Expansion, not job cuts: AAPI CEO says American bosses miss the point of AI

In the latest dispatches from the front lines of the silicon revolution, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang is challenging the boardroom status quo with a message that’s as much about human potential as it is about processing power. 

Huang, who famously co-founded NVIDIA at a San Jose Denny’s in 1993, is calling out executives who see artificial intelligence merely as a tool for cutting heads. To Huang, using the "most powerful tool in human history" simply to reduce headcount isn't just a strategy—it’s a profound "lack of imagination." He argues that visionary leaders should be looking to do more with the talent they have, rather than figuring out how to do the same with less.

This philosophy of resilience and expansion is deeply rooted in Huang’s own journey as a Taiwanese immigrant. Arriving in the US at age nine with limited English, he was mistakenly sent to a Kentucky reform academy where he spent his days cleaning toilets and dodging bullies. 

Those early years, followed by graveyard shifts as a dishwasher and waiter at Denny's, forged the "grit" he now demands from modern leadership. 

For Huang, who survived two near-bankruptcies at NVIDIA by betting everything on unproven tech, the current AI boom is a moment for expansion, not retreat. He views every company as a future "AI factory," one that requires leaders to foster a "messy garden" of innovation rather than maintaining strict command and control.

Huang’s advice to CEOs is to embrace a future where human employees are amplified by "digital humans" and AI agents. 

He predicts a workforce where the metric of success shifts; for example, he suggests that if high-level engineers aren't consuming half their salary’s worth in AI tokens, they aren't working at their full potential. 

Ultimately, he believes that while AI will transform every role, it will be a net job creator—as long as leaders have the courage to stop obsessing over immediate ROI and start investing in the "superhuman" capabilities AI offers their teams.

This philosophy of resilience and expansion is deeply rooted in Huang’s own journey as a Taiwanese immigrant. Arriving in the US at age nine with limited English, he was mistakenly sent to a Kentucky reform academy where he spent his days cleaning toilets and dodging bullies. 

Those early years, followed by graveyard shifts as a dishwasher and waiter at Denny's, forged the "grit" he now demands from modern leadership. 

For Huang, who survived two near-bankruptcies at NVIDIA by betting everything on unproven tech, the current AI boom is a moment for expansion, not retreat. He views every company as a future "AI factory," one that requires leaders to foster a "messy garden" of innovation rather than maintaining strict command and control.

Crucially, but overlooked by most media, Huang’s vision extends beyond the engineering lab and into the heart of the humanities. He has recently suggested that the "digital divide" is closing because AI allows anyone to communicate with a computer using their native tongue—the ultimate "human language." 

For the philosopher, the historian, and the artist, AI acts as a bridge, translating complex data into the narratives and ethical frameworks that make a society worth living in. 

By automating the drudgery of research and data sorting, AI frees the humanistic mind to focus on empathy, moral reasoning, and the "why" behind our progress. 

In Huang’s world, a technologically advanced society is hollow without the context provided by those who study the human condition; AI simply gives them a more powerful megaphone to ensure the future remains deeply, fundamentally human.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge. 

In the latest dispatches from the front lines of the silicon revolution, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang is challenging the boardroom status quo with a message that’s as much about human potential as it is about processing power. Huang, who famously co-founded NVIDIA at a San Jose Denny’s in 1993, is calling out executives who see artificial intelligence merely as a tool for cutting heads. 

To Huang, using the most powerful tool in human history simply to reduce headcount isn't just a strategy—it’s a profound "lack of imagination." He argues that visionary leaders should be looking to do more with the talent they have, rather than figuring out how to do the same with less.

This philosophy of resilience and expansion is deeply rooted in Huang’s own journey as a Taiwanese immigrant. Arriving in the U.S. at age nine with limited English, he was mistakenly sent to a Kentucky reform academy where he spent his days cleaning toilets and dodging bullies. Those early years, followed by graveyard shifts as a dishwasher and waiter at Denny's, forged the "grit" he now demands from modern leadership. For Huang, who survived two near-bankruptcies at NVIDIA by betting everything on unproven tech, the current AI boom is a moment for expansion, not retreat. He views every company as a future "AI factory," one that requires leaders to foster a "messy garden" of innovation rather than maintaining strict command and control.

Crucially, Huang’s vision extends beyond the engineering lab and into the heart of the humanities. He has recently suggested that the "digital divide" is closing because AI allows anyone to communicate with a computer using their native tongue—the ultimate "human language." For the philosopher, the historian, and the artist, AI acts as a bridge, translating complex data into the narratives and ethical frameworks that make a society worth living in. By automating the drudgery of research and data sorting, AI frees the humanistic mind to focus on empathy, moral reasoning, and the "why" behind our progress. In Huang’s world, a technologically advanced society is hollow without the context provided by those who study the human condition; AI simply gives them a more powerful megaphone to ensure the future remains deeply, fundamentally human.

Would you like to see a breakdown of AI research tools specifically designed for humanities scholars and ethical AI development?

