SenseTime scales back Singapore office amid post-ChatGPT challenges

A Chinese AI company, SenseTime Group Inc., is downsizing its office space in Singapore, moving out of a large downtown location into a smaller and cheaper office, according to sources familiar with the decision. The move is a major scaleback of its once ambitious expansion plans as the company confronts rising competition in the AI industry and economic pressures.

According to a recent Bloomberg report, the AI company is leaving its 11,000 sq ft space in Frasers Tower for something smaller. The shift comes as other tech firms, including ByteDance Ltd., are growing overseas while China’s economy sags. The downsizing comes at a time when Singapore’s prime office market is adjusting to lower demand from major Chinese companies and fluctuating vacancy rates.

SenseTime’s move is part of a wider restructuring to concentrate on generative AI services, for which it received regulatory approval last year. Startups, such as Moonshot AI and Zhipu, are challenging the company’s repositioning.

SenseTime is facing threats from larger companies and a new generation of well-funded startups

The company was also one of China’s earliest to secure approval for generative AI services last year. While it is pivoting back to the newer field, it’ll be competing with larger companies and a new generation of well-funded startups, remarked a person familiar with the company’s strategies.

SenseTime’s adjustment also follows the company losing Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. as a financial backer in 2023 and past controversies, including a 2019 U.S. blacklisting over alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang, which SenseTime has denied.

However, these challenges have prevented access to vital capital and U.S. technology that could help the company operate and expand globally. SenseTime representatives in Singapore did not comment on these developments.

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