Tsinghua University hired Yaghi from UC Berkeley to spearhead an AI Materials Chemistry center, underscoring intensified U.S.–China competition for talent in AI-enabled materials science.

The move reflects a broader push to fuse AI with materials research to advance semiconductors, batteries, energy devices, brain science, biotech, and quantum technologies, aiming to preserve global leadership in future industries.

Omar Yaghi, a Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate, has left the United States to lead a new AI-driven materials research center at Tsinghua University in China.

Yaghi envisions AI-enabled chemistry addressing environmental challenges like water scarcity, carbon neutrality, and sustainable development, and he intends to train young scientists in AI-driven methods.

Yaghi’s expertise centers on MOFs, a class of porous materials used in energy and environmental technologies such as carbon capture, hydrogen storage, and atmospheric water collection.

MOFs, or metal-organic frameworks, are ultra-porous materials formed from metal ions and organic ligands with extremely high surface areas, enabling applications in carbon capture, water harvesting from desert air, and hydrogen storage.

He will oversee research using AI to design and synthesize new materials, aiming to accelerate R&D timelines and tackle global issues such as water shortages and sustainability.

China has been attracting top researchers from major U.S. institutions as part of a broader government strategy and heavy investment in research infrastructure, creating independent hubs and talent pipelines.

Zhou Zihui, a UC Berkeley postdoc, noted Yaghi mentored about 200 researchers, nearly half of whom are Chinese, highlighting his international influence.

Yaghi’s move is part of a broader trend of prominent scientists joining Chinese institutions, alongside others like Charles Lieber and Liu Jun, signaling expanding international talent migration.

Yaghi previously held the James and Neeltje Tretter professorship at UC Berkeley and shared the 2025 Nobel Prize for MOFs with colleagues Richard Robson and Susumu Kitagawa.

The center’s goal is to use artificial intelligence to design and synthesize new materials more rapidly, dramatically shortening development cycles.