Asian American businesses have huge impact on US economy

Asian Americans businesses have helped shape Silicon Valley.

From the nail salons in Manhattan to the tech companies in Silicon Valley, from the grocery stores in Chinatown to the motion picture production studios in Los Angeles, from the ubiquitous Chinese American restaurants in almost every city to the Panda Express franchise, Asian American entrepreneurs have had a huge impact on the US economy.

In 2020, there were 612,194 Asian-owned businesses employing about 5.2 million in the United States, the highest among all minority groups, according to the US Census.

Even though AANHPI make up only 7% of the US population, their economic impact as consumers and entrepreneurs far surpasses their relatively small numbers, says the US Census.

As the US population has become more diverse, so has ownership of the nation’s businesses.

There were more Hispanic-owned businesses overall and more minority-owned businesses in various sectors in 2020 than a decade earlier, according to the Census Bureau’s 2021 Annual Business Survey (ABS).

The diversity of business owners mirrors the changing profile of the nation’s population. The 2020 Census found that the population of nearly all race and ethnicity groups in the United States had grown since 2010 with the exception of the White alone population, which declined during the decade.

A large share of Asian-owned firms — 23.8% — were in the Accommodation and Food Services sector in 2020. The number of Asian-owned businesses in this sector far outnumbered ownership by other minority groups.

Asian-owned businesses had the largest estimated receipts ($841.1 billion) among minority race groups.

Several entrepreneurs of Asian descent have helped shaped Silicon Valley, from David Sun and John Tu of Kingston Technology to Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang. Among Door Dash's founders are Andy and Stanley Tang.

Among the most successful Asian American women entrepreneurs is Vera Wang, the designer who gained fame for her bridal collection and show-stopping red-carpet dresses.

Despite the lack of Asian American representation in Hollywood films, one of the most successful movie producers is Dean Devlin, a Filipino American who helped put together the recent Godzilla remakes and counts Independence Day and the Stargate franchises among his most successful productions.

In total, in 2020 there were a total 5,775,258 US firms in all sectors. They employed about 129,363,644 workers and had total annual payroll of $7.3 trillion.

Approximately 20% or 1.2 million of these employer businesses were owned by minorities. They employed about 9.9 million employees and had annual payroll of $357.4 billion.

 Other highlights of the Census report:

• Veteran-owned businesses had an estimated $926.7 billion in receipts, 3.6 million employees, and $176.6 billion in annual payroll.

• Women-owned businesses had an estimated $1.9 trillion in receipts, 10.9 million employees, and $432.1 billion in annual payroll.

• The number of Hispanic-owned businesses grew about 8.2% from 346,836 in 2019 to 375,256 in 2020 and made up about 6.5% of all businesses with an estimated $472.3 billion in annual receipts, 2.9 million employees, and about $105.6 billion in annual payroll

• There were an estimated 140,918 Black- or African American-owned businesses with $141.1 billion in annual receipts, 1.3 million employees, and about $42.2 billion in annual payroll. About 27.5% or 38,819 of these businesses were in the Health Care and Social Assistance sector.

• There were an estimated 40,392 American Indian and Alaska Native-owned businesses with $39.7 billion in receipts, 243,523 employees, and about $9.6 billion in annual payrolll.

• There were an estimated 8,822 Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander-owned businesses with approximately $8.8 billion in receipts, 60,129 employees, and $2.3 billion in annual payroll.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

A $30 million fund launched to bolster start-ups led by founders of Asian descent

Having impacted Hollywood since it was founded four years ago, Gold House is turning its attention to Silicon Valley.

Gold House, the premier collective of Asian and Pacific Islander leaders, launched  its $30 million fund — Gold House Ventures — to deliver market-first social impact in corner offices. 

"Gold House was forged to rewrite a history that's been handed to us. It's time to ensure that what we believe is who we can become — not just for the API community but for all communities through equitable hiring, multicultural consumer engagement, and collective economic success," said Bing Chen, President of Gold House and General Partner of Gold House Ventures.

The fund invests in founders of API descent; corrals capital through its preeminent investor network; delivers industry-focused accelerators; provides extensive marketing and talent recruitment support; and contributes 100% of management fees and profits back to Gold House to further the nonprofit's history-making work.

Asians are among the least likely demographic to be promoted to management. In technology, Asians account for ~30% of the total workforce but are less than 14% of executive ranks and single digits in the C-Suite and boards. However, an estimated 16% of the top companies founded in the last decade have at least one API founder (despite being 7% of the nation's population) while nearly 42% of last year's Forbes Midas list was API — underscoring an opportunity to remove the ceiling by founding companies.

