Those Who Master the Trend Stand Alone! Gan Sha Wu's Speech at Fudan University 2026 Graduate Commencement

2026-07-07

On July 2nd, Fudan University held its 2026

graduate commencement ceremony at the Zhengda Gymnasium. At the ceremony, Gan Sha Wu — Vice President of the Fudan

University Beijing Alumni Association, Vice President of the School of

Computing and Intelligent Innovation Branch of the Fudan University Alumni

Association, 1993 undergraduate and 1997 master's alumnus of the School of Computing

and Intelligent Innovation, and Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of UISEE —

delivered graduation remarks to the Class of 2026.

Respected Secretary Qiu, President Jin, faculty

members, and fellow students — good morning!

I am Gan Sha Wu from the Class of 1993, Department

of Computer Science and Engineering. On the day I received my master's degree

in 2000, I never imagined I would stand on this stage. So to my juniors: plant

a seed in your hearts — believe in the power of belief, and let miracles

happen.

The seven years at my alma mater were the happiest

of my life. After graduation, I joined Intel China Research Institute, starting

as the most junior researcher and staying for 16 years. I was fortunate to be

mentored by two senior Fudan alumni and became the first Chinese national to

serve as director of the institute. In 2016, when AlphaGo defeated Lee Sedol, I

— despite being on the front lines of research — failed to see the

significance. After three sleepless nights, I made a bold decision: to leave the

big platform and leap into entrepreneurship.

All three co-founders of our company are from

Fudan. The Fudan DNA — interesting souls and wings of freedom — runs deep in

our bones. When AlphaGo dominated the world, did it feel pleasure? Does it

understand gratitude for one's roots? Humanity is the rarest quality in the age

of AI. And gratitude is the most essential form of humanity. I am grateful to

Fudan.

Our company is called "Yushi" — to

clarify, not the word for "bathroom," but "Yu" meaning to

harness, and "Shi" meaning trend. It comes from Guiguzi: "Those

who perceive the trend are discerning; those who follow the trend are wise;

those who master the trend stand alone." Today, I'd like to share my

understanding of these three phrases.

First:

Those who perceive the trend are discerning.

"Discerning" means having vision. What is

the "trend"? Sun Tzu said it is like rolling a boulder down a

mountain thousands of feet high. The greatest trend of our era is exponential

power.

Intel discovered Moore's Law — chip performance

doubles every 1.5 years, like a drummer at the bow of a dragon boat striking

the beat every 1.5 years. Double in 1.5 years, 10x in 5 years, 100x in 10

years, 10,000x in 20 years.

But today the landscape has shifted. NVIDIA has

become the new drummer, accelerating the pace to doubling every year. 32x in 5

years, 1,000x in 10 years, 1,000,000x in 20 years. Water, electricity, highway

tolls — none of these could ever drop to one-millionth of their price in 20

years. But AI computing power can. Imagine what kind of world that will be?

In this era, when giants become complacent and

cautious, they are abandoning the future. Failing to keep up with exponential

speed means rowing against the current. This gave me the courage to start my

own business: a low starting point doesn't matter — I just need to be faster

than the giants!

Second:

Those who follow the trend are wise.

Seeing the trend and following it is wisdom. Wisdom

concerns three questions: What does the trend require of me? What do I love to

do? What am I good at?

What you're good at comes last — that's the past,

and the future cannot be defined by the past. What you love is in the middle —

only with passion can you achieve great things. But the most important is the

first: the trend demands that you break free from past inertia and make a

different choice.

In 2005, I led a team developing the world's most

advanced Java mobile operating system. Because mobile phones had extremely

limited computing power and memory, with support from Professor Gao Chuanshan's

research group, we developed lightweight virtual machines and libraries,

leading in all benchmarks. A company

approached us about acquisition — they bet that in a few years, mobile

computing power would eventually support standard desktop Java, so instead of

carving intricate details on a grain of rice, they focused innovation on new

interaction interfaces. Because our paths diverged, we didn't join forces. That

company was later acquired by Google — it was called Android.

I learned one thing: to reach tomorrow, you must

first look to the day after tomorrow. Viewing tomorrow from the perspective of

the day after is how all choices become truly wise.

Third:

Those who master the trend stand alone.

What does it mean to master the trend?

"Jiayu" — to drive and control. "Jia" is acceleration,

"yu" is control. A new technology trend is a wild horse; in

entrepreneurship, you can't only know how to accelerate. A truly good rider

must also know how to rein in.

Because when a new trend arrives, it never follows

a smooth, wishful path. It is inevitably turbulent — first climbing the Peak of

Mount Stupid, then falling into the Valley of Despair, and finally ascending

the Slope of Enlightenment.

I have four insights about "control":

When the market is euphoric, examine the

non-consensus and think about how to cross cycles.

When an existing technology path is going strong,

remember: the strongest player on the old path is the last to see it become

obsolete.

When public opinion glorifies

scientist-entrepreneurs, remember: the one best suited for survival is not the

flawless noble, but the scrappy underdog.

When life hits rock bottom, remember Squirrel Fish

— sliced a thousand times, deep-fried and seared, yet still holding its head

high, eyes wide, unyielding to the end. In your darkest hour, tell yourself: I

may not see tomorrow's sun right now, but I believe it will rise!

Finally, I want to say that facing the future, I

feel both awe and trepidation:

In the next 50 years, the changes AI brings to

human civilization will surely exceed the combined changes of the 300-year

Industrial Revolution and 100,000 years of human history.

Are we the lucky participants of a

once-in-100,000-years moment, or the last generation before the arrival of AI?

The answer depends on our choices. It depends on

whether we push ourselves to the limit and take the difficult but correct path.

It depends on whether we retain our humanity — with reverence and gratitude.

I hope all of you walk out of these gates with your

heads held high, run passionately into the AI era, and one day return to this

stage with your own remarkable stories. Thank you all!