Xi'an attracts software companies with its large talent pool

Xi'an, a city famous for its history and rich culture, has become home for an increasing number of start-up domestic software companies as well as international companies wanting to set up their R&D centers to take advantage of its talent pool.

Now, the city is upgrading its software industry by giving full play to its talent advantage, and making efforts to attract more high-end talents to join in the drive to become a Silicon Valley in western China.

Susan Su, a co-founder of a software company named Nowledge Data, recalls why she chose Xi'an to start up her business about six years ago after returning from working abroad for several years.

Facing traffic jams lasting for hours made her decide against setting up the company in a large city, and then, she turned to Xi'an and noticed the considerable number of IT-related university graduates and the strong willingness of the Xi'an people to stay in their hometown, which helped create a large pool of basic talents and a relatively low rate of job changing.

"Those working in the software industry in large cities may change their jobs two or three times a year, but those working in the software industry don't even think of changing after two or three years in the job," Su said.

Considering these factors, and bearing in mind that people are the most important asset for a software company, Su decided Xi'an was the place to be.

As her company grows and prospers in the Xi'an High-Tech Zone, time has proved the correctness of her original decision. Actually, the talent pool and job stability aspect have been attracting companies to start up their business or set up their offices here for years.

Talent pool favored by international companies

Xi'an boasts the highest output-input ratio of technological investment, and that's why the largest global research institute of Huawei is located in Xi'an, according to what the company's CEO once told Lyu Dongguo, director of Xi'an Software Park Development Center.

With nearly 15,000 employees in its R&D base there, Huawei is only one out of 31 Fortune 500 companies setting up offices or R&D bases in the Xi'an Software Park. As one of the four industrial parks recognized as both a National Software Industrial Base and National Software Export Base in China, the park has also attracted ZTE, IBM, J&J, BYD and Emerson among many other international companies. There are 38 Top 100 software companies in China based here.

It is the talent pool that makes this possible, Lyu stresses.

As a city of education, Xi'an cultivated 60,000 IT-related graduates in its 93 universities and colleges in 2016. As of that year, there are 165,000 employees working in the software and information service industry in Xi'an High-Tech Zone, with an annual growth of more than 10,000 employees, including over 65 percent of fresh graduates.

Li Dong, principal assistant of the Xi'an office of Thoughtworks, a global technology consultancy, also favored the software talent resources in Xi'an, saying this as well as the industrial support on offer led the company to make its strategic move here.

"Many joined the company upon graduation, and the job hopping of members of the core technical team was much less frequent than in large cities. With more software talents and companies gathering here now, we believe the local software industry is heading for a prosperous future, which is exactly why the Xi'an office is our biggest office in China with 350 employees," Li said.