The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) of China today released the first batch of licenses for imported games in 2024, with 32 games receiving approval. Tencent Games secured licenses for two Nintendo Switch games, including the 3D adventure game Kirby and the Forgotten Land and the drum rhythm game Taiko no Tatsujin. NetEase’s subsidiary Boltrend Games obtained approval for the role-playing game Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent, while ByteDance’s gaming arm Nuversen gained approval for the action game World Trigger: Borderless Mission. From 2021 to 2023, the imported game approvals for the past three years were 76, 44, and 98, respectively. [NPPA, in Chinese]

Chinese display manufacturer BOE surpassed Samsung Display to become the industry leader in the foldable display sector, representing a 42% market share in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to display supply chain consulting firm DSCC. On the flip side, Samsung Display experienced a notable decline, dropping from 76% in the third quarter to 36% in the fourth quarter of 2023, which was its largest quarterly decrease since the first quarter of 2021. This marks the end of Samsung’s reign in the global OLED foldable market over the past five years, the report said. DSCC analysis indicates that BOE’s surge was primarily attributed to the substantial growth in demand for Huawei’s foldable smartphones, with a 122% increase in Huawei’s foldable display procurement in the fourth quarter of 2023 alone. [IThome, in Chinese]

Note: The article was written by Yimie and translated by Zinan.

Get ready for the annual insights from TechNode Content Team! The year 2023 can be considered a groundbreaking year in the technology field. As wrapping up this year, we gathered different insights from our content team. We’ll present nine Q&As, with timely updates every Wednesday and Friday in the following weeks!

Today, our Q&A comes from Yimie Yong, Reporter at TNGlobal. Yimie is a reporter who focuses on EV, AI, FinTech, and InsurTech.

1. Which company has impressed you the most in 2023?

This year, the most impressive company for me is OpenAI. ChatGPT is the most eye-catching product of the year, sparking a trend in AI. This generative AI has influenced various fields, including creativity, design, media, etc. Tech giants in China and the U.S. are competing to develop and launch similar products.

2. Which company has surprised you the most in 2023?

TikTok Shop being shut down in Indonesia by the government was unexpected. The Indonesian government believed that TikTok Shop’s business model would impact the livelihood of local small businesses, leading to the shutdown order. Later, TikTok announced a $1.5 billion investment in the Indonesian e-commerce platform Tokopedia. The developments of these two companies will continue to be watched closely.

3. Which industry professional/entrepreneur/startup founder has left the most profound impression on you in 2023?

Sam Altman, the creator of ChatGPT. After being removed from the CEO position, Microsoft announced his hiring along with co-founder Greg Brockman. In a surprising turn of events, with the support of core employees and investors, Altman and Brockman returned to the company, highlighting their influence and status.

4. What is the most memorable overseas event for you in 2023?

Sam Altman, the creator of ChatGPT, was unexpectedly removed from the CEO position by the OpenAI board. Later, Microsoft announced his inclusion, and he returned to OpenAI in a strong comeback.

5. If you were to recommend one significant industry trend for everyone to follow, what would it be?

NVIDIA’s collaboration with Malaysia’s YTL Group to build a $4.3 billion AI data center in Malaysia. The development of NVIDIA in Malaysia is anticipated, and there are hopes that it will drive the growth of AI in the country. Due to the popularity of ChatGPT, AI has become a focal point, making NVIDIA the best-performing listed company on the S&P 500 index last year. The founder, Jensen Huang, created a buzz with his whirlwind tour of Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam, at the end of last year.

6. What industry buzzword have you encountered the most in 2023?

Artificial Intelligence (AI), ChatGPT.

7. Which phrase or sentence best summarizes your perspective on the field you’ve been following in 2023?

AI field: Rapid advancement, intense competition. With the significant success of ChatGPT, major tech giants and startups are competing to launch AI-related products, leading to a rapid advancement of AI.

8. What product/company/technology/industry are you most looking forward to next year?

I’m very excited about the developments in the Electric Vehicle (EV) sector. Huawei and Xiaomi have recently launched their EV models, and I’m eager to see the impact and changes they will bring to the overall EV industry. Additionally, the Chinese EV brands BYD and NIO have surpassed Tesla in global sales, and I’m looking forward to the plans and developments of BYD, especially its introduction of products in Indonesia in January.

9. Do you believe AI has the potential to threaten humanity?

I believe AI may affect some jobs, but currently rather than replacing people’s jobs, I tend to believe that AI is helping people enhance efficiency and solve problems such as quick data collection. Furthermore, I have confidence that humans will find ways to control or balance the threats posed by AI and use AI more effectively to enhance efficiency and solve various problems.

TikTok turned against its former cooperation partner Universal Music Group (UMG) overnight after the world’s largest music copyright owner threatened to remove all of the music it owns from the video-sharing platform, which lambasted UMG’s “self-serving actions” and characterized them as putting their interests above those of artists, songwriters, and fans. 

Why it matters: The dispute would reportedly also affect TikTok sibling Douyin, potentially causing both platforms to have to remove Universal songs from the huge number of videos using them as background music. The falling out with UMG may also lead to a similar response from other music companies. 

Details: The collapse of the deal would likely remove the pop songs that myriad TikTok videos use as background music, affecting tracks by Universal artists including Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish, as well as Chinese language singers Stefanie Sun and Eason Chan.

• In an open letter, Universal said the success of TikTok has been largely rooted in the music created by “our artists and songwriters,” but revenue from the Chinese-owned company only accounts for about 1% of Universal’s income, which the letter claimed was a poor rate of compensation.
• According to media outlet Caixin, the three-year authorization contract between both sides signed in February 2021 was also applied to TikTok sister app Douyin in China, meaning Douyin users are no longer allowed to create videos using copyright-protected music from UMG starting from Thursday, unless the two parties reach a new deal addressing Universal’s concerns over higher pay for artists, AI creation, and user protection.
• In response, TikTok claimed Universal’s statement formed a “false narrative and rhetoric,” and blamed the music firm for leaving a platform that had served as a “free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent.”

Context: This is not the first dispute involving a major tech platform and Universal-signed artists. In 2014, Taylor Swift decided to remove her entire discography from Spotify due to issues around royalty payments, with her boycott of the streaming service lasting three years.

Xiaomi will begin mass production of its first electric vehicle model later this month, people familiar with the matter told 36Kr on Wednesday, the latest development in the Chinese smartphone giant’s entry into the fiercely competitive EV segment. The company is set to meet the start of production (SOP) requirements in late February, with a goal to achieve monthly output of 2,000 units in March and expand that number to more than 10,000 by July. The consumer tech firm, in late December, debuted the SU7 sedan, which boasts acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 2.8 seconds and a seamless connection between devices from smartphones to the car’s dashboard and various home appliances. The car is scheduled for launch during the first half of this year, while rival Huawei has been selling EVs in collaborations with carmakers including Changan, Seres, and Chery. [36Kr, in Chinese]

Capital Medical University Xuanwu Hospital and Tsinghua University School of Clinical Medicine jointly announced on Tuesday that they have achieved the world’s first clinical trial using an implanted epidural electrode brain-computer interface (BCI) to treat limb paralysis caused by a cervical spinal cord injury. The 54-year-old male patient had experienced a severe neck spinal cord injury in a car accident, resulting in a complete impairment classified as ASIA (American Spinal Injury Association) grade A and leading to persistent limb paralysis. On Oct. 24, 2023, two coin-sized brain-computer interface processors were implanted into the patient’s skull, according to the announcement. After three months of rehabilitation training, the patient can now use brainwaves to operate pneumatic gloves, enabling independent activities such as drinking water through brain control, with the patient able to achieve a grip accuracy rate exceeding 90%. [Capital Medical University Xuanwu Hospital, in Chinese]

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) of China released an announcement on the telecommunications service quality in the fourth quarter of 2023, in which miHoYo’s hit game Genshin Impact was specifically mentioned by the MIIT for having the lowest timely complaint resolution rate at 39.3%. Among the 175 monitored internet companies, miHoYo, Guangzhou Great Wall Broadband Network, Ziroom, and Tongcheng Holdings were identified as the four companies that did not meet the required standards for timely complaint handling. The MIIT has urged the relevant companies to properly address the issues raised by users. Additionally, four types of complaints were received by the Internet Information Service Complaints platform: product functionality (47.7%), customer service (25.6%), privacy protection (12.9%), and other categories (13.8%). [MIIT, in Chinese]

Chinese automaker Chery Auto is working with Huawei in “an all-round way” to ramp up production of their first joint model, the Luxeed S7, a company spokesperson said on Wednesday, denying that there has been conflict between the two companies in a production-constrained situation. The state-owned manufacturer also denied rumors that a deputy general manager blasted Huawei for a lack of coordination before quitting his job recently, which comes after reports saying multiple customers were frustrated over unexplained and months-long delivery delays of the S7 electric sedan. The two companies on Jan. 11 announced compensation for those who had experienced delivery delays of more than six weeks for the car, launched in late November and featuring Huawei’s in-car software with a starting price of RMB 258,000 ($35,381). The Chinese technology giant has been partnering with several other automakers including Changan, Seres, and BAIC. [CLS, in Chinese]

Chinese artificial intelligence developer iFlytek on Tuesday unveiled an upgraded SparkDesk model and claimed it outperforms GPT-4 Turbo on metrics including language understanding and math, while its capability in multimodal understanding has reached 91% of that of OpenAI’s most advanced model, according to the company. The Hefei-based firm didn’t specify the judging criteria or modalities used for its claims. Named SparkDesk V3.5, the LLM is the “first foundation model that was trained by a domestic computing power platform,” according to a press release on iFlytek’s WeChat account. The platform was co-launched by iFlytek and Huawei in October. [iFlytek, in Chinese]

Chinese AR (augmented reality) glasses manufacturer XREAL has recently secured a new round of strategic financing valued at $60 million, bringing its total funding to $300 million, according to an exclusive report by Chinese media outlet 36Kr. The report asserted that XREAL’s current valuation has surpassed $1 billion, as indicated by industry analysts.

Why it matters: As a major player in the global AR device sector, XREAL’s devices are considered potential competitors to Apple’s Vision Pro and Meta’s Quest 3. This strategic financing empowers XREAL to pursue vital growth initiatives, such as expanding its AR glasses production.

Details: The new financing, which is dedicated to product R&D (research and development) and the expansion of the firm’s optical production base, will enable XREAL’s AR glasses production to reach two million units per year by 2025, the 36Kr report said.

• XREAL has not disclosed the specific investors behind the new $60 million financing. Previous major investors in XREAL have included Alibaba, Kuaishou, NIO Capital, Yunfeng Capital, Sequoia China, Gentle Monster, Hillhouse Group, Hongtai Aplus, CICCcapital, Shanghai GP Capital, Shunwei Capital, CPE Asset Management, China Growth Capital, and iQiyi.
• XREAL’s Founder and CEO, Xu Chi, has declared that the company aims to deliver wearable augmented reality displays to global audiences, as AR has revolutionized user experiences in gaming, movies, TV, in-car entertainment, displays, and work.
• From Jan. 9 to Jan. 12, XREAL exhibited its latest XREAL Air 2 Ultra glasses during the 2024 CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, featuring six degrees of freedom (6DoF) via dual 3D environment sensors with computer vision capabilities. 
• The global release of the Air 2 Ultra glasses is scheduled for March, with a starting price of $699, and pre-orders are already available. Despite the increased cost compared to the previous Air headset, which was priced below 500 dollars, the Air 2 Ultra glasses still present a more budget-friendly option than Apple’s Vision Pro, which is priced at $3,499.

Context: The XREAL Air series of products are compatible with a variety of mainstream gaming and streaming entertainment devices, including Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Valve Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally, iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac.

• On Jan. 4, XREAL announced a total shipment of 350,000 AR glasses since its establishment in 2017. The company claimed to currently hold a 45% share of the global AR market, a statement that came after market intelligence firm IDC confirmed XREAL secured a 51% market share in the global AR segment during the third quarter of 2023.

Chinese electric vehicle battery maker CATL on Tuesday projected an up to 47.1% increase in net profit to RMB 41.5 billion ($5.8 billion) in its financial year ending Dec 31. However, the year-on-year growth rate would be slowed to 9.2% over the last three months, compared with a 10.7% rise in the previous quarter and a 153.6% surge in the first half of last year. The battery giant was dethroned by BYD from the top spot in the more affordable lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery segment last year, as the latter led the shipment with a 40.4% market share compared with CATL’s 34%, figures from China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance showed. The results were also partly due to a growing trend towards plug-in hybrids over the past year, which use both gasoline and electricity as fuel sources and therefore normally carry smaller batteries than pure EVs. China reported an 82.5% annual increase in sales of PHEVs last year, compared with a 20.8% growth rate in BEV sales, according to figures from the China Passenger Car Association. [TechNode reporting, Caixin, in Chinese]

ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo told the company’s employees they lack a “sense of crisis” in an annual meeting on Tuesday, as the co-founder of Douyin and TikTok owner fears the ten-year-old firm is becoming “mediocre” and thus unable to “break new ground.” In his speech, Liang outlined three goals for ByteDance in the new year – maintaining a “first day of a startup” mindset among staff, enhancing community trust, and staying focused on a select set of priorities, according to the Chinese media outlet ThePaper. Overtly, while the tech unicorn’s short-video operation grabbed the largest market share, the emergence of rivals Kuaishou and WeChat Channel has posed a threat, and within the organization, Liang highlighted issues of low efficiency and sluggishness in seizing opportunities during his speaking, the most urgent problems to be solved currently to cope with external competition.[ThePaper, in Chinese]

GAC has opened its first showroom dedicated to its all-electric Aion brand in Hong Kong, the latest domestic automaker looking to expand sales to emerging electric vehicle markets amid slowing growth in mainland China. Toyota’s manufacturing partner will initiate sales of its Aion Y Plus affordable crossover in the city in May with a goal of selling 5,000 units this year, Gu Huinan, general manager of GAC Aion, told reporters on Jan. 28. The company also unveiled plans to build five more retail and service locations in the Asian financial hub this year and set up more than 300 fast-charging piles near office buildings, shopping malls, hotels, and transport terminals all over the city by 2028. BYD earlier this month opened its first service center spanning 20,000 square feet in Yau Tong, Kowloon, in collaboration with Harmony Auto Holding Ltd, a Chinese auto dealership, while having operated several stores in Sha Tin, Sai Kung, among other areas. Tesla is the top seller, recording sales of 673 vehicles in the city in November, according to the latest figures published by the Hong Kong Transport Department. [TechNode reporting; Caixin, in Chinese]

Note: The article was written by Angelo.

Get ready for the annual insights from TechNode Content Team! The year 2023 can be considered a groundbreaking year in the technology field. As wrapping up this year, we gathered different insights from our content team. We’ll present nine Q&As, with timely updates every Wednesday and Friday in the following weeks!

Today, our Q&A comes from Angelo, Editor at TNGlobal. Angelo is an editor who focuses on SEA Tech News.

1. Which technology has impressed you the most in 2023?

Undoubtedly, artificial intelligence is the hottest topic in recent years, and OpenAI has been at the forefront of this industry. It’s not necessarily for its advancements in technology, because other companies like Google, Microsoft, Meta, etc., have also been building upon their own capabilities. Many of these are under-the-radar, but OpenAI accelerated the time-to-market for AI-driven products, for better or worse. More importantly, the management “drama” that unfolded toward the end of 2023 highlighted the importance of governance and accountability in this emerging technology, especially given its potential impact on humanity.

2. Which company has surprised you the most in 2023?

Frankly, Microsoft is the single company that has surprised me this year. While many would view Microsoft as a bland company that now lacks the sexiness and edge that other giants like Apple and Google have, it does have significant investments in products and technologies that can potentially be gamechangers, particularly AI. It is also making significant inroads into community-driven technologies such as open-source projects, which is one of the things I am deeply interested in.

3. Which industry professional/entrepreneur/startup founder has left the most profound impression on you in 2023?

OpenAI’s Sam Altman made an impression on me not only because of AI, but rather because of his interest in survivalism and prepping. Altman reportedly has a bunker in New Zealand, same as many other billionaires who can afford the infrastructure, supplies, personnel, and training involved in prepping for disasters in the long-haul. I am mostly interested in prepping for more localized ones, such as those brought about by natural hazards (e.g., earthquakes, storms, etc.). But given Altman’s involvement in AI, does he know something we don’t? Will AI eventually lead to humanity’s ruin?

4. What is the most memorable overseas event for you in 2023?

I am particularly interested in exploring the unknown and pushing human capabilities and technologies to the extremes. For this reason, I have two events from 2023 that are quite memorable to me. One is India’s successful Chandrayaan-3 mission to the moon, which is perhaps one of the factors that will rekindle renewed interest in moon missions and exploration, not to mention the other activities by NASA, SpaceX, CNSA, ESA, and other organizations in advancing space-exploration technologies.

Another is the OceanGate disaster, which involves another area of exploration–the deep oceans. With its loss of its Titan and crew, it also underscores the importance of establishing a balance between achieving innovations and developing standards for safety.

We’ve achieved so much in these areas in the past century alone. I’m excited for what we can achieve in the 21st century onwards.

5. If you were to recommend one significant industry trend for everyone to follow, what would it be?

There’s always talk about how electric vehicles will enhance the sustainability of our transportation systems. For me, however, what’s more interesting is the deep technology behind these industries, particularly alternative power sources. Electric vehicles may simply be shifting the carbon footprint from fossil fuels to other sources of energy. But what about new breakthroughs that can potentially be cleaner and safer, such as the use of hydrogen and other materials? And this might not only be for terrestrial travel. How about propulsion or space-going vessels?

6. What industry buzzword have you encountered the most in 2023?

AI, of course, and its related buzzwords, had been the most popular in 2023. Other contenders would be “The Great Resignation” in the context of work-from-home and return-to-office trends, as well as “Open Source Intelligence” in the context of data management.

7. Which phrase or sentence best summarizes your perspective on the field you’ve been following in 2023?

“Anxious but excited,” is the phrase that best summarizes my view especially in tech-driven industries across the globe. On one hand, we are having significant advancements in artificial intelligence, which means we can come at innovations and efficiencies at a scale previously not achievable. However, this also means potential disruption to a lot of industries. Some might get left behind if we are not able to get ahead of the wave.

8. What product/company/technology/industry are you most looking forward to next year?

We have been exploring space for decades. With recent advancements in reusable materials and propulsion technologies, we might just achieve significant developments in the next years to come that will make space travel more accessible and viable than ever.

9. Do you believe AI has the potential to threaten humanity?

I think humanity poses a threat to humanity. AI will just be something that accelerates it if left unchecked. We therefore need better governance mechanisms that will ensure AI is not utilized for harmful applications and that AI itself will not have the means to do such on its own.

The past year has seen Tencent’s TikTok-like short video service “deliver the expected results,” chairman and chief executive Pony Ma said at the tech titan’s annual staff meeting on Monday, while reaffirming his confidence in the company’s long-term development despite the sluggish general market.

Why it matters: In contrast to his sharp-tongued speech a year ago, where the emphasis was on cost-cutting, Ma’s more positive comments this year signal that he seems to think the company has overcome its challenging times.

Details: A year after Ma positioned WeChat Channels as Tencent’s major hope for the future, he said that the short video-sharing function has brought “lots of surprises” and committed to fully supporting livestreaming-based commerce in 2024. 

• In a half-hour speech that struck a positive tone, Ma mentioned recent news of Tencent buying land in the Haidian district of Beijing at RMB 6.42 billion as a “careful and calculated decision” due to the steady growth of the firm’s businesses. 
• Boasting 1.3 billion monthly active users, WeChat stands as the most powerful messaging app in China and comes with a flurry of social connecting features, but the app’s 12-year-old history gives Ma “great pressure,” especially as QQ, Tencent’s once-popular platform, undergoes a crucial transformation after 12 years in operation. Ma has called for WeChat, “the old tree”, to “sprout new shoots”.
• Ma also stated that Tencent’s current holding of the title of the world’s largest game vendor feels like “relying on the credit of our [previous] successes.” This sentiment comes amidst challenges from peers releasing new titles and the company’s relatively underwhelming offerings when it comes to fresh games, according to local media outlet Jiemian.

Context: Tencent shares have suffered in the past year but have not seen as big a slump as those of its Chinese internet peers, with the firm seeing a 16% decline in the value of its Hong Kong-listed shares. The company’s largest shareholder, South Africa-headquartered Naspers, added to the downward trend by cutting its stake in Tencent to less than 25% through frequent share selling in 2023.

Volkswagen has appointed Thomas Ulbrich, a veteran of more than 30 years at Germany’s biggest automaker, as the new chief technology officer in China, hoping to foster the local development of new models to meet the growing demand for intelligent, connected electric vehicles. Effective April 1, Ulbrich will also serve as the chief executive of Volkswagen China Technology Company, the company’s largest research and development center outside Germany, where it has been working with Xpeng Motors on two new models scheduled for launch in 2026. The German carmaker has set a goal of selling at least 30 all-electric vehicle models in China by 2030, while another 30 locally-built models, including plug-in hybrids and gas-powered cars will be available by 2027 in collaboration with manufacturers such as SAIC and FAW. It is also looking to shorten the development cycle by 30% for cars with key components, ranging from batteries to automated driving systems, with assistance from partners including Gotion High-Tech and Horizon Robotics. [Volkswagen release]

On Tuesday, the analyst firm SensorTower released its 2023 annual review on the overseas performance of China’s mobile games, with the action role-playing game Genshin Impact from miHoYo securing the top spot. In 2023, overseas mobile game players’ expenditure on the App Store and Google Play amounted to $616 billion, while the overseas revenue of the top 30 Chinese mobile games on these platforms reached $7.8 billion. In terms of overseas revenue, the top five mobile games from Chinese developers in 2023 were Genshin Impact (miHoYo), PUBG MOBILE (Tencent Games), Honkai: Star Rail (miHoYo), Call of Duty (Activision Blizzard & Tencent Games), Puzzles & Survival (37 Interactive Entertainment). [SensorTower, in Chinese]

Alongside Apple, Intel’s next-generation Nova Lake processor may also embrace TSMC’s 2nm process technology, as TSMC plans to mass-produce the 2nm chips by 2025. Nova Lake, which will be Intel’s largest architectural upgrade, is expected to launch in 2026. The report suggests that Intel’s decision to use TSMC’s 2nm process in Nova Lake could be a strategic move to address the substantial architectural upgrade, ensuring market competitiveness by leveraging TSMC’s advanced 2nm process technology. Nova Lake is likely to follow a Chiplet design similar to Intel’s Core Ultra, with the CPU (central processing unit) core potentially produced by Intel’s own foundry, while the GPU (graphics processing unit) part may adopt TSMC’s 2nm process. [Icsmart, in Chinese]

BYD on Monday forecast an up to 86.5% year-on-year increase in its net profit to RMB 31 billion ($4.3 billion) for 2023. However, that means the profit for the three months ended Dec. 31 will be up to RMB 9.6 billion, which would represent at least an 8% decline compared with the RMB 10.4 billion it earned in the previous quarter. The results reflect the growing pressure in the Chinese car market, which has forced the country’s biggest electric vehicle maker to offer significant discounts over the year-end holiday season to achieve its annual target of selling 3 million cars. The Warren Buffett-backed automaker also said on Jan. 16 that it has hired more than 4,000 engineers for automated driving as part of an RMB 100 billion long-term investment initiative. Rival Tesla’s net income dropped 39% year-on-year but grew 7.2% quarter-on-quarter to $2.5 billion in the fourth quarter of last year. BYD share prices dipped 5.5% during Tuesday’s morning trading session in Hong Kong. [BYD filing, in Chinese]

CATL and Didi said on Jan. 28 that they have signed a partnership to build battery swap stations for commercial fleets to recharge their electric vehicles, in a sign of China’s urgent need to set up a gold standard for EV infrastructure.

