Growing numbers of Indian AI professionals working in Silicon Valley are considering returning home, driven by a combination of tech-sector layoffs, H-1B visa uncertainty under the Trump administration, and a maturing AI job market in India. Indian startups are actively courting this talent pool, offering equity stakes and performance incentives to offset salaries that remain 50–75% below what U.S. giants like Google, Microsoft, and Meta pay. The shift signals a broader recalibration: while Silicon Valley's prestige has not vanished, factors such as visa instability and repeated layoff cycles have eroded the stability that once made American tech careers uniquely attractive to India's elite engineers.