THE hunt for tech talent in Singapore has Chinese tech companies flashing serious cash in order to bulk up their presence here in South-east Asia, with even interns benefiting from their efforts.

Fighting in a limited talent pool, the usual big-name companies are seeing their talent poached by Chinese tech companies that make better offers, sparking a cycle of poaching from others to replace lost talent. This has resulted in higher salaries and perks to attract and retain talent.

For instance, salaries at ByteDance can range from S$6,000 to S$7,000 on average for fresh graduates in junior tech roles, according to tech career site NodeFlair. Salaries for junior tech roles across the board were ranging between as low as S$3,000 and S$7,250 for Q3 2021.