Meta is poaching top AI talent from Apple after hiring from Google and DeepMind.

Apple’s Ruoming Pang joins Meta’s Superintelligence team with a multimillion-dollar offer.

The AI talent war is reshaping the industry and putting pressure on competitors to retain their best people.

In recent days, the international tech sector has been shaken by news confirming the growing competition among AI giants. Meta, the company led by Mark Zuckerberg, has launched a true “poaching” campaign—actively recruiting key talents from other industry leaders, most recently from Apple. Their focus is on experts behind Foundation Models and the most advanced AI projects. The latest case involves Ruoming Pang, a prominent figure in Apple’s artificial intelligence division, who reportedly received a multimillion-dollar offer to join Meta’s fast-growing Superintelligence team. The fact that early confirmation came from sources such as Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, and TechCrunch makes it clear that this strategy is now recognized and closely followed by the entire industry.

The exodus of talent from Apple to Meta highlights the increasing pressure in the race for next-generation AI.

Pang’s move from Apple to Meta is not an isolated incident, but rather part of a broader trend: Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic are competing fiercely for the world’s top AI specialists, often offering compensation packages that reach or exceed $10 million in bonuses and incentives. This phenomenon—already reported by leading English-language media in recent days—shows that the battle for AI leadership is no longer just about products, but above all about the people and ideas that drive innovation within these companies. Meta’s decision to target the expertise developed at Cupertino signals a clear intention to accelerate research on the core architectures of AI models, which are essential to realize Zuckerberg’s ambitious Superintelligence project.

Meta’s strategy to build the Superintelligence team is transforming the global tech talent market.

The creation of Meta’s Superintelligence group is radically reshaping the tech job market. The company isn’t just looking for senior profiles but is directly “headhunting” leaders who have driven strategic projects at Apple, Google, DeepMind, and other top players. The offer made to Pang—and to other former Apple engineers—includes compensation packages that combine salary, stock options, and sign-on bonuses that are hard to refuse. This is raising salary expectations and mobility among the most sought-after professionals. The speed with which this news spread through international media shows how aware the sector is of the impact this recruitment campaign may have on future industry dynamics, in terms of both innovation and talent retention.

The impact on Apple’s internal morale and strategies marks a delicate phase for Silicon Valley.

The departure of names like Ruoming Pang is having a significant effect on Apple’s internal environment, which, according to sources, is now facing both a decline in morale among researchers and the need to rethink its retention and incentive strategies. The Pang case, now widely known in the sector after Bloomberg’s scoop on July 7, has made it clear that even the most solid companies must contend with increasingly aggressive outside offers, in a context where company loyalty is being tested by global-scale projects and benefits.

OpenAI Remains in Meta’s Sights: Intense Recruitment Efforts, Record Offers, and a Talent War with Mixed Results.

In addition to its high-profile hires from Apple, Google, and DeepMind, Meta has actively targeted OpenAI—widely regarded as its top global rival in foundation models and generative AI. According to recent reports from Bloomberg, The Verge, Wired, and The Wall Street Journal, Meta has extended exceptionally lucrative offers to some of OpenAI’s best engineers and researchers, including rumored signing bonuses as high as $100 million. These approaches have mostly taken place over the past few months, intensifying as Meta races to assemble its Superintelligence group.

Despite these unprecedented financial incentives, Meta’s efforts have yielded mixed results. While the company has successfully hired several talented researchers from OpenAI’s Zurich office—such as Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai—its attempts to attract core team members from OpenAI’s main offices in San Francisco and London have largely been unsuccessful so far. Many of the most prominent OpenAI staff have declined Meta’s offers, citing loyalty to OpenAI’s mission and culture, especially after OpenAI responded by recalibrating compensation packages and emphasizing the organization’s visionary goals.

This ongoing “talent war” between Meta and OpenAI is now closely watched by the entire tech industry. On one side, Meta’s aggressive strategy is raising the bar for salaries and benefits across the AI sector. On the other, OpenAI’s resilience—retaining its core talent despite extraordinary offers—underscores the growing importance of company culture, mission, and a sense of purpose in keeping top minds from defecting.

The race for Foundation Models talent becomes the real battleground among global AI leaders.

This new wave of “poaching” at Apple’s expense is just the latest episode in a contest where Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic are competing for supremacy in research and development of ever-more-advanced foundation models. The international media’s focus on every market move, the transparency forced by scoops, and the immediate publication of news (with Bloomberg and WSJ leading the charge as early as July 7) show how every acquisition of talent is now perceived as a strategic asset, capable of shifting the global balance in artificial intelligence. With its new team, Meta aims to position itself as one of the central players in the race for Superintelligence over the coming decade.

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