Silicon Valley artificial intelligence talent wars have expanded into Asia. OpenAI and Anthropic are actively recruiting top personnel from American technology giants including Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. These companies are building local teams in nations like India and Singapore to sell products and strengthen engagement with policymakers.
Sandhya Devanathan left her role as Meta India and Southeast Asia vice president last month after a decade at the company. She joined OpenAI as vice president for Southeast Asia and Australia. This appointment marked at least the ninth hire by a U.S. artificial intelligence giant from an American big tech firm in Asia over the past year.
Arjun Jaggi, an applied AI researcher and executive adviser to Fortune 500 companies, noted the limited size of the local talent pool. Jaggi stated that the number of executives in India who have run a country-level profit and loss for a global tech company, negotiated with regulators, and built enterprise trust at scale is small, totaling perhaps a few hundred people across all of Big Tech India.
OpenAI and Anthropic did not respond to requests for interviews regarding their recent hires or their Asia-Pacific hiring strategy.
Frontier artificial intelligence labs in the United States have primarily competed for top researchers and engineers. In Asia, however, the most sought-after executives are those who can translate artificial intelligence capabilities into market adoption. This shift occurs as competition moves from building models to capturing new markets.
Deepali Vyas, global head of data and AI executive search at talent advisory firm ZRG Partners, explained that companies entering new markets need leaders focused on partnerships, policy, and business development. Vyas stated that once a company decides a region is a strategic growth market, it seeks executives who can operate as mini-CEOs.
Professionals with experience at companies like Microsoft, Google, or Uber in Asia understand how to scale Silicon Valley products while navigating local landscapes. Experts believe the focus is less on poaching from specific firms and more on securing individuals with this exact regional expertise.
Pragya Mishra, OpenAI’s first hire in India, previously worked at Truecaller and was the first WhatsApp hire in India. Kiran Mani joined as Asia-Pacific director in March from JioStar, India’s largest media and entertainment conglomerate, after spending 13 years at Google. Devanathan’s background at Meta covers consumer platforms, gaming, commerce, business messaging, payments, advertisers, and partnerships.
Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst at Greyhound Research, described the value of these professionals. Gogia stated that the prized asset is dual institutional literacy. This involves knowing how a U.S. headquartered company allocates capital and risk alongside knowing how customers, governments, and partners turn global strategy into local reality.
This reliance on the same talent pool also stems from an existing shortage of skilled leaders. Neeti Sharma, CEO of TeamLease Digital, the recruitment arm of TeamLease Services, explained that leadership scarcity is pronounced because experience cannot be created overnight. Sharma noted that large technology companies compete for a small group of proven executives, though the pool will eventually expand as leaders emerge from global capability centers, software-as-a-service companies, startups, and digital businesses.
OpenAI and Anthropic have not yet announced further specific leadership appointments for their expanding teams across the Asia-Pacific region.