Why it matters: The news reflects how major players are rushing to build alliances and expand their presence in the hope of getting a larger say as the Chinese central government is pushing for industry-wide standards to drive EV adoption and reduce the strain on the grid. 

• Xin Guobin, a vice minister of industry and information technology, in June said Beijing will back businesses’ efforts to jointly set standards for battery specifications and swap techniques. 
• Meanwhile, the central government recently set a goal to begin operating large facilities for bi-directional charging in the next two years, which would allow EV batteries to charge during off-peak hours and return surplus energy to the grid when demand is high.

Details: CATL and Didi will set up a joint venture for a fast and large-scale roll-out of a battery-swapping network for ride-hailing services in China, according to a joint announcement, which did not reveal detailed plans for the swap network or the size and structure of the JV. 

• The two companies will also promote the adoption of EVs with swappable batteries while exploring collaboration on other areas such as storage-integrated EV charging facilities, the statement said.
• CATL expects such efforts to enhance its reputation since public infrastructure could help promote it as a purveyor of better quality and longer service life, people close to the company told Caixin.

Context: NIO is for now the dominant player in the field, operating more than 2,300 battery swap stations in China as of December. The EV maker plans to add at least 1,000 more this year and has partnered with big names including Geely, Changan, and Chery. 

• China reported a significant 81% annual increase for its battery swap infrastructure network with a total of 3,567 swap stations as of December, according to data compiled by the Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance (EVCIPA).

Both TikTok and Shein have sharply increased lobbying spending in the US as the two China-founded companies face scrutiny there over their Chinese ties. Data from OpenSecrets shows that the fast-fashion giant boosted its spending on lobbying by 657% to $2.12 million in 2023 compared to a year prior, but this was still less than a quarter of TikTok owner ByteDance’s spend last year of $8.74 million. The parent company of the video-sharing app had a total of 45 lobbyists in 2023, largely unchanged from the previous three years, while Shein hired 14 lobbyists last year compared to only eight in 2022 as the firm faces an uncertain IPO outlook in the US. [OpenSecrets]

Temu is planning to absorb sellers who can ship locally within its covered countries, including those who already operate overseas warehouses or store inventory beyond China, according to the Chinese media outlet Caijing. This low-cost fulfillment model brings warehousing and logistics fulfillment responsibility to merchants themselves. The model is scheduled to go live first in the US starting on March 15, followed by European sites at the end of March before further expanding, the report said. Under the upcoming business model that reduces the need for items to cross borders, merchants are more flexible in partnering with local logistics firms after packing orders, thereby cutting shipping times to secure advantages over challenging competitors like Amazon. [Caijing, in Chinese]

Huawei is set to launch a new flip-foldable smartphone in February, following the P50 Pocket in 2021 and the Pocket S in 2022, according to a report in local media outlet IThome, which cited sources on China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo. Details of the upcoming device, known by the code-name LEM, have not yet been officially disclosed. The new flip phone will reportedly feature Huawei’s self-developed 5G Kirin chip and will be positioned similarly to the Chinese tech giant’s mid-range Nova series. Reservations for the new device are expected to begin after the Chinese New Year holiday, which is from Feb. 9 to Feb. 17. In 2023, according to data from a third-party organization cited in the IThome report, Oppo led the flip-foldable phone sector in the Chinese market with a 30% market share, followed by Huawei at 29%, and Samsung at 23%. [IThome, in Chinese]

On Jan. 27, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo stated that the US government is proposing to require American cloud service companies to conduct self-assessments to determine whether foreign entities are accessing US data centers for training artificial intelligence models. The US government plans to take measures to limit China from utilizing US technology for AI-related development, as this emerging industry has raised security concerns, the report said. The proposed regulations were published on the Federal Register website last Friday. In 2023, the global top 10 cloud service providers include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, Oracle Cloud, IBM Cloud, Tencent Cloud, OVHcloud, DigitalOcean, and Linode, according to intelligence platform Dgtl Infra. Seven out of the ten listed cloud service providers are from the US. [Icsmart, in Chinese]

The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) of China released its first batch of domestic game licenses for 2024 in the early hours of this morning, with its approval of 115 games sparking hope for a stable and positive regulatory environment in the industry this year.

Why it matters: Over the last two years, the average monthly issuance of domestic game licenses was around 80, with January 2023 only reaching 88. Today’s approvals represent the highest number of monthly licenses granted for two years. 

Details: The batch of 115 approved games includes 100 mobile games, eight dual-end (PC and mobile) games, four PC games, one PS game, and one web-page game.

• The main gaming titles are Need for Speed by Tencent Games, Etheria: Restart by X.D.Network, My Three Body: 2277 by YOOZOO Interactive, Call of Dragons by Lilith Games, Wait a Minute by 37 Interactive Entertainment, Anno: Mutationem by Leiting Games, and Youxing Continent by Bingchuan Network.
• The Three-Body Problem is an international award-winning science fiction novel written by Liu Cixin, widely acclaimed for its profound ideas, captivating storyline, and scientific precision. As the first officially licensed Three-Body Problem game, the turn-based strategy title My Three Body: 2277 has consistently garnered attention in China. In October 2023, details of the gameplay were unveiled, accompanied by the opening of online pre-registration, and the game is scheduled for a launch for both mobile and PC platforms in the first half of this year, according to Cailian Press.
• Launched globally in March 2023, Call of Dragons, developed by LEGOU Games and distributed by Lilith Games, is available for overseas markets on Android, iOS platforms, and PC. Call of Dragons is a multiplayer Western-style fantasy strategy game with 3D modeling, initially positioned for international audiences. Currently, the game has gained between 5 million and 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store in the global market, according to market intelligence firm SensorTower. However, it remains to be seen whether the game will find similar success with Chinese audiences.
• Additionally, the NPPA approved a number of previously-licensed games on new platforms for 2024. NetEase’s card collection role-playing game Harry Potter: Magic Awakening and Perfect World’s turn-based role-playing game Persona 5: The Phantom X have both added a PC version, while X.D.Network introduced the Nintendo Switch version for its puzzle adventure game Moncage.

Context: In 2023, the NPPA released 977 domestic game licenses, representing a year-on-year growth of 108.76%. 

• In December 2023, an industry report from The China Game Industry indicated that the revenue of the domestic gaming market reached RMB 3,029.64 billion ($426.83 billion) in 2023, a year-on-year growth of 13.95% and the first time that China’s gaming market has surpassed three trillion RMB. The user base also reached a historic high of 668 million.

Tesla shares slid 12.1% to $182.60 on Thursday, marking the stock’s steepest drop since May, after the US electric vehicle maker posted lower-than-expected revenue and worsening margin trends for the fourth quarter of 2023. The decline was also due to a more cautious and ambiguous outlook as chief executive Elon Musk warned of a “notably lower” sales growth rate for this year in its shareholder letter. Musk did not give a specific annual delivery goal as expected. Tesla’s sales for the three months ended Dec. 31 grew only 3% to $25.2 billion, which was below analysts’ estimate of $25.6 billion and the firm’’s lowest year-on-year growth rate over the past three years. Tesla also reported a gradual decline in gross margin from 19.3% to 17.6% throughout the year, as the company has repeatedly cut prices amid slowing demand globally and rising competition from China. The Thursday drop put Tesla’s market capitalization at roughly $581 billion, with $80 billion wiped out overnight. [CNBC]

With its IPO plan in limbo, China-founded e-commerce brand Shein is being valued at $45 billion by some investors looking to sell shares in the firm on the private market, according to Bloomberg. The fast fashion giant raised $2 billion in its latest funding round last May, valuing the company at $66 billion. Shein is under review by China’s cyberspace administration due to it attempts to speed up a public listing in the US, Bloomberg reported last week. Meanwhile, the company faces resistance from American lawmakers who look set to ask US regulators to halt its IPO until claims about Shein’s alleged use of forced labor have been fully investigated. Scrutiny from both the US and China has further dented investors’ confidence in Shein’s long-awaited IPO, with the Bloomberg report quoting sources as saying that they are currently struggling to find buyers despite a relatively low valuation. [Bloomberg]

BMW China unveiled the redesigned versions of its top-selling 5 Series on Thursday, featuring a spacious 31-inch 8K rear screen and eye-motivated driver assistance tech. The model is tailored to meet the growing demand for in-car digital services among tech-savvy local customers. The China-spec 5 Series, part of the eighth generation of BMW’s midsize sedan lineup, boasts a roomier space with a 3.1-meter wheelbase, compared to the global model’s 2,995-millimeter wheelbase. The infotainment system addresses local needs with services like a voice-operated WeChat version, app downloading, and video streaming from Huawei and Baidu-affiliated iQiyi. The luxury sedan, equipped with a large, high-resolution, floating screen for rear passengers, introduces an assisted driving function allowing lane changes with eye confirmation via the outside mirror. BMW notes the sedan is technically prepared for Level 3 autonomous driving, permitting drivers to divert attention from the road and hands from the wheel in specific conditions. This development follows BMW’s announcement of localizing research and development for L3 technology in China in July. Prices for both the i5, the series’ first all-electric model, and its gasoline variant start at RMB 439,900 ($61,278). [BMW release]

China’s Baidu has expanded its AI business with the integration of the ERNIE foundation model in Samsung’s latest smartphone, the Galaxy S24 Series. In China, Galaxy AI, powered by Baidu’s ERNIE model, will offer functionalities including real-time call translation, summarization, and advanced typesetting, as stated in a Friday press release by Baidu. The new Samsung Galaxy S24 series features Google’s AI model Gemini outside China due to the Great Firewall blocking Google, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and other mainstream sites on the mainland. [TechNode reporting]

Note: The article was written by icebin and translated by Zinan Zhang.

Get ready for the annual insights from TechNode Content Team! The year 2023 can be considered a groundbreaking year in the technology field. As wrapping up this year, we gathered different insights from our content team. We’ll present nine Q&As, with timely updates every Wednesday and Friday in the following weeks!

Today, our Q&A comes from icebin, reporter at TechNode. icebin is a tech reporter based in Shanghai who focuses on Sustainability, EV, VR/AR, IoT, and New Material.

1. Which company has impressed you the most in 2023?

It’s BYD. This company has transitioned from one era to another. After years of dedicated efforts, BYD has become a leader in China’s EV market, with 1557 patent applications making it the company with the highest number of pure EV-related patent applications among the top four EV manufacturers in China. Leveraging their accumulated technology and patents in the battery field, coupled with the expansion of product categories, they achieved a remarkable annual sales figure of 3,024,417 vehicles, a year-on-year growth of 61.9%. With this impressive data, BYD not only fulfilled its goal of selling 3 million vehicles set at the beginning of the year but also secured the top spot in China’s annual automotive sales, claiming the global crown in new energy vehicle sales. The 3 million mark also set a new record for annual car sales in China.

2. Which company has surprised you the most in 2023?

The most surprising company for me is Huawei. Before the launch of the Apple 15 series, Huawei preemptively released and sold the new Mate 60 series, especially considering the chip restrictions. Additionally, Huawei has made a strong product layout in the automotive market, exerting significant competitive pressure on other car manufacturers.

3. Which industry professional/entrepreneur/startup founder has left the most profound impression on you in 2023?

The entrepreneur who has left a deep impression on me is Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. The products he has led have ushered in a new era of AI. The revolutionary AI chatbot, ChatGPT, introduced by OpenAI, connects extensive corpora to train the model, achieving conversations in chat scenarios almost similar to real human interaction. In the future, as intelligent applications in areas such as customer service, education, healthcare, and search engines continue to be implemented, ChatGPT, integrated with various industry applications, is set to witness the establishment of more paid business models.

4. What is the most memorable overseas event for you in 2023?

The overseas event that left the deepest impression on me this year is the continuous surge in NVIDIA’s stock price. This also signifies the industry’s recognition of its key role in AI sector. In the AI frenzy, NVIDIA has emerged as the biggest winner, surpassing a trillion-dollar market cap. The sudden popularity of ChatGPT has triggered a global AI race between major tech companies and startups, all eager to acquire NVIDIA’s H100 product. Jensen Huang referred to it as “the world’s first computer [chip] designed for generative AI”.

5. If you were to recommend one significant industry trend for everyone to follow, what would it be?

The industry trend that I’d like to highlight is Microsoft’s strategic layout in the field of AI. With Microsoft’s involvement in AI and its integration with the Windows and PC ecosystem, AI can now bring significant innovation in both software and hardware ecosystems.

6. What industry buzzword have you encountered the most in 2023?

Without a doubt, the hottest trend is AI. This term has made an impact across various industries, with almost every sector leveraging AI for innovation and breakthroughs. It can be foreseen that this trend will continue in the coming years.

7. Which phrase or sentence best summarizes your perspective on the field you’ve been following in 2023?

It can be described as “Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend”. Whether in the field of AI, new energy vehicles, or consumer electronics, with the collaborative efforts of AI and related hardware and chips, the pace and diversity of changes in the world have become even more rapid.

8. What product/company/technology/industry are you most looking forward to next year?

Next year, what I am most looking forward to is the integration of AI in consumer electronics and personal digital products, breakthroughs in the MR/AR field, technological innovations in the new energy vehicle sector, and the refinement of technology in the field of intelligent driving. This includes leading enterprises both domestically and internationally. Of course, the actions of companies led by Musk next year are also worth paying attention to, as he always manages to bring unconventional breakthroughs and innovations.

9. Do you believe AI has the potential to threaten humanity?

From a technological perspective, AI, when used friendly, will undoubtedly significantly improve human work and life. However, technology can also be exploited by malicious actors, and what we need to do is take preventive measures. In the current trend, AI will not pose a threat to humanity; it will only assist humanity in entering a new era of development, resolving more conflicts.

BYD and FAW Group are aiming to invest in DJI’s automotive business unit – one of the few Chinese companies capable of developing partially automated driving software – as part of the latest effort by traditional automakers to catch up with rivals such as Tesla, local media has reported. 

Why it matters: The news comes at a time when a growing number of automakers and suppliers are expanding their alliances in hopes of accelerating progress in and sharing the cost of making partially automated driving passenger cars. In China, the technology is being popularized by the likes of Tesla, Huawei, and Xpeng Motors. 

• It is also the latest example of Chinese auto majors taking steps to turn their business partnerships with tech companies into deeper capital relationships. Changan Automobile recently announced it will invest in a new venture set to absorb Huawei’s car business unit. 

Details: BYD and FAW, a manufacturing partner of Volkswagen and Toyota in China, recently conveyed their message to DJI Automotive, the car business unit of the namesake drone maker, 36Kr first reported on Wednesday (in Chinese). Citing people with knowledge of the matter, the report did not put a figure on the planned investment.

• BYD is planning to roll out partially automated driving functions for future affordable models priced at RMB 200,000 ($27,920) or below in 2025 with assistance from DJI, a person close to the company told TechNode on Thursday. 
• DJI is appealing to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for its low-cost advanced driver assistance system, as they have been struggling to lower costs and repeatedly cut prices of their cars, another source with direct knowledge of the matter told TechNode. 
• DJI, China’s biggest drone maker, stated that its technology suite, including an affordable computing chip from Texas Instruments (TI) with only a few cameras, could enable cars with automatic lane changing and on-ramp to off-ramp functionalities on Chinese expressways. 
• Some EV makers, including NIO and Li Auto, have developed similar functions based on Nvidia’s more expensive DRIVE Orin processors, with each offering 254 trillion operations per second (or TOPS), compared with the 32 TOPS offered by a top-end TDA4 chip from TI. 
• “While BYD is not the forerunner in autonomous driving, it has the ability to be a fast follower which will likely meet the needs for the majority of Chinese consumers,” Bernstein analysts wrote in a Jan. 22 note, citing economies of scale, which allows it to collect more data for software training from its large fleet, as one of the reasons.
• BYD and DJI did not respond to TechNode’s requests for comment. 

Context: Shenzhen-headquartered DJI separated its car business into an independent company in late 2022 and became open to external funding with a target valuation of $1.5 billion, Chinese media outlet Leiphone reported in August. 

• The drone giant has worked with SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW), a General Motors China joint venture, since 2019, with the first model integrated with its automated driving technology, the Baojun Kiwi EV, going on sale with a price tag of RMB 102,800 in September 2022. 
• BYD showcased a Yangwang luxury off-roader that integrates an unmanned aircraft on the car’s roof in a collaboration with DJI during a press event on Jan. 16. It also announced plans to release at least 10 new models this year featuring advanced driving technology.

READ MORE:  BYD’s Denza launches cheaper driver assistance system with Nvidia amid rising competition

Ele.me CEO Yu Yongfu told all employees that Douyin’s acquisition of the food delivery participant was “fake” in an internal forum, as the market rumor caused large-scale discussion on the TikTok sister app’s further involvement in the local services sector. “You may feel that my clarification is the most authoritative, so let me respond positively again,” Yu said, while adding Ele.me has seen a strong improvement in efficiency over the past two years. Alibaba’s Local Services Group, which included http://Ele.meEle.me> and split into one of six separate operation units in March last year, reported the third-fastest revenue growth of 16% within six units in the third quarter and has cut its loss by nearly RMB 5 billion. [LatePost, in Chinese]

Dutch chip equipment maker ASML said on Wednesday that it expected the government’s export restrictions to curb sales in the Chinese market by 10%-15% in 2024, as the company released its financial report for the fourth quarter and full year of 2023. Last year, China’s Taiwan became ASML’s leading market, representing 30% of total sales, followed by mainland China in second place with 29%, a substantial 15% increase from the previous year. On Jan. 1, the Dutch government revoked export licenses for two of ASML’s advanced lithography machines, namely NXT:2050i and NXT:2100i. Additionally, certain advanced semiconductor wafer fabs in China are unable to obtain licenses for shipping NXT:1970i and NXT:1980i DUV (deep ultra-violet equipment), as confirmed by ASML CFO Roger Dassen. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

Alibaba’s seldom-seen co-founder Jack Ma and current chairman Joe Tsai become the giant’s largest shareholders, according to a Wednesday report by the South China Morning Post, as Ma and Tsai spent $200 million worth of its shares in the fourth quarter while Japan’s SoftBank gradually exits Alibaba. According to the e-commerce titan’s annual report, SoftBank held 23.9% of Alibaba’s stake or 5.07 billion shares as of July 15, 2022, but had cut it to less than 0.5% by May last year, the report cited calculations by Morgan Stanley. And Ma has increased his stake to over 4.3%. Under new leadership since September, Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu and Chairman Tsai proposed an AI focus and users first as priority strategies for the struggling empire in revamp. [SCMP]

On Tuesday, the Chinese phone brand Oppo announced the signing of a global patent cross-licensing agreement with the Finnish tech company Nokia, covering standard patents in 5G and other cellular communication technologies. Both parties agreed to end all litigation cases after the agreement, while specific terms remain confidential. Oppo’s chief intellectual property officer, Feng Ying, emphasized the company’s commitment to respecting intellectual property, supporting fair pricing, and promoting a sustainable IP ecosystem. Nokia President Jenni Lukander stated that they seek to bring more innovations to global users through the collaboration, and the agreement is expected to ensure long-term financial stability in Nokia’s licensing business. [Oppo, in Chinese]

Last week’s global launch of Papergames’ Love and Deepspace, a title touted as the first otome game to feature 3D modeling, has sparked a battle over the female-focused romance games market, with China’s major gaming companies weighing in with a raft of special offers and promotional events.

Otome games are typically targeted towards female players, with the Japanese term translating to maiden or young lady. The games often involve a female protagonist who interacts with male characters, and the gameplay focuses on developing romantic relationships with one or more of these characters.

Why it matters: Having previously found success with otome game Mr. Love: Queen’s Choice, Papergames’s new title aims to provide players with a more realistic interactive experience through its iterative improvements in 3D character modeling. The release has sparked intense competition in the sector.

Details: On January 18, the day Love and Deepspace launched, China’s major domestic gaming companies all unveiled new promotional activities within their respective otome games. Light and Night from Tencent Games, HoYoverse’s Tears of Themis, and For All Time by NetEase Games are among the genre’s most popular titles, alongside Papergames’ Mr. Love: Queen’s Choice.

• On the day of the Love and Deepspace’s release, a trending hashtag #0118决战国乙之巅# (Battle for the Peak of Chinese Otome Games on January 18) appeared on China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo. Posts under the hashtag listed the various promotional activities and benefits of domestic otome games, as Chinese players expressed their excitement over the developments.
• In order to compete for potential new players, NetEase’s new otome game Beyond the World, originally scheduled for a public beta release on January 26, announced on January 16 that it would bring its open testing period forward to January 18. NetEase also offered various in-game promotional events and benefits that were similar to those available in Love and Deepspace.
• Also coinciding with the Love and Deepspace’s launch, Tencent Games held its largest celebration event for the Light and Night since its launch in 2022, showering players with free benefits. Players can even receive animated video calls from game characters as part of the new offerings. Furthermore, Light and Night announced an ancient-style gacha event, a gameplay mechanic where players spend in-game currency to obtain random rare virtual characters. 
• Love and Deepspace had already received over 14 million pre-registrations before its official release, according to Papergames. At time of writing, the game is in the top ten iOS free-download games in the Chinese region. The game’s estimated revenue from iOS on the first day reached RMB 5.27 million ($740,000), while iOS downloads amounted to 890,000 during the same period, according to market intelligence firm DataEye.

Context: Otome games are popular in Asia due to culturally resonant narratives, attractive character designs, and targeted marketing towards female players. They align with animated gaming trends in the region, providing escapism through romantic fantasy scenarios.

• According to Qimai Data, Mr. Love: Queen’s Choice, generated a revenue of RMB 760 million ($108 million) in 2023.
• In September 2023, SensorTower released its State of Mobile Games Preferred by Women insights report (in Chinese), stating that the annual revenue for 2023 from female players was expected to exceed $16 billion.