RELATED: 

• AAPI hit a bamboo ceiling in Silicon Valley
• AAPI women challenge culture of Silicon Valley
• Asian immigrants transforming Silicon valley

Gold House Ventures invests across industries and stages — always in lockstep with world-class investors. Investing partners include Accel, Alley Corp, Bain Capital, Basis Set, Bling Capital, CircleUp, Coatue, Decibel, Eniac, Floodgate, General Catalyst, GGV, Goodwater, Graph Ventures, Imaginary Ventures, Juxtapose, Lightspeed, Maveron, Mayfield, NEA, Northzone, Tribe, Trinity, Upfront, Wing VC, and Xfund.

"Many iconic companies are founded and run by API entrepreneurs. We want to back the next generation of great API founders and shine a spotlight on their success to inspire more to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams," said Eric Feng, GP of Gold House Ventures and former GP at Kleiner Perkins.

Gold House Ventures' investors include C-suite executives of major corporations; successful API founders (Binance Labs, YouTube, Twitch, DoorDash, Credit Karma, Zuora, Zola, FiscalNote, Honey, GOAT, and more); and cultural leaders with business success such as lifestyle icons Eva Chen, Michelle Phan, Padma Lakshmi, and Prabal Gurung; Grammy-winning musicians Anderson .Paak, Agnez Mo, Dumbfoundead, and Transparent Arts; artists Bowen Yang, Daniel Dae Kim, Gemma Chan, and Ronny Chieng.

Gold House has a long history of supporting diverse entrepreneurs through the leading API founder network, marketing benefits via extensive media and entertainment partnerships, and accelerators like Gold Rush (the preeminent API founder accelerator), — whose new, biannual class also debuts today.

"Since Gold Rush launched three years ago, alums have raised over $370 million in follow-on funding, with women representing over half of our participants and the ethnic diversity of each cohort reflecting API representation in the U.S.," said Megan Ruan, GP of Gold House Ventures.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Issuance of H-1B visas suspended for the rest of the year

With Donald Trump's latest action further limiting the visas issued this year, it is clear that immigration will be the cornerstone of his reelection campaign.

Monday’s presidential proclamation temporarily blocks certain types of worker visas through the rest of 2020. The order applies to H-1B visas, H-2B visas, H-4 visas, L-1 visas and certain J-1 visas that apply to tech workers, seasonal workers, researchers and executives transferring to the US from positions abroad.

The measure largely closes loopholes in the president’s executive order that he signed in April that restricted green card access for certain immigrants trying to enter the country.

"We have a moral duty to create an immigration system that protects the lives and jobs of our citizens," said Trump in a statement.

The suspension will go into effect Wednesday, June 24. The restrictions will apply only to new work visas and not to existing holders who are already in the United States. Those visa holders who are outside the US when the order goes into effect will not be allowed to return to the US.

The proclamation will impact thousands of foreign workers in fields as wide-ranging from the high-tech workers in Silicon Valley to au pairs in the Hudson River Valley. The Migration Policy Institute, a think tank in Washington, DC, estimated that they would block 219,000 temporary workers.

Trump said that between February and April, more than 20 million American workers lost their jobs in key industries where employers are currently requesting H-1B and L workers to fill positions. 

The order exempts workers deemed "essential workers" in battling the pandemic. That includes healthcare professionals and agricultural workers who harvest the crops.

Sundar Pichai, the immigrant from India who is Chief Executive of Google and Alphabet said he was disappointed with Trump's latest attempt to  restrict immigration.

"Immigration has contributed immensely to America’s economic success, making it a global leader in tech, and also Google the company it is today. Disappointed by today’s proclamation - we’ll continue to stand with immigrants and work to expand opportunity for all," Pichai tweeted.

Silicon Valley’s tech companies for years have relied heavily on the H-1B, pushing for an expansion to the annual cap of 85,000 new visas and arguing that they need more visas to secure the world’s top talent. Nearly 70% of the 85,000 H1-B visas issued each year go to  workers from India.

The Information Technology Industry Council, a high-profile lobby group for large technology companies including Silicon Valley giants Apple, Facebook, Google, HP, Oracle and Salesforce, told the San Jose Mercury News that Trump’s move came at a bad time, and urged him to reconsider.

“Today’s executive action stands to upend the ability of U.S. employers – in the tech sector and beyond – to hire the men and women they need to strengthen their workforce, re-power the economy, and drive innovation,” the group said in an statement emailed to the Mercury News. “At a critical time for the U.S. economy, it will have a dangerous impact on the economic recovery and growth for years to come. As U.S. companies get their employees back to work, immigrants working in the technology industry are vital to sustaining promising recovery trends, as well as supporting the United States’ ongoing response to COVID-19.”

It is certain that the presidential campaign will swirl around the economy and Trump's bungling of the pandemic. Immigration might not sway moderate voters but it will cement Trump's support among his base. It will also encourage anti-immigrant acts, already raw from the anti-Asian attacks blamed for the coronavirus.

Conference focuses on impact of US crackdown on Chinese spying

As the US steps up its campaign against Chinese spying and theft of US trade secrets, the spillover effect is a rising suspicion and fear targeting Chinese Americans and a drop in Chinese scientists and students coming to the US to further their research and studies.

