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Kai-fu Lee

CEO of Sinovation Ventures, Sinovation Ventures

Search every verified Kai-fu Lee interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Kai-fu Lee, CEO of Sinovation Ventures and founder of 01.AI, commented on the AI landscape at the 2026 World AI Conference in Shanghai. He described the Kimi K3 model as "excellent" and said his company would use it in its products. Lee stated that 01.AI is preparing for an initial public offering in 2027, saying its "financial numbers are ready right now, but it's a matter of going through the process." He argued that U.S. export controls on GPUs have "failed" to contain China, attributing any GPU shortage to business frugality or insufficient supply rather than the controls themselves. Lee predicted that in the AI model race, the U.S. will make more money while China will have larger market share due to open-source distribution and enterprise demand for on-premise deployment. He cited Chinese government support and high consumer optimism—noting a poll showing 84% of Chinese view AI positively versus under 50% in the U.S.—as strengths, while acknowledging challenges in getting enterprises to pay substantial fees for AI. In earlier remarks from 2018, Lee discussed AI's impact on employment, stating that routine white-collar jobs are more vulnerable to automation than blue-collar roles due to the difficulty of robotics. He described the Chinese approach to tech markets as "do whatever it takes to win" in a winner-take-all environment, with companies aiming for domination of increasingly broad product categories. Lee also noted that AI technologies have become more accessible through open-source tools, advising a shift from a laboratory mindset to a business-oriented approach, except for those with genuine technological breakthroughs.

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