You could make the case that "stealing" talent is in terms of targeting hiring people where the training and research costs were footed by someone else.

Then again, as you pointed out, you could also make the case that they weren't properly compensated.

Sometimes, paying people well goes hand in hand with opportunities for growth. The "bamboo ceiling," which is similar to the "glass ceiling" is a source of frustration for some technical employees who find themselves stuck.

Diversity and inclusion programs at most companies tend to focus on every demographic bias except for the bamboo ceiling.

Just to nitpick, because we are on HN: I remember a story of a cartel in Latin America kidnapping networking experts to force them to develop their technology stack. That may count as "stealing" talents?

Not sure if that's what I remember, but here is a Wired article: https://www.wired.com/2012/11/zeta-radio/

Edit: of course I'm not implying that Huawei does this...

"steal" is other way of saying "hired"

because it feels kinda differently when you want to buy $competitor's top people