SenseTime Plunges After Death of China AI Firm’s Co-Founder

(Bloomberg) — SenseTime Group Inc. plunged its most in more than a year after its co-founder’s surprise death spooked investors already grappling with the fallout from slowing growth and U.S. sanctions.

The Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) firm slid as much as 18% in Hong Kong on Monday, the biggest loss since July 2022.

SenseTime disclosed that co-founder and major shareholder Tang Xiao’ou died on Friday after an illness. Born in 1968, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate was regarded as a pioneer in China’s burgeoning AI sector, helping create one of the nation’s leaders in computer vision.