Chinese e-commerce giant JD has secured a deal to serve as the exclusive interactive cooperation platform for the upcoming Spring Festival Gala, the country’s most-watched TV show featuring songs and comedy performances to welcome in the lunar new year. The second partnership between JD and state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) after the first in 2022, the deal is aimed at JD attracting more users in lower-tier cities. In a post on its WeChat account, JD says it will send 100 million gifts-in-kind that each winner will only need to pay RMB 0.01 to receive during the Gala. A JD employee was quoted by local media outlet LatePost as saying the firm’s Gala program involves thousands of staff who will take on “heavier marketing pressures” than those in 2022, with GMV and the number of transaction users being the direct metrics for them at what is traditionally a family time. The company’s revenue grew at a single-digit pace in the first three quarters of last year, with a 2% increase during the July and September period, far behind rival PDD’s 94%. [JD; LatePost, in Chinese]

Chinese automaker SAIC has continued making efforts to reorganize its research and development operations which could entail a significant number of job cuts in its troubled electric vehicle brand Rising Auto, people with knowledge of the matter told local media outlet Gasgoo on Tuesday. The Volkswagen manufacturing partner will return the responsibility for automated driving software development from the individual brand back to the parent group, with at least 200 employees either being let go or being moved to the firm’s existing research departments. It is unclear how many employees will receive new job offers amid the ongoing restructuring. The state-owned carmaker was said to be considering reducing internal technology efforts as part of group-wide cost saving measures last August, as there appears to be growing consensus among traditional Chinese manufacturers that outsourcing assisted-driving technology is a better solution than developing it in-house a la Tesla. Rising Auto’s two battery EVs on sale – the R7 crossover and the F7 sedan – have a starting price of RMB 189,900 ($26,481) and it delivered a total of 21,012 units over the last 12 months, according to figures compiled by Chinese auto service platform Dongchedi. [Gasgoo, in Chinese]

News that Alibaba co-founders Jack Ma and Joe Tsai bought $200 million worth of shares in the Chinese e-commerce giant in the fourth quarter sent the firm’s New York-listed stock up nearly 8% on Tuesday. A report in the New York Times said Ma bought $50 million in Hong Kong shares in Alibaba during the quarter, while current chairman Tsai purchased $151 million worth of its US-traded stock via his Blue Pool Management family investment vehicle, showing their support for the 25-year-old firm as it faces multiple challenges. The company’s Hong Kong-traded shares rose 4.3% in the exchange’s Wednesday morning session. Ma believes Alibaba stock is now “strongly below its actual value,” the firm’s chief people officer Jane Jiang told employees in November, confirming that the company’s founder had postponed his plan to sell 10 million shares at a value of around $870 million. [The New York Times; SEC filling]

Great Wall Motor reported significant growth in vehicle sales in the year ended Dec. 31, with revenue rising 26.3% to RMB 173.4 billion ($24.2 billion) from a year earlier. However, net profit was down by 15.2% to RMB 7 billion, which the Chinese automaker said was hurt by foreign currency swings, sending shares down 9.2% to roughly HK$ 8.1 ($1) in morning trading on Wednesday in Hong Kong. The results reflect how most automakers have come under pressure in the world’s biggest and yet probably the most competitive electric vehicle market, as they have been forced to cut prices to keep up with leaders BYD and Tesla. Great Wall Motor posted sales of more than 1.2 million cars last year, up 15.3% from a year earlier, although falling short of its target of 1.6 million units. [China Securities Journal, in Chinese]

Note: The article was written by Evan Huang and translated by Zinan Zhang.

Get ready for the annual insights from TechNode Content Team! The year 2023 can be considered a groundbreaking year in the technology field. As wrapping up this year, we gathered different insights from our content team. We’ll present nine Q&As, with timely updates every Wednesday and Friday in the following weeks!

Today, our Q&A comes from Evan Huang, reporter at TechNode. Evan Huang is a tech reporter based in Shanghai who focuses on consumer electronics, hardware, and AI.

1. Which company has impressed you the most in 2023?

Huawei. Under U.S. sanctions for over three years, Huawei’s business faced setbacks. However, the launch of Mate60 Pro on August 31 sparked a wave of enthusiasm. Huawei, now using self-developed chips again, is considered to break the U.S. technological blockade, showcasing the strength and resilience of Chinese technology.

2. Which company has surprised you the most in 2023?

Apple. iPhone, as a trendsetter in the smartphone industry, experienced minimal overall upgrades in 2023 which needed to be improved. Moreover, it is the first time that Apple hasn’t released any new iPad in the entire year. Since the initial launch of the iPad in 2010, Apple has consistently introduced new iPads each year, making 2023 an exception.

3. Which industry professional/entrepreneur/startup founder has left the most profound impression on you in 2023?

Lei Jun. On November 29th, Lei Jun, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Xiaomi Group, made a personal donation of RMB 1.3 billion to Wuhan University where he graduated from. This is the largest individual cash donation received by any university in China. Lei Jun believes that basic disciplines have been relatively disadvantaged in universities in recent years. Therefore, he donated this amount to support fundamental research in six disciplines (mathematics, physics, chemistry, literature, history, and philosophy), technological innovation in the field of computer science, and the education of university students.

4. What is the most memorable overseas event for you in 2023?

In November, OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, faced a sudden dismissal, after a series of twists, he briefly joined Microsoft before ultimately returning to OpenAI to reclaim his position. Throughout this process, the major disagreement between Altman and former Chief Scientist Ilya at OpenAI revolved around the pace of commercialization. Ilya advocated for a slower approach, emphasizing the importance of interpretability and safety in AI products. In contrast, Altman and former President Greg held a stance of technological optimism, pushing for an active pursuit of commercialization paths and a new round of financing.

5. If you were to recommend one significant industry trend for everyone to follow, what would it be?

In September, Huawei announced the launch of HarmonyOS applications. It is said that the next-generation, HarmonyOS NEXT system base, is completely self-developed, eliminating traditional AOSP code and only supporting applications based on the HarmonyOS kernel and HarmonyOS system. This new design reduces 40% of redundant code, completely breaking free from the “skin” of Android. At the same time, by focusing on the development of HarmonyOS applications, Huawei can expand the influence of the HarmonyOS system and enhance the independent and controllable level of related technology and ecology.

6. What industry buzzword have you encountered the most in 2023?

Large Language Models. With the rapid development of technologies such as deep learning and big data, significant breakthroughs have been achieved in the training and application of large models. Large language models exhibit stronger generalization capabilities and higher performance, demonstrating outstanding abilities in areas such as speech recognition, natural language processing, computer vision, and more. The industry widely recognizes their enormous application potential in many commercial scenarios.

7. Which phrase or sentence best summarizes your perspective on the field you’ve been following in 2023?

“Seeking Change”. The Consumer Electronics Market is undergoing unprecedented transformation, with various emerging technologies and products continuously emerging. AI has brought a new atmosphere to hardware products in areas such as smartphones and smart homes, providing consumers with more choices and better experiences. At the same time, market competition is becoming increasingly fierce, and manufacturers need to keep pace with the times to meet consumer demands.

8. What product/company/technology/industry are you most looking forward to next year?

AI Agent. The AI Agent will connect to other services and solve practical problems, making the interaction between humans and AI more profound, rather than just simple input-output interactions.  For example, a mature AI Agent can significantly reduce the cost of software production.  Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, has expressed, “Whoever wins the personal agent, that’s the big thing, because you will never go to a search site again, you will never go to a productivity site, you’ll never go to Amazon again.”

9. Do you believe AI has the potential to threaten humanity?

AI is a double-edged sword, and my answer is temporarily uncertain. AI creates more opportunities and possibilities, reshaping global business, technology, education, and other fields. Additionally, with the continuous improvement of AI’s capabilities in decision-making and execution, there may be some unpredictable and uncontrollable situations.   Moreover, the widespread adoption and application of AI may lead to excessive reliance on technology, potentially weakening certain fundamental skills and judgments in humans.   In this process, it is essential to closely monitor and establish appropriate regulatory and ethical frameworks to ensure that the development of AI has a positive long-term impact on humanity.

Alibaba’s secondhand trading app Xianyu is on track to open an offline marketplace in the Gongshu district of Hangzhou, the resale operation’s latest eye-catching move after the platform was anointed one of Alibaba’s four “strategic-level innovation businesses” last November.

Why it matters: Alibaba is giving Xianyu three years to prove its value and operate as an independent subsidiary, with this attempt at a physical store seen as the first major step.

Details: The bricks-and-mortar flea market, scheduled to open this Sunday, will see local customers sell their used items and purchase items from other secondhand sellers directly, the platform said in a post on its official WeChat account.

• Xianyu says individuals can also list services such as running errands for others and walking dogs to earn extra money.
• The opening of the store aims to simplify communication between buyers and sellers, with sellers able to receive immediate payments via Alipay once their items are sold, unlike online where the process relies on a buyer clicking the “Received Goods” button for payment to proceed.
• Xianyu says the marketplace will accommodate digital products, outdoor sporting goods, clothing, and shoes, as well as luxury goods. However, trading in food and health products, pets, plants, and jewelry will be strictly prohibited.

Context: The popularity of Xianyu has been overshadowed by e-commerce retailers Taobao and JD in recent years as consumers have tended to seek brand-new goods, but, when it comes to collectible toys or cards, the platform has become a popular destination, especially for young people. This status has meant that Gen Z users, born between 1995 and 2010, account for more than 60% of Xianyu’s 500 million account holders, the company’s latest figures show.

• Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu in November identified Xianyu, along with 1688, DingTalk, and Quark as the company’s most promising businesses, saying he saw the potential for China’s largest secondhand trading platform to “become a lifestyle platform for consumers’ hobbies and interests.”

Self-driving truck developer TuSimple is suspending its business in the US and shifting its focus to the Asia Pacific markets, especially China, Japan, and Australia, hoping to commercialize and profit from its autonomous driving technologies. Chief executive Lu Cheng cited a mature local supply chain and strong regulatory support as reasons. Another executive told 36Kr on Monday that its China operation, with a team of 600 people, has secured two pilot deals for developing assisted driving software. These remarks were made two days after TuSimple, a San Diego, California-based startup with a Chinese background, said on Jan. 17 that it would delist from Nasdaq, probably on Feb. 7, following an announcement last month to cut 75% of its employees in the US. The retreat from the US is a fallout of a government investigation initiated by the US Committee on Foreign Investment in late 2022 about whether the company shared intellectual properties developed in the US with a Chinese company. TuSimple shares closed at $0.44 on Monday, compared with its debut price of $40.[South China Morning Post, 36Kr, in Chinese]

In 2023, smartphone shipments in the domestic market reached 289 million units, marking a year-on-year growth of 6.5%, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. In the same year, smartphones from domestic brands continued to dominate the market, evident in consumer preferences as indicated by the report. 79.9% of mobile phone shipments were domestically made phones in 2023, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 1.1%. Furthermore, with a year-on-year increase of 11.9%, 5G mobile phone shipments amounted to 240 million units, representing 82.8% of the total mobile phone shipments during the same period. [CAICT, in Chinese]

China’s top research institution is pushing the “industrialization” of solid-state batteries with a new task force, said Miao Wei, a former Minister of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and a core member of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a political advisory body. The China All-Solid-State Battery Collaborative Innovation Platform (CASIP), formed by members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, will coordinate efforts of car manufacturers, battery makers, suppliers, and researchers, aimed at developing “breakthrough” battery technology. “We should maintain the strategy of making more gradual semi-solid state batteries while preparing for significant disruptions from the adoption of all-solid state batteries,” said Ouyang Minggao, a Tsinghua University professor and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He cited Beijing’s global leadership in electric vehicles as it faces competition in battery technologies. Japan has bet on all-solid-state batteries since Toyota last June set a target of commercialization as early as 2027. [Xinhua News Agency, in Chinese]

Ren Lifeng, the vice president of ByteDance’s VR subsidiary PICO, has officially resigned from the company and opted to venture into cross-border e-commerce as an independent platform, according to the local media outlet TechWeb. Reports suggest that his startup project has secured investments from Sequoia China and IDG, with a post-investment valuation exceeding $50 million. Ren’s team includes several members from Douyin (China’s TikTok sibling), with even major veterans from the platform Douyin joining. Currently, PICO has not yet responded to this matter. In November 2023, PICO released a public statement announcing organizational restructuring and related team downsizing, impacting over 300 employees, which represents 23% of the workforce. [TechWeb, in Chinese]

Huawei and Dongfeng Motor, a Chinese manufacturing partner of Stellantis, are in an ongoing collaboration to develop smart electric vehicles, the companies have announced. This adds to a string of such deals by technology giant Huawei as it accelerates its entry into the auto market. 

The partnership could help Voyah, a subsidiary of state-owned automaker Dongfeng, increase sales and expand its presence in the red-hot EV market where a wave of consolidation and reshuffling is underway, according to David Zhang, a visiting professor at Huanghe Science and Technology University. 

Why it matters: The alliance is the latest example of Huawei’s multifold endeavor to expand into EVs. It has pushed two initiatives to enhance cooperation with carmakers in particular. 

• One is the so-called “Huawei Inside (HI)” business model, signifying that cars will feature Huawei’s full-stack technologies such as automated driving software and infotainment systems. Changan Automobile and Mercedes’ Chinese partner BAIC are among its partners. 
• The other is “Smart Selection,” in which Huawei not only provides technologies but also sales channels while gaining control over vehicle development. Aito has been the biggest success story under this approach, followed by the recent launch of Luxeed between Huawei and Chery. 

Details: According to Zhang, Huawei will adopt the HI approach with Dongfeng, mainly selling the carmaker components and software, and will probably not go into as much depth as it did with Seres. 

• This would allow Dongfeng, controlled by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, China’s state asset regulator, to maintain control of its premium EV brand, Zhang said. 
• As more EVs embrace cutting-edge technologies, an automated driving system powered by Huawei could be a big selling point for Voyah, elevating it above other brands. The tie-up could see the companies share development and marketing costs, Zhang added. 
• In a Monday announcement (in Chinese), Huawei and Dongfeng said they will move forward with the large-scale adoption of intelligent technologies with the joint development of new cars, without giving further details. 

Context: Huawei has been working on the spin-off of its automotive business unit for several months. The company in November announced plans to establish a joint venture with Changan, stating that other existing partners such as Seres have been invited to invest in the new entity. 

• Voyah posted significant growth in sales last year with deliveries of 50,552 vehicles, compared to less than 20,000 units sold a year earlier. The automaker in August launched a revamped version of its Free mainstream luxury crossover with a starting price of RMB 266,900 ($36,532) featuring Baidu’s automated driving assistance system.

Guo Qing, former vice president of Meituan, will reportedly lead e-commerce giant JD’s on-demand delivery arm Dada, a company recently audited as engaging in suspicious practices, according to local media outlet 36Kr. A source with knowledge of the matter told TechNode that Guo currently serves as an advisor to JD, and has not yet joined in an official capacity. Before starting a venture in stir-fry robot manufacturing in 2021, Guo was responsible for Meituan’s hotel and travel operations, tapped for the company’s “S-Team” decision-making body a year before he quit. The news of Guo’s potential leadership of Dada comes after it was revealed that parent company JD had invested tens of millions of yuan in Guo’s startup a month ago, while Dada competes with Meituan in on-demand delivery. [36Kr, in Chinese]

On Jan.20, Nvidia China employees shared photos on social media of Jensen Huang, the company’s founder and CEO, at its annual meeting in Shanghai. During the internal event, he was seen wearing a flower-patterned shirt from the northeastern region of China and dancing a traditional Chinese folk dance from the same region. The visit marks Huang’s first trip to mainland China since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. Nvidia clarified that Huang’s visit did not include meetings with government officials or business announcements. Currently, Nvidia employs around 3,000 employees in mainland China, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen covering departments such as marketing, sales, and R&D. [Yicai, in Chinese]

Luckin Coffee once again meets China’s “national liquor” Moutai in a fresh co-branded beverage specially designed for the upcoming Dragon Year, in a move that aims to replicate the alcohol-infused latte buzz from last September. Named the sauce-flavored chocolate, this no-coffee-added drink is priced at RMB 38, discounted to RMB 18 on Monday, the first day of sales. However, it received mixed consumer feedback on social media, similar to the previous latte. The chocolate drink is made of imported cocoa powders and thick milk that contains baijiu with 53% alcohol, as stated by Luckin on its official WeChat account. [Luckin Coffee, in Chinese]

The domestically produced C919 aircraft has secured more than 1,200 orders, forming an industrial chain in China, according to state-owned media CCTV Finance. The C919 is a large passenger aircraft developed and produced by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), a state-owned aerospace manufacturer. In May 2023, the C919 achieved its first commercial passenger flight in China, marking a significant milestone in China’s aerospace industry as it strives to reduce reliance on foreign aircraft for domestic air travel. In September 2023, China Eastern Airlines signed an agreement with COMAC to purchase 100 C919 aircraft, with delivery scheduled between 2024 and 2031. Earlier this month, China Eastern Airlines received its fourth C919 aircraft. [IThome, in Chinese]

Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor on Thursday started accepting pre-orders for the eπ 007, the first model under the namesake electric vehicle marque. The company aims to challenge the dominance of BYD and Tesla, seeking a larger share of the growing mainstream EV segment. Priced competitively at RMB 159,000 ($22,101), the extended-range hybrid version boasts a driving range of 1,200 kilometers (746 miles) on a full tank plus full charge, comparable to the plug-in hybrid BYD Han priced from RMB 189,800. The vehicle, measuring around 4.9 meters in length with a wheelbase of 2.9 meters, accelerates from 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) in 3.9 seconds—slightly larger and faster than Tesla’s Model 3 (4.7 meters, 0-60 mph in 4.4 seconds). Powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8155 chipset for in-car infotainment systems, the large mid-size sedan boasts a sleek, sporty exterior design. The top-end version will feature Lamborghini-styled scissor doors, a feature also available with Xpeng Motor’s P7 sedan. [Dongfeng announcement, in Chinese]

On Thursday, Huawei announced open applications for its developer preview version of HarmonyOS NEXT, with plans to release a more feature-complete developer beta version in the second quarter and a commercial version by the fourth quarter of 2024 as it looks to cut its ties with Android.

Why it matters: While all previous consumer versions of Huawei HarmonyOS have been compatible with Android, HarmonyOS NEXT will break away from Android architecture, establishing itself as a truly independent operating system.

Details: Huawei began the development of HarmonyOS in 2015 and subsequently released different versions from HarmonyOS 1.0 to 4.0. HarmonyOS NEXT will be the Chinese tech giant’s first OS not to accommodate Android applications and will not support the opening of APK files (Android application packages), according to statements made at Huawei’s launch event. Huawei opened recruitment for the HarmonyOS NEXT developer preview version on Monday, allowing users of its Huawei Mate 60, Mate 60 Pro, and Mate X5 phones to sign up.

• Huawei plans to partner with enterprises, universities, and institutions to train over 100,000 HarmonyOS developers each month. The company is introducing the Yaoxing Plan, with an investment exceeding 7 billion RMB ($9.84 billion), to incentivize innovation in the HarmonyOS ecosystem, including native applications and SDKs (software development kits).
• At the time of writing, more than 200 software companies have initiated the development of native HarmonyOS applications, making up 90% of the leading applications in the domestic sector, according to Huawei. Huawei aims to achieve a short-term goal of reaching 5,000 collaborative apps by the end of this year, and anticipates exceeding 500,000 applications to join the native HarmonyOS ecosystem in the long term.
• Huawei’s Consumer BG CEO, Yu Chengdong, mentioned at the event that HarmonyOS has made breakthroughs in core technologies, including AI frameworks, large-scale models, design systems, programming frameworks, programming languages, and compilers.
• Huawei first introduced HarmonyOS to address user experience issues arising from US sanctions. However, the company is now seeking to break free from the constraints of the existing Android framework, and create an integrated architecture that combines software, hardware, and cloud services, according to the president of Huawei Consumer BG software department Gong Ti.

Context: In June 2023, according to local media outlet Zaker, Huawei stated that a 16% market share in the operating system is a critical threshold for success, based on the developmental history of the PC and mobile industries.

• Due to Huawei’s current inability to integrate GMS (Google Mobile Services), the 16% goal primarily refers to the Chinese market, where HarmonyOS has already captured a 13% share, as reported by CounterPoint Research.

Chinese e-commerce giant JD said on Thursday that nearly 100 couriers have earned more than 1 million yuan in the past three years, and in Chaoshan city in Guangdong, some have even reached RMB 2 million. The public announcement comes after news stories flooded China’s X-like microblogging platform Weibo recently as influencer accounts and state-owned media outlets extensively covered the high earnings of food delivery riders, couriers, and decoration workers, with those professions reportedly sometimes paying RMB 30,000 to RMB 40,000 a month, figures that are far higher than the public perception. The articles have sparked widespread debate and no little skepticism. In a post on its official WeChat account, JD detailed several benefit policies for its employees, including a housing guarantee fund aimed at alleviating mortgage stress and an employee assistance fund, all designed to make employees’ days “more hopeful and brighter.” [JD, in Chinese]

ByteDance, the owner of TikTok and Douyin, is on track to accelerate the stock vesting schedule for its employees as part of an updated incentive policy, announced in a Thursday email. According to Chinese media outlet Jiemian, the company plans to change how often employees can turn their stock options into company stock and sell them for equity, switching from once a year to every quarter. In the latest round of share buybacks in November, ByteDance offered $160 per share to its staff. Employee annual incentives will consist of both an annual bonus and performance stock options starting in 2025, with the former capped at three months’ salary. Employees recognized for outstanding performance will be eligible for additional stock options despite IPO uncertainties over China’s most valuable unicorns. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

Tesla has been sourcing cathode material from two Chinese electric vehicle battery makers for its production of 4680 batteries (high energy density cells 46 millimeters in diameter and 80 mm in length) in Texas since the second half of 2023. The deals are expected to continue until at least the third quarter of this year. Rather than purchasing battery cells directly, the US automaker procured positive electrode coils – raw electrodes processed into rollers that account for 35% of the cost of a battery cell – people with knowledge of the matter told media outlet LatePost. The move is expected to help Tesla ramp up production of the cost-efficient cylindrical battery cells, the report added. In an article by Reuters last March, China’s Ningbo Ronbay New Energy and Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing were mentioned as two companies Tesla had turned to to help lower battery materials costs. Battery-related production issues are partly responsible for delays in launching Tesla’s futuristic Cybertruck. [LatePost, in Chinese]

Note: The article was written by Penghui Li and translated by Zinan Zhang.

Get ready for the annual insights from TechNode Content Team! The year 2023 can be considered a groundbreaking year in the technology field. As wrapping up this year, we gathered different insights from our content team. We’ll present nine Q&As, with timely updates every Wednesday and Friday in the following weeks!

Today, our Q&A comes from Penghui Li, reporter at TechNode. Penghui is a tech reporter who focuses on the Southeast Asian VC Ecosystem and Companies Going Overseas.

1. Which company has impressed you the most in 2023?

Whether from the perspective of a netizen or a content creator, the generative AI craze sparked by ChatGPT over the whole year has frequently appeared in my daily life. I have gradually accepted and actively started using such tools to enhance my work efficiency. I look forward to more surprises from this type of technology.

2. Which company has surprised you the most in 2023?

It’s amazing that VinFast, a Vietnamese electric vehicle company, actually delivered its first EV in 2023. This company was founded in 2017, and the company announced its transition from fuel vehicles to electric vehicle manufacturing in 2021. In the second half of 2022, I always saw related news about the delivery of its first car on Christmas Day that year but it was still delayed. 

Before this, I have always had doubts about VinFast. Although I have seen too much news about car manufacturing, it is difficult for me to believe whether this young car company can produce cars as its pricing is benchmarked against Tesla, and its primary target market is also North America. In addition, the industry has always referred to it as the “Vietnamese Tesla.” The combination of these accolades and repeated delays makes it hard for people not to feel that it is a script. However, VinFast has indeed been produced.

3. Which industry professional/entrepreneur/startup founder has left the most profound impression on you in 2023?

Sam Altman. Before the recent conflicts within ChatGPT and OpenAI this year, as I have a slight interest in tokusatsu, “Ultraman” would more specifically refer to Tsuburaya’s Ultraman series in my memories (Altman and Ultraman have a similar translation in China) However, after the ChatGPT and OpenAI controversies, the various Chinese translations of Altman’s name. I hope that he can have a consistent Chinese translation of his name.

4. What is the most memorable overseas event for you in 2023?

The upheaval in TikTok’s Indonesian e-commerce business. What stands out to me is that, on the one hand, as a company, TikTok’s impact extends far beyond our conventional understanding of a business. On the other hand, looking at it from the perspective of a company going global, there have been significant changes compared to simply introducing products and services to overseas markets in the past.

However, in my opinion, when a startup gradually continues to mature and becomes a presence that industry insiders pay attention to and even influence the development of the industry, the things it undertakes will gradually surpass everyone’s imagination. At this point, interpreting these things purely from the perspective of right or wrong, or good or bad, becomes quite complex. From the standpoint of a content creator, this can make me feel an intangible pressure.

