Venture capitalist Lee Kai-fu, founder of the Chinese AI firm 01.AI, has denied rumors of discussions regarding the sale of its pre-training team to Alibaba Cloud.

In a WeChat post on Tuesday, the company described these claims as “vicious slander.”

Beijing-based 01.AI was valued at over US$1 billion in 2023. It reportedly generated more than 100 million yuan (US$13.7 million) in revenue in 2024, with expectations for increased earnings in 2025.

Lee, who also serves as CEO, dismissed speculation that operational issues triggered potential asset sales.

This statement follows last week’s announcement of a collaboration between 01.AI and Alibaba Cloud to develop a joint laboratory focused on creating new AI models for enterprise users.

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