A group of leading policy makers, legal experts, educators, business leaders, scientists, and community leaders convened Saturday (Sept. 28) in Silicon Valley to tackle the impact of rising US-China tensions on the Chinese American community and American society as a whole. 

Brought together by the Committee of 100 (C100), an American nonprofit organization of prominent Chinese Americans, the group detailed a heightened rise in scrutiny of Chinese Americans and people of Chinese descent, especially those who work in science and technology, and the chilling effect on civil liberties, as well as American science, technology and research initiatives.

"With growing US-China tensions and fears of Chinese espionage, we hear clearly from our members that Asian Americans, especially those who work in the STEM fields, are facing an increasingly hostile environment where our loyalty is being consistently and unfairly challenged," said H. Roger Wang, C100 chairman.

One of the Chinese Americans greatly harmed by the US crackdown is Xiaoxing Xi, who told his story at the Palo Alto event. Until May 2015, he was the respected chairman of Temple University’s physics department. FBI agents burst into his home outside Philadelphia with guns drawn and accused him of being a spy.

Four months later, federal prosecutors dropped the charges after experts provided affidavits that the information Xi sent to scientists in China was widely known and publicly available on the internet.

But the damage was done, says Xi, who grew emotional as he continued his story about suffering the great shame, the mounting legal expenses and the loss of his university chairmanship and most of his federal research grants and contracts.

"We are a nation built on immigrants, and we must not allow our fears to create an environment that erodes America's talent pool nor America's values of equal opportunity for all, freedom of inquiry, scientific integrity, and openness," said Wang.

C100 research from 2017 shows that the percentage of people of Chinese heritage charged under the Economic Espionage Act (EEA) tripled from 2009 to 2017, and that defendants of Asian heritage convicted of espionage received sentences over twice as severe as those of other ethnicities.

At the conference, speakers detailed the negative impact of a climate of fear and suspicion on individual scientists and researchers, as well as on a wide range of industries, universities, research institutions and businesses critical to U.S. innovation and economic leadership.

This is a hot topic in Silicon Valley, the center of new tech innovation in the US, where about 60% of its employees in the “innovation industries” are foreign born — primarily from China and India" — said Carl Guardino, president of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, a public policy organization representing 350 of the region’s employers. Restricting that flow of talent would be “catastrophic for our economy,” he said.

Dr. David D. Ho, one of world's top researchers for HIV for which he was named Time Magazine's Man of the Year in 2014: "There's a chill in the air for Chinese and Chinese-American scientists. Over 250 scientists are being investigated in over 60 institutions, many of whom are Chinese or Chinese American. 

"Science depends on open and free exchange. Science has no borders. Science by definition is global. The real threat is not from occasional cases of espionage; the real threat is not believing in science, and the creation of a toxic environment that drives away talented Chinese and Chinese-American scientists."

A survey last year by the American Physical Society found that Chinese applicants to U.S. PhD programs in physics dropped by 16.4% from 2017 to 2018 — larger than an overall decline of nearly 12% among all international applicants.

There are widespread reports that Chinese students are facing visa delays and rejections, which many universities fear will cause a sharp decline in their numbers, research talent and tuition revenue, according to the L.A. Times.

"The US-China relationship is the world's most consequential bi-lateral relationship. We must be concerned about security concerns and condemn illegal activity, but in recent years there have been many cases of wrongful prosecution. Our pride in our heritage does not mean we are any less loyal or patriotic to America," said Gary Locke, former US Ambassador to China and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

A survey last year by the American Physical Society found that Chinese applicants to U.S. PhD programs in physics dropped by 16.4% from 2017 to 2018 — larger than an overall decline of nearly 12% among all international applicants.

There are widespread reports that Chinese students are facing visa delays and rejections, which many universities fear will cause a sharp decline in their numbers, research talent and tuition revenue, according to the L.A. Times.

Steven Chu, a Nobel laureate in physics who served as energy secretary under Obama and now teaches at Stanford University, said the US has richly benefited from immigrants who have helped the nation make sizable leaps in science and technology — including those fleeing Nazi Germany who advanced the field of atomic energy and many Chinese scientists who came or stayed here during the Cultural Revolution," reports the LA Times. He said if not for Chinese “stars,” Standord is leading the battery storage research today — and questioned whether the Trump administration’s more restrictive immigration policies would alter that.

Federal officials tried to assure the C100 gathering that the  government is innocent of racial profiling. The US is targeting illegal conduct, not particular groups of people, said David Stilwell, assistant secretary of State and an East Asia expert, said in a live video linkup.

“Our concern is not focused on any ethnic groups or nationalities,” said Stillwell.

However, he admits, the FBI is investigating more than 1,000 cases of attempted theft of intellectual property, and “almost all lead back to China.”

One of the conference outcomes is that C100 will generate recommendations to share with congressional leaders, the scientific and educational communities, law-enforcement, businesses, and civic organizations and communities.