5. If you were to recommend one significant industry trend for everyone to follow, what would it be?

Cross-border Payment Linkage among Southeast Asian countries and between Southeast Asia and other regions. More specifically, this movement is made up of a series of specific events over 23 years, particularly cross-border payments and cross-border transfers.

Before the pandemic, there were large groups of tourists and travelers traveling between Southeast Asian countries every year. And as the effects of the pandemic have gradually passed, these movements have begun to return. The ease of payment will further promote the transactional activities in these cross-border behaviors. Almost every Southeast Asian country will have its QR code payment platform. If one account/one phone can be used in all countries, I believe more people will also start this kind of transaction behavior.

From my perspective, I would recommend that we focus on the impact of this process of increasing integration. When we mention Southeast Asia, it’s not hard to realize that the region is made up of many countries with different development paths and processes.

6. What industry buzzword have you encountered the most in 2023?

Funding Winter. Intuitively, our readers might notice that the funding reports I’ve written in 2023 have been significantly decreasing compared to the previous two years.

7. Which phrase or sentence best summarizes your perspective on the field you’ve been following in 2023?

“Back to the reasonable range” for the tech VC in Southeast Asia.

I’ve heard this from Southeast Asia-focused investors over the past year. The Southeast Asian VC community was experiencing a boom in 2021 and the first half of 2022. In comparison, Southeast Asia is currently undergoing a “financing winter.” Despite being an “underrated region”, their performance in the past few years does not seem to be a sustainable condition in the long term. On the journey of Southeast Asia’s “digital decade”, it has only completed one-third of the road.

8. What product/company/technology/industry are you most looking forward to next year?

Electric Vehicle/EV industry (both two and four-wheeled). On the one hand, it comes from Southeast Asia’s ambition to become a regional hub for EVs. On the other hand, the Southeast Asia area is also hosting a boom in EVs going overseas in China. 

9. Do you believe AI has the potential to threaten humanity?

Yes. My understanding of the threat is to have a harmful effect. AI may currently refer specifically to AIGC, and the main reason that makes me feel threatened is the increasing presence of AI voices including harassing phone calls and video content AI reading voice. AI content, such as the articles that are becoming more commonly produced by AI, usually seems to be well-written but is actually uninformed or even wrong in its opinions. There are quite a few people who use AI assistants to discuss issues with me.

I’m not saying that AI answers are wrong, but in terms of accuracy, AI-generated content can easily be misleading.

I also realize that AI is essentially a tool, and the value it can add depends on the perspective of the people who use it. What I’m worried about has existed before AIGC was created, though they’re likely to become more numerous and difficult to discern in the future.

Anyway, before more specific regulations and policies are finalized, this buzzword will bring more room for imagination and development value to the world, and at the same time, it will also produce negative impacts that cannot be ignored. As for the concern of AI occupying human jobs, I don’t think that’s what I can explore alone, and at least not in the short term for my job, it doesn’t have that possibility.

China’s SAIC Motor Corp will spend $1.4 billion building 12 fossil liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered ships to export cars, as Chinese electric vehicles spread overseas and the European Union tightens its climate and trading policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Why it matters: The move is the latest example of how EU regulations are pushing Chinese automakers to make changes to the way they operate, and adds to the challenges they face in expanding to overseas markets with their EVs.

Details: China’s biggest automaker said on Wednesday that the SAIC Anji Sincerity has begun its maiden trade voyage from Shanghai to Europe. The ship spans 200 meters (656 feet) in length and boasts capacity for 7,600 cars, making it the world’s largest ro-ro vehicle transport vessel partly powered by sustainable fuel. 

• The container carrier is powered by both diesel and LNG, a form of natural gas that has been cooled to a liquid for easier storage and transportation, providing as much as a 30% reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions compared to similar-sized, diesel-only vessels, according to an announcement on China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo. 
• SAIC expects to spend RMB 10 billion ($1.4 billion) on building 12 LNG carriers and lease two more for the next three years. The biggest of them will be able to carry as many as 9,000 cars, Zhao Aimin, vice president of SAIC Motor International, told financial media outlet Caixin (in Chinese). 
• Volkswagen’s Chinese manufacturing partner expects its carriers to have a total combined capacity of 1.8 million cars per year by 2026. Its wholly-owned subsidiary Anji Logistics currently operates a fleet of 31 carriers on seven routes to Europe, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, and works with automakers Dongfeng and Great Wall Motor among others. 
• Zhao also mentioned SAIC’s goal to sell 1.35 million cars overseas in 2024, which would mark a growth of more than 11% from the 1.2 million units it achieved last year. That number could be further increased to 1.5 million in 2025, with at least 14 new energy vehicles, including plug-in hybrids and all-electrics, set to go on sale globally over the next two years. 

Context: SAIC is not the only Chinese carmaker to build its own fleet and set its sights on going global. Its move takes place as China recorded exports of 5.2 million cars last year, meaning a 57.4% annual growth rate, and is set to dethrone Japan to become the world’s largest car exporter. 

• BYD’s first roll-on, roll-off, chartered vehicle carrier, named BYD Explorer No. 1, set sail towards Germany and the Netherlands from its base city of Shenzhen on Monday. Carrying more than 5,000 EVs, the vessel is reportedly managed by London-based Zodiac Maritime Ltd. and is being rented to BYD. 
• The EU began mandating shipping companies, among other businesses, to buy CO2 permits for 40% of the CO2 generated by their fleets from January, a percentage that will grow to 70% and 100% over two years from 2025, Reuters reported. 
• Meanwhile, the European Commission launched an anti-subsidy investigation of China-made EVs last October.

Temu began selling its budget-friendly products in South Africa on Wednesday, according to the country column shown on the platform’s official site, making Africa the sixth continent that the Pinduoduo sibling app now reaches after less than a year and a half in operation. Chinese-manufactured goods are expected to experience longer shipping times of up to 20 days to their destinations in the country, and Temu is reportedly set to cooperate with New Zealand-founded courier company Fastway in Africa’s southernmost state, according to Chinese media outlet Jiemian. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

Foxconn recently announced that it is collaborating with the Indian tech giant HCL (Hindustan Computers Limited) to establish a new joint venture for chip packaging and testing operations in India. The partnership with HCL signifies Foxconn’s strategic shift towards the Indian market. The Taiwanese firm will own a 40% stake in the new joint venture with a $37.2 million investment. Foxconn’s Indian subsidiary, Mega Development, plans to establish an Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Testing (OSAT) center in India, while Foxconn is expected to invest another $1 billion to build a new plant in India dedicated to producing Apple products. Known for its engineering design and manufacturing expertise, HCL has been actively involved in discussions with the government of Karnataka, India, around the establishment of the new OSAT center. [IThome, in Chinese]

Meituan continues to face pressure on its Hong Kong-listed shares, following a fall that has left shares worth less than its IPO price of HK$69 by Wednesday’s close, plunging the company’s market value more than 80% below its peak of three years ago. The food delivery giant spent a total of HK$2.4 billion in share buybacks on six consecutive trading days since Jan.10, but this appears to have had a limited impact on ebbing stock prices. Investors have lowered their confidence in Meituan as the company struggles with aggressive competition from peers including ByteDance and slowdown concerns about its core takeout business. [TechNode reporting]

China, as the largest global semiconductor market in 2023, experienced a 15.4% year-on-year decline in the value of imported chips, which fell to $349 billion, according to Bloomberg. Although the global chip market saw an overall downturn due to a sluggish global economy, the decrease in China’s chip imports was more pronounced. Moreover, an inability to import advanced chips from the US further contributed to the significant decrease in China’s chip imports. In November 2023, the increased restrictions on the export of high-performance AI chips to China had an impact on products from companies such as Nvidia. However, these export limitations also encouraged Chinese enterprises to focus more on domestically designed and manufactured chips, reducing China’s dependence on imported chips. [Bloomberg]

In a brief letter to Kuaishou staff from CEO Cheng Yixiao on Tuesday, the short video platform operator announced it had achieved its first yearly profitability since listing, and was offering staff vouchers of up to RMB 2,866 valid for purchases on Kuaishou as an expression of gratitude for employees’ efforts.

Why it matters: The rival to ByteDance’s Douyin (China’s TikTok sibling) accelerated its monetization efforts in real estate and short dramas after achieving its first quarterly profitability in the second quarter of 2023. Rapid growth of these sectors in turn appears to have boosted the Beijing-based company’s further attainment of quarterly profits.

Details: China’s second-largest short video platform, Kuaishou deepened its focus on the real estate industry in a recent restructuring following impressive sales results.

• The platform’s real estate operations saw housing agents and professional property influencers engage potential homebuyers via videos and livestreaming sessions, following up with on-site property viewings, and in some cases, remote contract signings resulting in the postal delivery of keys for their new house or apartment.
• According to data revealed by Kuaishou, during a one-month campaign in September, more than 5,500 properties were sold on the platform, valued at more than RMB 6.9 billion in total. In 2022, over 100 million users on Kuaishou watched real estate sales livestreams or related videos; total sales of the sector for that year surpassed RMB 10 billion.
• Mini web dramas, meanwhile, have served as another business sector with growth potential for Kuaishou. As widely popular short video platforms have reshaped user preferences for content delivering quick fire stimulation, short and cheap to make series with episodes lasting little more than five minutes, have gained favor with large Chinese audiences. 
• Kuaishou said last week that daily active viewers of its short dramas reached 270 million by the end of 2023, with 94 million people watching more than 10 episodes per day.

Context: In the first nine months of 2023, Kuaishou reported a net profit of RMB 2.79 billion compared with a loss of RMB 12.15 billion in the same period of the year before. 

Huawei on Tuesday set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in Shenzhen with a registered capital of RMB 1 billion ($138.9 million). The new subsidiary will absorb its automotive business unit, which is set to be spun off into a separate company in the hopes of inducing more collaborations with automakers. The new entity’s corporate information was released publicly on Chinese business intelligence platform Tianyancha. People close to the company told Caixin that Huawei and its partners are still discussing the details of investment into the new venture as they pursue a diversified ownership. The move comes after the Chinese technology giant last November revealed plans to form a joint venture with state-owned carmaker Changan Auto that will include the core technologies and resources from its Intelligent Automotive Solution (IAS) business unit. Changan chairman Zhu Huarong said on Tuesday at a company event that the new firm could be named “Newcool” and will be open to other car manufacturers for collaboration. [Tianyancha, Caixin, in Chinese]

On Tuesday, Xiaomi rebranded one of its Weibo accounts from Xiaomi Brand Safety to Xiaomi Legal Department, as misleading reports about Xiaomi cars continue to spread widely. In China, intensifying competition in the mobile industry has led major mobile firms to launch Weibo accounts for their legal departments, as online unverified info may spark discussions to bring negative impacts for the enterprise. In November 2023, CEO Lei Jun announced that Xiaomi’s first car model, the SU7, is currently in trial production and is expected to be released in the domestic market in the coming months, with the final price yet to be determined. Until the launch event for Xiaomi’s automotive products takes place, all information, posters, or pricing related to Xiaomi cars is considered false, Xiaomi’s PR manager Wang Hua said on Jan. 5. [IThome, in Chinese]

BYD will release at least 10 new electric cars this year featuring advanced driving technology that enables functions such as fully-automated parking and autonomous lane changing on busy urban streets in China, chairman Wang Chuanfu announced at BYD’s Dream Day event on Tuesday. The move will be part of an RMB 100 billion ($13.9 billion) long-term initiative to achieve “full-scale vehicle automation,” by which the company plans to make all core vehicle domains, from batteries to chassis, operatable by chip, artificial intelligence, 5G, and satellite, Wang explained. The company named its latest intelligent electric vehicle architecture Xuanji, an old Chinese term for the Big Dipper, adding that it will make automated driving a standard feature for all future models priced over RMB 300,000 ($41,700). The Chinese EV giant also announced it will invest RMB 5 billion in building all-terrain race tracks for enthusiasts across China, without revealing further details. [TechNode reporting, BYD announcement]

Get ready for the annual insights from TechNode Content Team! The year 2023 can be considered a groundbreaking year in the technology field. As wrapping up this year, we gathered different insights from our content team. We’ll be presenting nine Q&As, with timely updates every Wednesday and Friday in the following weeks!

Today, our Q&A comes from Cheyenne Dong, reporter at TechNode. Cheyenne is a tech reporter now based in Shanghai. She covers e-commerce and retail, blockchain, and Web3.

1. Which company has impressed you the most in 2023?

OpenAI. OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT at the end of 2022 led directly to the following year belonging to the wild year of generative artificial intelligence. Despite the subsequent launch of ChatGPT-like services by worldwide tech firms, OpenAI’s overwhelming success in AI has made it a challenge for rivals to keep up with its pace.

2. Which company has surprised you the most in 2023?

Alibaba. The Chinese e-commerce giant conducted eye-catching organizational overhauls throughout the past year, and each adjustment has been a big deal, both internally and to the public. What kind of energy the company will unleash in the new year to take on the competition in industries under its startling overhaul?

3. Which industry professional/entrepreneur/startup founder has left the most profound impression on you in 2023?

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. He was able to face around five hours of questioning by dozens of US lawmakers in March.

4. What is the most memorable overseas event for you in 2023?

OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman was in the center of media spotlight even before the board abruptly fired him, and this unexpected 72-hour-long firing event gives me a feeling that it’s more exciting than any TV series.

5. If you were to recommend one significant industry trend for everyone to follow, what would it be?

PDD’s market value exceeds that of Alibaba. This landmark event shows that Pinduoduo, which offers ultra-low-priced goods at a time of economic uncertainty, is emerging as the most challenging and disruptive force in China’s e-commerce sector.

6. What industry buzzword have you encountered the most in 2023?

AI, companies in almost every field are looking to rebuild their services and products with the power of AI.

7. Which phrase or sentence best summarizes your perspective on the field you’ve been following in 2023?

Juan or in the English context it can be understood as competition for even some small factors has reached unhealthy levels, like which platform offers ultra-low prices for the same items, delivery times, or providing near-zero threshold after-sales service.

8. What product/company/technology/industry are you most looking forward to next year?

OpenAI’s GPT-5.

9. Do you believe AI has the potential to threaten humanity?

Not at this stage, instead, human beings could be significantly more productive if they had better AI tools, but the future is not easy to predict.

Chinese game streaming platform Huya plans to collaborate with Tencent WeChat Channels, following Tencent’s announcement last week that it will livestream Honor of Kings on ByteDance’s Douyin (China’s TikTok sibling). As a major stakeholder in Huya, the move underscores Tencent’s dedication to maintaining its own gaming livestream services, according to local media outlet Awtmt. Huya earned RMB 1.6 billion ($230 million) in the third quarter of 2023, and saw a year-on-year decline in both live streaming and advertising income, while WeChat Channels saw a 50% year-on-year growth in viewership during the same period. WeChat Channels claimed a significant growth in original content. In May 2023, WeChat Channels launched the Game Live Streaming Promotion feature, enabling game developers to directly guide fans to pre-register, download, and launch games via the platform. [IThome, in Chinese]

BYD has signed an agreement with Spain’s Grenergy to provide renewable energy power facilities using its blade-shaped batteries for a $1.4 billion energy storage operation in Chile’s Atacama Desert, which the companies claim to be the largest of its kind globally. 

Why it matters: The deal is the latest in BYD’s efforts to scale up its energy storage business and lead in areas beyond electric vehicles, venturing into the booming renewable energy sector, as global EV sales are reportedly poised for slower growth due to lower state subsidies this year. 

Details: BYD will provide Grenergy with a total of 2,136 large-scale energy storage systems powered by 1.1 gigawatt-hours (GWh) worth of its so-called blade battery, which boasts efficient space utilization and high thermal stability in a thin and lengthy form, according to a statement. 

• Grenergy will incorporate them in the first two phases of the Oasis de Atacama project in northern Chile, set for full operation within two years, and with a total capacity of 4.1 GWh and 1 gigawatt (GW) of solar installations. 
• The Spanish renewable energy group said it expects to complete construction of the largest energy storage project worldwide within three years. The project consists of five phases with a total investment of $1.4 billion.

Context: BYD had captured around 11.5% of the global energy storage system market with shipments of 14 GWh worth of batteries in 2022, industry tracker SNE Research said in an annual summary dated March 2, 2023. This places it ahead of South Korea’s LG Energy Solution and Samsung SDI, but significantly behind leader CATL, which controlled more than 40% of the market. 

• Having facilitated several solar power and battery storage facilities in the US, CATL said last March that it would supply 450 megawatt-hours (MWh) of lithium-ion batteries for a Texan storage project. A single GW is equal to 1,000 megawatts.
• Tesla is also reportedly doubling down on its energy business with the April announcement that it was setting up a new facility in Shanghai capable of annually making 10,000 large-scale, energy-storage battery systems. It deployed 6.5 GWh of energy storage in 2022.
• The US automaker estimates that to fully convert the world to sustainable energy will require a total capacity of 2,310 GWh per year of electric-chemical battery storage systems. Chinese battery maker Svolt expects that, in the best case scenario, that number could be achieved in 2030. 

According to South Korean media outlet Sedaily, SK Hynix is planning to upgrade its Wuxi Plant. SK Hynix intends to upgrade its dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) production equipment to the fourth-generation 10nm class chip process at its plant in Wuxi, China, this year. Although operational specifics are yet to be confirmed, the Wuxi plant serves as a crucial hub, contributing around 40% of SK Hynix’s DRAM output. The upgrade will enable SK Hynix to maintain its market share amid global semiconductor competition despite US restrictions, according to the Chinese media outlet Global Times. Last week, SK Hynix’s president, Kwak Noh-Jung, mentioned during CES 2024 that the company last year created an internal group to address geopolitical issues and develop ways to mitigate business risks. [Global Times, in Chinese]

Correction: an earlier version of this article misidentified the 10nm class chip process as the 10nm chip process.

Baidu clarified on Monday evening that it does not have any partnership with any of China’s military organizations after a report linked the company’s ChatGPT-like technology to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), causing shares of the search giant to see their largest drop since 2022. A report in the South China Morning Post originally said that an academy paper written by scholars at a PLA-affiliated research institute had disclosed a link with the Chinese technology giant. The academy paper used Baidu’s ChatGPT-like ERNIE Bot as an example to describe how it generates battlefield maneuvers and predicts opponent actions based on combat information prompts, which SCMP reported as forging a “physical link” between Baidu and PLA. The outlet later removed the saying. “Baidu does not provide any customized services to the military,” according to the company’s statement, adding that the ERNIE Bot used by the academy paper’s author was the general version accessible to the public since August. [Baidu]

TSMC plans to mass produce Apple’s next-generation 2nm chip in 2025, as the prototype of the 2nm chips has recently been presented to Apple, according to the Taiwan-based media outlet DigiTimes. Apple and TSMC are closely collaborating on the development and implementation of the 2nm chip technology, aiming to surpass current 3nm chips in transistor density, performance, and efficiency. The report also revealed that TSMC is actively advancing its 2nm process node, with the first batch of equipment scheduled to enter the factory in April 2024. Moreover, TSMC is currently assessing potential factory locations with the goal of securing its position as the first manufacturer of advanced 1.4nm chips by 2027. [DigiTimes]

On Jan. 13, Tencent announced that its hit game Honor of Kings would resume livestreaming on Douyin (China’s TikTok sibling) five years after it was banned following a copyright infringement case. In 2016, Tencent sued ByteDance for livestreaming the online game on its subsidiary video platform Xigua. In 2019, a court ruling in Guangzhou stated that ByteDance platforms were prohibited from livestreaming Honor of Kings without Tencent’s permission.

Why it matters: The return of Honor of Kings to Douyin signifies a further thawing of the relationship between Tencent and ByteDance. Tencent has been gradually lifting restrictions on ByteDance, as its competitor has begun scaling back its gaming interests in recent months.

Details: Tencent’s Honor of Kings is expected to start livestreaming on Douyin on Jan. 21, with game streamers invited to participate in the splashy return, as announced on the game’s page on China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo.

• Tencent Games plans to conduct testing of Honor of Kings on Douyin from Jan. 14 to Jan. 17, aimed at avoiding technical issues that may arise during the first live broadcast. From Jan. 18 to Jan. 20, Honor of Kings will host various game-themed activities on Douyin, with invited gaming influencers heading livestream sessions and handing out in-game benefits.
• A gaming industry insider said Tencent’s efforts to reconcile with Douyin stem from a noticeable slowdown in Tencent’s gaming revenue growth since 2022, according to Sina. New player growth and revenue for Honor of Kings have been weaker than in previous years, leading to immense pressure on Tencent’s gaming team, the insider said. 
• Another of Tencent’s hit games, PUBG Mobile, has also seen a decline in users, but there are currently no other new hit games to make up for the loss, the same insider added. In December 2023, Tencent released DreamStar, a new party game with the potential to challenge its domestic rival NetEase’s Eggy Party. At this stage it remains uncertain if it will emerge as the firm’s next hit game.
• Both parties may seek further collaboration in the future, as ByteDance has the potential to work with Tencent in areas including joint operations and distribution partnerships, according to the same Sina report. Douyin currently plays a crucial role in the gaming industry in China as a major channel for advertising and new player acquisition, and Tencent cannot afford to ignore it, the Sina report said.

Context: On Jan. 9, TikTok owner ByteDance said it was engaged in discussions with various potential buyers, including Tencent Games, for its gaming assets, according to Reuters. The two giants are discussing a deal involving major games published by ByteDance’s gaming unit Nuverse, as the TikTok owner looks to step back from the gaming industry.

• In November 2023, ByteDance unveiled plans to scale down its Nuverse gaming unit and sell related gaming assets in a strategic shift away from the gaming industry.
• Honor of Kings, a hit multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game, generated nearly $1.48 billion in 2023 for Tencent, but saw a notable decline compared to the $1.8 billion achieved in 2022, according to market intelligence AppMagic.

