Release | ITBEAR

Author | Wang Yongzhi

2025年3月23日，一则关于商汤科技联合创始人徐冰即将辞职的消息在资本市场掀起波澜。

Although SenseTime quickly issued a statement saying that it "has not received any resignation from any executive directors", the anxiety behind the rumors is still difficult to dissipate——As a benchmark enterprise in China's AI field, every executive movement of SenseTime may become an industry vane.

Who is Xu Bing?  He is the "invisible trader" of SenseTime: Joined the founding team in 35 years, led corporate strategy and financing, and promoted SenseTime from the laboratory to the global AI unicorn stage. His resume is perfect: a double degree in Chinese in Hong Kong, a researcher in the field of deep learning, and an innovator under 0 in MIT Technology Review.

The rumors of the departure of such a key figure not only expose the market's concerns about the stability of SenseTime's management, but also reflect the collective predicament of the AI industry under the pressure of technology commercialization and capital.

01Behind the rumors, where does SenseTime's "crisis of trust" come from?

3月20日，一则匿名消息在投资圈流传：徐冰将于本周内辞去执行董事及董事会秘书职务。尽管商汤在3月23日连续发布声明否认，但市场反应耐人寻味。当日港股盘中，商汤股价一度下跌4.7%，最终收窄至1.2%。

Why can an unsubstantiated rumor cause such volatility? The core lies in the irreplaceable role of Xu Bing. He is not only a strategist, but also a "key man" in the history of SenseTime's financing.

In 2 years, Xu Bing led the completion of SenseTime's C round of financing of US$00 million, setting a global record for a single round of AI financing;

2021年上市前，他推动Pre-IPO轮融资超12亿美元。若其离职，市场难免担忧商汤未来的资本运作能力。

更深层的矛盾在于，商汤正面临AI行业共同的“商业化焦虑”。2024财年财报即将发布(传闻称3月26日公布)，而此前财报显示，2023年其亏损同比收窄但仍达22亿元。

Xu Bing's "strategic investment" function is a key lever to balance technology investment and profitability. At this time, the personnel rumors are more like a mirror, reflecting investors' doubts about the long-term strategic execution of AI companies.

02The "Achilles Heel" of AI Unicorns

SenseTime is not alone. In the past two years, Yin Qi, co-founder of Megvii Technology, and Zhou Xi, founder of Yuncong Technology, have been involved in resignation rumors.

The particularities of the AI industry are:Technical barriers rely on top talent, and commercialization pressures force companies to adjust their strategies frequently. This contradiction is particularly acute in the founding team.

Xu Bing's case is typical. As a strategist with a technical background, he has to maintain his academic DNA (such as continuing to promote cooperation with the Hong Kong Chinese Laboratory) and deal with the capital market's demanding profitability indicators.This dual identity makes his stay a "barometer" of the company's strategic direction.

In its statement, SenseTime specifically emphasized that it had "not received a resignation" rather than directly denying the possibility of leaving, and the subtlety of this wording only intensified speculation.

Another factor that cannot be ignored is the shareholding structure. Prior to SenseTime's listing, the founding team had control through the AB-share structure, but Xu Bing, as an executive director, may have weakened his decision-making weight with changes in his position.

If the resignation is realized, it will not only affect the strategic coherence, but may also trigger the VAM clause in the investment agreement (for example, some financing requires the core team to lock in the tenure).

03What kind of new story does SenseTime need to tell?

Aside from the personnel turmoil, the real challenge for SenseTime is how to break through the bottleneck of AI implementation. Its 60-year financial report shows that the smart city business accounts for more than 0%, but the field is facing the squeeze of giants such as Hikvision and Huawei.

In the strategic investment led by Xu Bing, emerging sectors such as medical imaging and autonomous driving have not yet formed a scale effect.

Perhaps, another revelation from Xu Bing's rumors is that AI companies need to shift from a "technical narrative" to an "ecological narrative". For example, Tesla has built an autonomous driving development ecosystem through Dojo supercomputing, while SenseTime's SenseCore AI large device is still in the stage of customer customization.

If Xu Bing leaves, will his successor be able to promote the platform-based transformation? This is more noteworthy than mere personnel changes.

商汤近期动作频频：3月18日宣布与某车企合作开发舱内视觉系统，3月22日披露正研发多模态大模型“书生2.0”。这些举措能否对冲人事不确定性，将决定商汤在AI 2.0时代的站位。

summary

The rumors of Xu Bing's departure are essentially a public discussion about the survival logic of AI companies. When the technological dividend gradually fades, the capital market attaches more importance to the stability and strategic resilience of the executive layer.

SenseTime's quick refutation of the rumors shows its crisis public relations capabilities, but the real test is how to convince investors that this unicorn, born in a laboratory, is ready to cross the "valley of death" of commercialization.

For the industry, this incident is also a wake-up call. The valuation of AI companies was once based on the romantic imagination of "genius team + disruptive technology", but when the industry enters the deep water area, team cohesion, clarity of commercialization path, and ecological construction ability are the keys to life and death.

The story of SenseTime may be the inevitable pain of China's AI industry from adolescence to maturity.