The chairman of MEITU, Wu Xinhong, aged 45, has recently felt a growing sense of urgency to accelerate the company's pace. He emphasized that the current time window is very limited. After a meeting with investors on the evening of March 27, Wu shared his observations: since 2025, he and the senior management team have spent two-thirds of their time overseas, where they noticed cafes filled with people working remotely, most of whom are founders of one-person companies. MEITU, a company with over 2,000 employees, previously paid little attention to such small teams. However, with the advent of the AI Agent era, the situation has changed. Competitors have already developed imaging products generating annual revenues in the tens of millions of dollars, which has heightened his concern.
According to MEITU's financial report for 2025, the company achieved total revenue of 38.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 28.8%. Net profit was 697.6 million yuan, down 12.7% compared to the previous year. Adjusted net profit attributable to shareholders reached 965 million yuan, rising 64.7% year-on-year. MEITU was one of the earliest domestic companies to benefit from the AI boom, with its main revenue sources coming from imaging and design products, as well as advertising business. Imaging and design products contributed nearly 77% of the revenue, partly from "productivity tools" targeting e-commerce owners, video bloggers, and small to medium-sized enterprise owners, such as MEITU Design Studio, Kaipai, and Vmake. The other portion comes from lifestyle applications like MEITU Xiuxiu and BeautyCam.
Compared to the rapid growth seen three years ago, MEITU's 2025 financial data indicates a slowdown in the monthly active user (MAU) growth rate for its productivity tools business—a segment identified in recent years as the company's second growth curve. The year-on-year growth rate decreased from 74.3% in 2023 to 9.1% in 2025. This deceleration is attributed to both an expanding user base and intensified market competition. MEITU currently faces challenges from major internet players like Doubao and Qianwen, as well as emerging AI startups.
Since October of last year, Wu Xinhong initiated an internal reform at MEITU. He encouraged all employees to learn from startup teams, emphasizing that even management should not merely delegate tasks but also engage in hands-on work. He established an AI innovation fund with a maximum base funding of 10 million yuan per team, encouraging small teams of 10 or fewer members to apply for rapid AI product development and validation. Additionally, he provided employees with nearly unlimited token usage allowances and memberships to leading domestic and international AI products, urging them to utilize AI tools to the fullest extent.
"If we do not change, MEITU will inevitably fall behind. Missing the AI wave means becoming a company of the past, increasingly irrelevant and gradually forgotten," Wu stated. "Many of our efforts are aimed at ensuring we do not miss this era."
Splitting MEITU into smaller units has been a key focus. In MEITU's 2025 financial report and conference calls, an AI Agent product named RoboNeo was frequently mentioned. RoboNeo is an AI product integrating image editing, video generation, and design creation. Data from Qimai shows that in March of this year, RoboNeo topped the overall App Store chart in Brazil and ranked first in app store charts in multiple countries and regions, including Portugal, Mexico, and Paraguay.
In May 2025, MEITU formed the RoboNeo team, which developed both APP and Web versions within just one month. After launch, the product achieved over one million MAUs in its first month without relying on traffic from other MEITU products or paid promotions. The core team consists of around 20 members, each taking on product manager responsibilities. The success of RoboNeo strengthened Wu's resolve to transform MEITU.
At the company's annual meeting in January 2026, Wu announced a series of organizational changes: increased AI tool usage allowances for all employees, fully covered by the company; encouragement for employees to establish internal "AI innovation studios" with higher profit-sharing ratios and stock incentives, while limiting team sizes to 10 members or fewer. "The size restriction is intentional to create resource scarcity, as it forces teams to find ways to use AI tools to accomplish tasks. If resources are abundant, motivation diminishes," Wu explained.
Concurrently, MEITU launched an internal "AI Product Challenge," soliciting creative ideas for AI imaging products and requiring each participating team to have no more than three members. Over 200 teams submitted applications, with approximately 15 advancing to the finals. An interesting trend emerged during judging: almost all general-purpose AI products (such as AI short dramas or AI comics) were eliminated, while finalists were those targeting specific verticals and addressing concrete user pain points. For example, one participant, frustrated by the lack of effective recipe creation tools while learning to cook, proposed developing a product to help food bloggers enhance food presentation and social media impact. Another participant, facing difficulties finding local plumbers overseas, envisioned an app to assist blue-collar workers with online marketing. The common logic behind these products is to first meet the essential needs of a small group, making them willing to pay, before scaling up.
Currently, MEITU has split into more than 30 small AI innovation studios. The company, with over 2,000 employees, is striving to transform itself into a startup team suited for the AI era.
Betting on Agent technology reflects Wu's aggressive stance on AI, influenced by MEITU's experience of rebounding from a low point. Before the generative AI boom, MEITU's annual revenue was less than 10 billion yuan, and the company was consistently loss-making, with external critics noting that its cryptocurrency investments outperformed its core business. AI transformed MEITU. On one hand, the company was an early adopter following the generative AI explosion, becoming one of the first domestic companies to obtain national large model备案 (filing) and quickly integrating AI capabilities into products like MEITU Xiuxiu, MEITU Design Studio, and Kaipai, establishing a paid subscription system. On the other hand, Agent technology drove an increase in MEITU's average revenue per user (ARPU). MEITU's CFO, Yan Jinliang, mentioned that for MEITU Design Studio, targeting small and medium-sized businesses, the most expensive membership previously cost 30 yuan per month. After introducing Agent functions, an 88 yuan package was launched. "The significance of Agent is that many previously unfulfilled demands can now be met," said MEITU's Chief Product Officer, Chen Jianyi. For instance, when an e-commerce seller markets a barbecue grill, previous AI tools could only change the background to show an outdoor camping scene. However, user needs might include displaying details like meat skewers, smoke, or even flames. Now, through language descriptions, Agents can help users generate images that better meet expectations.
Yan Jinliang stated that with the advent of Agent technology, MEITU's growth in the coming period will be faster than in the past three years.
Since 2025, discussions about "models吞噬 (devouring) applications" have persisted. External views suggest that as general AI products from major players like Doubao and Qianwen rise, vertical companies like MEITU are being overshadowed. Wu disagrees with this perspective, calling it a misunderstanding. "Models and applications have their respective niches; models cannot be omnipotent, and there will always be opportunities for applications," he asserted. Having been in operation for 18 years, MEITU is no stranger to competing with large corporations. Even now, smartphone manufacturers heavily promote imaging capabilities as key selling points, yet MEITU continues to thrive. "The same applies to AI products. While Doubao can perform image editing, MEITU's deep understanding of the imaging track, years of accumulated aesthetic effects, and scaled AI investments have formed an increasingly powerful imaging mid-platform, which cannot be easily replicated by general large models in the short term," Wu explained.
Beyond major players, the number of MEITU's competitors is rapidly increasing. In the past year or two, numerous AI imaging products developed by "one-person companies" have gained user favor. For example, an overseas AI product named Aragon, specializing in generating professional photos, achieved an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of 10 million USD within two years with a team of just nine people. Wu's strategy is to avoid competing in popular areas targeted by giants and startups, instead focusing on less noticed sectors with high monetization potential.
Wu感慨 (reflected) that there are "too many opportunities," and the most critical task for MEITU currently is to rapidly develop AI products. He anticipates that competition in MEITU's sector may intensify in the next two to three years. "We must seize this two-to-three-year window to build very strong competitiveness in these areas. Otherwise, if competitors gain a head start, catching up will be difficult," he concluded.
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