The number of merchants that sold goods with a total value over RMB 100 million increased five times year-on-year on Xiaohongshu in the past year, the Instagram-like platform disclosed on its official WeChat account on Jan. 11, adding that sellers are increasingly seeing the lifestyle app as an additional place to do business as “new business models and scenarios” are being formed on Xiaohongshu. The platform also said it saw a 380% growth in merchants with an annual transaction size exceeding RMB 10 million, though it failed to reveal exact figures. As part of the announcement, Xiaohongshu posted its annual e-commerce year-end list, titled rise100, which listed “noteworthy merchants and buyers” based on multiple factors including merchants’ yearly business growth rate in 2023. The list features a flurry of China-made and niche foreign brands, demarcating the platform’s e-commerce focus from other mainstream retailers. [Xiaohongshu, in Chinese]

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk on Jan. 14 signaled that the company is likely to showcase its eye catching Cybertruck pickup in China, a move that could create attention and buzz for the US electric vehicle giant in the world’s largest car market. Replying to a post by a user with the handle @ray4tesla, on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Musk mentioned the likelihood of shipping some Cybertruck prototypes to China for display, although he admitted it would be “very difficult” for the vehicle to be legally permissible on Chinese roads in the near future. The US carmaker finally initiated the delivery of its Cybertrucks, priced from $60,990 and with a driving range of 250 miles (around 402 kilometers), to customers in November from its Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, after a two-year production delay. The Cybertruck is currently not available for retail sale in Europe as authorities have limited external protrusions on vehicles aimed at protecting pedestrians. [Elon Musk X repost]

ByteDance and Alibaba have not yet reached a consensus on the terms or price of an offer by the former to buy Alibaba’s food delivery service Ele.me according to financial media outlet Caijing. However, Alibaba yet again denied it was in negotiations with ByteDance to sell Ele.me. Bytedance, operator of TikTok and its domestic sibling Douyin, was reported by Caijing to have bid $7 billion, which is $500 million to $1 billion less than expected by Alibaba. A further disagreement between the duo is reported to be Alibaba’s intention to transfer over the entire Ele.me team, while ByteDance only wanted to keep its delivery couriers. Alibaba took full control of Ele.me in 2018 at a valuation of $9.5 billion, as it took steps into the local services industry to compete with Meituan. The business has yet to enter a clear cycle of profitability. As Douyin relies on third-party platforms including SF Express, JD’s Dada, and Ele.me to fulfill its delivery demands, building its own team of riders is crucial for ByteDance in doubling down on its local service ambitions. [Caijing, in Chinese]

CATL, the world’s largest electric vehicle battery maker, will build a plant in Beijing, according to a document published by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform on Jan. 11 and viewed by financial media outlet Caixin. The city’s economic planner expects the move to shore up the new energy vehicle supply chain in China’s capital, but has not revealed other details, although a person close to the company told Caixin that construction had begun. China’s capital is making efforts to become a regional EV production hub, spearheaded by locally-headquartered Xiaomi and Li Auto which both recently began factory operations with an annual capacity of 150,000 and 100,000 units respectively, in the outskirts of the city. The Chinese battery giant has, since early 2022, been running an 80 gigawatt-hour (GWh) facility in Shanghai’s Lingang area for Tesla, selling 233.4 GWh of batteries between January and November, according to figures compiled by industry tracker SNE Research. [Caixin, in Chinese]

On Tuesday, the world’s largest and most influential consumer electronics show CES 2024 kicked off in Las Vegas. Generative AI, AI-powered PCs, AI chips, emerging display technologies, XR, robots, wearable devices, and smart driving software are among the highlights of this year’s four-day exhibition. There are over 4,000 participating companies at CES 2024, with more than a quarter coming from China, according to CES.

Why it matters: Chinese companies at CES gain global exposure, connecting with international partners and potential investors to showcase their products and expand markets. The premier tech event, which enhances Chinese brand visibility and provides insights into the global innovation ecosystem, fosters a healthy global competitiveness.

Details: Here are some of the most influential Chinese exhibitors and their products:

• Of the Chinese corporations attending, TCL has the largest exhibition space of nearly 1,700 square meters, showcasing the world’s largest 115-inch QD-Mini LED high-end TV as its centerpiece. The technical challenge of the TV lies in its massive screen, which still achieves a high display brightness of up to 5,000 nits. TCL has also introduced a self-developed Mini LED image quality enhancement chip called AiPQ ULTRA, which is expected to enter mass production later this year.
• Lenovo has unveiled more than 10 PC models equipped with AI capabilities, including the ThinkPad X1 Carbon business laptop that features built-in CPU, GPU, and NPU engines. Another notable product is the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid, which switches fluidly between Windows and Android systems. On the software front, Lenovo has also unveiled AI Now, a PC assistant developed on Alibaba’s answer to ChatGPT TongYi QianWen, which the company says enables natural language interaction in scenarios related to work, study, and device management. AI Now is expected to launch in the first half of 2024 and will be integrated into the latest ThinkPad products.
• ASUS launched the 2024 edition of the Zenbook S 13 OLED laptop (UX5304), featuring Intel Core Ultra 5/7 chips and claimed as the world’s thinnest 13.3-inch laptop as part of the show. Thinner than the MacBook Air M2 at 11.3mm, the ASUS Zenbook S 13 OLED laptop is extremely lightweight at just 1kg.
• Asus Republic of Gamers (ROG) also announced its latest gaming smartphone, the ROG Phone 8 series, featuring a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor and AI functions. Its AI Grabber feature can directly extract text from games, while its Semantic Search enables contextual searches within the user’s photo album on their device using keywords.
• Dreame used CES 2024 to release the Robotic-mower A1, a lawn mower that can assess its surroundings and intelligently identify objects it encounters. The A1 saves homeowners hours of time, the company says, and features patented high-precision 3D laser sensor technology, an OmniSense 3D ultra-sensing system, and a U-Path mowing plan program. With centimeter-level positioning, the company claims effective mowing is guaranteed.
• BOE is showcasing its game-changing automotive display technologies, such as the oxide TFT, flexible OLED, 8K, Mini LED, and BD Cell, at the fair. In terms of oxide TFT (thin-film-transistor) technology, the company debuted the world’s first 45-inch 9K oxide TFT Mini LED display. Another innovation is the 14.6-inch 2.5K oxide TFT display, which boasts high transmittance, high contrast ratios, a wide color gamut, slim bezels, and high cost-effectiveness.
• Ecovacs, a robot vacuum company, is presenting a diverse range of products at CES 2024. These include the Winbot W2 Omn (a robot window cleaner), the Deebot X2 Combo (a wireless handheld stick vacuum designed for the Deebot X2 Omni), and a robotic lawn mower. The Deebot X2 Combo comes with upgraded hands-free capabilities and precision for cleaning floors, drapes, ceilings, and more, according to the company, which adds that their products enable users to “enjoy a fully automated era of whole-house cleaning.”

Context: In January last year, 493 Chinese companies took part in CES 2023, less than half the number from three years earlier, according to South China Morning Post. The absence of leading Chinese companies at the time was attributed to geopolitical tensions and pandemic-related travel restrictions.

Alibaba’s domestic marketplace, Taobao, has invited merchants to test an upgraded AI chatbot named Dianxiaomi, as its new CEO, Eddie Wu, encouraged the e-commerce giant to embrace highly sought-after artificial intelligence technology since he came to power last September. The chat tool, enhanced by an AI foundation model, is expected to be available to all Taobao and Tmall sellers in June. It aims to “better serve” pre-sales guidance, after-sales service, and data analysis, with the accuracy rate of Dianxiaomi improved to 85%, according to Alibaba. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

Honda is expected to complete construction work soon on its first factory for purely electric vehicles with a 120,000-unit annual capacity, as an e:NS1 crossover rolled off the final assembly line on Dec. 31 in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. Honda and its Chinese manufacturing partner Dongfeng have started testing systems during commissioning at the end of the project, with the facility set to begin volume production of Honda’s Chinese-market electric e:N lineup later this year, as reported by the local newspaper Hubei Daily on Wednesday. Separately, another new production base built by GAC-Honda, a joint venture between the Japanese automaker and the other partner GAC Group, is also scheduled for operation with an output of 120,000 EVs per year in the southern city of Guangzhou in 2024. Sales of Japan’s second-biggest carmaker declined 10.1% year-on-year to approximately 165,800 units in 2023, and the company plans to accelerate the transition to EVs with the rollout of 10 e:N series models by 2027. [Hubei Daily, in Chinese]

Get ready for the annual insights from TechNode Content Team! The year 2023 can be considered a groundbreaking year in the field of technology. As wrapping up this year, we gathered different insights from our content team. We’ll be presenting nine Q&As, with timely updates every Wednesday and Friday in the following weeks!

Today, our Q&A comes from Jill Shem, reporter at TechNode. Jill is based in Shanghai and covers news from across China’s tech landscape while keeping a close eye on developments in the fields of electric vehicles and autonomous driving. 

1. Which company has impressed you the most in 2023?

BYD retained its top position as China’s top EV maker with sales of more than 3 million units last year. The annual growth rate was also much higher than the industry average despite the competition, and it looks like the giant maker will stay on top in the foreseeable future.

2. Which company has surprised you the most in 2023?

Huawei surprised everyone with a strong bouceback in EV sales, as the technology giant delivered more than 56,000 Aito-branded EVs with manufacturing partner Seres over the last three months of 2023. The company was amazingly adaptive that it finally “revived a dead brand,” as Huawei’s consumer business boss Richard Yu has said. 

3. Which industry professional/entrepreneur/startup founder has left the most profound impression on you in 2023?

Huawei’s Richard Yu, probably one of the best-known workaholics in the Chinese auto and tech industries. I watched him speak on at least five press conferences throughout the year and witnessed how he made the phrase “far ahead of rivals” a trending term on the Chinese internet. 

4. What is the most memorable overseas event for you in 2023?

The ongoing anti-subsidy investigation into China-made electric vehicles by the European Commission was unexpected and could have a far-reaching impact on Chinese rising carmakers. This, along with the US Inflation Reduction Act, could herald more regulations and even sanctions against Chinese electric cars and take the tensions between China and the West to a new level. 

5. If you were to recommend one significant industry trend for everyone to follow, what would it be?

It will be interesting to know what efforts will be made by global auto majors to defend their market share against Chinese competitors. Any good updates from Volkswagen regarding its partnerships with Xpeng, whether Toyota would change its mind and be more open to battery EVs, or would Tesla finally be able to roll out its full-self driving software this year? I am happy to find out. 

6. What industry buzzword have you encountered the most in 2023?

Nei Juan, a buzzword meaning involution in Chinese. Usually we just call it Juan for short and that’s what everybody says and what I’ve seen from this huge but increasingly crowded EV market. Automakers launched their tech-packed, luxury-styled new models at stunningly low prices and yet some of them still can’t capture a decent volume. China is undoubtly the most violent regional market on the planet and an industry veteran told me that if you can survive here, you will make it anywhere else in the world. 

7. Which phrase or sentence best summarizes your perspective on the field you’ve been following in 2023?

Upmarket. That’s probably one of the most significant developments when we take a look into what Chinese automakers have done in the past year. It would be hard to imagine 10 years ago that a Chinese-branded car sells good at more than RMB 300,000 (RMB 41,880), but this is happening right now and right here. How far will they go?

8. What product/company/technology/industry are you most looking forward to next year?

I very much expect the availability of automated driving functions that would allow cars to steer, brake, and navigate on Chinese complex city streets. I took several really smooth test rides offered by automakers and self-driving car companies in the past year and that was amazing. I look forward the technology being more reliable and affordable in 2024, bringing future into reality faster. 

9. Do you believe AI has the potential to threaten humanity?

I am a bit worried about the potential for humans to lose control of AI as we’ve seen the technology advanced at unprecedented rates in the past year. I am hoping for more dialogues and collaborations among nations and businesses for AI regulation and transparency.

The total value of goods sold through WeChat’s TikTok-like service nearly tripled year-on-year in 2023, the key figure was revealed at WeChat’s annual flagship event on Thursday, but creator of the all-in-one app, Allen Zhang, was absent from the event again for three years and director-level executives also haven’t attend this year. Tencent did not disclose absolute figures. Livestreaming e-commerce orders completed on Channels, WeChat’s in-app short video feature launched in 2020, increased by over 244%, the company said. Tencent allowed content creators to charge viewers for watching certain videos last year, and has now expanded that to allow creators with at least 10,000 followers to set up members-only areas, where they post content only for paid subscribers. [Yicai, in Chinese]

NIO has received critical support from China’s local government of Anhui province, with an announcement on Thursday of a collaboration with the local state-owned power producer to build 1,000 battery storage-integrated recharging facilities in the region, where the company manufactures its electric vehicles. Anhui Province Energy Group Co., Ltd., or Wenergy Group for short, on Dec. 25 set up a joint venture called Zhongan Energy with NIO and battery maker Gotion High-Tech, along with several other state-owned firms with a registered capital of RMB 1.6 billion ($223.4 million). The firm, with Wenergy Group and NIO respectively holding a 44.4% and 19.3% stake, according to the Chinese business intelligence platform Tianyancha, will be responsible for establishing a “unified” infrastructure network for battery charging and swapping within the province. The companies also expect the new recharging facilities to help improve the flexibility and resilience of the power grid by actively balancing the demand and supply of electricity. NIO on Thursday also announced it has reached partnerships with Chery Automobile and JAC Group, two state-owned automakers with headquarters in Anhui, to jointly develop and operate battery swap stations, weeks after it reached similar deals with Changan and Geely. [NIO announcement, Tianyancha, in Chinese]

After a more than $80 billion market value wipeout since last January, Meituan on Wednesday spent $51 million (HK$399 million) on its first share buyback since it listed in Hong Kong, in a bid to support investor confidence in the company’s resilience amid fierce competition in a local life sector replete with fresh entrants.

Why it matters: Meituan’s first share buyback since going public more than five years ago comes after executives warned of a slowdown in its main takeaway business in the fourth quarter and as Douyin, China’s TikTok sibling, swoops into its business segments. 

Details: The food delivery service provider bought back a total of 5.63 million Class B shares, costing an average of HK$71.07 each, according to its latest filings. Meituan’s stock price responded by rising 5.4% today in Hong Kong.

• Meituan announced in late November that it planned to repurchase shares on the open market beginning Dec. 1, anticipating a total buyback of up to $1 billion in the near future.
• Last year, the firm’s Hong Kong-listed stock slumped by more than half and dropped 82% from its 2021 peak. The trading price is unlikely to return to this peak in the short term as investors worry about ever tighter competition from ByteDance-owned Douyin.
• CEO Wang Xing, however, said in the firm’s latest earnings call that he believed Meituan was “undervalued at the current share price,” expressing confidence about the business he co-founded’s “long-term growth and value.”
• As of Sept. 30, Meituan held cash and cash equivalents of RMB 25.1 billion, its quarterly results showed.
• Meituan has yet to achieve consistent quarterly profitability, but like other Chinese tech companies, it is also seeking to expand business outside of mainland China, an endeavor which is still at the “investment stage,” according to Wang. Meituan’s sister app KeeTa has risen to become the second-largest food delivery platform in Hong Kong since its launch in May.

Context: Besides Meituan, China’s most valuable tech firms including Alibaba and Tencent have exhibited a downward trend in share price that has lost them hundreds of billions of dollars since their peak around 2021. Alibaba and Tencent conducted record buybacks last year, with e-commerce giant Alibaba repurchasing $9.5 billion of ordinary shares, and WeChat owner Tencent spending a total of HK$48.429 billion on buybacks in the same period, meaning the latter topped the Hong Kong stock market’s repurchase list.

Chinese car brand Luxeed said on Tuesday that it will pay RMB 200 ($28) per day as compensation for some buyers of its first model S7 who have experienced delivery delays of more than six weeks. In a statement published on the Twitter-like platform Weibo, Luxeed said it is ramping up production to ensure high-quality deliveries, calling for patience from buyers. Some customers of Huawei-backed electric vehicle brand Luxeed have experienced delivery delays of weeks for the S7 sedan, forcing them to cancel their orders and casting a shadow over the growth outlook of the technology giant’s car business. Multiple buyers informed Jiemian that they were recently told to wait at least four weeks for the car. Many of them had placed their orders right after the launch event on Nov. 28, and some received no firm delivery dates even after waiting for six weeks. The EV brand, jointly launched by Huawei and its manufacturing partner Chery, has also faced issues such as very limited showroom cars for a test drive in some retail stores, sources said. The premium sedan went on pre-sale on Nov. 9 with a starting price of RMB 258,000 ($35,381), featuring Huawei’s latest proprietary Harmony operating system and partially automated driving software. The smartphone giant is reportedly launching new, more spacious stores dedicated to EVs, which could allow at least six cars to be displayed in-store, having partnered with multiple carmakers such as Seres and Changan. [Jiemian, Luxeed statement, in Chinese]

Updated: The post was updated on Jan. 17 to include Luxeed’s response to customers’ complaints over lengthy delays of the S7.

Cloud Network Technology, a subsidiary of Chinese electronics manufacturer Foxconn, will increase its investment in Ingrasys Technology Mexico by $10 million, aiming to expand its server assembly business in the country, the Taiwan-headquartered company said. As a subsidiary of Foxconn engaged in OEM (original equipment manufacturer) production, Ingrasys Technology Mexico was established in July 2021. Taiwan-based Ingrasys provides cloud infrastructure solutions for multinational strategic partners, including hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI), high-performance computing (HPC), AI machine learning, and advanced cooling technologies. Foxconn currently has built six factories in Mexico, according to its annual report. [Icsmart, in Chinese]

Chinese electric vehicle maker Leapmotor announced on Wednesday a new electric sports utility vehicle. Chief executive Zhu Jiangming says it is the only model on the market priced within RMB 200,000 ($27,920) and equipped with high-end chips from Nvidia and Qualcomm. The top-end, all-electric C10 integrates a DRIVE Orin system-on-a-chip from Nvidia with 254 TOPS of performance and Qualcomm’s five-nanometer Snapdragon 8295 processor, providing users with advanced features such as automated driving and AI assistant at a price tag of RMB 185,800 ($25,938). The Zhejiang-based automaker also introduced several extended-range hybrid variants with a price range between RMB 151,800 and RMB 181,800, offering a driving range of 1,190 kilometers (739 miles) on a full tank plus a full charge. Leapmotor debuted the C10 SUV with plans to launch it globally at the IAA Mobility in Munich in September, a month before it reached a €1.5 billion (nearly $1.6 billion) investment deal with Stellantis for 20% of its shares. [Leapmotor release, in Chinese]

Huawei announced on Wednesday that NetEase’s mobile game A Chinese Ghost Story was the first to use its open-source adaptation for HarmonyOS on the Unity China engine. In August 2023, Huawei and NetEase unveiled the game at a launch event, showing that the main rendering and logic integration had been completed, along with various software kits for video, audio, and user login. Huawei expects games that have integrated with its HarmonyOS to have significant improvements in performance and graphics. Moreover, Huawei is set to hold a HarmonyOS Ecology event next week, with sessions in eight major Chinese cities. During the event, Huawei will unveil its latest operating system updates. [IThome, in Chinese]

Shares of Nasdaq-listed Dada Nexus plunged nearly half on Monday after the on-demand delivery company said it found “suspicious” advertising revenue in an internal audit, casting doubt on the authenticity of Dada’s first profitability in the April quarter last year. In a regulatory filing, Dada said in the first three quarters of 2023, an estimated RMB 500 million in online advertising revenue plus another RMB 500 million in operating and support costs may have been overstated, and it will commission a third-party re-audit. The potential fraud event was announced a month after the chairman and chief financial officer of Dada resigned, with the former citing “personal reasons.” [DaDa Nexus filings]

Just as German majors once did in the gasoline-powered vehicle segment, Chinese carmakers are beginning to jointly build a reputation for luxury in the electric vehicle segment in their home country, according to Paul Gong, head of China autos research at UBS.

Why it matters: The comments point to a dramatic shake-up in the world’s biggest auto market as once-dominant foreign car brands lose ground while Chinese counterparts such as BYD and Li Auto have risen over the past year, often in step with each other. 

• Notably, Chinese status-conscious buyers are coveting local luxury-styled cars which have enjoyed a medium-to-high single-digit increase in average selling prices each year over the last decade, Gong told reporters in Shanghai on Tuesday. 

Details: China’s new cohort of EV makers have tended to sell pricier than average cars packed with high-tech features, inspiring their more established counterparts to improve their offerings and resulting in a positive net effect on all of the companies’ profiles, Gong said, pointing to “synergies” similar to those of the German majors in the fossil-fuel car era. 

• The “glass ceiling” of China-made car prices is being shattered, according to the Swiss bank, as Chinese EV models have gained popularity, especially models in the price range between RMB 200,000 and RMB 300,000 ($27,880-$41,820).
• However, it remains challenging for them to go further upscale into the super-premium segment where a car could be priced at RMB 1 million ($140,000), Gong added, citing a lack of confidence in luxury Chinese brands among older Chinese consumers.
• UBS projected that Chinese automakers will account for close to two-thirds of China’s passenger car sales in 2024, up from 56% a year ago, while absorbing 41% of the overall profit pool, compared with 17% in 2022, boosted by higher selling prices. 
• Gong envisioned China could be big enough to allow 10-12 domestic carmakers to sell significant volumes with different success stories by 2030 in the best-case scenario, rather than just three to five as some had previously expected.
• Tesla, Volkswagen, General Motors, and BMW were the only international car makers last month to record sales of more than 10,000 new energy vehicles, mainly all-electrics and plug-in hybrids, according to figures from the China Passenger Car Association on Tuesday.

Context: Having struggled to cope with the ferocious competition of repeated price cuts, Chinese car brands such as the established BYD and new entrant Xiaomi have sometimes turned to collaborations to generate buzz and support on social media. 

• BYD showcased a dozen Chinese-branded EV models, including those of rival Li Auto, in a show of solidarity at its headquarters in Shenzhen last August, TechNode reported. Meanwhile, a video clip posted by BYD has racked up nearly 24 million views on Twitter-like platform Weibo, which looked back at the developments of major domestic carmakers. 
• Xiaomi launched an advertising campaign on several digital outdoor billboards in China’s four top-tier cities to show its respect to competitors including BYD, Huawei, and Xpeng Motors, before the pre-launch event of its first EV model last month. In a post on his Weibo account, chief executive Lei Jun called his rivals “pioneers of China’s new energy vehicle industry.”

On Tuesday, the US chip giant Nvidia introduced the production microservices NVIDIA Avatar Cloud Engine (ACE) that enable game developers, tool creators, and middleware developers to integrate generative AI models into the digital avatars within their games and applications. Chinese developers NetEase, Tencent, and HoYoverse are among the first major gaming studios utilizing this new platform. The ACE platform allows game developers to create interactive non-playable characters (NPCs) by using AI models such as NVIDIA Omniverse Audio2Face (A2F) and NVIDIA Riva automatic speech recognition (ASR). These technologies can translate spoken words from players into text, enabling AI NPCs to reply using a distinct text-to-speech tool, creating fully voiced and interactive game characters with expressive facial expressions. [Nvidia]

Southeast Asia-targeted e-commerce platform Lazada is laying off around 2,000 employees, or 20% of its headcount in the first downsizing since Alibaba’s acquisition in 2016, according to a Tuesday report by LatePost. The redundancy affects not only entry-level staff but also senior roles that rank above P8 and is aimed at bringing down costs, as six Lazada-covered countries have their own operations and support teams while headquarters were also involved in the same work previously. Lazada is still in a loss-making status, order growth has slowed over the past year, and the company also faces tightened competition from regional rival Shopee. The latest overhaul is set to shift focus towards centralized decision-making at the headquarters, which will use data-driven approaches to allocate subsidies and gain user growth for each country, a Lazada source told LatePost. [LatePost, in Chinese]

Tencent Games announced on Tuesday that underage players are allowed a maximum of 16 hours of gaming during the winter vacation and the Chinese New Year. In China, the school term typically begins in September, and the winter vacation is from the end of January to February, varying with the Lunar New Year of that particular year. Underage players can only log in to games between 8 and 9 p.m. on January 26-28, February 2-3, February 9-17, and February 23-24, according to the announcement. In August 2021, the National Press and Publication Administration of China issued a notice limiting the time for providing online gaming services to minors. All gaming companies are allowed to provide one hour of service to minors only on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and statutory holidays between 8 and 9 p.m. [Tencent Games Weibo, in Chinese]

Get ready for the annual insights from TechNode Content Team! The year 2023 can be considered a groundbreaking year in the field of technology. As wrapping up this year, we gathered different insights from our content team. We’ll be presenting nine Q&As, with timely updates every Wednesday and Friday in the following weeks!

Our first Q&A comes from Jessie Wu, our reporter at TechNode. Jessie is a tech reporter based in Shanghai. She covers consumer electronics, semiconductors, and the gaming industry for TechNode. 

1. Which company has impressed you the most in 2023?

Huawei introduced the Mate60 series featuring the cutting-edge Kirin 9000S chip, manufactured in China by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC). This chip marks a significant advancement as it is the first chip from the Chinese manufacturer to be built on a 7nm node process.

