How generative AI helps SenseTime turn a profit even as Chinese peers struggle
Chinese artificial intelligence pioneer SenseTime is carving a unique path to profitability by steering away from a blind chase for model size, focusing instead on helping clients complete enterprise tasks, executives from the firm told the South China Morning Post. Speaking after the firm reported a net profit of 617.3 million yuan (US$92.0 million) for the first half of 2026 last week,…
Chinese AI firm SenseTime is finding success by focusing on enterprise AI solutions rather than simply pursuing larger models, according to executives speaking to the South China Morning Post. After reporting a first-half profit of 617.3 million yuan for 2026, the company's CEO Xu Li and CFO Wang Zheng explained how the shift towards AI productivity tools and solo entrepreneurs helped establish a sustainable business model.
Revenue grew 23.4% year on year to 2.91 billion yuan, marking a significant turnaround compared to loss-making domestic peers MiniMax and Z.ai. SenseTime's core offerings - models, a token factory, and an agent-harness system - now function as independent commercial loops. Generative AI, which drove 80% of sales, played a key role in the turnaround, with recurring revenue up 124.4% year on year to 1.14 billion yuan.
The company is targeting frontline business units and solo entrepreneurs as users, aligning with an industry shift from raw computing power charging to pricing for AI-driven tasks. Gross profit margin exceeded expectations at over 41%, and the company forecast that it would maintain profitability while achieving positive full-year operating cash flow.
SenseTime is investing in a large domestic AI computing centre in Hong Kong Science Park and is expanding infrastructure using a mix of asset-heavy and asset-light models. CEO Xu stressed that breakthroughs in model intelligence will maintain SenseTime's competitive edge.
Written by urgent.news from SCMP Tech's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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