- Insta360 gave gold keycaps worth $45,000 each to top employees
- More than fifty gold keycaps have been handed out since 2019
- Employees once received gold bars, coins, and stickers as celebration gifts
Popular webcam manufacturer Insta360 has turned workplace rewards into a spectacle with another bumper round of present-giving.
The Shenzhen-based imaging firm recently handed out gold keycaps valued at up to $45,000 each to select employees during China’s ‘Programmer’s Day.’
The move marks the continuation of a tradition that began four years ago, and has seen more than fifty such prizes awarded.
A gold-plated workplace tradition
As the price of gold has risen, so has the value of the gifts, turning each year’s celebration into a talking point across China’s tech industry.
What might sound like a marketing stunt has actually evolved into part of what observers now call an established gold culture within the company.
Past celebrations included a 50-gram pure gold bar given to a competition winner and a gold coin presented to a newly married employee couple.
Even interns received gold stickers during the firm’s tenth anniversary in July 2025.
The pattern has earned Insta360 the local nickname “gold factory,” a title that blurs admiration with disbelief, and founder Liu Jingkang insists the symbolism is intentional, not excessive.
He says each golden keycap represents the idea that every keystroke “turns the stone into gold,” linking the reward to creative effort and innovation.
Liu believes gold conveys reliability and stability, traits he considers essential in both employees and technology.
Yet, for outsiders, the line between genuine appreciation and calculated branding appears increasingly thin.
Lavish gestures like these can spark loyalty but also invite scrutiny over whether such displays distract from the company’s long-term business focus.
Away from the glamour of precious metal, Insta360’s real strength lies in imaging technology.
Its Insta360 Link is one of the best webcams for content creators with strong performance in video conferencing and online collaboration environments.
The company continues to push updates with AI-enhanced features that improve user experience for both professionals and hobbyists.
However, despite these technological strides, its gold-heavy corporate image now risks overshadowing the very innovation that made it successful.
Via Toms’s Hardware
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