When bringing a single engineer from Hyderabad to Silicon Valley now costs $100,000 before salary negotiations even begin, the geography of global technology work starts to look very different.
More than half of technology professionals at companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta say their employers plan to increase hiring in India this year. At the same time, 38% report that these Indian roles are directly replacing positions in the United States, not supplementing them.
The survey, conducted by Blind (an anonymous professional network with 12 million verified users) gathered responses from 2,392 professionals between 5 and 11 January 2026. The findings illuminate something workforce leaders need to understand: this isn’t offshoring as we knew it. This is a structural rebalancing of where global technology work gets done.
The fee that changed everything
To understand the acceleration, follow the money.
In September 2025, the US government introduced a $100,000 supplemental fee on certain H-1B visa petitions. Previously, employers paid between $2,000 and $5,000 per petition. A federal court upheld the fee in December. From February 2026, a new weighted lottery system will further disadvantage entry-level positions.
The calculus has shifted overnight. Among the Blind survey respondents, 28% cited H-1B restrictions as a direct factor pushing their companies toward Indian hiring. Only 4% said these changes led to more domestic US recruitment.
From back office to business core
Here’s what makes this different from the outsourcing waves of the 2000s.
India’s Global Capability Centres have evolved. The country now hosts more than 1,800 GCCs employing approximately two million professionals. Revenue reached an estimated $65 billion in 2024 and is projected to surpass $100 billion by 2030.
More importantly, these centres have moved up the value chain. Industry analysis indicates that 40% of India’s GCC workforce now operates in higher-value functions: product development, artificial intelligence, research and global decision-making. These aren’t back-office support operations. They’re core business functions.
The Blind survey reflects this maturation. A quarter of respondents said their companies are scaling existing GCCs. Twenty percent reported creation of entirely new roles and departments. Another twenty percent indicated functional reallocation, moving specific projects or business units offshore entirely.
The AI narrative deserves scrutiny
When companies announce layoffs, artificial intelligence frequently appears in the explanation. The Blind findings suggest a more complicated story.
Many respondents believe that cuts attributed to AI efficiency are strategic manoeuvres to relocate roles rather than eliminate them. As one Meta professional noted in the survey, while top-tier AI talent remains concentrated in Silicon Valley at substantial cost, solid middle-tier roles are being moved to India to balance the books.
The numbers support this reading. Tech layoffs tracker data shows approximately 246,000 workers lost jobs across 783 companies in 2025. Yet GCC expansion continues at double-digit growth rates. The work isn’t disappearing. It’s moving.
What this means for workforce leaders
For HR executives and talent strategists, several implications emerge.
First, the economics of international hiring have fundamentally changed. The H-1B fee creates a $100,000 wedge between domestic US hiring and building capability in India. That differential will shape workforce planning for years.
Second, the competition for Indian talent is intensifying. When 93% of employees at firms like Salesforce, LinkedIn and Qualcomm report active expansion plans in India, the market tightens. Companies entering late will find the talent landscape more competitive and more expensive than they anticipated.
Third, the “AI replacing jobs” narrative needs interrogation. When your organisation announces efficiency cuts while simultaneously expanding overseas headcount, your people notice. The disconnect between messaging and reality creates trust problems that outlast any restructuring cycle.
The Blind survey carries methodological caveats. Anonymity may influence how professionals characterise their employers’ intentions, and 2,392 respondents represent a fraction of the millions employed across these firms. But the directional signal is clear.
The geography of global technology work is being redrawn. For those managing workforces, the question isn’t whether to adapt. It’s how quickly.
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