Disclaimer: I came to the US more than 30 years back to do a masters in engineering, have been working in silicon valley since then and got my green card and citizenship not too long after. Hence my thoughts may or may not be reflective of the main stream or may have a different kind of bias.
Regarding the innovative startups founded by 'non-Americans’ (or tech companies being headed by them), these are almost invariably foreign students who came to the US on student visa and went on to work here as opposed to those who come purely on work visa (and also are generally more exploited as noted in this article). This brings me to the whole education thing. The need for tech education in the US is being emphasized for a while now, through STEM. But there is a lot of complexity that makes it unlikely that US will be able to eliminate its reliance on the inflow of foreign students in the near future.
- Barrier to entry: Contrary to popular belief, the STEM field in the US is highly competitive. In my experience, American students are not lazy or falling behind because they are busy attending proms or football games. It is not that easy to get into and succeed in the STEM field and unlike India or China, there are opportunities (and a life) even if you are not pursuing a career in STEM. Having grown up in an almost singularly STEM minded society, I personally do not view it as a bad thing and did not push my kids towards it even though they ended up somewhere in that spectrum.
- Cost of education: For my undergrad in Engineering in India, I went to a top ranking university as did my oldest brother. The fees were almost token (else my family could not have afforded it), and we had students from from varied economic backgrounds. My older brother went to one of the famed IITs where the fees were only marginally higher. On the other hand, we all know about the cost of education in the US, especially if you want to continue on to masters (or go to medical school). While a big chunk of the population (nearly 40%?) cannot afford college, the universities are increasingly welcoming foreign students who have to pay more. As the economy continues to boom in both India and China along with the rise of an affluent upper middle class that can not only afford to send their kids to US universities but want to do so for status and prestige, it becomes a perfect match.
- Population: Both India and China (and now especially India due to its high youth percentage) have a huge population, a sizable portion of which can afford college education. They are also highly competitive and would go to great lengths for a better life. As of now, that life awaits them in the US, or so they think. That is just how it works. The worse the environment, the greater the desire to get out of it.
- AI: This can change the world beyond recognition and some of the above may no longer hold. But responsible AI is critical, even if it sounds like an oxymoron now. I am not sure if schools in India and China are allowing students to use AI to code (the digital divide is far too wide for this to be true in general IMO) but it is becoming quite commonplace to use it for the purpose of learning. Tech companies in the US are actively using or promoting the use of AI for coding in particular which goes back to the whole cheap H1B worker discussion. AI can be cheaper to the corporations as long as you are not looking at the cost to the society and the world. And may be the world will then have come full circle.
