SenseTime CEO Xu Li: A Decade Later, Resilience and Adaptability Remain Key Amid Rising AI Challenges

The CEO of SenseTime, Xu Li, insists that the company will remain competitive in the challenging Chinese AI market, even after a decade in operation. He attributes this to the company's robust infrastructure and AI model services, which he believes will ensure their competitiveness in the coming years.

"In reality, we modify our AI algorithms to suit over 50 chipsets, hence our infrastructure features a robust operating system layer that remains unseen to our users," Xu explained to the South China Morning Post in a sideline interview during an event at Science Park. "There are other companies that have created their own chips… but for us, we truly value and welcome partnerships in the market."

Xu admitted that the firm is dealing with hurdles due to the political tensions between the US and China, however, he pointed out that this is not an issue exclusive to SenseTime.

Without a doubt, it's a difficult task, not just for SenseTime, but I believe for the majority of Chinese tech firms," he expressed. "This is why we've engineered other platforms to accommodate variations, like for instance, Chinese-manufactured GPU [graphics processing unit] chips."

"Our aim is to utilize the latest advancements in technology to enhance the efficiency of inference, making it financially accessible to all," he stated.