2. Which company has surprised you the most in 2023?

ByteDance has scaled down its gaming business following reports of significant job cuts. ByteDance currently struggled to deliver high-grossing games and grab gaming market share, despite entering the gaming market in 2019 to challenge the domestic industry leaders like Tencent and NetEase.

3. Which industry professional/entrepreneur/startup founder has left the most profound impression on you in 2023?

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun set a record by making a cash donation of RMB 1.3 billion ($183 million) to his alma mater, Wuhan University. This contribution, the largest ever from an alumnus to a Chinese university, is expected to support computer science innovations, students’ development, and research across six fundamental disciplines.

4. What is the most memorable overseas event for you in 2023?

ChatGPT can generate unique images based on a conversation. If users describe the vision, ChatGPT will provide related visuals and further revisions within the chat.

5. If you were to recommend one significant industry trend for everyone to follow, what would it be?

In June 2023, the Dutch government implemented additional export controls on specific advanced semiconductor production equipment. Consequently, ASML needs to apply for licenses for selling advanced chip-making machines to China due to this ban.

6. What industry buzzword have you encountered the most in 2023?

AI is being employed by companies to enhance employee productivity. AI can manage repetitive tasks throughout an organization, allowing employees to concentrate on innovative solutions, complex problem-solving, and meaningful work.

7. Which phrase or sentence best summarizes your perspective on the field you’ve been following in 2023?

Challenge. Huawei and Xiaomi are focusing on creating their own operating systems for devices, as domestic tech companies may face potential restrictions on accessing crucial hardware or software of US origin.

8. What product/company/technology/industry are you most looking forward to next year?

Black Myth: Wukong is an upcoming action role-playing game by Chinese developer Game Science, based on the classical 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West. This martial arts title might be China’s very first AAA game.

9. Do you believe AI has the potential to threaten humanity?

Currently, I think that AI is not a threat for humans. Because we are currently in the stage of capitalist society, and the essence of capitalist society is built on consumption. However, AI itself cannot consume, which means it is destined to be unable to fully replace humans.

On Monday, Oppo launched its Find X7 and Find X7 Ultra flagship smartphones in China, emphasizing their innovative camera features. The Find X7 Ultra stands out as the world’s first device to feature dual periscope zoom cameras with a 1-inch Sony LYT-900 sensor, and claims to have the largest telephoto sensor ever integrated in a smartphone. With the Find X7 Ultra, Oppo also becomes only the second domestic brand after Huawei to offer a satellite phone function.

Why it matters: Oppo is hoping to capitalize on consumer excitement for new technology at the dawn of 2024, seeking a competitive edge by introducing hi-spec innovations at a time when China’s mobile phone market is increasingly saturated.

Details: The Find X7 Ultra debuts Oppo’s quad main camera and advanced 1-inch Sony LYT-900 sensor, combining breakthroughs in camera hardware with its HyperTone camera system and pro-grade Hasselblad tuning.

• The Find X7 Ultra packs in four 50MP main cameras, including two equipped with a periscope zoom lens, bridging the zoom gap between optical focal lengths. The 50MP 3x periscope zoom camera features a 1/1.56” Sony IMX890 sensor, an f/2.6 aperture, and a 65mm focal length. This sensor is approximately three times the size of cameras found in major competitors’ phone systems, with Oppo claiming it as the largest telephoto sensor in any smartphone currently on the market.
• The wide camera features an advanced second-generation Sony LYT-900 1-inch sensor, touted as having improved power efficiency compared to its predecessor. With a customized lens with an f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilization (OIS), it also promises a 50% reduction in reflection, all at a versatile 23mm optical focal length.
• When users need to zoom out, the ultra-wide camera comes into play with its 50MP Sony LYT-600 sensor. This camera delivers expansive and detailed shots at a focal distance of as near as 4cm, thanks to its large size focal length and fast f/2.0 aperture, according to Oppo.
• The Find X7 Ultra also includes software additions like the HyperTone Image Engine, giving users advanced computational photography options and features for high-quality photos.
• The flagship is equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, featuring a large 5,000mAh battery capable of fast 100W wired charging and 50W wireless charging. Its 6.82-inch display offers a 1440p resolution, a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz, and a peak brightness reaching 4500 nits for HDR content.
• The Find X7 Ultra will be available in three colors: black, blue, and brown. Currently, the phone remains exclusive to the Chinese market, with no release planned for Europe or the US. Prices start at RMB 5,999 ($845) for a model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, going up to RMB 6,999 ($986) for 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

Context: In the third quarter of 2023, the global smartphone market fell 1% year-on-year, to 299.8 million units sold, according to research firm Counterpoint. Today’s top five global phone brands are Samsung (with a 20% market share), Apple (16%), Oppo (14%), Xiaomi (14%), and Vivo (7%).

Alibaba has introduced a new AI feature that enables viewers to experience Terracotta Warriors dancing on screen to “kemusan”, a recent viral dance challenge sweeping social media, with videos powered by the image-to-video tool Tongyi Wuwang, which roughly translates as “one dance king”. Using Alibaba’s foundation model “Animate Anyone,” the function is able to animate a full-body photo to a ten-second dance video while maintaining original facial expressions and background, and can be tried directly via the e-commerce giant’s ChatGPT-like program Tongyi Qianwen. The MagicAnimate-like tool was debuted as Alibaba’s latest generative AI tool of a wave of artificial intelligence products to hit the public. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

In a New Year letter to employees, a Meituan executive conveyed a shift in the company’s focus, stating that they are now catering to users seeking low prices across the internet, departing from the previous targeted search-based consumer approach, as reported by local media outlet Jiemian. Zhang Chuan, president of Meituan’s store business group, expressed the belief that this year presents a opportune time to confront intense competition. He emphasized the need to establish a new supply model centered on providing “daily low prices.” Notably, ByteDance’s Douyin poses a significant threat to Meituan, with the widely-used short video platform reporting a 256% growth in gross merchandise volume (GMV) for local life services last year. Zhang characterized Douyin as an influential and rational opponent, describing the ongoing battle as a “brutal and tormented warfare” without an immediate winner. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

Li Auto plans to manufacture electric vehicles featuring advanced driver assistance and autonomous driving functions, utilizing Nvidia’s next-generation automotive-grade computer chips, DRIVE Thor. This move marks an expansion of the Chinese automaker’s collaboration with the U.S. chipmaker to address the increasing demand for assisted driving systems. Unveiled in September 2022 and slated for production in early 2025, the DRIVE Thor is a centralized car computer boasting up to 2,000 TOPS of performance. It enables automakers to integrate various intelligent functions into a single artificial intelligence compute platform, resulting in significantly lower development costs, reduced weight, and fewer cables. Chinese EV giants, from BYD to Great Wall Motor, have incorporated partially automated driving functions into their current models using Nvidia’s DRIVE Orin platform, providing 254 TOPS of performance. Furthermore, Geely’s premium EV brand Zeekr is poised to become the inaugural customer for Thor, as indicated in a release dated Sept. 20, 2022, by Nvidia. [Nvidia release]

Geely on Jan. 5 launched the first battery electric sedan under its mainstream luxury marque Galaxy, which the Chinese automaker hopes will take the crown from the likes of the BYD Han to become China’s best-selling model in the mainstream sedan segment. 

“We are aiming to see the Galaxy E8 take pole position as a top-seller against the backdrop of increasing competition in the Chinese mainstream car segment,” Jerry Gan, chief executive of Geely Automobile Group, said in an interview after the launch event (our translation). The company did not provide specific sales targets, citing fluctuations in the market. 

Volvo’s parent is looking to carve out a significant piece of China’s increasingly crowded medium-to high-end car segment. Approximately 65% of the new EV models debuted at November’s Guangzhou Auto show were priced between RMB 200,000 and RMB 300,000, including the Galaxy E8, its sibling Zeekr 007, and BYD’s Sea Lion, Jefferies analysts wrote in a research note dated Nov. 28. 

BYD’s Han was 2023’s most popular electric sedan in the price segment with sales of more than 200,000 units. Geely posted sales of 83,497 vehicles under its Galaxy marque as of December, after deliveries began last June. It began deliveries of the E8 on Jan. 5 and has two other plug-in hybrid models for sale in the lineup, the L7 crossover and the L6 sedan, priced from RMB 138,700 and RMB 115,800, respectively. 

Below are five key factors that Geely hopes will carry the Galaxy E8 sedan to success:

Pricing: The Galaxy E8, a five-meter-long flagship sedan, starts at RMB 175,800 ($24,612), which is RMB 34,000 below the base price of the BYD Han EV, and RMB 6,000 lower than the smaller, hybrid Toyota Camry. Its all-wheel drive version is priced at RMB 228,800 and additionally features an 800-volt system for fast charging and acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.49 seconds. 

Smart cabin: Like its homegrown rivals, Geely has packed the luxury-styled but affordably priced sedan with technologies such as Qualcomm’s latest five-nanometer cockpit processor 8295, as well as a massive 45-inch wide 8K dashboard screen made by Chinese display manufacturer BOE. This makes the E8 probably the cheapest model that enables users to play hit gaming titles such as Asphalt in-car. By comparison, the 2025 Toyota Camry hybrid, which started pre-sales at RMB 181,800 in China on Jan. 1, is powered by Qualcomm’s previous 8155P processor. 

Performance: The single-motor E8 has a power output of 200 kW and is equipped with a 62-kilowatt-hour battery pack, offering a driving range of 550 kilometers (342 miles), while the entry-level BYD Han is fitted with a 60.5 kWh battery and a 150 kW motor. The top-end version of the E8 boasts 800-volt fast charging that potentially adds 180 km on a five-minute charge; for comparison, all the variants of the more premium Zeekr 007 offer an additional 610 km from a 15-minute fast charging session. 

Exterior: The capacious midsize sedan comes with a “ripples of light” design element, featuring an aesthetic front end with a 1.1 square foot illuminated graphics area comprising 158 micro-lights that can be programmed to display “over 100 different light shows,” according to Geely. It also has an aerodynamic design with frameless doors and concealed door handles, on  a 2,925-millimeter-long wheelbase, making it slightly larger than the BYD Han.

Satellite assistance: The E8 is one of the incoming models that could provide satellite call services in areas with no cellular or WiFi signal. Geely said it will launch a further 11 telecommunication satellites into low orbit in February, following the successful launch of its first nine satellites more than a year ago, geared towards offering high-precision navigation for its self-driving cars, reported Reuters.

KeeTa, a Hong Kong-facing food delivery platform owned by Meituan, has grabbed one-third of the territory’s market share within six months of its launch. Initially providing food delivery services exclusively in two residential areas, Mong Kok and Tai Kok Tsui, KeeTa now covers the entire Hong Kong territory, and official figures show that it has garnered more than 1.3 million downloads as of January 5. Meituan appears to have successfully replicated its mainland China path to become a market leader in the food delivery field in Hong Kong, as KeeTa accounted for around 30.6% of total delivery orders in the region in November, only behind Foodpanda and surpassing Deliveroo by nearly 3%, according to statistics provided by third-party platform Measurable AI. KeeTa also said it now boasts around 10,000 merchants and has experienced an average monthly merchant growth rate exceeding 30%. [Caixin, in Chinese]

Ant Group is on the verge of finalizing a $200 million deal to acquire Dutch payments firm MultiSafepay, as reported by Reuters, citing multiple sources. The purchase is currently awaiting regulatory approval. The owner of Alipay aims to acquire a 100% stake in MultiSafepay, a company providing income and expenditure services to over 18,000 small to medium-sized businesses, according to information on the company’s official website. This latest acquisition follows Ant Group’s majority stake acquisition in the Singapore-based payments firm 2C2P in 2022, marking a strategic move in its global expansion efforts to establish an international cross-border payments network. [Reuters]

On Jan. 7, Xreal, the Chinese augmented reality company formerly known as Nreal, revealed the Xreal Air 2 Ultra AR glasses for developers, as the company aims to compete with Meta’s Quest 3 and Apple’s Vision Pro. Pre-orders for the Xreal Air 2 Ultra are currently available at a price of $699, with shipping expected to begin in March. The new sunglasses-style device features six degrees of freedom (6DOF) tracking, enabling users to engage with immersive AR applications. Notably, the glasses are equipped with two environmental sensors integrated into their frame, which allows real-time tracking of the user’s location within a 3D space and facilitates hand tracking. Despite its lightweight design, at 80 grams the Air 2 Ultra weighs slightly more than its 72 gram predecessor the Air 2. [Xreal]

Tencent Nintendo Switch announced that its original “Nintendo Switch Official Store” will be de-platformed from Tmall with users advised to make purchases on the new “Nintendo Switch Store”, due to “operational adjustments”. The official Nintendo Switch Mall on WeChat, a major social media platform of Tencent, will also temporarily suspend services on January 15, 2024, to be resumed upon update completion. In December 2019, Tencent launched a Chinese version of the Nintendo Switch, but it suspended sales of the extended warranty plan for the Chinese Nintendo Switch in December 2023. [Tencent Nintendo Switch, in Chinese]

 The article was first published on LinkedIn written by Jimmy NG and edited by Jake Newby and Zinan Zhang.

2023 was a tough year for early-stage founders and VC funds around the globe, and Hong Kong was no exception. Hong Kong has been in an even trickier position than other cities, given its highly outward-facing economy and connectivity with China, meaning it was naturally impacted by the sentiment of global investment around China turning so sharply after the huge bull runs in the country for the past 20-plus years. While the fundamentals of Hong Kong have shaken and shifted, 2023 was a year where much of the foundational work of building an innovation scene was done.

Here are my two cents on what to expect in Hong Kong for 2024 in the early-stage startup scene, organized by opportunities and challenges:

Opportunities

1. RAISe+ Scheme – first batch of innovative university startups to be unveiled

A HK government-led program with an allocation of HKD 10 billion, the RAISe+ scheme will, on a matching basis, fund 100 high-potential research teams in eight universities. Each team can get up to HKD 100 million in non-dilutive funding. This is the biggest funding scheme available for university-originated startups in HK. The scheme was a core focus for many knowledge transfer offices in HK universities in 2023, where professors and their fellow researchers/project leads were busy writing proposals, while university staff jiggled with all the letters of intent from investors/industry partners and requirements set forth by the Innovation and Technology Commission. The first batch of recipients is expected to be announced within Q1 2024 after screening.

We met some of these projects with interesting underlying IPs. How the universities, professors, project leads, and investors handle the rest of the difficult parts of starting a venture – hiring, fundraising, productization, fundraising, and more – is the next set of questions to be answered.

2. HK remains the go-to hub for Greater Bay Area (GBA) startups going global

We spent quite some time in 2023 meeting China-based early-stage startups related to advanced manufacturing (semiconductors, new materials, ESG materials), industry 4.0 (robotics, automation, innovations in traditional industries), and cross-border e-commerce. Chinese founders shared their firsthand experience facing the lowered spending power of local corporates and consumers. As a result, many of them have taken their products abroad, selling at a higher price point than what they could ask for in China. Over time, China has built up top-of-class manufacturing and operating know-how and trained skilled labor that is irreplaceable by other geographies. 

China startups that possess unique R&D and manufacturing know-how and operate in non-sensitive industries will still utilize Hong Kong as the hub for initial funding and landing their first batch of overseas customers.

3. Lots of dry powder waiting to deploy in HK

In 2023, local and global GPs secured fresh funding to be deployed specifically to companies with a Hong Kong nexus, thanks to the setup of the Hong Kong Growth Portfolio. Last year, many of them were setting up their teams and understanding the ecosystem in HK. On the other side, CVCs and universities are increasingly active in either direct investment or fund investment in HK as well. There is pressure to deploy for these investors, which should help to drive more deal activity in 2024.

Having said all this, the HK startup ecosystem is faced with the following fundamental challenges.

Challenges

1. Opex – cost of operating, and funding gap between Seed to Series B

While GPs are loaded with cash, there is a lack of startups with a valuation range of $200 million – $500 million that can digest a round of $20 million – $100 million in HK. On the other side, there has been a funding gap that remains unfilled for startups looking for Series A/+ lead investors.

Rent and labor costs continue to be the two biggest headaches for HK-based startups.

2. Talent — lack of startup operators, and operator-turned-founders

While there has been strong growth in the number of startups in HK over the past decade, the ecosystem of operators who are willing to take the risk and be the first 10 employees of a fresh HK startup is still nascent. We are still building the flywheel where early employees of successful startups become founders or operators for another early-stage venture. Not to mention the challenge of the tech brain drain in the city since 2020.

3. Exit pathway – billion-dollar question for both VC and startups

With many corporates cutting their spending, the incentive for larger players to acquire startups has decreased, especially when M&A activity is already low in the region. Coupled with a stagnant IPO market, HK startups are faced with an even tougher market compared to other comparable startups in other regions.

TikTok is seeking to significantly expand its e-commerce business in the US, with plans to achieve a tenfold increase in merchandise sales in the world’s largest economy this year, a target of $17.5 billion, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources.

Why it matters: TikTok’s ambitious goal will see it push harder to redirect users’ attention from short videos to in-app shopping in a potential threat to established US e-commerce giant Amazon. The move also signals that the ByteDance-owned short video app, which has 150 million users in the US, will compete more directly with its Chinese counterparts Temu and Shein in 2024.

Details: The global value of goods sold on TikTok was expected to reach around $20 billion last year, according to Bloomberg, with its Southeast Asian platforms contributing the bulk of these sales. Singapore-based research company Momentum Works projected in mid-2023 that TikTok Shop was poised to capture a 13.2% share of the Southeast Asian e-commerce market by the year’s end.

• The highest selling products on TikTok Shop are mainly those that more easily lend themselves to promotion by video, such as clothing and beauty items, while its competitors offer a broader range, from kitchen utensils to digital products.
• Shortly after TikTok Shop went live in the US in September, the hit social media platform experienced early success at its first Black Friday and Cyber Monday events, with the major shopping days seeing more than 5 million new customers from the US make purchases on TikTok.
• Meanwhile, TikTok announced this week that transaction fees for merchants in most product categories will increase to 6% of each sale starting in April, and by July, these will rise again to 8%. TikTok Shop currently charges a commission of 2% plus 30 cents per transaction. The change is likely to have an impact on profit margins for store operators.

Context: Since its initial trial in 2021, TikTok’s foray into e-commerce has sought to replicate the proven path taken by its Chinese counterpart Douyin in the online retail field, guiding loyal users previously attracted by viral short videos to engage in shopping on the platform. 

• Indonesia, the first country in which TikTok Shop launched, banned online shopping on social platforms in September, pointing to the protection of small businesses and user data, and forcing TikTok Shop to suspend operations. Despite this setback, TikTok quickly made a comeback in Southeast Asia’s most populous nation through a deal with local company GoTo backed by a $1.5 billion investment.

Chinese automaker Chery is set to launch multiple car models under its mainstream Omoda marque in the spring in the UK, followed by the introduction of its premium Jaecoo lineup in the summer. This strategic move positions Chery against rivals such as South Korea’s Hyundai and Kia. Simultaneously, as the manufacturing partner of Jaguar Land Rover in China, Chery is exploring the possibility of establishing two factories in Europe—one for the UK and neighboring Ireland, and the other for left-hand-drive markets in the region. Chery has initiated contact with the government for this plan after a British delegation visited China last month. Regional head Victor Zhang told the Financial Times on Thursday that it may take several years for the company to ramp up sales in the country. Chery, China’s third-largest carmaker, has sold nearly 1.6 million passenger vehicles, both gasoline and electric, from January to November, following BYD and Volkswagen’s joint venture with China’s FAW, according to figures from the China Passenger Car Association. [Financial Times]

Tencent’s multiplayer online battle arena game, Honor of Kings, emerged as the highest-grossing mobile game of 2023, raking in approximately $1.48 billion, as reported by market intelligence firm AppMagic. This revenue surpassed the second-ranked battle royale game, PUBG Mobile, by over $300 million. Candy Crush Saga, Genshin Impact, and Roblox claimed the third to fifth positions in 2023, with global revenues of $957 million, $944 million, and $869 million, respectively. Among newly released mobile games from Chinese developers in 2023, HoYoverse’s Honkai: Star Rail secured the eighth spot with earnings of $659.1 million, while NetEase’s Justice Online generated revenue of $358.2 million, securing the 18th place. [nadianshi, in Chinese]

On Thursday, Chinese phone manufacturer OnePlus unveiled its latest device, the OnePlus Ace 3, starting at RMB 2,599 ($366). The Ace 3 serves as a direct successor to last year’s Ace 2, featuring the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, a 50MP Sony IMX890 main camera, a massive vapor chamber of 9140mm², and a substantial 5500 mAh battery. The device boasts a curved 6.7-inch LTPO AMOLED display with a resolution of 1,240 x 2,772 pixels and a dynamic refresh rate ranging from 1 to 120Hz. Manufactured by BOE, the panel offers a brightness of up to 1,600 nits in Auto mode and a peak brightness of up to 4,500 nits. The company claims that the 100W SuperVOOC fast charging technology can provide a full charge in 27 minutes. [IThome, in Chinese]

China’s central government has revealed its inaugural blueprint aimed at exploring the potential of load shifting through electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. The goal is to stabilize the power grid amidst the increasing adoption of battery-powered cars. According to a document dated December 13, publicly released on Thursday by the National Development and Reform Commission and three other top government departments, Beijing plans to implement real-time, flexible prices on a large scale nationwide by 2025. The initiative also anticipates off-peak charging to constitute over 60% of total electricity for EV charging in at least five pilot cities, primarily in affluent regions such as the Yangtze River Delta area and the Pearl River Delta area. Additionally, more than 50 large facilities for bi-directional charging are expected to be operational in those regions by that time, enabling energy storage in a car’s battery and its return to the power grid. According to Caixin, citing Pang Xiaogang, a deputy general manager at State Grid, the peak of EV charging load could reach 100 million kilowatts by 2030, approximately 5% of China’s maximum power load. [NDRC document, Caixin, in Chinese]

US chip giant Nvidia is gearing up to mass produce a range of AI chips including its H20 model for China in the second quarter of 2024, with Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Wistron picked as the major supplier of these GPU (graphics processing unit) substrate orders, according to US media outlet Wccftech.

Why it matters: Despite the US government’s ban on high-performance AI chip exports, Nvidia has developed modified AI chips for the Chinese market and is ready to ship limited sales of less powerful AI chips to China as long as they adhere to regulatory standards.

Details: Nvidia is modifying its latest AI chips specifically for the Chinese market, including the HGX H20, L20 PCle, and L2 PCle. The three chips are based on the Nvidia H100, but allow the company to comply with the latest US export control policies announced last October.

• Nvidia originally planned to start selling a modified version of these AI chips by the end of 2023, but postponed the launch to early 2024 as the China-US chip war escalated, the Wccftech report said. 
• Since then, the US government has adopted a softer stance on commercial sales in China, and Nvidia has assured the government that their chips will fully meet compliance guidelines established by US trade and commerce authorities. Last week, Nvidia launched its China-exclusive GeForce RTX 4090D, a less powerful version of the flagship RTX 4090 GPU it sells elsewhere.
• The H20 AI chip is a scaled-down version of the H100 GPU, equipped with 96 GB memory capacities that operate at speeds of up to 4.0 Tb/s, according to Nvidia. It offers computing power of 296 TFLOPs and a performance density of 2.9 TFLOPs/die, in contrast to the H100’s 1,979 TFLOPs and 19.4 TFLOPs/die.

Context: Last October, the US government issued a new ban, further restricting the export of high-performance AI chips by Nvidia. Subsequently, the chip giant announced an immediate halt to the shipment of its A100, A800, H100, H800, and L40S products.

