Kai-Fu Lee
Taiwanese AI pioneer and investor who led Google China and founded 01.AI
- Age
- 64 yrs
- Birthday in 27 days
- Works listed
- 2
- Book
- Honours
- 0
- Awards & distinctions
- Profile views
- 3
- 0 followers
Kai-Fu Lee is a Taiwanese computer scientist and investor who built one of the first speaker-independent speech-recognition systems, founded Microsoft Research Asia and led Google China. He founded the venture firm Sinovation Ventures and in 2023 the AI company 01.AI, and wrote AI Superpowers.
Biography
Apple, SGI and Microsoft
He worked at Apple and Silicon Graphics, then founded Microsoft Research China (later Asia) in Beijing in 1998.
Google China
In 2005 he joined Google to lead its China operations, prompting a legal fight with Microsoft. He left in 2009.
Investor and author
He founded Sinovation Ventures in 2009. His books AI Superpowers (2018) and AI 2041 (2021) became bestsellers. After surviving lymphoma he wrote about values and work. In 2023 he founded 01.AI.
Speech recognition
Lee moved to the United States as a boy, studied computer science at Columbia and earned his PhD at Carnegie Mellon under Raj Reddy, where his Sphinx system recognised continuous speech from any speaker.
Timeline
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1961
Born in Taipei, Taiwan
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1988
Sphinx speech system; PhD from CMU
-
1990
Joins Apple
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1998
Founds Microsoft Research China
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2005
President of Google China
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2009
Founds Sinovation Ventures
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2018
AI Superpowers
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2023
Founds 01.AI
Notable works
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2018
AI Superpowers Book
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2021
AI 2041 Book
With Chen Qiufan.
Did you know?
-
1
He has tens of millions of followers on Chinese social media.
-
2
As a student he co-wrote Bill, an Othello program that won a US national tournament.
-
3
He was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2013 and recovered.
Connections
Related people
Also born on 3 December
-
Rajendra Prasad
Politics & Leadership · First President of India (1950–1962)
1884
-
Nandalal Bose
Art & Design · Bengal School painter who illustrated the Constitution of India
1882
-
Mithali Raj
Sports · Former India women’s captain; leading run-scorer in women’s international cricket
1982
-
John Backus
Science · IBM engineer who led the creation of Fortran, the first widely used high-level language
1924
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Sean Parker
Technology · Napster co-founder and Facebook’s first president
1979
Frequently asked
Who is Kai-Fu Lee?
Kai-Fu Lee is a Taiwanese computer scientist and investor who built one of the first speaker-independent speech-recognition systems, founded Microsoft Research Asia and led Google China. He founded the venture firm Sinovation Ventures and in 2023 the AI company 01.AI, and wrote AI Superpowers.
How old is Kai-Fu Lee?
Kai-Fu Lee is 64 years old, born on 3 December 1961 in Taipei, Taiwan.
Where is Kai-Fu Lee from?
Kai-Fu Lee was born in Taipei, Taiwan.
What is Kai-Fu Lee known for?
Kai-Fu Lee is best known for Sphinx speech recognition; Microsoft Research Asia; Google China; Sinovation Ventures; AI Superpowers; 01.AI.
References
- Kai-Fu Lee — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Kai-Fu Lee — Goodreads author page. Goodreads. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Kai-Fu Lee (Q699605) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Kai-Fu Lee”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more
External links
About this profile
- Researched by the TrackFame editorial team; reviewed by Sanjay Sokal under our editorial policy
- First published 4 November 2026
- Last updated
Cite this page
“Kai-Fu Lee.” TrackFame, last updated 5 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/kai-fu-lee
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