SenseTime relaunched its initial public offering in Hong Kong on December 20. The Chinese artificial intelligence company suspended the previous process on December 10, after being blacklisted by the US Treasury the same day.
A false start on the stock market without consequences?
SenseTime had announced it by suspending its arrival on the Hong Kong market, it would come back quickly. After a quick reorganization, it’s done. His goals have not changed, reports Reuters : sell 1.5 billion shares for around $ 0.50 per share. In contrast, it relies on investors to buy 67% of its shares, for $ 511 million, against $ 450 million, 58% of the shares, previously.
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The withdrawal of U.S. investors following the Biden administration’s decision could hamper its ability to raise capital. The world’s most valued facial recognition company, however, says its blacklisting is not going to change its business operations.
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US blames SenseTime for participating in Uyghur crackdown
SenseTime has encountered this situation before. In 2019, she was banned from sourcing from American companies. He was criticized at the time for playing ” a role in the implementation of a campaign of repression, arbitrary detention or even high-tech surveillance carried out by China “.
SenseTime is accused of having participated in the repression of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities through its facial recognition software. It is for this reason again that the US Treasury placed it on the list of ” enterprises of the Chinese military-industrial complex “.
She is accused by the Biden administration of developing facial recognition programs to determine the ethnicity of a person, especially Uyghurs. According to the UN and various NGOs, a million Uyghurs are or have been locked in camps in Xinjiang, a province in the far west of China.
SenseTime denies these accusations. By filing the documents necessary for the operation in Hong Kong she affirmed that ” Our group’s products and services are intended for civilian and commercial use and not for any military application. “. SenseTime shares will begin trading in Hong Kong on December 30.