Conference Chair Charlie Woo noted, "It is our hope to come together and find balanced solutions that protect national security, uphold the civil liberties of all Americans, and continue to foster the welcoming environment for the development of science, technology and research that America has always been known for."

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REPORT: Asian Americans slowly move into Facebook senior leadership

FACEBOOK

Although Facebook has shown slight improvement in its goals to diversify its workforce, the social media giant admitted it had a long way to go, according to its sixth annual diversity report released Tuesday (July 16).

"Since 2014, when our strategic efforts began, we've made some progress increasing the number of people from traditionally underrepresented groups employed at Facebook but we recognize that we need to do more," the report says.

Asian Americans in senior management improved from 21.6% in 2018 to 24.9%, a vast improvement since diversity statistics have been gathered for the social media company in 2014 when Asian Americans made up only 19% of its leadership team.

However, looking at the overall US workforce where Asian Americans make up 43% of workers they are still underrepresented in leadership roles when you take into account that the total Asian workforce in the US actually increased from 35% to 44% from 2014 to 2019.

SCREEN CAPTURE / BLOOMBERG NEWS

In general, the high-tech industry has come under criticism for its lack of diversity in its workforce and the perceived bamboo ceiling hampering Asian American advancement. As a result, some companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Apple and Yahoo have begun programs to increase the diversity of its employees with varying degrees of success.

The situation with Asian Americans slow move into the board rooms at Facebook is an industry-wide problem. There is a perception that Asian Americans - men and women - lack the leadership qualities to be effective managers.

It's difficult to gauge the progress made without the actual number of positions Facebook is talking about considering the company has experienced tremendous growth in five years.

The report reveals that the company, globally, is 63.1 percent male and 36.9 percent female, only slightly changed from the 63.7 percent male and 36.3 percent female workforce that it reported last year. In technical roles, that changes to 77 percent male and 23 percent female, whereas last year, it was 78.4 percent and 21.6 percent. Among senior leadership, it's 67.4 percent male, down from 70 percent last year.

As for ethnicity data, Facebook only breaks out its stats for the US.  Facebook says, its US workforce is 44.2 percent white, 43 percent Asian, 5.2 percent Hispanic, and 3.8 percent Black, with 3.1 percent of its employees reporting being from two or more backgrounds, and 0.7 percent marked down as "other."

By comparison, last year, Facebook said that its US workforce was 46.6 percent white, 41.4 percent Asian, 4.9 percent Hispanic, and 3.5 percent Black, with 3 percent reporting two or more, and 0.6 percent reporting as "other."

"Since 2014, when our strategic efforts began, we've made some progress increasing the number of people from traditionally underrepresented groups employed at Facebook but we recognize that we need to do more," Facebook says in its report.

The report reveals that the company, globally, is 63.1 percent male and 36.9 percent female, only slightly changed from the 63.7 percent male and 36.3 percent female workforce that it reported last year. In technical roles, that changes to 77 percent male and 23 percent female, whereas last year, it was 78.4 percent and 21.6 percent. Among senior leadership, it's 67.4 percent male, down from 70 percent last year.

As for ethnicity data, Facebook only breaks out its stats for the US. Across its American operations, Facebook says, its workforce is 44.2 percent white, 43 percent Asian, 5.2 percent Hispanic, and 3.8 percent Black, with 3.1 percent of its employees reporting being from two or more backgrounds, and 0.7 percent marked down as "other."

By comparison, last year, Facebook said that its US workforce was 46.6 percent white, 41.4 percent Asian, 4.9 percent Hispanic, and 3.5 percent Black, with 3 percent reporting two or more, and 0.6 percent reporting as "other."

A majority of the Asian Americans employeed by Facebook are concentrated in the technical fields where they make up over 51% of the workforce. They are least represented in marketing and business operations where they compose 24.7% of the workforce.

Asian Americans make up 43% of Facebook's US workforce.

Asian Americans make up almost 25% of Facebook's American senior management team.

Despite these relatively small changes, Facebook touts that it's been moving in the right direction, with more women and people from underrepresented groups joining its technical organizations, and more women joining the ranks of leadership by being promoted from within.

"Today, there are more people of diverse backgrounds and experiences, more people of color, more women in both technical and business roles, and more underrepresented people in leadership here," wrote Maxine Williams, Facebook's Global Diversity Officer in a blog.

"Most notably, we’ve achieved higher representation of women in leadership by focusing on hiring and growing female leaders within the company. Over the last several years, the majority of new female leaders were internally promoted. Also, since 2014, we have increased the number of Black women at Facebook by 25X and the number of Black men by 10X. And importantly, even as we have grown, we have worked very hard on making Facebook a more welcoming, respectful workplace."

Recognizing the difficulties in having its workforce more representative of the US, Facebook has nevertheless set lofty goals for itself.

"We envision a company where in the next five years, at least 50% of our workforce will be women, people who are Black, Hispanic, Native American, Pacific Islanders, people with two or more ethnicities, people with disabilities, and veterans," continued Williams in her blog. "In doing this, we aim to double our number of women globally and Black and Hispanic employees in the US. It will be a company that reflects and better serves the people on our platforms, services and products. It will be a more welcoming community advancing our mission and living up to the responsibility that comes with it."

