{"id":"37cca346-16fb-4c7b-a31c-4e29eb9de668","slug":"megvii-us-treasury-investment-ban-2021","kind":"regulatory_action","headline":"U.S. Treasury prohibits all American investment in Megvii over Xinjiang complicity allegations","summary":"In December 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury added Megvii to the Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex list, prohibiting all U.S. investment in the company. The Treasury accused Megvii of complicity in aiding the persecution of Uyghurs in China. This followed the October 2019 Entity List placement and preceded the Pentagon's January 2024 designation of Megvii as a 'Chinese Military Company Operating in the United States.'","occurredAt":"2021-12-17T12:00:00.000Z","reviewStatus":"unreviewed","modelId":null,"deploymentId":null,"companyId":"a9ad6141-9389-4696-853f-cccc64529f28","dataCenterId":null,"aliases":[],"collisionRisk":"none","reviewNote":null,"severity":"serious","rootCauseCategory":null,"rootCauseDetail":null,"affectedUnitsCount":null,"affectedUnitsBasis":null,"remediationStatus":null,"regulatoryAction":"suspension","regulatoryBody":"U.S. Department of the Treasury","propertyDamageEstimateUsd":null,"damageEstimateBasis":null,"bodilyInjurySeverity":null,"fatalityCount":null,"lossCostClass":null,"sourceQualityTier":null,"oshaRecordable":null,"oshaCaseNumber":null,"rootCauseDisclosed":null,"publicDisclosureDate":null,"insuranceClaimPublic":null,"formFactor":null,"latitude":null,"longitude":null,"autonomyClass":null,"legalOutcomeClass":"unknown","createdAt":"2026-08-30T22:28:15.338Z","updatedAt":"2026-08-30T22:28:15.338Z","model":null,"deployment":null,"company":{"id":"a9ad6141-9389-4696-853f-cccc64529f28","name":"Megvii","slug":"megvii","description":"Beijing-based AI and computer-vision company best known for its Face++ facial-recognition platform — the world's largest third-party face-authentication service. Founded in 2011 by three Tsinghua University classmates, Megvii was once valued at over US$4 billion and counted Alibaba, Ant Financial, and the Bank of China among its investors. The company has expanded from consumer face-auth into smart-logistics robotics (AMRs for warehousing and supply-chain IoT) and automotive AI. Megvii was added to the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security Entity List in October 2019 and the Treasury Department's Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex list in December 2021 over allegations of complicity in the surveillance of Uyghurs in Xinjiang — allegations the company disputes.","status":"active","founded":2011,"hq":"Beijing, China","hqLat":39.9057136,"hqLng":116.3912972,"hqGeocodedAt":"2026-08-05T14:38:55.299Z","hqAddress":null,"hqPrecision":null,"website":"megvii.com","fundingTotal":null,"type":"brain","roles":[],"reviewStatus":"reviewed","heatIndex":52,"lifecycleState":"active","supersededByCompanyId":null,"sources":[{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megvii","title":"Megvii","sourceName":"Wikipedia"},{"url":"https://www.biometricupdate.com/201910/u-s-drops-entity-list-hammer-on-chinese-facial-recognition-unicorns-and-biometrics-providers","title":"Entity List designation","sourceName":"Biometric Update"}],"keyFacts":[{"label":"Focus","value":"AI and computer-vision"},{"label":"Technology","value":"Face++ facial-recognition platform"},{"label":"Scale","value":"One of China's 'Four AI Dragons'"},{"label":"Regulatory","value":"Added to the U.S. BIS Entity List in Oct 2019 over alleged Xinjiang surveillance involvement"},{"label":"Regulatory","value":"Added to the DoD Section 1260H list of Chinese military companies in 2025"},{"label":"CEO","value":"Yin Qi, founder and CEO, AI prodigy, computer vision powerhouse"},{"label":"Revenue","value":"AI software licensing (facial recognition, computer vision), $1B+ valuation, Beijing China"},{"label":"Financial stage","value":"Growth (one of four Chinese AI tiger startups, $1B+ valuation, state-owned enterprise customers, AI software licensing)"}],"aliases":["Megvii Technology","Face++","Beijing Kuangshi Technology","旷视科技"],"collisionRisk":"low","reviewNote":null,"atsProvider":null,"atsSlug":null,"factoryLocations":null,"manufacturingCapacity":null,"orgType":null,"burnSignal":null,"litigationEvents":null,"insurancePostureDisclosed":null,"unitEconomicsDisclosed":null,"tickerSymbol":null,"stockExchange":null,"secCik":null,"revenueUsd":"1000000000","revenueBasis":"reported","revenueAsOf":null,"employeeCount":2349,"employeeCountBasis":null,"employeeCountAsOf":null,"marketCapUsd":null,"marketCapAsOf":null,"marketCapSource":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-25T18:39:56.864Z","updatedAt":"2026-08-30T22:24:52.736Z"},"derived":{"status":"active"},"sources":[{"id":"d4a4c8db-ecf6-40d8-8e77-22459113d516","incidentId":"37cca346-16fb-4c7b-a31c-4e29eb9de668","url":"https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-adds-more-chinese-firms-restricted-entity-list-commerce-2021-12-16/","label":"Reuters","publishedAt":"2021-12-17T00:00:00.000Z","notes":null,"title":null,"sourceName":"Reuters","mediaType":"article","videoId":null,"channel":null,"durationSec":null,"timestampSec":null,"createdAt":"2026-08-30T22:28:15.338Z","updatedAt":"2026-08-30T22:28:15.338Z"}],"responses":[],"statusEvents":[{"id":"c1368e46-eb3e-4720-b51e-05a71faf8387","incidentId":"37cca346-16fb-4c7b-a31c-4e29eb9de668","status":"active","reason":null,"source":"agent:recon","effectiveAt":"2026-08-30T22:28:16.620Z","createdAt":"2026-08-30T22:28:16.620Z"}],"jsonLd":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://registry.deploy.report/incidents/megvii-us-treasury-investment-ban-2021","url":"https://registry.deploy.report/incidents/megvii-us-treasury-investment-ban-2021","headline":"U.S. Treasury prohibits all American investment in Megvii over Xinjiang complicity allegations","description":"In December 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury added Megvii to the Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex list, prohibiting all U.S. investment in the company. The Treasury accused Megvii of complicity in aiding the persecution of Uyghurs in China. This followed the October 2019 Entity List placement and preceded the Pentagon's January 2024 designation of Megvii as a 'Chinese Military Company Operating in the United States.'","identifier":"37cca346-16fb-4c7b-a31c-4e29eb9de668","datePublished":"2021-12-17T12:00:00.000Z","articleSection":"regulatory action","publisher":{"@id":"https://deploy.report/#organization"},"author":{"@id":"https://deploy.report/#organization"}},"framework_metadata":{"framework_schema_version":"0.1.0","verification_status":"unreviewed","maturity_stage":null,"lifecycle_state":null,"architectural_position":{"cohort":null,"sub_cohorts":[]},"within_cohort_verified_vs_claimed_pair":null,"cap_flags":[],"verification_depth":{"sources_count":1,"primary_source_types":["secondary-established-publication"]}}}