• In December 2023, during an interview with Reuters, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo stated that the government was in discussions with Nvidia about allowing the chip firm to sell AI chips to China under certain conditions. Raimondo emphasized that the government would stop Nvidia from exporting its most complex and powerful AI chips, but would not curb its chip sales to China altogether. 

Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, reported a 256% increase in gross merchandise volume (GMV) for local life services last year, attributing the surge to its robust efforts in the local lifestyle sector. Douyin now proudly hosts over 4.5 million offline merchants, encompassing restaurants and lifestyle activity providers, spanning across more than 370 Chinese cities. This information was disclosed by Douyin on its official WeChat account on Wednesday. Additionally, in 2013, transaction volume completed during livestreamings witnessed a remarkable 570% growth from the previous year, while total sales generated from short videos saw an 83% increase compared to the prior year.[Douyin, in Chinese]

Huawei-backed electric vehicle brands Aito and Luxeed have paused all online advertising campaigns on popular Chinese auto service platforms Autohome, Yiche, and Dongchedi, as part of a move seen as aimed at pursuing a more direct sales strategy and reported by multiple Chinese media outlets. All content collaborations have been suspended until a new deal is reached, a Huawei representative told Jiemian on Wednesday, adding that the prior contracts expired recently, without revealing further details. Sources added that Huawei-backed EV makers now see only a very small proportion of offline sales driven by digital advertising, thanks to Huawei’s already strong brand awareness in the Chinese technology sector. The news also comes as Huawei reportedly plans to run 800 car showrooms this year under a new brand called the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance and to expand its footprint with 1,000 sales locations by 2025. Separately, an Aito M7 crossover was among the worst performers in a winter test for real-world driving range organized by Dongchedi last month. Aito later responded by saying the heater on the vehicle was on for more than an hour before the test, challenging the accuracy of the evaluation. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

Duoduo Maicai, the grocery wing of PDD, has reportedly paused a local in-store merchandising campaign that began in December, Chinese media outlet LatePost reported on Wednesday. Originally set to launch after February’s Lunar New Year, the company postponed the scheme as efforts to seek more local partners offering in-store catering coupons, hotel reservations, sightseeing, and movie tickets appeared to fall short. The scheme, in which customers were encouraged to make advance purchases of discount coupons on Pinduoduo, was suspended in the last week of 2023, the report said. Meituan still dominates the local life sector for now despite new entrant Douyin’s challenge, and Pinduoduo, the online retail platform with loyal consumers primarily in low-tier cities, had been set to focus on cost-sensitive cities where Meituan and Douyin were less dominant. [LatePost, in Chinese]

Tesla shipped a record 947,742 China-made electric vehicles from its Shanghai facility in 2023, marking a 33.3% increase from the previous year. This growth rate, while slightly lower than the industry average, is based on figures compiled by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). The industry group estimates that sales of China’s new energy vehicles, including battery EVs and plug-in hybrids, will rise 38% year-on-year to 8.9 million units in 2023. Secretary General Cui Dong Shu anticipates a 22% increase in that number to reach 11 million units this year. Intensifying competition in the Chinese auto market has exerted pressure on Tesla. The US carmaker was surpassed by BYD in deliveries of battery EVs by approximately 42,000 units from October to December. Despite this, Tesla maintained its top spot as the world’s best-selling BEV brand, with deliveries reaching 1.8 million units last year. In comparison, BYD sold a total of 3.02 million NEVs, of which 1.57 million were BEVs. [CPCA announcement, in Chinese]

China’s two largest bubble tea chains Mixue and GoodMe both filed prospectuses for Hong Kong listings on Tuesday, with the aim of broadening the companies’ financing access through share sales, providing vital support for the new-style tea brands to navigate an extremely competitive industry.

Why it matters: Three China-founded beverage retailers have now lined up to apply for IPOs in Hong Kong in less than five months, incluing fruit tea chain ChaBaiDao submitted its application last August, signaling that the industry leaders are betting big on store expansion and tea consumption in China’s delayed post-Covid economic recovery.

Details: Mixue, which also sells ice cream for RMB 2 (less than $0.3) per cup, generated RMB 15.4 billion ($2.17 billion) in revenue and recorded a net profit of RMB 2.5 billion in the first nine months of last year. Mixue’s numbers are nearly triple those of rival GoodMe on both metrics.

• With an eye-catching snowman logo, Mixue boasted 32,180 stores across China as of September 30, 2023, with over 55% of those stores in third-tier and below cities. GoodMe, a 13-year-old brand selling bubble tea mainly in second-tier and below cities, had opened a total of 9,001 stores by the end of 2023.
• The primary revenue streams for Mixue and GoodMe are driven by the sales of raw materials and equipment to franchisees; the former has derived over 98% of its income from this strategy in the past three years.
• According to GoodMe’s prospectus, revenue from directly operated stores in the first three quarters of 2023 accounted for only 0.1% of its total, while the income from selling goods to franchisees made up as much as 75%.

Context: Mixue shifted to exploring a Hong Kong IPO instead of a mainland China listing due to a lack of progress following a proposed RMB 6.5 billion Shenzhen IPO filing back in 2022. The tea chain’s decision to put its mainland listing on hold is widely seen as a sign that Chinese regulators have imposed strict rules discouraging companies that rely heavily on franchise business models from listing.

The Legion gaming laptop series from Lenovo is set to launch in China next week, following the launch of Intel’s 14th Gen Core HX processors in the Chinese market. Lenovo’s new flagship series, which includes the Y7000P, Y9000P, Y9000X, and Y9000K models, is anticipated to feature Intel’s 14th Gen Core HX processors and Nvidia’s RTX 40 series discrete graphics processing unit. Lenovo previously announced that the Y9000P model will offer an optional screen with a 240Hz refresh rate and P3 wide color gamut, while the Y9000K model will boast an optional 2TB SSD (solid-state drive) for expanded storage. Intel claims its 14th Gen Core processors, introduced by on October 16, 2023, offer a 23% improvement in gaming performance compared to processors from its leading competitors. [IThome, in Chinese]

Xpeng Aeroht, a Chinese startup backed by Xpeng Motors, is aiming for volume production of its electric passenger drones in the fourth quarter of 2025, with the electric vehicle maker set to work on the final assembly of what they describe as flying cars. Xpeng revealed the timeline in a regulatory filing on Tuesday as part of a framework agreement signed between one of its fully-owned subsidiaries and Aeroht, adding that Aeroht will pay RMB 71,000 ($9,940) for each aircraft when production volume is lower than 25,000. In October, Xpeng Motors chairman He Xiaopeng, who is the controlling shareholder of Aeroht, unveiled an electric flying vehicle prototype built on a modular system in which the flight and automobile components can be separated. Geely-affiliated Aerofugia also expects to secure an airworthiness certificate from Chinese regulators as early as 2025, which would facilitate the delivery of its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOLs) air taxis to its shareholder Sino Jet, a Chinese business jet operator. [Xpeng filing, TechNode reporting]

Li Auto has decided to put off launching the Mega, its latest battery-powered EV, from its earlier slated December. The Nasdaq-listed EV maker said it now plans to begin delivery of the allrounder on March 1, without giving reasons for the delay on China’s Twitter-like social media platform Weibo. Pre-sales of the seven-seater with a price tag of around RMB 600,000 ($82,800) began in November. The car resembles China’s highspeed bullet-style trains and comes with CATL’s next-iteration Qilin batteries, providing the vehicle with a 500-km (311-mile) additional range on 12-minute fast charging. Rival Xpeng Motors on Monday launched a similar offering, the X9, with a starting price of RMB 359,800. It is scheduled to deliver the van from later this month. Huawei-backed Aito said last week its M9 full-size sports utility vehicle will be priced from RMB 469,800 and delivered to customers from Jan. 26. [Caixin, in Chinese]

China’s Interim Regulations on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Flight Management took effect on Monday, outlining registration requirements, permissible flight altitudes, and UAV operator responsibilities. UAV operators are now required to log in to the civil aviation department’s website to register their UAVs with their real names and affix the generated QR code on the UAV body. Flying without real-name registration is henceforth a violation, subject to a fine of between RMB 200 ($28) and RMB 20,000 ($2820). Micro UAVs are allowed to fly below 50 meters, while light UAVs are restricted to altitudes below 120 meters. Additionally, parents or guardians may be fined if minors operate micro or light UAVs without adult supervision. [IThome, in Chinese]

Top Chinese automakers BYD and Geely on Monday reported record sales of electric vehicles in 2023 on the back of year-end momentum from their home turf and strong shipments to overseas markets, as China’s booming industry ramped up its push for global expansion.

Why it matters: The latest sales figures come at a time when China is set to surpass Japan to become the world’s largest car exporter, according to estimates by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM)  as reported by Nikkei, buoyed by a growing demand for green energy vehicles worldwide.

• Exports of new energy vehicles, mainly all-electrics and plug-in hybrids, grew 83.5% year-on-year to almost 1.1 million from January to November, while internal combustion engine vehicles remain the major export commodity, accounting for 75% of China’s total car shipments abroad, according to CAAM.

Details: BYD posted record sales at more than 3.02 million EVs in 2023, marking 62% growth from a year ago and putting the Chinese carmaker in pole position to retain its title of the biggest-selling EV brand in the country. In particular, exports surged 334% to 242,765 units compared with the previous year, with the company now having established its footprint in more than 70 countries.

• Sales of SAIC-GM-Wuling, General Motors’ minicar joint venture in China, also reached a record high of 1.4 million units, of which 211,512 were overseas exports, representing a 9% year-on-year growth. The automaker currently sells its budget models including Mini EVs in Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. 
• Geely said its EV sales rose 48% year-on-year and were also record-breaking last year, at 487,461 units, including 274,101 gas-powered and green energy vehicles abroad. Its premium EV brand Zeekr delivered 118,685 units over the year, up 65% year-on-year but missing its delivery goal of 140,000 units set earlier this year. 
• GAC’s EV unit Aion was also around 20,000 units short of its annual delivery target of 500,000 EVs, closely followed by Changan Automobile at more than 470,000 units. Huawei’s manufacturing partner said overseas shipments grew 35.4% to roughly 230,000 units, as construction of its overseas production base started in Thailand last month. 
• Li Auto maintained its solid momentum throughout the year as it reported deliveries of 50,353 plug-in hybrid crossovers in December, bringing the company’s total deliveries for the year to 376,030. Young EV makers such as NIO and Xpeng Motors are catching up with annual deliveries of 160,038 and 141,601, respectively. 
• SAIC-Volkswagen, the joint venture of the Wolfsburg-based automaker and China’s state-owned automaker, said it became the most visible player among its peers with sales of almost 110,000 units of its China-made ID family electric models. The German automaker in July reportedly cut the price of its ID.3 hatchback by more than 20% to RMB 125,900 ($17,500).

Context: CAAM expected car sales in China to reach the threshold of 30 million units for the first time in 2023 and that number will be further increased to 31 million in 2024, Caixin reported. NEV sales are set to total 9.4 million units in 2023, up 37% from a year earlier. The growth rate could slow to 22% in 2024, however, as the domestic EV market is maturing.

China’s central bank agrees that Ant Group’s payment platform, Alipay, has no controller, as stated on the official website of the People’s Bank of China. This development is widely seen as a significant step in clearing a major hurdle for Ant Group to revive its abruptly canceled IPO in 2020. The recent adjustment reduces founder Jack Ma’s share voting power from 53.46% to 6.21%, eliminating any shareholder, whether direct or indirect, with single or joint control over Ant Group. A spokesperson from Ant Group noted that the completed voting rights structure of major shareholders, announced publicly in January 2023, will not impact the daily operations of relevant companies. [PBOC, in Chinese]

On Monday, Baidu announced the cancellation of its deal to acquire Joyy’s China-focused livestreaming platform YY Live, originally slated to conclude by the end of 2023. The collapse of the move, once seen as the tech giant’s ambitious foray into the flourishing livestreaming industry, was attributed to the deal’s closing conditions outlined in the November 2020 Share Purchase Agreement, which Baidu claimed had not been fully satisfied. The conditions involved obtaining necessary regulatory approvals from government authorities and completing the transaction within the stated deadline, though Baidu did not specify the precise reason for termination. In response, Joyy has declared that it is seeking legal advice and will explore all available options. [Baidu filing]

In November 2023, sales of surveillance cameras in the Chinese online market reached 2.16 million units, marking a year-on-year growth of 14.4%, as reported by market research firm RUNTO. The sales revenue amounted to RMB 450 million ($63 million), reflecting a year-on-year decline of 10.7%. RUNTO indicated that surveillance cameras were the sole category in China’s smart home devices market to experience year-on-year growth in sales volume during November. The increased demand for surveillance camera products is attributed to heightened consumer awareness of home security, competitive unit prices, and promotional events on China’s Singles’ Day (Nov. 11), according to the report. Xiaomi, Jooan, and Ezviz secured the top three positions in the sales chart, with market shares reaching 12.7%, 11.1%, and 7.9%, respectively. [RUNTO, in Chinese]

Chinese tech giant Huawei anticipates exceeding RMB 700 billion ($98.22 billion) in sales revenue for 2023, as revealed in an internal New Year message from Huawei’s rotating chairman, Ken Hu. This projection indicates a roughly 9% year-over-year increase compared to the reported RMB 642.3 billion ($90.25 billion) in 2022, with the growth primarily attributed to a significant uptick in smartphone sales. Huawei asserts strong performance across various business sectors, including growth in ICT infrastructure, terminals, digital energy, and cloud services. Despite these efforts, the company acknowledges ongoing challenges posed by geopolitical issues, technological sanctions, and trade barriers, according to Ken Hu. [Huawei, in Chinese]

Xiaomi held its most significant media event of the year in Beijing on Thursday: the debut of its first electric car. With a size comparable to the BMW 5 Series and a shape similar to the Porsche Taycan, the four-door sedan boasts some of the Chinese car market’s highest specifications, as cut-throat competition from maturing rivals rises.

The sleek, gadget-full all-electric sedan is aiming to become a top choice for China’s increasingly tech-savvy consumers, and certainly aroused widespread curiosity judging by the more than 46 million people who logged on for the three-hour-long unveiling on the country’s Twitter-like site Weibo. Yet from journalists and insiders alike, the reaction was mixed. 

From the event, TechNode has selected some of the car’s highlights. 

Main specs

The high-performance SU7 can sprint from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 2.78 seconds, as it climbs to a top speed of 265 km/h. It is claimed to be the world’s most aerodynamic production car with a drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.195. By comparison, the Taycan Turo can hit 260 km/h and Tesla’s Model S has a Cd of 0.208. It also comes just a month after rival Huawei launched the Luxeed S7 sedan at 0.203Cd. 

Xiaomi said it uses two 9,100-ton mega casting press machines to produce the front and rear underbody pieces, giving the car a torsional stiffness of 51,000 Nm/degree, nearly twice the number of the Ford F-150 Raptor and higher than any other car on the road. The technology, first adopted by Tesla, has since been embraced by Chinese EV makers from Geely-affiliated Zeekr to Huawei-backed Aito.

Vehicle autonomy

Xiaomi’s chief executive Lei Jun presented aspects of the company’s self-driving initiative for public viewing, highlighting that the premium version of the SU7 will incorporate two Nvidia Drive Orin processing chips plus a laser sensor unit on the car’s roof to carry out certain partially autonomous driving functions. Xiaomi also showed a short video of the car drawing into a tight garage space autonomously.

The Chinese tech company has set a goal for its advanced driver assistance software to be available to drivers in 100 major Chinese cities by the end of the next year, according to Lei. Huawei and Xpeng Motors are for now the leaders of this booming market, with established carmakers from BYD to Great Wall Motor trying to catch up.

Smart cabin

The SU7 will be the latest Chinese car model powered by Qualcomm’s smart cockpit computing platform SA8295, after the Zeekr 001 FR and its sibling Jiyue 01, and its infotainment system will turn on in just 1.5 seconds. It is also integrated seamlessly into the Xiaomi ecosystem with the adoption of the company’s self-developed operating system, the HyperOS, which takes only 30 minutes or so to carry out important updates, according to the company. 

CEO Lei said the SU7 would create the same smooth experience that anybody with a Mi Phone is used to, as various apps are pushed from their phones to a 16.1-inch in-car dashboard once they sit in the car. Other devices, from tablets to home appliances, also seamlessly work with the vehicle, an integration trend led by auto and tech majors such as Huawei, Geely, and NIO.

Conclusion

Xiaomi will have to pick an appropriate price tag, given it starts with a somewhat broad, unclear positioning, said You Xi, a seasoned economic and financial writer and co-founder of Chinese online media platform Communication Planet. “It remains challenging for the company to extend its brand into EVs,” You added, citing similar offerings from multiple competitors among his reasons (our translation).

The smartphone giant plans to introduce two variants of the SU7 to “contemporary elites with taste in lifestyle and technology” in China over the next few months, said Lei. Some experts have predicted the premium version of the car, with an estimated driving range of 800 kilometers (497 miles), could cost consumers at least RMB 300,000 ($41,124).

Alibaba’s core cloud and computing business is shifting its strategy priorities to focus on public cloud services under an ongoing structure and personnel adjustment, according to a Thursday report by LatePost. The move would see the Chinese tech giant cut back on government and enterprise focused customization projects and its hardware integration business. Private cloud sales are set to belong to the hybrid cloud division, which is primarily profit-seeking, while the newly set up public cloud division will mainly target market share expansion, the report said. Alibaba Cloud has been under direct control of the company’s CEO Eddie Wu since September, with Wu announcing a strategy of driving growth through AI and prioritizing public cloud services on last month’s earnings call for the firm. Wu also stated that Alibaba’s cloud unit would build the “most open cloud in the AI era.” [LatePost, in Chinese]

On Thursday, Xiaomi unveiled the special customized edition of Xiaomi 14 and Xiaomi 14 Pro, featuring color schemes inspired by the company’s first electric vehicle, the SU7. The flagship smartphones now present color options mirroring those of the Xiaomi SUV 7, including gulf blue and olive green. Notably, olive green varies slightly from the standard green color initially introduced at the launch of the Xiaomi 14 series on Oct. 26. Both models, available in the 16GB + 1TB RAM storage configuration, maintain the same price as their standard counterparts at RMB 4,999 ($709) and RMB 5,999 ($850), respectively. All other specifications remain unchanged. [IThome, in Chinese]

Baidu’s ChatGPT-like ERNIE Bot has surpassed 100 million users, said Wang Haifeng, chief technology officer of the company on Thursday, four months after the AI bot get the green light for a mass launch from regulators. The company did not specify how many of the bot’s large base of users are active on the app. In its press release, the Chinese tech giant said the chatbot had generated 3.7 billion words of text in workplace scenarios and written 300 million lines of code. [Baidu, in Chinese]

Nvidia has unveiled the GeForce RTX 4090D, an exclusive edition for the Chinese market, designed to adhere to US export regulations. This version boasts 14,592 CUDA cores, 24GB GDDR6X memory, a 384-bit wide memory bus, a 2.28 GHz base clock, and a power consumption of 425W. Priced at RMB 12,999 ($1,840), it aligns with Nvidia’s flagship RTX 4090 GPU in cost. Notably, the 4090D differs with a 12.8% reduction in CUDA cores (14,592 from 16,384) and a 5.9% decrease in power consumption (425W from 450W) compared to the standard RTX 4090. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

China imported 42 lithography systems (chip-making equipment) with a total value of $8.168 billion in November, mostly from the Netherlands and Japan, according to South China Morning Post. Included among them were 16 lithography machines imported from the Netherlands valued at $7.627 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 1,050% in value of such equipment from the European chip machinery powerhouse.

Why it matters: Lithography machines are a core type of equipment in chip manufacturing, with advanced models available only at extremely high cost. The Chinese demand for lithography machines is increasing rapidly as the domestic semiconductor industry is being boosted in an effort to offset the impact of tighter US chip export controls. At the high end, only a few companies worldwide are capable of producing them.

Details: China aims to stock as much advanced lithography equipment as possible before the Netherlands’ export restrictions come into full effect in January 2024. 

• Among the 42 lithography machines imported by China in November, 16 are from the Netherlands’ ASML, the world’s largest lithography machine manufacturer, as reported by SCMP. 15 machines are from Japan’s Canon and Nikon, while the remaining 11 are reported to have come from second-hand equipment dealers in other countries.
• Although the quantity of lithography machines imported from the Netherlands in October was higher at 21 units, the total value was only $672.5 million, significantly lower than the total value of $7.627 billion for the 16 lithography machines imported in November, an average 46% more.
• The monthly unit price difference suggests that Chinese companies are continuing to acquire more advanced chip-making systems despite the US’s attempts to limit such purchases, according to SCMP. 
• Most of the equipment shipped in November obtained approval from the Dutch government by the end of 2022 or early 2023, said Jan-Peter Kleinhans, director of technology and geopolitics at Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, a German non-profit think tank based in Berlin. ASML’s lead time in 2023 was around 18 months, indicating that equipment shipped in the fourth quarter of 2023 would have been ordered in either the second or third quarter of 2022, he added.

Context: In June this year, the Netherlands announced export controls, placing restrictions on the shipment of ASML’s chip-making machines to China. Starting from September 1, ASML has been required to acquire a license for the export of its deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography systems to China.

• Following the new rules, ASML announced that its existing licenses allowed it to continue shipping DUV lithography machines to China until the end of 2023, despite export restrictions in the Netherlands taking effect from September. 
• ASML’s export licenses necessary for shipping these systems to Chinese customers will become invalid from January 1, 2024, and are unlikely to be renewed.
• As of 2021, domestically manufactured lithography systems made up less than 5% of those used in Chinese fabs, according to SCMP’s report.

On Tuesday, China’s capital Beijing launched a public computing platform to fuel need at the city’s universities, research institutes, and small AI enterprises. The launch comes at a time when expanding the supply of computing power has become a key focus for China as computational power needs mount with the rise of AI. Built and operated by Beijing Energy International Holding, a state-run company, the platform will provide 500 petaflops of computing power in the first phase and increase that to 1,500 petaflops in phase two, scheduled to go online in the first quarter of 2024. [Beijing Energy International Holding, in Chinese]

Chinese e-commerce giant JD announced on Wednesday evening that it is set to offer salary increases of up to 100% to front-line employees starting from the beginning of 2024. Procurement and sales staff will see their annual fixed salary nearly double. Meanwhile, all JD Retail employees are expected to receive an average pay raise of 20%, according to the announcement posted on JD’s official WeChat account. Procurement and sales staff are considered the key drivers of the low-price strategy within the Beijing-based company, as reported by local media outlets. These individuals are responsible for sourcing products across various categories from suppliers and ensuring goods availability on the retailing platform. The behind-the-scenes roles even involved selling goods via livestreaming during this year’s Singles Day, which JD claimed attracted more than 380 million viewers. [JD announcement, in Chinese]

Chinese electric vehicle brand Zeekr launched its first electric sedan, the 007, on Wednesday. Priced competitively at RMB 209,900 ($29,449), the 007 boasts fast-charging battery tech and is equipped with Nvidia’s Drive Orin processors for automated driving. The fully electric single-motor rear-drive 007 offers an estimated range of 688 kilometers (428 miles) and accelerates from 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) in 5.6 seconds, outpacing the entry-level Model 3 by 80 km in range and reaching 62 mph in 6.1 seconds. Customers can opt for a 100 kWh Qilin battery pack from CATL, extending the range to 870 km with an additional 610 km in a 15-minute fast charging session. The four-wheel drive version accelerates from 0-100 km/h in 2.84 seconds and comes with an exclusive color option, priced at RMB 299,900. Zeekr’s sedan, set for delivery on Jan. 1, is already capable of autonomous navigation on expressways across China and will operate autonomously on fixed routes for daily commuters in major urban streets starting next June. [Zeekr release, in Chinese]

Alibaba’s China-focused online shopping platform Taobao is streamlining its refund process, in a move that mirrors rival Pinduoduo’s strategy for retaining customers.

