Home robotics maker Trifo joins wave of Chinese Silicon Valley start-ups returning home to fulfil AI dreams
- Shenzhen’s supply chain, logistics support and speed are some of the reasons Chinese entrepreneur Zhe Zhang is choosing to bring his tech dream home
Silicon Valley start-up founder Zhe Zhang is part of a rising wave of innovators and entrepreneurs migrating their tech and operations to China in order to fulfil their global ambitions.
Just two years after Zhang, a Chinese national, set up home robotics outfit Trifo he decided to expand his business to Beijing and manufacturing hub Shenzhen. Like others, Zhang believed Shenzhen, with its comprehensive supply chain and logistics support, would help translate his tech dream into a tangible reality.
“Shenzhen is underestimated for its capabilities to create new and original things,” said Zhang. “With its comprehensive supply chain, companies are scaling at a pace much faster than in Silicon Valley.”
Trifo started out in 2016 as a software company providing core AI vision algorithms and solutions for robotic and autonomous driving technology solutions – counting Huawei, Amazon Lab 126, and Tencent among its users, says Zhang, who previously worked at Microsoft and Magic Leap. A somewhat limited field of applications for industrial robots – used mainly in logistics and warehouses – led the company to put its focus on consumers instead.
Trifo’s big, new product is an AI-powered robot vacuum cleaner that can be fully integrated into the home and will be launched at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, US, early next year.
