What’s new: Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) software developer SenseTime Group Inc. is again laying off workers as it struggles to stem a tide of red ink, current and former employees told Caixin.
SenseTime hasn’t been performing well and has been gradually cutting positions while slowing hiring in recent months, one former worker told Caixin. The company went through a massive round of layoffs last September, one current employee said.
One employee at the company’s Smart City Group said his department is cutting around 10% to 15% of staff. Another worker said the team has received orders to stop developing new versions for some existing products.
In a statement to Caixin on Sunday, SenseTime said that it has made strategic adjustments based on changes in the market and its own development. The company has “optimized its organizational and talent structure” to better suit its needs, the statement said.
The background: SenseTime, which listed in Hong Kong in December 2021 and claimed in its prospectus to be the largest AI software company in Asia, remained deep in the red.
In 2022, it reported 6 billion yuan ($823 million) in losses attributable to equity holders, though the figure was down from 17 billion yuan in 2021.
With the downsizing, SenseTime is following much of the rest of China’s tech sector, which undertook mass layoffs in 2022 as companies grappled with a slowing domestic economy and the aftermath of an industrywide regulatory clampdown.
Six out of China’s 10 biggest tech firms by market value cut staff by around 4% to 10% last year.
Related: Charts of the Day: China’s Year of Tech Layoffs
Contact reporter Kelsey Cheng (kelseycheng@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)
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