SenseTime Advances Chip Business, Completes Financing in the Hundreds of Millions

On its tenth anniversary, the Chairman and CEO of SenseTime, Xu Li, announced in an internal letter to all employees a new tripartite strategy, which is focused on “large devices, large models, and applications,” and involves substantial organizational and talent structure optimizations and adjustments.

In a strategic move to alleviate financial pressures, SenseTime has discreetly spun off its chip business. This spin-off has not only become an independent entity but has also successfully secured significant financing, backed by external investors. The chip business, attracting hundreds of millions in investment, is now under the leadership of a person with an official background.

SenseTime embarked on its journey of AI chip development in 2018 and successfully produced the STPU chip in 2020. There were reports in 2021, specifically from the “Economic Observer,” that SenseTime was in the process of developing its own server CPU. However, these reports were never officially confirmed by the company.

Financially, SenseTime has shown promising growth. In the first half of 2024, the company reported revenues of 1.74 billion yuan, marking a 21% increase year-on-year. More importantly, it managed to reduce its net loss from 3.123 billion yuan in the same period last year to 2.457 billion yuan.

A significant contributor to this financial upswing has been the company’s generative AI business. This sector alone accounted for over 60.4% of the total revenue, reaching 1.051 billion yuan in the first half of 2024. This represents a substantial year-on-year increase of 255.7%, solidifying generative AI as the primary revenue source for SenseTime.

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