SenseTime
TypePublic; partly state-owned
SEHK: 20
IndustryArtificial intelligence
FoundedOctober 2014 (October 2014)
FounderTang Xiao'ou
Xu Li
HeadquartersScience Park, Hong Kong
Area served
Computer vision, deep learning, face recognition, object detection, autonomous driving, smart cities, mobile apps, fintech, education
Number of employees
3,000 (2019)[1]
ParentChina Internet Investment Fund
Websitewww.sensetime.com
SenseTime
Simplified Chinese商汤科技
Traditional Chinese商湯科技

SenseTime (商汤科技) is a partly state-owned publicly traded artificial intelligence company headquartered in Hong Kong. The company develops technologies including facial recognition, image recognition, object detection, optical character recognition, medical image analysis, video analysis, autonomous driving, and remote sensing.[2] Since 2019, SenseTime has been repeatedly sanctioned by the U.S. government due to allegations that its facial recognition technology has been deployed in the surveillance and internment of the Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities.[3][4][5] SenseTime denies the allegations.[6]

The China Internet Investment Fund, a state-owned enterprise under the Cyberspace Administration of China, holds a golden share ownership stake in SenseTime.[7]

History

2014

SenseTime was co-founded in October 2014 by Tang Xiao'ou, a professor of the Department of Information Engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), and computer scientist Xu Li, among others.[8]

2015

During 2015, nine of SenseTime's papers were accepted into the Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR).[9]

2016

In 2016, 16 of SenseTime's papers were accepted in the CVPR Conference, and during the year's ImageNet competition, the company won first place in the object detection, video object detection, and scene analysis.[10][11]

2017

In October 2017, Qualcomm entered into a collaboration agreement with SenseTime.[12] The following month, the Shanghai Municipal Government signed a strategic alliance agreement with SenseTime.[13] In December 2017, Honda and SenseTime signed a collaboration agreement.[14]

In November 2017, SenseTime set up a 'smart policing' company with Leon, a major supplier of data analysis and surveillance technology in Xinjiang.[15]

2018

In February 2018, SenseTime and MIT announced the creation of a programme to further advance AI research. The programme was cancelled by MIT in 2020 following revelations of SenseTime's involvement in the persecution of Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities.[16]

In April 2018, SenseTime, Alibaba, and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) partnered together to form a nonprofit artificial intelligence lab in Hong Kong.[17] The following month, SenseTime signed a collaborative memorandum of understanding with Nanyang Technological University (NTU), the National Supercomputing Centre of Singapore and Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel).[18] In August of that same summer, SenseTime launched its first North American smart health lab in New Jersey.[19]

In September 2018, SenseTime became one of the founding members of the Global Artificial Intelligence Academic Alliance (GAIAA), along with the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Sydney, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University, Nanyang Technological University, and seven other universities.[20]

On 20 September 2018, SenseTime was named as China's National Open Innovation Platform for Next-Generation Artificial Intelligence on Intelligent Vision.[21]

The Wall Street Journal reported that SenseTiime was valued at $7.7 billion at the end of 2018.[22]

2019

SenseTime joined MIT's Quest for Intelligence campaign.[23]

SenseTime has a large high-performance computing network which supports its development and fielding of AI applications. According to a report by Gregory C. Allen of the Center for a New American Security, SenseTime's computing network includes "54,000,000 Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) cores across 15,000 GPUs within 12 GPU clusters."[24]

In April 2019, The New York Times reported that SenseTime's software was used in the development of facial recognition systems used by the Chinese government directed largely at Uyghurs.[25][3] In November 2019, SenseTime led a committee tasked with developing a standard for facial recognition in China.[26]

In October 2019, SenseTime was placed on the United States Bureau of Industry and Security's Entity List for using its technology for human rights abuses in Xinjiang.[27][4]

2020

In August 2020, Bloomberg News reported that SenseTime was considering an IPO in Hong Kong.[28]

2021

On 9 July, SenseTime appointed Liu Cixin as advisor to its sci-fi research project.[29] On 19 July, SenseTime launched its international AI innovation hub in Singapore.[30]

In August, SenseTime filed for IPO on Hong Kong Stock Exchange and, in November, received regulatory approval to list.[31]

In September 2021, Axios reported that SenseTime uses a subsidiary, Shanghai SenseTime, to sidestep U.S. sanctions targeting subsidiary Beijing SenseTime.[32]

