This is the fifth and final case study in our series titled Case Studies in PRC Foreign Tech Transfers that we launched on 18 December 2020. These case studies are based on foundational research we conducted a few years ago. We invite you to follow us on Twitter and on LinkedIn to stay up to date on our latest publications.

As the U.S. debates whether or not to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics over human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Beijing counts on U.S. engineered super-cameras, equipped with facial recognition technology, to surveil Tiananmen Square and likely the games themselves. Aqueti [安科迪], a privately-held North Carolina company founded in 2013, invented and built super-cameras with applications for safety, security, and surveillance originally for U.S. military use. The technology, which was first conceived by scientists for use at the Pentagon and funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, is being used by People’s Republic of China (PRC) law enforcement.

Aqueti’s Mantis camera project was initially sponsored by the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop cameras capable of long-range surveillance for the U.S. Navy. However, after failing to secure U.S. investors, Aqueti turned to state-owned Kunshan Industrial Technology Research Institute (KSITRI; [昆山市工业技术研究院有限责任公]) for funding to continue developing the technology. The PRC’s 2017 National Intelligence Law [中华人民共和国国家情报法] expands the power of PRC intelligence agencies by allowing enhanced surveillance techniques to be applied to both Chinese citizens and foreigners. Aqueti’s Mantis technology has already been deployed throughout China and is expected to be used across 2022 Winter Olympics venues.

• According to a Wall Street Journal article, DARPA in 2018 claimed that its funding for Aqueti’s research ended in March 2015, and that Aqueti’s efforts to develop the technology for commercial use were independent of the U.S. government. A spokesperson from Duke University—where Aqueti was founded—stated that Duke obtained clearance from the U.S. Department of State to export the technology, according to the same article.
• State-owned KSITRI, Aqueti, and Duke Kunshan University in China [昆山杜克大学计算图像技术研究中心] jointly established the Camputer Lab, which is collocated with KSITRI and specializes in computer visioning, deep learning, and artificial intelligence.
• Aqueti has received funding from CAS Star (Xi’an CAS Star Science and Technology Incubator Co., Ltd. [西安中科创星科技孵化器有限公司], an investment firm owned by the State-Owned Asset Management Company of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Xi’an Optics and Energy Institute. In 2014, the company was recognized by the Ministry of Science and Technology as a National Technology Enterprise Incubator.
• Aqueti developed Mantis, a 19-lens camera with processors that combine images into a 100-megapixel frame that allows users to zoom in to reveal extraordinary detail. The cameras also contain facial-recognition technology.