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House passes bill to increase H-1B visas: Senate chances dim

The line for visas at the US Embassy in Manila.

Almost lost amidst the news swirling around the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal, the citizenship question on the Census, and the pending ICE raids, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bipartisan Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act (H.R.1044) on Wednesday (July 10) which would change the way H-1B visas are apportioned to each country.

The legislation addresses the decades-long wait times for applicants from places like India, China, or the Philippines by eliminating caps for employment-based visas and raising the family visa cap from 7 percent to 15 percent. 

However, the Senate version will likely go down in flames.

“In order for American industries to remain competitive and create more jobs, they must be able to recruit and retain the best talent in the world,” said the bill's sponsor, said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who represents part of Silicon Valley.

Many of the impacted applicants already live and work in America and are doctors, engineers, and scientists who studied in American universities. They have faced decades-long wait times for permanent residence and as a result, have decided to relocate to other countries, subsequently hurting the future of the U.S. economy. 

This is especially good news for Silicon Valley, where around seven in 10 workers are foreign-born. With the limit abolished, Indians, the largest cohort of the H-1B visa recipients with green card wait times ranging between a long 12 and an aggravating 150 years, stand to reap the biggest benefits.

New American Economy (NAE) issued the following statement in support of the legislation:

“This legislation is an important step in creating an immigration system that allows the most talented workers to work in the United States,” said John Feinblatt, President of New American Economy. “We applaud the House for taking action and urge the Senate to follow suit and remove undue barriers that restrict the U.S. economy from reaching its full potential.”

New research from New American Economy finds that:

• Indian, Chinese, Filipino, and Vietnamese immigrants are disproportionately affected by country caps and the backlog in permanent residency applications. Of the nearly 400,000 green card applications that were in the backlog as of April 2018, over 95 percent hailed from India, China, the Philippines, and Vietnam. 

• Immigrants from countries most directly affected by the current per-country cap are well-educated. Nearly 80 percent of Indian immigrants have bachelor’s degrees and more than 27 percent of Chinese immigrants have advanced degrees.

• The immigrants who may be positively impacted by this legislation will contribute substantially to the American economy. Indian immigrant households earned nearly $162.6 billion and paid more than $50.0 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2017, and Chinese immigrant households earned nearly $116.9 billion in 2017 and paid more than $34.9 billion in taxes. Filipino and Vietnamese immigrants also made significant contributions to the U.S. economy, paying more than $20.5 billion $11.9 billion in taxes respectively and holding more than $53.5 billion and $33.2 billion in spending power respectively

SOURCE: USCIS

Aman Kapoor, the Co-Founder and President of Immigration Voice stated that:
“Immigration Voice is absolutely thrilled that the Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act has received this overwhelming bipartisan support and vote of confidence from the members of the House of Representatives.  ... The Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act is a win-win for the American people. It will grow our economy by allowing highly skilled immigrants to start their own companies and will make sure that these new companies hire American workers who are made more attractive by this bill.

Critics of the bill fear that it will allow one country, India in particular, to dominate the visa for decades to come, something that Lofgren admits will occur. She said it would take a decade under her legislation before visa applications would even out.

The Philippines, India and Vietnam would also benefit if the bill passes that doubles the percentage of visas allowed for family reunification, from 7% to 15%. Currently, there are about 336,000 on the wait list, which amounts about a 23 year wait for a visa under this category.

The GOP-dominated Senate will vote on its version of the Bill, S. 386, where it faces only a 4% chance of passage according to govtrack.com. 

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4th grader teaching the world to code

Samaira Mehta

ASAM NEWS

ENGINEER, coder, entrepreneur, speaker, and writer Samaira Mehta has been making waves in Silicon Valley with her unique ideas. She has launched her own business, spoken at major conferences, and conducted workshops all across the nation before entering the fourth grade!

Mehta’s passion for coding drove her to launch a board game called Coder Bunnyz to help other children, specifically girls, learn how to code at a young age. Coder Bunnyz combines learning with fun by presenting the information in an interactive format for the children.

Considering the nominal number of women in technology, Metha hopes to encourage more girls and women to enter the field. Girls U Code is a nonprofit organization that she started to give underprivileged girls an opportunity to learn more about engineering, and to help them succeed in the future.

She has taught 60 workshops in the Bay Area alone to approximately 2,000 children. Common locations for her events are libraries, schools, community centers, and tech events. Additionally, Google gave her the opportunity to host a session at their headquarters to support her mission.

Cookies with Coder Bunniez is Mehta’s and Coder Bunnyz’s primary online presence. It is a talk show that she initiated to interview entrepreneurs, leaders, and educators in the tech field. This provides encouragement and easily accessible knowledge to all aspiring engineers!

