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Yin Qi Exits Megvii to Lead $5B AI Startup

2/4/2026

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Summary

Story summary

Yin Qi, a leading figure in China's AI sector, leaves Megvii to chair StepFun, a language-model startup.
StepFun raised over 5 billion yuan in January 2025 and aims to fuse generative AI with consumer devices.
Yin Qi's strategy centers on hardware–software integration with Geely and Qianli Technology.
Megvii, known for facial recognition, was added to the United States Entity List in 2019, hindering its IPO plans and causing losses.

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Story summary

Yin Qi, a leading figure in China's AI sector, leaves Megvii to chair StepFun, a language-model startup.
StepFun raised over 5 billion yuan in January 2025 and aims to fuse generative AI with consumer devices.
Yin Qi's strategy centers on hardware–software integration with Geely and Qianli Technology.
Megvii, known for facial recognition, was added to the United States Entity List in 2019, hindering its IPO plans and causing losses.