Suntek bets big on facial recognition

PCI-Suntek Technology Co Ltd will spare no effort in developing its facial recognition technology, smart transportation and related artificial intelligence business in the coming years, a senior company executive said.

"A growing number of cities in the mainland are planning to construct smart cities and that has provided myriad business opportunities to AI companies, and PCI-Suntek Technology Co Ltd will have great potential for expansion in the years ahead," said Liu Jia, board secretary of PCISuntek Technology Co Ltd.

Headquartered in Guangzhou's Tianhe district, PCI-Suntek Technology Co Ltd, a Shanghai Stock Exchange listed company, is a major artificial intelligence company in the mainland.

In rail transportation alone, PCI-Suntek Technology Co Ltd secured contracts valued at about 1.5 billion yuan ($231 million) last year, according to Liu.

"Meanwhile, facial recognition technology has great potential in the mainland as the technology has been used in the security, transportation, financial and many other industries in the country," Liu said.

Currently, facial recognition has been introduced at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, one of the aviation hubs in the mainland, as well as railway stations and metro stations in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province.

"Guangzhou's public security used to be poor decades ago when I first arrived in the southern metropolis. But now many locals have nothing to be afraid of when they go out even at midnight as advanced surveillance video, facial recognition and related AI technologies are widely used to fight crime in the city," Liu said.

The company expects to be able to introduce the facial recognition technologies in many other cities in Guangdong and the entire country in the future, he said.

PCI-Suntek Technology Co Ltd is also developing mobile payment via facial recognition technology.

But Liu did not forecast when the technology will be introduced.

PCI-Suntek Technology Co Ltd, which has expanded the layout of AI, now has formed the AI technologies based on facial recognition, video structure analysis and knowledge graph. The company is integrating these technologies with big data technology, and has applied them to various fields successfully, Liu said.

The company is expanding cooperation with Guangzhou Metro to introduce its AI technologies in the construction of the automatic ticket-sales machines, platform screen doors and related metro facilities.

Meanwhile PCI-Suntek Technology Co Ltd is expecting to introduce AI technologies to help manage urban traffic and easing heavy traffic jams in big cities, he added.