On the evening of April 22, China’s leading AI voice recognition and application company iFlytek Co., Ltd. announced its annual report for 2023 and the first-quarter report for 2024. In the first quarter of this year, the company recorded a net loss of 300 million yuan.
According to the financial report, in 2023, iFlytek’s net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 657 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.12%. However, the non-recurring net profit after deductions was 118 million yuan, a decrease of 71.74% compared to the previous year.
In the first quarter of 2024, the net profit attributable to the shareholders of the listed company showed a loss of 300 million yuan, compared to a loss of 57.8953 million yuan in the same period last year, an increase of 418.99%. The non-recurring net profit after deductions also saw a loss of 440 million yuan, expanding by 30.29% compared to a loss of 338 million yuan in the same period last year.
As of the closing on April 22, iFlytek’s stock price was reported at 44.28 yuan per share, down by 0.72%.
iFlytek’s business segments mainly consist of smart cities, law enforcement, open platforms, and consumer services. It is noteworthy that one of iFlytek’s major shareholders is China Mobile, which is involved in the “total surveillance” strategy currently being implemented by the Chinese Communist Party. Additionally, iFlytek has been exposed for assisting the Chinese Ministry of Public Security in building a national voiceprint database for monitoring and tracking individuals.
On October 7, 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce included iFlytek, Sensetime Technology, Hikvision, and other tech companies, as well as the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Public Security Bureau, in the Entity List. Washington stated that the technologies of these companies have contributed to human rights violations by the Chinese Communist Party.
Last month, another Chinese AI giant, Sensetime Technology, released its 2023 financial report, indicating a 10.6% year-on-year decrease in annual revenue to 3.406 billion yuan. The adjusted annual net loss widened by 6.6% to 6.495 billion yuan. Sensetime Group has incurred net losses for six consecutive years and has faced multiple reports of layoffs last year.