Chinese artificial intelligence giant SenseTime shares surged more than 35% in Hong Kong after a rocky initial public offering that was delayed by concerns over fresh U.S. sanctions..
Founded in 2014 by computer scientists, SenseTime specializes in AI-powered software that analyzes faces and images on an enormous scale and works with retailers and health-care researchers around the world.
The firm has invested heavily in building super computers that can train client-facing AI models, an effort that’s set to pay off as the loss-making company scales up. Revenue in the six months ended June 30 nearly doubled to 1.65 billion yuan ($259 million), while net losses narrowed to 3.7 billion yuan from 5.3 billion yuan in the first half of 2020.