Goldman Sachs Reviewing Chinese AI Firm's IPO
Goldman Sachs Group said it was reviewing its involvement in Megvii Technology’s planned initial public offering after the U.S. government placed the Chinese artificial intelligence firm on a human rights blacklist. Goldman, Citigroup, and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. are joint sponsors of the offering.
The U.S. investment bank said on Tuesday it will evaluate its involvement in the Chinese company targeted by the Trump administration seen to be enabling activities contrary to the foreign policy interests of the United States. Megvii, famous for its facial recognition platform Face++, had filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong aiming for proceeds of at least $500 million.
Aside from Megvii, seven other Chinese companies are also targeted by the administration, who said the firms were implicated in a Chinese campaign of repression against its Muslim minority populations in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in the far west of the country. «We are evaluating in light of the recent developments,» Goldman said in an emailed statement in response to «Reuters».
Entities Barred From Buying U.S. Technology
The U.S. Department of Commerce on Monday in its order barred the companies as well as 20 Chinese government entities from buying U.S. technology without prior U.S. government approval. That will include high-powered computer chips made by U.S. companies such as Nvidia, Intel, and Qualcomm, which are considered critical for building and operating many AI systems.
The U.S. government said the 28 entities had been «implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups» in the region. However, Beijing denies any violation at the camps, saying it provides vocational training to help stamp out religious extremism and teach new work skills.
Megvii provides facial recognition and other AI technology to governments and companies including Alibaba, Ant Financial, Lenovo Group, and Huawei.
