I know dozen of people in Espressif, including the boss.

A lot of Western employees left the company, or relocated because it's harder, and harder for a Westerner to live there with each passing year, 100% true.

Most of them delivered their value as being an interface with the extensive developer community who jumped on "better than nothing developer support" from a chip company.

Now, however, their Chinese clients outnumber, and outsize Western customers.