Her campaigns have caught the eye of news outlets, tech companies, and the White House. She has been invited to speak at both CMG Impact 2017 Women in Tech and SVF 2017.

Speaking to crowds of hundreds of people is no joke, let alone at Mehta’s young age. Her accomplishments and confidence have not gone unnoticed. She has been recognized by establishments such as NBC, Sony, and Mercury News. Sony even went so far as to feature her in a documentary they created on Silicon Valley!

Eventually, Mehta hopes to change the role of women in technology by showing them that they are not closed off to the field. Her speeches, as shown below, explain that at a young age women are taught to be “princesses” and not to find math and science enjoyable. Her mission is to abolish that stereotype and encourage women to pursue engineering globally!

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Modern day sweat shops prey on aspiring tech workers from India

By Louis Chan
ASAM NEWS

WHEN YOU HEAR the words body shop, you likely think of workers in overalls restoring your car to its original physical condition.

For thousands of mostly Indian workers, body shops may be the equivalent of the modern day sweatshop. They are employers who may be taking advantage of desperate immigrants looking for a way to stay in the United States.

An article by Nikhil Swaminathan in Mother Jones details how many body shops exploit these workers and how a little known federal program may be the enabler, along with universities raking in big bucks by attracting foreign students on the hope the program can lead to a job in the United States.

A federal guest worker program called OPT or Optional Practical Training is attracting literally tens of thousands of Indian students to the United States. At the University of Central Missouri, the Indian international student population exploded from 152 in 2012 to 2500 in 2015. That’s 17 percent of the school’s student body.

According to Mother Jone’s, OPT allows foreign students who earn degrees to work in their field for a year after graduation. You can stay up to three years if you majored in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. That’s as long as the much harder to get H1B visa. There are now 300,000 OPTs in the US.

“One student I spoke to, who appears in my Mother Jones piece, said that people back in India think of someone who lives in America as “a god,” said reporter Swaminathan to AsAmNews. “Also, for some Indian parents, I think there’s a sense that sending their kids to the U.S. is a sort of retirement plan for them. If the kids come here and earn in dollars, they can send enough money home for the parents to live comfortably into old age. Or they can even send for them to come live in the States with them once they’re set up. I also heard that men who work in the U.S. get higher dowries when they look to marry.”

The OPT program may be working for students who go to better known schools with good reputations, but those at lesser known schools often find themselves struggling with little prospect of getting jobs at top tech firms such as Google, Microsoft, Intel, Apple, Amazon. Once shut out of that job market, these students find themselves targets of body shops.

One student talked about his experience on You Tube.

Body shops can pay $50,000, slightly higher than an internship at a top tech firm, according to Swaminathan.

“As I detail in the story, going the body-shop route often means lying on your resume, having other people take technical interviews for you, signing restrictive employment contracts, and basically involving yourself in a host of unethical practices,” said Swaminathan. “It’s a real-life catch-22 for prospective immigrants desperate to stay in America.”

Several body shops have been coached to lie to the government about their work to obtain H1B visas. Some companies have also been accused of failing to pay their workers. There are no regulations that require universities to vet the employers they allow to recruit on their campuses.

“These institutions that are just spewing out these degrees aren’t making any attempt to give them a career path,” said Prathiba Kalyan, a recruiter who spoke to Mother Jones.

Students for the most part are left feeling vulnerable and to fend for themselves.

“Students who get involved with body shops are scared — both because they think they have to do whatever their employer says to keep their immigration status (not to mention make money) and because, for those who join body shops, they eventually figure out they’re complicit in a sketchy situation,” said Swaminathan.

“Until the government can figure out how to incentivize these kids to come forward — and that might mean offering amnesty to OPT students who have participated in unethical behavior — this problem could conceivably continue.”

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Google 'manifesto:' Women struggle for respect and equality in Silicon Valley

WHAT IS IT with the fratboy-culture dominating Silicon Valley and the way it demeans women? 

SV is not so different from the rest of the country, really. It attracts a wide swath of people who want to get in on the new frontier and be on the cutting edge of the future. 

(Full disclosure: I am the father of two daughters, who are smart, strong, compassionate and independent women, so any biases that might appear in this post are purely intentional.)

While it might attract the enlightened, the bold, the creative and innovative, it also draws in the mysogynist, the elitist, the sexist and the other elements from the dark side, including the alt-right, white supremacists by any other name.

As I write, two stories published today (July 8) brings this apparent dichotomy to light.

Google announced the firing of one of its male employees who issued a manifesto to employees citing the biological differences between the sexes that prevents women from being as good as men in the high-tech industry.

The 10-page manifesto written by Google engineer James Damore, said in part that women are more talkative than assertive, and have more “neuroticism” that makes them less tolerant of stress than men.

"Questioning our assumptions and sharing different perspectives is an important part of our culture, and we want to continue fostering an environment where it’s safe to engage in challenging conversations in a thoughtful way,” Google vice-president of engineering Ari Balogh said in a statement.

