The lights in the conference room are gradually extinguishing, and the once crowded workstations are now empty. This AI unicorn, valued at 20 billion, is struggling to survive amid the capital winter.
In June 2019, when Sun Yuchen bought a lunch with Buffett for a record $456.7888 million, he specifically mentioned an old story from five years ago: 'I will never forget the look in Wang Xiaochuan's eyes when he scrutinized the fraudster. He said I would definitely fail, and that recording a show with me was a disgrace.' At that time, this new rich man in the cryptocurrency circle vowed to compete with Sogou three years later.
Now, the three-year agreement has long expired. Sun Yuchen's TRON's market value once exceeded Sogou's, while Wang Xiaochuan's Baichuan Intelligence is caught in the predicament of executive departures and business suspension. This Tsinghua genius, who once declared 'I will never give up,' is now personally experiencing the cruelty of the AI bubble bursting.
01 Eye contact, the starting point of two destinies
On November 24, 2014, in a Beijing studio, two completely different entrepreneurs sat together to record a program. One side was the already famous Sogou CEO Wang Xiaochuan, while the other was Sun Yuchen, who had just returned to start a business.
According to on-site descriptions, Wang Xiaochuan stared at Sun Yuchen with a "questioning scammer's gaze" throughout, even directly calling it a "shame." This gaze became Sun Yuchen's "deeply engraved shame and motivation."
At that time, Wang Xiaochuan's Sogou was thriving, while Sun Yuchen's TRON was just starting out. Unsatisfied, Sun Yuchen made a vow in his friend circle: "In less than three years, my company surpassed Sogou's market value."
2019 became a turning point in this "frenemy" relationship. Sun Yuchen took a picture of Buffett's lunch, making a high-profile return to the public eye. Meanwhile, Wang Xiaochuan responded lightly on Weibo: "What is success? What is a scammer? Everyone has their own definition. Put it in the long river of history, it is light and breezy."
Zhu Xiaohu from Jinsha River Venture Capital immediately supported Wang Xiaochuan: "There are too many things in the world that are more important than money." This confrontation, on the surface, seems like a conflict of values, but in fact foreshadows two different business paths.
02 The halo fades, the AI unicorn falls into difficulties
In 2023, Wang Xiaochuan founded Baichuan Intelligence, aiming to create "China's ChatGPT." The company quickly rose to be among the "six little tigers" of large models, with a valuation exceeding 20 billion.
However, the apparent glory cannot hide the internal fragility. In early 2025, Baichuan Intelligence's problems exploded in full.
(Workplace Bonus) According to multiple independent sources, Baichuan Intelligence's foundational model has stopped training, and relevant core leaders have expressed their intention to leave for entrepreneurial ventures. More seriously, the head of the healthcare product line is also preparing to leave, and human resources are optimizing adjustments, with personnel possibly reaching a scale of one hundred.
Insiders revealed: "Last year, Wang Xiaochuan stubbornly turned to healthcare, causing foundational technology to fall behind." After the Spring Festival this year, the sudden emergence of DeepSeek has made Wang Xiaochuan suddenly "not know what the meaning of doing models is anymore."
The path to commercialization has been fraught with setbacks. Baichuan Intelligence's healthcare To B business is inherently difficult, hospital data is hard to interconnect, the model's universality is poor, and hospitals are deterred by high customization costs.
At the same time, giants have rushed into the medical AI field. Ant Group completed the acquisition of Haodf, Quark recruited a healthcare large model leader, and Huawei officially announced the establishment of a healthcare legion. Under this siege, Baichuan Intelligence's living space is dwindling.
03 Financing cuts off, the capital feast ends with people dispersing
Starting a large model is essentially a war of capital consumption. There are industry cases to prove this: a company earned 300 million in a year, but spent over 2 billion on training models.
In the early days of Baichuan Intelligence, Wang Xiaochuan shouted for "super models + super applications" to drive both wheels. However, within just two years, this beautiful vision was shattered by reality.