On 10 December 2021, on Human Rights Day, the United States Department of the Treasury placed the company on an investment blacklist on its IPO pricing day because of its alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang, banning U.S. investment in the company.[33][34] The company denied the allegations, said it had "been caught in the middle of geopolitical disputes," and postponed its Hong Kong IPO plan.[5][35][36][37] The company hired law firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed, which argued that the investment ban did not apply to the company's parent domiciled in the Cayman Islands.[38]

The IPO, which had already been downsized from an expected US$2 billion to $767 million due to a PRC crackdown on tech companies, was delayed further.[39][40] On 13 December, SenseTime announced that it will postpone its IPO.[36] Its $767 million Hong Kong dollars offering was relaunched in Hong Kong on 20 December.[41][42] On 30 December, SenseTime completed its IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.[43]

2022

On February 18, index compiler Hang Seng Indexes Co. added SenseTime to the Hang Seng TECH Index.[44]

On August 9, SenseTime launched its first consumer-facing product – SenseRobot – a Chinese chess-playing robot.[45]

On August 19, Hang Seng Indexes included SenseTime in the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index and increased its weighting in Hang Seng TECH Index from 0.15 to 1.76.[46]

On October 31, flagshp Chinese publication of SPH Media Trust, Lianhe Zaobao, inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with SenseTime to digitalise the newspaper's work processes for visual content.[47]

2023

In February 2023, SenseTime was invited to join the government of Hong Kong's delegation's visit to Saudi Arabia. During the trip, SenseTime exchanged an MOU with King Abdullah Financial District and Sela, a cultural tourism event management company in Saudi Arabia, to deepen collaborations in areas including smart city and digital tourism.[48] In December 2023, SenseTime's stock price fell 18% following the unexpected death of its founder Tang Xiao'ou.[49]

