How generative AI helps SenseTime turn a profit even as Chinese peers struggle
The AI firm has managed to become profitable by carving out a niche involving one-person firms and productivity tools, company executives say
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, executives including CEO Xu Li and chief financial officer Wang Zheng outlined how a pivot towards AI productivity tools and solo entrepreneurs had helped SenseTime create a sustainable business model.
The performance – SenseTime’s first-ever first-half profit under International Financial Reporting Standards since its 2021 Hong Kong listing – marks a stark turning point for the company. Revenue rose 23.4 per cent year on year to 2.91 billion yuan.
It also stands in sharp contrast to high-flying domestic peers. While fellow Chinese AI champions MiniMax and Z.ai, also known as Zhipu AI, both reported triple-digit revenue growth for the same period, they also logged net losses of US$358 million and 2.07 billion yuan (US$308 million), respectively.
SenseTime’s core capabilities – spanning models, a token factory and an agent-harness system – have each formed “an independent commercial closed loop”, Xu said.
“Among pure-play AI companies, we are one of the very few whose overall business trend is clearly moving in the direction of profitability,” Wang added.
Central to the turnaround is the rapid monetisation of generative AI, which contributed 2.33 billion yuan, accounting for nearly 80 per cent of total group sales. For the first time, SenseTime disclosed its recurring revenue, which surged 124.4 per cent year on year to 1.14 billion yuan, representing nearly 40 per cent of sales.