iFlytek Denies Layoffs Rumor, Plans to Recruit Over 1,000 Employees in 2022

A “graduation certificate” printed with intelligent speech and artificial intelligence company iFlytek’s logo circulated on Chinese social media platforms on Wednesday. Recently, multiple leading internet firms based in the country have referred to layoffs as “graduations,” and now iFlytek is suspected to have started laying off its employees as well.

The “graduation certificates” read, “Once you joined this warm group full of ideals and expectations. Today you will graduate from iFlytek and embark on a new journey.”

iFlytek responded to Jiemian News that the card is a commemorative book for employees upon leaving their job. The company said that this practice has been implemented since the end of 2020, and that it has no plans to lay off employees at present.

On an investor interaction platform, iFlytek’s securities department responded to the issue of layoffs, saying that iFlytek is currently ushering in the dividend period of large-scale application of artificial intelligence, and its business is booming. The “Yan Zhen Plan” released by iFlytek at the beginning of the year shows that the firm intends to recruit more than 1,000 people worldwide.

Founded in 1999, iFlytek is a well-known intelligent speech and artificial intelligence company in the Asia-Pacific region. Since its establishment, the firm has been devoted to cornerstone research in certain technologies, including intelligent speech, natural language understanding and computer vision. In 2008, iFlytek went public on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

In 2010, the company launched the iFlytek Open Platform centered on intelligent speech and human-computer interaction. As of January 31, 2022, the iFlytek Open Platform has opened 466 AI products and capabilities, gathering more than 3.02 million developer teams and more than 1.39 million applications that have been installed on over 3.4 billion terminal devices. In 2016, it released iFlytek Translator, which emerged as a new category of smart consumer products.

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According to its financial report released on Monday, iFlytek’s annual revenue in 2021 reached 18.314 billion yuan ($2.88 billion), a year-on-year increase of 40.61%, with net profit attributed to parent company owners amounting to 1.556 billion yuan ($244.4 million), up 14.13% year-on-year. Additionally, its net profit attributable to shareholders after reducing non-recurring profit and losses was 979 million yuan ($153.8 million), a year-on-year growth of 27.54%.