References

  1. ↑ China 2019
  2. ↑ "Meet The World's Most Valuable AI Startup: China's SenseTime". Forbes. 17 June 2019. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  3. 1 2 Chin, Josh; Lin, Liza (2022). Surveillance State: Inside China's Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control (1st ed.). New York. p. 211. ISBN 978-1-250-24929-6. OCLC 1315574672.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. 1 2 Swanson, Ana; Mozur, Paul (7 October 2019). "U.S. Blacklists 28 Chinese Entities Over Abuses in Xinjiang". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 15 April 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  5. 1 2 "SenseTime to Delay Hong Kong IPO After U.S. Blacklist Report". Bloomberg News. 10 December 2021. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  6. ↑ "SenseTime rejects US blacklisting claims that threaten to scuttle IPO". South China Morning Post. 11 December 2021. Archived from the original on 3 January 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  7. ↑ "China's communist authorities are tightening their grip on the private sector". The Economist. 18 November 2021. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 22 November 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  8. ↑ "Xu Li". Fortune. 19 July 2018. Archived from the original on 21 July 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  9. ↑ "CVPR 2015 Open Access". Archived from the original on 5 December 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  10. ↑ "CVPR 2016 Open Access". Archived from the original on 5 December 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  11. ↑ "Engineering team won in the ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge". Archived from the original on 5 December 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  12. ↑ "SenseTime and Qualcomm to Collaborate to Drive On-Device Artificial Intelligence". 18 October 2017. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  13. ↑ "Milestones". Archived from the original on 5 December 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  14. ↑ "Honda is working with Chinese AI unicorn SenseTime on self-driving tech". TechCrunch. 7 December 2017. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  15. ↑ Shepherd, Christian (15 April 2019). "China's SenseTime sells out of Xinjiang security joint venture". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 1 May 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  16. ↑ Knight, Will. "MIT Cuts Ties With a Chinese AI Firm Amid Human Rights Concerns". Wired. Archived from the original on 21 April 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via www.wired.com.
  17. ↑ "Alibaba's newest initiative aims to make Hong Kong a global AI hub". TechCrunch. 21 May 2018. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  18. ↑ "SenseTime Debuts in Singapore by Signing Memoranda of Understanding with Local Giants NTU, NSCC and Singtel". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  19. ↑ "SenseTime Establishes Smart Medical R&D Lab in New Jersey". Archived from the original on 5 December 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  20. ↑ "CUHK Participates in the Initiation of "Global AI Academic Alliance"". Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  21. ↑ "Beijing recruits Hong Kong artificial intelligence start-up SenseTime to lead tech drive". South China Morning Post. 20 September 2018. Archived from the original on 28 February 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  22. ↑ "Hong Kong's SenseTime Considers $1 Billion Capital Raise". The Wall Street Journal. 15 May 2020. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  23. ↑ "MIT and SenseTime Announce Effort to Advance Artificial Intelligence Research". 28 February 2018. Archived from the original on 21 August 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  24. ↑ Allen, Gregory. "Understanding China's AI Strategy". Center for a New American Security. Archived from the original on 17 March 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  25. ↑ Mozur, Paul (14 April 2019). "One Month, 500,000 Face Scans: How China Is Using A.I. to Profile a Minority". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  26. ↑ Xue, Yujie (27 November 2019). "27 Companies Drafting China's First National Facial Recognition Standard". Sixth Tone. Archived from the original on 28 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  27. ↑ Donnan, Shawn; Leonard, Jenny (7 October 2019). "U.S. Blacklists Eight Chinese Tech Companies on Rights Violations". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 10 May 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  28. ↑ "AI Unicorn SenseTime Is Said to Mull Hong Kong, China IPO". Bloomberg News. 13 August 2020. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  29. ↑ "China's most famous sci-fi writer joins AI firm SenseTime in planet project". South China Morning Post. 13 July 2021. Archived from the original on 13 July 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  30. ↑ Sharanya, Pillai (19 July 2021). "Temasek-backed SenseTime launches AI innovation hub in Singapore". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 22 July 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  31. ↑ "China's AI giant SenseTime readies Hong Kong IPO". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  32. ↑ Markay, Lachlan (29 September 2021). "Chinese tech firm sidesteps sanctions". Axios. Archived from the original on 18 October 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  33. ↑ Sevastopulo, Demetri; Lockett, Hudson; McMorrow, Ryan (9 December 2021). "US to blacklist Chinese AI company SenseTime over Xinjiang ahead of IPO". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  34. ↑ "Treasury Sanctions Perpetrators of Serious Human Rights Abuse on International Human Rights Day". U.S. Department of the Treasury. Archived from the original on 26 February 2023. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  35. ↑ Psaledakis, Daphne; Brunnstrom, David; Lewis, Simon (11 December 2021). "U.S. imposes sweeping human rights sanctions on China, Myanmar and North Korea". Reuters. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  36. 1 2 Wu, Kane; Murdoch, Scott (13 December 2021). "China's Sensetime postpones $767 mln Hong Kong IPO after U.S. ban". Reuters. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  37. ↑ Murdoch, Scott (20 December 2021). "SenseTime relaunches $767m Hong Kong IPO after US investment ban". Reuters. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  38. ↑ Bhuiyan, Johana (7 January 2022). "US sanctioned China's top facial recognition firm over Uyghur concerns. It still raised millions". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  39. ↑ Lockett, Hudson (10 December 2021). "SenseTime's potential US blacklisting stokes unease over IPO". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  40. ↑ "China's SenseTime Hong Kong IPO in limbo after U.S. blacklisting -sources". Reuters. 11 December 2021. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  41. ↑ Murdoch, Scott (20 December 2021). "SenseTime relaunches $767m Hong Kong IPO after US investment ban". www.reuters.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021.
  42. ↑ Feng, Venus (28 December 2021). "Chinese Professor Lands $3.4 Billion Fortune With SenseTime IPO". finance.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021.
  43. ↑ Murdoch, Scott; Wu, Kane (30 December 2021). "SenseTime shares jump 23% on debut after $740 mln Hong Kong IPO". Reuters. Archived from the original on 30 December 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  44. ↑ Wang, Yifan. "SenseTime, Lenovo shares jump after inclusion into Hang Seng indexes". MarketWatch. Archived from the original on 24 February 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  45. ↑ "China's AI champion in consumer foray with US$299 chess-playing robot". South China Morning Post. 10 August 2022. Archived from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  46. ↑ "Hang Seng Indexes Announces Index Review Results" (PDF). Hang Seng Indexes. 19 August 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  47. ↑ Lim, Ry-Anne (31 October 2022). "Lianhe Zaobao inks MOU to trial AI technology for visual content". The Business Times (Singapore). Archived from the original on 19 June 2023. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  48. ↑ "Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia sign 6 deals as Lee vows 'new level of cooperation'". South China Morning Post. 6 February 2023. Archived from the original on 8 February 2023. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  49. ↑ Chan, Edwin (18 December 2023). "SenseTime Plunges After Death of China AI Firm's Co-Founder". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
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