Andrew Chi-Chih Yao

Andrew Yao (Yao Qizhi), winner of the 2000 A.M. Turing Award for his contributions to the theory of computation, has renounced his U.S. citizenship to become a citizen of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) confirmed in 2026. Yao, 70, was inducted into CAS's ranks as domestic academicians rather than foreign members; both have been affiliated with Tsinghua University since 2004.

Born in Shanghai, Yao earned his bachelor's degree in physics from National Taiwan University, a PhD in physics from Harvard University in 1972, and a second PhD in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1975. He held faculty positions at MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, and Princeton before returning to China in 2004 to found Tsinghua University's Institute for Theoretical Computer Science, home of the "Yao Class" for undergraduate computer science talent.

According to the U.S. Federal Register, Yao formally renounced his U.S. citizenship in late 2015, though the move only came to light in 2026 when Chinese media reported he and Yang had joined CAS as domestic academics. CAS offered no further explanation for the citizenship change, stating only that "their entry into the academy's faculty will increase the influence of China's scientific circles globally."