In 2026, SenseTime, a company with fifteen years of deep expertise in the AI sector, is poised to reach a pivotal milestone. According to insiders, the company is completing a comprehensive transition from AI visual perception to physical space operations, with projections indicating it will achieve a historic breakthrough to profitability this year.

Strategic Evolution from "Seeing" to "Doing"

Founded in 2011, SenseTime has navigated through the various cycles of AI development. Through continuous innovation, it has proactively adapted to new AI paradigms, evolving from a technology provider offering algorithms and perception capabilities into an operator of physical space services. In recent years, SenseTime incubated several business units, including autonomous driving, robotics, and consumer electronics, which have since spun off to operate independently. The company is now concentrating its core resources on the primary focus of space operation agents. Physical space operation entails continuously perceiving the people, objects, environments, rules, and processes within a physical space, understanding their spatial-temporal relationships and operational status, identifying anomalies and opportunities, and driving business decisions and action loops. In simpler terms, SenseTime is no longer content with AI that merely "identifies problems"; it aims for AI that can "solve" problems, delivering value through a complete transition from perception to a closed business loop. Yin Qi, SenseTime's Chairman and CEO, has repeatedly emphasized a key judgment internally: the company must move beyond the dividend period of "technology spillover" and enter the deeper waters of "value creation," where the integration of technology with specific scenarios is the essential path to healthy business development. Yin Qi joined SenseTime in 2021, bringing senior executive experience from companies like Dell and Schneider Electric, along with extensive expertise in corporate management and commercial implementation.

The market direction SenseTime has now chosen is clear: five key physical space scenarios encompassing urban governance, transportation operations, business intelligence, industrial safety, and workplace management. These five scenarios have been gradually consolidated from fifteen years of accumulated experience in customer needs, technological development, engineering execution, and practical applications, representing the outcome of deepening understanding over time.

Continuity and Restructuring of Capabilities

To align with the specific requirements of space operation agent businesses, SenseTime has implemented technological innovations across multiple dimensions to ensure the smooth execution of its strategic upgrade. At the core technology level, SenseTime has independently developed the POA OS platform, an operating system designed for physical space agents. This "Space-as-a-Service" intelligent foundation standardizes the adaptation and scheduling of algorithmic capabilities with hardware devices, enabling agents to operate stably in real-world environments. This platform supports autonomous perception, memory, decision-making, execution, and evolution for the agents. On the product front, SenseTime unveiled its agent application and management platform at the 2026 Smart China Expo, introducing edge-side products such as the "SenseTime Cube" agent analysis box and the "SenseTime Phantom" agent. These offerings represent an upgrade from perception to decision and execution capabilities. In the industrial safety scenario, for example, traditional visual inspection could only indicate the presence of a flame. In contrast, SenseTime's next-generation agent solution can conduct real-time SOP compliance checks, converting safety protocols into automated rules. It enables a complete closed-loop process involving alerts, prioritization, notifications, work order generation, follow-up handling, and escalation for timeouts. This approach goes beyond merely telling clients "what something is" to answering "what should be done" and driving equipment or processes to execute the necessary actions.

In terms of ecosystem collaboration, SenseTime works in conjunction with numerous foundational large model providers, traditional AIoT enterprises, and data platform companies around physical space intelligent operations. To better serve its clients, SenseTime has established deep strategic partnerships with several leading manufacturers. For instance, the collaboration with Hygon involves end-to-end joint optimization spanning from underlying models to engineering implementation and application layers. In the future, the two parties plan to jointly launch combined solutions for physical space operation agents. On the commercialization front, SenseTime has already initiated in-depth collaborations with multiple leading clients regarding space operation agent businesses. According to insiders, the contract value in the business intelligence sector is projected to grow by more than 100% year-on-year in 2026, with a significant increase expected in both the revenue share and gross margins attributable to agents.

Long-term Value and Emerging Challenges

SenseTime's strategic logic is straightforward: utilizing its proprietary POA OS technology platform as the foundation, it aims to help clients deploy space operation agents across the five industry scenarios. Through practical scenario applications, the company will continuously refine its technology platform, securing sustainable and predictable commercial revenue from client renewals and the expansion of space points. However, this path presents considerable challenges. Long delivery cycles, extensive customization demands, and the difficulty of standardization are hurdles that all AI companies must confront when moving deeper into industry verticals. SenseTime's strength lies in its integrated "perception-decision-execution" capabilities and the industry know-how accumulated over years of work in vertical scenarios. The company has already established a reusable platform based on POA OS along with an engineering-based delivery system. The next crucial step is to intensify commercial expansion efforts, enabling more clients to truly capture the value created by space operation agents. Another point warranting attention is profitability. According to insiders, SenseTime is expected to achieve full profitability in 2026, though the sustainability of net profit growth will require time to validate. This AI enterprise, having navigated multiple industry cycles, is approaching a critical juncture for value reassessment, with profitability and market confidence potentially entering a new positive feedback loop. During the previous wave of AI development, SenseTime placed greater emphasis on "technological conviction." In the current environment, however, the ability to combine that technological conviction with "value pragmatism," firmly establishing itself in practical applications and solving real problems, will determine its position in the new AI era. The final outcome remains uncertain, but with this strategic upgrade, SenseTime has taken a decisive step forward, solidifying its future development direction.