“But, in the process of doing that, we cannot allow stereotyping and harmful assumptions,” the statement continued.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai had to cut short his vacation to handle the situation. "Portions of the memo violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace," Pichai wrote in a memo to employees. "To suggest a group of our colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited to that work is offensive and not OK."


The U.S. Labor Department is investigating Google to see whether the firm has unlawfully paid women less than men. Google denies that it does.

According to Google's diversity report, the company's workforce is 69 percent male, 31 percent female. When it comes to technical positions, the gender breakdown is even more skewed, with just 20 percent of technical jobs being filled by women.

Damore’s letter caught the attention of high-profile women in tech. 

Megan Smith, another former Google vice-president and the chief technology officer for President Barack Obama, said the views expressed by Damore were “rampant” in tech.
“It’s insidious,” Smith told Bloomberg TV. “It causes people to leave the industry and it’s bad for shareholder value.”

“It’s toxic,” Girls in Tech founder Adriana Gascoigne said Monday. “He’s breaking down the biological aspects of being a woman versus a man and categorizing women in a way that makes us seem weak, that makes us seem incompetent, that makes us seem like we’re actually bad for a company’s bottom line.”

Remember Ellen Pao?

Ellen Pao

Ellen Pao, who became a household during her gender bias trial against venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, on Monday (July 8) shared the first results of her newest initiative — Project Include.

While her inaugural report shows some small improvements — the companies participating increased their percentage of female, Asian, Hispanic and multi-racial employees — it mostly highlights the fact that diversifying the industry will be a long and complex process.

“There is still a lot of work to do, as the data reflect many of the patterns of underrepresentation in the tech industry,” Pao and her co-founders at Project Include wrote in a blog post. “But the improvement over large companies’ demographics is encouraging, as are the many changes between the baseline and follow up reports, though it is too early to know for sure what caused all the changes.”

They found women, transgender men and non-binary employees reported a decrease in perceived fairness. 

Since her widely publicized 2015 gender bias battle, Pao launched Project Include with a group of female co-founders, including Freada Kapor Klein of the Kapor Center for Social Impact and Slack engineer Erica Joy Baker. The idea was to provide concrete steps companies could take to improve diversity and inclusion of women and minorities at their companies, and metrics to measure their progress.

Megyn Kelly, right, interviews six victims of sex harassment in Silicon Valley.

Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment is one of the major battlefronts in Silicon Valley. Women often find themselves getting unwanted attention from male are co-workers, bosses or potential investors.

The frat-boy behavior towards women has been known throughout the male-dominated industry for years. Earlier this year, the issue was once again in the spotlight when an Uber executive was accused of sexual harassment toward a female employee. When the executive was not punished for his actions, the victim made it public. 

Uber's CEO Travis Kalanick was forced to resign because of his handling of the woman's complaint. By the time dust settled, over 20 employees, including the woman's manager, were fired for their mishandling of the complaint.

When the Uber incident became public, more women stepped forward with their own stories of unwanted sex advances in other companies. Over a dozen women came forth naming some of the biggest names in the industry.

Venture capitalists, those people who help finance startups, were especially 

TV journalist Megan Kelly dedicated one of her episodes of Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly to the issue, inviting six women to tell their stories. Three of the six were Asian/Americans.

“Elephant in the Valley,” a 2015 survey by released some of their findings about harassment in Silicon Valley:

• 90% witnessed sexist behavior at company offsites and/or industry conferences
• 60% reported being the target of unwanted sexual advances from a superior
• 60% who reported sexual harassment were dissatisfied with the outcome
• One in three say they felt afraid for their personal safety because of work-related circumstances

There are some limitations to the study. Project Include worked with startups that voluntarily joined Pao's survey and didn't include the big tech companies like Google, Apple or Microsoft so it is not reflect the industry as a whole but it does present a picture of young entrepreneurs trying not to repeat the mistakes of its predecessors.

The startups saw their proportion of women increase from 41 percent to 46 percent during those eight months, Asian workers increase from 12 to 15 percent, Hispanic workers increase from 11 to 12 percent, and multi-racial workers increase from 7 to 11 percent.

And the cohort companies tended to do better than their peers who weren’t part of the study. The percentage of Hispanic workers in Project Include companies was twice as high as the industry average. And nearly half of all roles at Project Include companies were filled by women, compared with an average of 34 percent throughout the industry.

But there were also some losses during the eight months studied — the proportion of African-American workers dropped from 5 to 3 percent, and transgender or non-binary workers dropped from 2 percent to 1 percent.

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Clearly, the tech industry, centered in Silicon Valley, which likes to promote itself as the industry for the 21st century and known for breaking new ground in creating less rigid work environments than traditional offices or factories, still has a significant number of men with 19th century attitudes towards women.

Facebook chief operating officer and former Google vice-president Sheryl Sandberg said Monday on Facebook that inequality in technology didn’t arise out of gender differences.

“It’s due to cultural stereotypes that persist,” she wrote. “We all need to do more.”

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