Why Zhang Yaqin’s Move to Tsinghua Signals a New Era for AI Research

China's Tsinghua University announced that Zhang Yaqin, a member of the US Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, has officially joined the campus.

He has been appointed as an Intelligent Science Chair Professor and will conduct research, teaching, and talent cultivation in the School of Vehicle and Transportation, the Computer Department, and related faculties.

Zhang will also head the creation of the Tsinghua Intelligent Industry Research Institute (AIR), focusing on the fourth industrial revolution with key breakthroughs in autonomous driving, AI + IoT, and brain‑inspired intelligence, aiming to build a world‑leading innovation platform.

His achievements include more than 60 US patents, over 500 academic papers, and 11 monographs. He served on the World Economic Forum’s Future Transportation Committee, led Baidu’s Apollo autonomous‑driving program, and chaired the global Apollo Council.

His image‑video compression and transmission technologies have become international standards and are widely used in HDTV, internet video, multimedia retrieval, mobile video, and image‑database applications. He has also led major projects in cloud computing, embedded operating systems, mobile internet, and artificial intelligence.

Academically, Zhang entered the University of Science and Technology of China’s youth class at age 12, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electronic engineering, obtained a Ph.D. in electronic engineering from George Washington University, became the youngest IEEE Fellow in 1997, received the IEEE Industry Pioneer Award in 2004, and was elected an ATSE Fellow in 2017.

In 2019 he was elected to the US Academy of Arts and Sciences, the sole Chinese engineer and computer scientist among the nine inductees that year.

Beyond academia, Zhang holds the directorship of the Information and Intelligent Department at USTC and has served as a board member, honorary, or visiting professor at more than ten top universities worldwide.

His corporate career includes senior research roles at Sarnoff and GTE, co‑founding Microsoft Asia Research, serving as its director and chief scientist, and later becoming Microsoft’s global vice‑president overseeing mobile communications and embedded products. He founded Microsoft Asia R&D Group in 2006, integrating research, engineering, and cloud computing across the region.

At Baidu, Zhang served as president, driving the creation and rapid growth of Baidu Cloud. He introduced the “ABC” strategy—AI, cloud, and big data—leading to a doubling of users and revenue by 2018 and positioning Baidu Cloud among China’s top providers.

In March 2019, at age 53, Zhang announced his retirement to pursue “Life 3.0,” subsequently leaving Baidu in October and dedicating himself to teaching, research, and international academic exchange at Tsinghua.

“I think I fundamentally enjoy doing different things at each stage; the industry has big trends, but personally I seek what I love to work on.”

Wishes for Zhang’s new chapter at Tsinghua.