In 2024, Baichuan Intelligence announced the start of B round financing with a valuation of 20 billion yuan. However, with DeepSeek's open-source model overturning industry rules, investors' attitudes have turned sharply.
An AI investor stated frankly: "Affected by DeepSeek, financing for large model startups will become more challenging. Investors will ask—DeepSeek does not need to invest so much yet does better, so why should we invest in you?"
The once glorious "six little tigers" have seen their valuations severely squeezed. Apart from state-owned assets and Middle Eastern capital, there are not many investors in the market able to take on a valuation of 20 billion. In contrast, Zhiyu AI, established at the same time, has a valuation of 44.1 billion, while Moon's Dark Side successfully secured a $300 million investment from Saudi capital.
And after the A round, Baichuan Intelligence has not had new financing, facing enormous pressure on the capital chain.
04 Lost entrepreneurs, trapped in strategic oscillation
Wang Xiaochuan's entrepreneurial journey has never escaped the bizarre cycle of direction oscillation.
From general large models to finance, and then to healthcare, Baichuan Intelligence's business direction is constantly adjusting. A departing executive revealed: "Every meeting changes direction, from finance to education to healthcare, like turning in a maze." This frequent strategic shift has caused resource dispersion, leaving the team at a loss.
Wang Xiaochuan once publicly stated: "Without telling the story of the general model, it is difficult to obtain financing." However, after actually securing financing, he shifted his focus to the healthcare field that interests him. In the first half of 2024, he frequently mentioned in public that "healthcare is the 'crown jewel' of large models."
However, reality is harsh. The Know-How barriers in the medical industry are extremely high, growth is slow, and PS multiples are low. For a startup that urgently needs to prove its commercial value, this is clearly not an ideal choice.
More critically, Wang Xiaochuan and the technical leader have serious disagreements on the development path. Insiders revealed: "Wang Xiaochuan believes that his technology will not catch up with DeepSeek within six months, and therefore essentially does nothing after the Spring Festival. However, the technical leader does not agree with this approach."
This indecision in strategy has long had signs. During the Sogou period, Wang Xiaochuan had constantly shifted his focus among search, input methods, and browsers. Now, in the more challenging field of large models, this issue has been further magnified.
05 The AI bubble bursts, the brutal prophecy of a 1% survival rate
Li Yanhong once predicted: "99% of AI companies will die." The burst of this large model bubble is starting from second-tier teams like Baichuan Intelligence.
The entire industry is facing severe tests. The phenomenon observed by the investment community is: "Since the second half of last year, except for state-owned assets and Middle Eastern capital, there has been basically no one able to invest." This means that market-oriented capital is withdrawing from the AI field.
The cooling speed of the capital market far exceeds expectations. Once, early 2023 was the only time for large model startups. The founder of Moon's Dark Side, Yang Zhilin, once judged: "There is really only a one-month window." Now, this window is rapidly closing.
The industry is also continuously differentiating. Reports indicate that three companies among the "six little tigers" have already exited. The remaining players are also seeking their own paths to survival: Jieyue Xingchen and MiniMax are moving towards open source, Zhiyu AI has teamed up with Samsung, while Baichuan Intelligence is attempting to seek breakthroughs in the healthcare field.
Once looked down upon by Wang Xiaochuan, Sun Yuchen's TRON token market value at one point exceeded that of Sogou. This cannot be said to not be a satire of the business world.
An industry insider close to Baichuan Intelligence estimates that the company should still have over 3 billion yuan on its books. This may mean that Wang Xiaochuan still has a chance to catch his breath and continue waiting for the next round of competition at the table.
However, more and more signs indicate that the market no longer believes in miracles. Investors say: "Three companies have already exited." Layoffs, business contraction, and executive departures—these signals are more persuasive than any grand speeches.
The Wang Xiaochuan who once scrutinized Sun Yuchen with a doubtful gaze now has to face the most severe test of his business career. History is not light and breezy, but rather a calm reflection in the face of reality.
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