(ECNS) -- China's leading auto rental firm CAR Inc. is pursuing the best employees of Silicon Valley, including ones from Google, Facebook and Yahoo.
Chairman and Executive Director Charles Lu Zhengyao said the firm has acquired over 30 tech experts from big companies for a recently launched lab in Silicon Valley that focuses on cloud computing, big data, machine learning and unmanned driving.
For example, lab director Liao Yu worked as a senior engineer at Google, one of the founders of Gmail and has won the Google Founder Award. Li Yan, also in charge of the lab, was a senior engineer at Facebook and worked as a researcher at Microsoft.
The lab, located across the street from the Levi's Stadium, will continue to expand to 100 people, according to Lu.
"China's car rental market has been very competitive and investments have become tighter than in past years," Lu said. "Talent acquisition helps strengthen the company's services."
The firm is also pouring big money into attracting talent at home. It offers a million yuan salary for managerial and tech positions. It will have 200 openings for graduates, and plans to boost its driver team by 10,000 by hiring retired veterans.
CAR Inc. isn't alone in this. Many Chinese tech firms are expanding their presence overseas and chasing the best Silicon Valley talents. Alibaba, Tencent, Lenovo and Baidu have all set up offices or labs here, according to media reports.
