iFlytek's 2025 annual report reads as a paradox. Domestically it is mocked as the bid king — R&D hit RMB 5.364 billion, a RMB 2.316 billion model bid book led the industry, yet deducted non-recurring profit was only RMB 264 million and Q1 2026 swung to a RMB 430 million deducted loss. But overseas, the numbers tell a different story: 2025 overseas revenue broke RMB 1 billion, up 275%, with Q1 up another 167%; AI office-book sales overseas hit 68,000 units and overseas AI-marketing gross margin rose fivefold. The company walks on two legs of very different speeds.
Three cuts into global markets
Southeast Asia first: a Singapore regional HQ since 2024 anchors the region, with AI office books in retail channels and an education platform piloted in 62 schools; in April 2026 it signed with Vietnam's Viettel and formed a JV in Indonesia. The Middle East next: a Dubai office opened October 2024, Gulf revenue doubled in 2025, and the AINOTE series reached No.2 in local e-ink tablet sales within six months by supporting Arabic, English and Chinese. Europe last: at MWC 2026 Barcelona it debuted AI glasses weighing just 40g with multimodal real-time translation.
Why see it on the ground
iFlytek's playbook — tech-stack first, hard terminals deep, local ecosystem rooted — is easier to feel than to read. Standing in its Singapore command center or its Dubai office shows how cross-language AI is actually deployed, where the friction is, and how a Chinese AI firm earns trust market by market. That is the gap a report cannot close.
iFlytek's story isn't in the annual report. It's in the Singapore command center and the Dubai office.
What a delegation experiences
China Innovation Visits (https://www.chinatechvisits.com) customizes an iFlytek going-global route that runs from its domestic headquarters to the Singapore command center — experiencing the AI terminals, meeting the overseas leads, and seeing how a Chinese AI brand takes root abroad. It is built for associations, chambers and investment teams that want the real field picture, not the headline.