Factbox: U.S. adds eight Chinese firms to trade blacklist

(Reuters) – The U.S. authorities expanded its commerce blacklist on Monday to incorporate a few of China’s prime synthetic intelligence (AI) startups over Beijing’s therapy of Muslim minorities. FILE PHOTO: Chinese and U.S. flags flutter close to The Bund, earlier than U.S. commerce delegation meet their Chinese counterparts for talks in Shanghai, China July 30, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo/File PhotoUnder are particulars of main corporations positioned on the blacklist, which successfully bans them from shopping for elements from U.S. corporations. The transfer is prone to influence not simply them but additionally their suppliers, clients and monetary backers. HIKVISION Formally often called Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co Ltd, the agency is the world’s largest purveyor of video surveillance techniques. It can be a vendor to police businesses in Xinjiang, the place a sweeping crackdown on Uighurs has drawn worldwide condemnation. Hikvision has not been allowed to promote to U.S. federal authorities businesses since mid-August due to a legislation that blocked 5 Chinese companies as attainable safety threats as a result of their merchandise may enable entry to delicate techniques. The firm, which has a market worth of about $42 billion, is 42% owned by Chinese state traders and its two key founders. It pulls practically 30% of its 50 billion yuan ($7 billion) in annual income from abroad. Hikvision doesn’t disclose suppliers, however Japan’s video interface agency Techpoint Inc mentioned in a regulatory submitting in March that Hikvision accounted for 62% of its annual income in 2018. Losing enterprise with Hikvision may have a cloth and antagonistic impact on its enterprise, the Japanese agency mentioned. John Honovich, founding father of surveillance video analysis firm IPVM, mentioned Hikvision and Dahua each use Intel Corp, Nvidia Corp, Ambarella Inc, Western Digital and Seagate Technology as suppliers. The influence of the blacklisting on the Chinese corporations could be “devastating”, he mentioned. SENSETIME GROUP LTD Incorporated in 2014 after receiving funding from IDG Capital, SenseTime is likely one of the quickest rising AI startups in China. Dual-based in Beijing and Hong Kong, SenseTime develops purposes for facial recognition, video evaluation and different areas together with autonomous driving. Its know-how employs AI to determine people and analyze these identities utilizing cameras, and has been utilized by Chinese authorities to trace and seize suspects in public areas resembling airports and festivals. Its $620 million fundraising in May final 12 months valued the agency at greater than $4.5 billion. Fidelity International, Hopu Capital, Silver Lake, and Tiger Global led the financing. The agency has additionally acquired funding from e-commerce companies Alibaba and Suning.Com Co Ltd, Singapore state fund Temasek Holding Ltd, state-backed fund Sailing Capital and U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. SenseTime counts China’s Ministry of Public Security and native heavyweights resembling China Mobile, HNA Group and Huawei Technologies [HWT.UL] as its main shoppers. Its facial recognition unlocking and associated applied sciences are provided to smartphone manufacturers OPPO and Vivo. The agency mentioned in February it’ll create an alliance with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to advance analysis into AI. MEGVII TECHNOLOGY LTD Founded in 2011 by Chief Executive Yin Qi and two buddies from Tsinghua University, the corporate is making ready an preliminary public providing (IPO) in Hong Kong to lift not less than $500 million. Widely recognized for facial recognition platform Face++, Megvii will grow to be the primary Chinese AI agency to go public if the deal goes forward. The firm supplies facial recognition and different AI know-how to governments and firms together with Alibaba, Ant Financial, Lenovo Group Ltd and Huawei. Its $750 million fundraising in May 2018 valued the agency at barely over $4 billion. It raised funds from Alibaba, Ant Financial, Foxconn Technology, Bank of China Group Investment (BOCGI) Ltd, the state financial institution’s personal fairness arm, Macquarie Group, and ICBC Asset Management (Global) Co. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of many world’s greatest sovereign wealth funds, additionally took half in a fund elevating. IFLYTEK CO LTD Founded in 1999, the speech recognition agency is a nationwide champion in voice-related AI. State-owned China Mobile is iFlytek’s largest shareholder with a 12.85% stake, based on its 2018 annual report. The MIT final 12 months introduced a five-year settlement with IFlytek beneath which the Chinese agency would assist underwrite three analysis initiatives on the college’s famend Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). The initiatives relate to AI in well being care, speech recognition, and what CSAIL described in its announcement as creating “more human-like AI”. A 2016 authorities procurement announcement named an iFlytek subsidiary as the only real provider of 25 “voiceprint” assortment techniques to police in Kashgar, a metropolis in Xinjiang, Reuters reported earlier. Another iFlytek unit signed a take care of Xinjiang’s jail administration bureau. ZHEJIANG DAHUA TECHNOLOGY The video surveillance tools maker went public in 2008 and is amongst 5 companies which had been barred from promoting to U.S. authorities businesses, together with Hikvision. The firm, which claims to be the world’s second largest surveillance supplier, says its services and products are utilized over 180 nations and areas. Its merchandise have been utilized in occasions such because the Rio Olympics, the G20 Hangzhou Summit, and a subway challenge in Brazil. XIAMEN MEIYA PICO INFORMATION CO Established in 1999, the corporate is a knowledge restoration knowledgeable and says it supplies services and products for legislation enforcement and authorities businesses all around the world. Its digital forensics companies embody extracting proof from digital media resembling computer systems, cellphones and knowledge storage playing cards. The firm says it supplied safety help for occasions such because the Beijing Olympic Games, Guangzhou Asian Games and Shanghai World Expo. YITU TECHNOLOGY The facial recognition know-how agency was based in 2012 and raised funds from traders together with Sequoia Capital, Jack Ma’s personal fairness fund Yunfeng Capital, and Hillhouse Capital Group. The firm claims its facial recognition platform is able to figuring out over 1 billion faces inside one second. It mentioned in 2015 its know-how is used at China Merchants Bank’s 1,500 shops. It labored with Alibaba Cloud to construct a cloud platform for good transportation administration. Reporting by Miyoung Kim in Singapore, Josh Horwitz in Shanghai, Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; Editing by Jan HarveyOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.