SenseTime says the US has ‘a fundamental misperception’ of the company as sanctions cloud IPO

The White House has placed the company on an investment blacklist over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang

Earlier this week, the AI company cut its IPO size by more than half amid a sell-off in technology stocks triggered by regulatory and privacy concerns

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Visitors walk past the stall of artificial intelligence and facial recognition technology company SenseTime at the Security China 2018 exhibition in Beijing on October 23, 2018. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:17pm, 11 Dec 2021Updated: 3:50pm, 11 Dec 2021

SenseTime, China’s largest artificial intelligence (AI) firm, rejected US accusations that it aided human rights abuses in Xinjiang after the White House placed the company on an investment blacklist amid its plans to go public in Hong Kong.

US President Joe Biden’s administration imposed economic sanctions on the Chinese company along with two senior government officials in far-west Xinjiang over alleged human rights abuses in the region, the Treasury Department announced on Friday. The move clouds the company’s plans to sell shares in an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong after looming regulatory concerns had already forced the company to trim its IPO by about half earlier this week.

In response to the latest sanctions, SenseTime said in a statement on Saturday, “We strongly oppose the designation and accusations that have been made in connection with it. The accusations are unfounded and reflect a fundamental misperception of our company. We regret to have been caught in the middle of geopolitical tension.”

SenseTime did not price its stock offering, which was poised to raise HK$5.99 billion (US$768.3 million), on Friday as expected as investors anticipated the sanctions. The company provided no details as to whether the scheduled listing date next Friday will be kept.