China's AI unicorns reveal fatal flaw in rush to go public

Investor should be wary, as risk factors listed in IPO prospectuses are real

Nina Xiang

December 1, 2020 05:00 JST

Yitu's exhibition booth at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, pictured in August 2019: the majority of the company's revenues came from governments. © FeatureChina/AP

Nina Xiang is the founder of China Money Network, a media platform tracking China's venture and tech sectors.

In 10 years no one will remember the names of China's artificial intelligence unicorns. While many aspects of the coming AI revolution remain unpredictable, one thing is clear: no AI company will emerge as a Big Tech brand.