BEIJING

Former self-driving truck developer TuSimple Holdings has announced its transformation into CreateAI, marking a strategic departure from autonomous vehicles to focus on AI gaming technology. The announcement, made on Thursday, signals the company's bid to revitalise its business following a period of significant challenges.

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Chief Executive Officer Cheng Lu characterised the transition to gaming and animation technology as a natural progression of the company's existing capabilities. This strategic shift follows two years of considerable difficulties and increased regulatory scrutiny.

TuSimple, established in 2015, initially attracted substantial investment from major industry players, including Chinese technology firm Sina Corp and global corporations such as Nvidia, Volkswagen and UPS. However, the company's trajectory changed dramatically in 2022 when American regulators initiated investigations into its Chinese connections, leading to significant internal disputes.

The company recently announced its intention to withdraw from the Nasdaq stock exchange, a decision coming less than three years after its successful initial public offering in April 2021, which raised £1.1 billion. This delisting represents a significant reversal for the formerly promising startup.

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Currently, TuSimple faces substantial legal challenges, including a significant lawsuit from its former CEO, Xiaodi Hou. This legal action has resulted in court-imposed restrictions on financial transfers between the United States and China, limiting them to "normal business operations". Additionally, the company is engaged in a separate dispute regarding its American assets, which include approximately £355 million in cash reserves.

Whilst current CEO Lu confirmed the board's approval of the March proposal to transition into AI gaming, this decision has met with opposition. Representatives for Hou and other shareholders have challenged the move, asserting that investments in Chinese gaming and animation development proceeded without proper shareholder authorisation.

According to business planning documents, the company references third-party reports that value the global gaming market at £158 billion in 2023. Under its new identity as CreateAI, the organisation plans to concentrate on video game and anime production and publishing, utilising its newly developed Ruyi image-to-video AI model for content creation.

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The rebranded company maintains a workforce of 270 employees globally, with research and content production teams operating across facilities in China, Japan and the United States.