The new rules for handling refund issues took effect on Tuesday, allowing the platform to use big data analysis of store quality and complaint frequency to handle returns and refunds directly when buyers make after-sales requests that meet certain conditions.

Why it matters: This update brings Taobao’s after-sales mechanism closer to that of rival Pinduoduo, with the company emphasizing a commitment to consumer rights and cutting the influence of merchants in the refund process. 

Details: Pinduoduo’s “Refund only” strategy has met with controversy in recent years. The approach, coupled with Pinduoduo’s consistent low-price strategy, has attracted a large number of price-sensitive consumers. Merchants on the other hand have come to find the platform’s rules too strict, generating widespread dissatisfaction.

• According to Taobao’s new rules, if a seller exceeds the agreed-upon delivery time or sends goods without the buyer’s consent, the system will allow the buyer to request a refund automatically. The platform also lets buyers apply for a refund if they refuse to sign for a delivery on arrival. Previously, refunds had to be processed via the seller.
• Taobao is providing a quick appeals channel for merchants however, permitting them to appeal refunds within a 30-day period.
• One merchant who sells on multiple platforms told local outlet Jiemian that shoppers have upped their expectations of e-commerce platforms since experiencing how simple it was to apply for a “refund only” on Pinduoduo, the domestic sibling of runaway e-commerce success Temu.

Context: In recent weeks, Alibaba executed an executive level overhaul at Taobao, its most-profitable Chinese e-commerce group. Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu tapped six young leaders to take charge of key operations at twin e-commerce sites Taobao and Tmall, after he took the reins of the business on Dec. 20.

• The flurry of adjustments follow publication of an employee memo by founder Jack Ma in which he wrote “I firmly believe Alibaba will change and reform.” 

Tesla is planning to introduce a restyled, China-made Model Y sports utility vehicle featuring a new wheel design and ambient lighting, with mass production expected to begin in its Shanghai factory as early as mid-2024, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory is undergoing preparations for the move and will suspend production for a week during the lunar New Year holiday for a partial upgrade, which will be followed by more adjustments before mass production, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg. The news comes just two months after the US electric vehicle giant began selling a refreshed version of its popular crossover with prices remaining the same in China on Oct. 1, having faced intensified competition from rivals ranging from BYD to Xpeng. The entry level version of the existing Model Y can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 5.9 seconds, faster than the 6.9 seconds of its predecessor, although radar sensors were removed by the automaker to instead rely on cameras for automated driving. [Bloomberg]

At the winter launch event, Huawei introduced its mid-range nova 12 series smartphones on Tuesday, starting at RMB 2,999 ($420). The series comprises three versions: nova 12 Ultra, nova 12 Pro, and nova 12. All models operate on HarmonyOS 4.0, with only the nova 12 Ultra supporting satellite messaging without terrestrial signal. Notably, executives did not disclose detailed chip information at the event. Earlier reports suggested self-developed Kirin chips for the nova 12 series, sparking industry interest and potentially marking Huawei’s return to self-developed chips in the mid-range smartphone lineup. Huawei, at present, has not commented on this matter. [The Beijing News, in Chinese]

Chinese electric vehicle brand Aito aims for annual sales of 600,000 electric vehicles in 2024, more than 10 times this year’s total, according to sources cited by LatePost on Tuesday. The brand, a collaboration between Huawei and manufacturing partner Seres, has briefed parts suppliers on the outlook, offering three models (M5, M7, and M9) currently and plans for another, the M8, next year. Aito recently launched the M9, a luxury full-size crossover with Huawei’s technologies, priced at RMB 469,800 ($65,725). The EV brand reported over 10,000 non-refundable orders for the flagship SUV within two hours of its launch on Monday. Aito’s EV sales were approximately 75,000 units last year and around 68,000 units from January to November this year, with monthly deliveries expected to exceed 23,000 in December and surpass 30,000 in January, as stated by Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s consumer business group, on Nov. 28. [LatePost, in Chinese]

Chinese tech giant Huawei’s self-developed operating system HarmonyOS for PCs is nearing completion and is set to launch next year, as reported by the 21st Century Business Herald. Huawei introduced HarmonyOS in 2019, showcasing a micro-kernel architecture and supporting diverse applications. Huawei sources have disclosed the aim to extend HarmonyOS to more terminals, reinforcing the company’s presence in various fields. At a Tuesday press conference, Huawei’s CEO, Yu Chengdong, expressed gratitude for consumer support and emphasized the company’s commitment to delivering high-quality products and premium experiences through increased R&D innovation. [IThome, in Chinese]

Chinese electric vehicle brand Aito on Tuesday launched a luxury full-size sports utility vehicle that it claims features unmatched safety and luxury with Huawei’s cutting-edge technologies including a gigantic heads-up display and automated driving capabilities for urban scenarios. Huawei and its manufacturing partner Seres made the body sections of the Aito M9 with the use of large, high-pressure casting machines that weigh up to 9,000 tonnes, a technique also used by Tesla for producing its Cybertruck. This will greatly boost the vehicle’s structural stiffness with the reduction of components from several hundred to only about 10 or so, Richard Yu, chief executive of Huawei’s consumer business group, said during a press conference in Shenzhen. The three-row SUV is equipped with a 75-inch, augmented-reaility, head-up display unit that can present major traffic information such as navigation in a high-resolution, transparent display, as well as a 32-inch, foldable projection screen curtain for entertainment in the middle of the car. Scheduled for delivery on Jan. 26, the six-seater will be capable of navigating by itself on busy streets across major Chinese cities, and is priced from RMB 469,800 and RMB 509,800 ($65,725 and $71,321) for the range-extended hybrid and all-electric versions, respectively. [Aito release, TechNode reporting, in Chinese]

The US game developer Activision Blizzard, which has recently been in discussions with several domestic game companies regarding the revival of its Chinese service after a one-year absence, has decided to re-establish collaboration with Chinese game publisher NetEase, as reported exclusively by local media outlet 36Kr.

Why it matters: The split between NetEase and Blizzard was a major event in the gaming industry this year. On Jan. 24, 2023, the Chinese servers of Blizzard’s gaming platform were shut down, ending the World of Warcraft publisher’s 15-year partnership with NetEase in China. On Monday, most domestic gamers were shocked to hear about the potential revival of cooperation between the two gaming giants, especially after their previous relationship ultimately ended in acrimony.

Details: The relaunch of Blizzard’s games in China may have to wait for at least six months, as NetEase and Blizzard need to rebuild their domestic operations team and test the new servers after once any new deal is confirmed, according to 36Kr. 

• The return of Blizzard suggests a full restoration of gaming titles under its brand in mainland China, including World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Warcraft III: Reforged, Overwatch, the StarCraft series, Diablo III, and Heroes of the Storm.
• News of Blizzard’s return instantly topped the trending topics chart on Twitter-like platform Weibo on Monday, with Chinese players expressing their shock at the quick reunion. NetEase declined to comment on the story, while Blizzard China stated that the company currently does not have any information or updates to share, according to Sina Tech.
• NetEase Dashen, a gaming community app, has begun to gradually update with new content on World of Warcraft since Dec. 20, as reported by Southern Metropolis Daily. Additionally, the app no longer displays previous news items regarding NetEase’s discontinuing of the operation of World of Warcraft.
• Blizzard has also been in contact with several other major Chinese gaming companies this year, including Tencent, ByteDance, and Bilibili, regarding the takeover of its domestic service, according to Cailianpress. Tencent denied the possibility of a deal, while ByteDance is currently preparing to sell its entire gaming sector, making a move highly unlikely. As for Bilibili, the performance of its games business is not very satisfactory at present, the report claimed.

Context: Blizzard announced in November 2022 that it would suspend its game services in China due to the expiration of its licensing agreements with NetEase. However, Microsoft’s acquisition of Blizzard this year and the upcoming resignation of Blizzard’s CEO have brought about a turning point in the relationship between Blizzard and NetEase.

• Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Blizzard, will resign from his position as the leader of the video game company On Dec. 29, as communicated in an internal memo from Phil Spencer, the CEO of Microsoft Gaming. The leadership transition was expected after Microsoft’s completion of the $69 billion acquisition of Blizzard in October, as reported by CNBC.

Short video platform Douyin has brought artificial intelligence technology to its in-app search function, with the goal of “assisting users in finding desired content more quickly,” according to an outline on the feature’s introduction page. The TikTok sibling’s AI Search function is currently under beta testing before a full-scale launch. It is not only capable of providing intelligent recommendations based on users’ search history and preferences, it also supports the searching of content outside of the video platform. Users are encouraged to offer feedback on the AI-generated results through a dedicated button located at the bottom of the interface. [GeekPark, in Chinese]

China’s Instagram-like Xiaohongshu has clarified that it currently has no plan to go public after a local report said the company may list in Hong Kong as early as the second half of 2024. Boasting 1 billion daily active users, the lifestyle-sharing platform operates as a real-time search engine covering a wide range of content from studying abroad preparations and household cleaning tips to sightseeing and food recommendations. Xiaohongshu’s push into e-commerce this year has boosted its higher-than-expected net profit, which a previous Bloomberg report cited sources as saying the company is projected to achieve a net income of $500 million in 2023. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

Chinese battery maker Gotion High Tech will target an annual shipment of 100 gigawatt-hours (GWh) worth of batteries in 2027 for overseas markets, including the Americas, the Asia Pacific region, Europe, and Africa, said Cheng Qian, president of Gotion’s Asia-Pacific business unit, on Dec. 23. Cheng also expects overseas revenue to exceed RMB 100 billion ($14 billion) and for the firm to have captured a 10% market share for the target regions at that time. The Volkswagen-backed manufacturer is aiming to become a more comprehensive battery supplier for electric vehicles and energy storage, among other uses. Gotion reported overseas revenue of nearly RMB 3 billion last year, accounting for almost 13% of its revenue, with total shipments surging 112% year-on-year to 14.1 GWh, according to figures compiled by South Korea’s SNE Research. The company began production at its first regional plants in Gottingen, Germany, and Thailand, in September and December, respectively, and has plans to construct two plants in the US and one in Morocco. [Gotion announcement, in Chinese]

Chinese EV maker NIO on Dec. 23 unveiled a long-wheelbase executive sedan model, the ET9,  with a price range of $112,160. The model boasts its own self-driving chip, marking the first utilization of the five nanometer process technology in China’s auto industry. 

The four-door executive flagship, equipped with proprietary technologies such as a sophisticated yet lightweight chassis system and a superfast-charging battery pack, reflects NIO’s commitment to redefining the upper premium vehicle market, William Li, the company’s founder, chairman, and chief executive, told press at the annual NIO Day event on Dec. 23. Li further referred to the target segment as ”a spiritual home base“ for international luxury carmakers (our translation). 

With a pre-sale starting price of roughly RMB 800,000 ($112,160), NIO’s answer to the Porsche Panamera could serve as a low-volume halo car and is scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2025. Larger rivals from BYD to Geely have also launched similarly-priced offerings, indicating their aspirations to upscale and grab a slice of the luxury market.

Here are some of the key specifications of the ET9 presented by NIO at the company’s annual gathering held in the northwestern Chinese city of Xi’an. 

Design highlights: Different from old-money cars that Western brands typically offer, the NIO ET9 features a sleek and contemporary look with high ground clearance, large 23-inch wheels, and cutting-edge gadgets such as laser sensors on the roof and sides for an all-round view of the car’s surroundings. 

• The interior boasts a modern design language. The car features an almost two-meter (six-feet) console that extends through the length of the cabin and is integrated with equipment such as a 10L fridge and folding tables, offering passengers first-class-style seats and comfort.
• The grand tourer measures 5.3 meters in length and 1.6 meters in height with a wheelbase of nearly 3.3 meters, making it longer than the Bentley Flying Spur and almost as tall as a regular off-roader. The back seats can be reclined as much as 45° and come with full-body massage programs. 

Autonomous driving: The ET9 will be powered by NIO’s first self-developed system on chip (SoC), the Shenji NX9031, for partially automated driving. NIO stated it will be the first Chinese automaker to use chips with five-nanometer process technology, providing its vehicles a computing power comparable to the combined total of that created by four industry-leading processors. 

• By comparison, NIO’s existing lineups are equipped with four Nvidia DRIVE Orin chips that handle up to 1,016 TOPS on seven nanometers. The purpose-built chip is a strategic move as it could improve processing efficiency and machine learning algorithm coupling for autonomous driving, Jefferies analysts said on Monday. 
• Li declined to provide further details about the semiconductor. Tesla has reportedly turned to Taiwan’s TSMC to produce its next-generation full self-driving (FSD) computer on 4/5 nm processes. Homegrown rivals Li Auto and Xpeng Motors are also developing their own chips for vehicle intelligence. 

Large cylindrical battery: The ET9 will incorporate NIO’s in-house developed, 46105-type cylindrical lithium-ion battery cells. This implies a size of 46 millimeters in diameter and 105 mm in length with a cylindrical shape, a technology also embraced by Tesla in the hopes of increasing ranges and lowering costs. 

• NIO asserts that its new batteries have a cell-level energy density of 292 watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg), and a 120 kWh pack can provide a range of 255 kilometers (159 miles) after five minutes of charging at a 5C rate, facilitated by a 900-volt electrical system. By comparison, CATL’s latest Qilin battery would allow Li Auto’s Mega van to cover 500 km on a 12-minute charge at a 5C rate. 
• NIO did not reveal many further details, except for Li’s comments to investors during a Dec. 5 earnings call stating plans to outsource battery manufacturing for reduced investment and improved margins. The EV maker is reportedly in talks with Great Wall Motor-backed Svolt to set up a joint venture for making batteries in its car manufacturing base of Anhui. 

Smart chassis: NIO also launched an intelligent chassis suspension system which the company claimed would provide a refined driving experience featuring a steer-by-wire system, rear-wheel steering, and adjustable suspension altogether for the first time in a mass-produced consumer car.

•  NIO said the so-called SkyRide Intelligent Chassis System, in combination with hydraulic components, could be raised or lowered by 50 millimeters in one second to help passengers in and out of the car. In April, BYD introduced a similar offering that could automatically adjust to different road conditions and driving styles.
• In a 50-second video clip presented by NIO on Dec. 23, an ET9 prototype offered an apparently smooth ride when driving over multiple speed bumps and showcased a four-tier tower of Champagne glasses on the front body panel which remained in place despite the road surface. The flagship sedan is also highly maneuverable with a turning radius as low as 5.45 meters, a record also achieved by Xpeng with its upcoming X9 van.

China’s game live-streamer Huya has agreed to buy a 100% equity interest in Tencent-operated global mobile application service provider, according to Huya’s filings to the SEC, in a deal for cash consideration of $81 million. Huya did not disclose which specific bid was being made in the document. The latest selling comes several weeks after tech giant Tencent sold animation and comics businesses to digital publisher Yuewen Group amid cost-cutting efforts. The acquisition is expected to “enhance Huya’s ability to promote and distribute game applications in international markets,” the company said. [Huya; China Star Market]

Correction: An earlier version of the article misidentified unspecified bids as specific bids.

On Dec. 22, Tencent witnessed a decline of approximately $46 billion in market value, while NetEase faced a loss of around $17 billion, after a surprising move by China’s gaming authority, which introduced new regulations targeting excessive gaming and spending. The National Press and Publication Administration of China (NPPA) today issued the approval of 105 new domestic game licenses, as the authority intends to demonstrate a supportive stance toward the development of online games. This marks the first time a single batch has received approval for over a hundred game licenses. As of now, 977 domestic games and 98 imported ones have been issued in 2023, marking a twofold increase compared to the previous year. [NPPA, in Chinese]

Alibaba has promoted six younger figures to lead key operations within Taobao and Tmall on Dec. 22, two days following CEO Eddie Wu taking over from Trudy Dai as the direct leader of Alibaba’s domestic e-commerce marketplaces. The rejuvenated management team further signals that the 24-year-old company is adapting to more flexible strategies as an offensive move amidst the unstoppable upward trend of rivals Pinduoduo and Douyin. The youngest person promoted this round is 1987-born Wang Tingxiang, who now heads the newly formed fashion and apparel development unit. Wu Jia, aged 38, has been named in charge of improving Taobao’s user experience, largely thanks to his track record of leading the incubation of the search engine Quark, which Eddie Wu considered as one of Alibaba’s four strategic-level innovation businesses in the recent earnings call. [LatePost, in Chinese]

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in India, a financial crime-fighting agency, recently arrested several senior executives of Vivo India, including the interim CEO and CFO, as revealed by sources familiar with the matter. In response, a spokesperson for Vivo stated that the company will use all legal means to address these accusations. In October, the ED had already arrested four executives from Vivo India on charges related to illegal remittances. The arrested individuals allegedly established 23 companies in India, which were found to have assisted Vivo India in transferring a substantial amount of funds, according to the ED. Vivo is accused of transferring 624.76 billion rupees (around $7.5 billion) in this alleged case of tax evasion, representing almost 50% of the company’s overseas revenue in India. [Icsmart, in Chinese]

Huawei is doubling down on electric vehicles with plans to run as many as 800 showrooms in China next year dedicated to the joint car brands that it has launched with manufacturing partners, aiming to become a more visible player in the world’s biggest auto market. 

Why it matters: The new shops, expected to present a broader portfolio with larger spaces compared to Huawei’s current policy of showcasing vehicles in its regular appliance stores, will allow Huawei to display models and arrange test drives for more potential buyers. They will also be part of a branding overhaul to enhance Huawei’s brand image as a major car tech company. 

• Huawei began selling EVs powered by its technologies and manufactured by partners via its sales network for smartphones in early 2021 under its “Smart Selection” approach, in which Huawei reportedly provides sales channels and has more control over vehicle development.

Details: In what could be the tech giant’s fastest period of growth in its history, Huawei is planning to operate 800 car showrooms next year and increase that number to 1,000 in 2025, people familiar with the matter told Chinese media outlet 36Kr. 

• Those new shops will feature a new brand called the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA), a collaborative initiative for carmakers and a rebranding of Smart Selection based on Huawei’s proprietary Harmony operating system. 
• Some of the smaller locations could start from 2,500 square meters, allowing six cars to be displayed in-store while also doubling as a delivery center with another six for-sale vehicles in parking spaces outside, according to a franchise disclosure document obtained by 36Kr. 
• Huawei’s preferred flagship stores require a wider area of 8,000 square meters or more, and the company is renovating some existing retail shops to showcase the new HIMA brand with improved layouts, according to the report. 
• Some existing locations do not showcase the newly launched Luxeed S7 due to limited space, the report said. Huawei currently has three models on sale in partnership with Chongqing-based manufacturer Seres and state-owned carmaker Chery. 
• Huawei did not respond to TechNode’s request for comment. 

Context: Sources added that a retail and distribution network of 800 shops next year will be comparable to that of Huawei’s major rival Li Auto, which operates nearly 400 direct-sales stores and 320 maintenance centers as of November. 

• Huawei is quickly expanding its EV lineup in collaborations with existing partners, which also include Changan and JAC. It is set to launch the M9, a full-size sports utility vehicle, with Seres at a price range of between RMB 500,000 and RMB 600,000 ($69,972-$83,966) on Dec. 26. 
• Aito, an EV brand set up by Huawei and Seres in December 2021, delivered nearly 19,000 vehicles in November on the back of strong order volume for its redesigned M7 crossover. It operated a network of 1,000 retail locations and service centers in 230 Chinese cities as of June. 
• Meanwhile, long-time rival Xiaomi is on track to launch its first EV model, the SU7, and is reportedly preparing showrooms for car sales with the first batch of display models expected to arrive early next year.

Alibaba’s supermarket chain Freshippo has suspended new membership subscriptions since Dec. 13, according to local media outlet Yicai, which quoted a Freshippo source. The move comes two months after the grocery retailer introduced large-scale discounts across most of its product range. The activation fee for a one-year membership is RMB 258, which is very close to rival Sam’s Club’s annual membership fee, and grants customers a discount of 12% off every Tuesday. Freshippo, however, caused dissatisfaction among its members in October after it allowed all offline shoppers to purchase goods at a price 20% lower than the original in an unexpected move. “The ultimate goal of is to ensure ‘price reduction for all consumers’ in stores,” Freshippo told Yicai. [Yicai, in Chinese]

The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) today issued Draft Management Measures for Online Games, open for public feedback until January 22, 2024. In future, online games will not be allowed to provide rewards for daily logins, or first-time and consecutive in-game purchasing. All game publishers will be prohibited from promoting or allowing high-priced transactions of virtual items through hype or auction. Charge limits will apply, as disclosed in service rules and pop-up warnings to players engaging in “irrational consumption”. Following the announcement, NetEase’s stock dropped over 20%, while Tencent’s fell by more than 15%. [NPPA, in Chinese]

JD Logistics has shortened individual-to-individual delivery time in Beijing, Shanghai, and seven provinces, the e-commerce giant’s logistics arm announced on Thursday, in a move to grab customers as it fights Alibaba’s Cainiao. The company said recipients could see their delivery from other cities in the same province as early as 8 am the next morning, and couriers could pick up items to be sent any time up to 11 pm at night. It also plans to expand coverage of “next-morning delivery” to more Chinese cities, according to the statement. [JD Logistics, in Chinese]

Chinese air mobility maker EHang said on Thursday that its EH216-S, a passenger-carrying unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), had been granted China’s standard Airworthiness Certificate (AC), marking it the world’s first unmanned electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to receive such certification. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) certified EH216-S, produced at EHang’s Yunfu Production Base, complies with the type certificate (TC) issued by the CAAC in October 2023 and follows procedures set by CAAC for production. The first EH216-S has already been delivered to ETON, an aviation technology subsidiary of China’s Guangzhou Development District Communications Investment Group, which is managed by Guangzhou’s Huangpu District local government. [CAAC, in Chinese]

TikTok and Douyin owner ByteDance is expected to achieve $110 billion in sales this year, as reported by Bloomberg on Wednesday, which cited a source with knowledge of the matter. The figure likely surpasses that of Tencent, the Chinese tech giant that generated $63.5 billion in the first three quarters of 2023. ByteDance’s growth rate this year is approximately the same as the 30% it achieved in 2022, according to the report. Although it’s unclear how well the Beijing-based company will perform in terms of net profit, the impressive revenue already demonstrates ByteDance’s resilience in a year when its flagship app TikTok faced security scrutiny in the US and a temporary suspension of e-commerce operations in Indonesia. [Bloomberg]

In the recently released 2023 EU Industrial Research and Development (R&D) Investment Scoreboard put together by the European Commission, Chinese tech giant Huawei has maintained its position among the top five global companies that made the highest R&D investments in 2022.

Why it matters: Huawei has been increasing R&D investment to strengthen its technological self-reliance in the face of US sanctions. This strategic move allows the telecoms behemoth to mitigate the impact of sanctions while preparing itself for long-term development amid geopolitical challenges.

Details: The European Commission’s report provides statistics on research and development (R&D) investment for the top 2,500 ranked companies. It indicates that these enterprises collectively increased their R&D expenditure by 12.8% in 2022 compared to 2021, reaching a record-breaking total of 1,249.9 billion euros. Although Huawei dropped one spot compared to the 2021 list but still secured fifth position, with an investment of 20.925 billion euros.

• In 2022, Huawei, TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), and CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited) secured positions among the top ten in R&D investment within the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. The ICT sector covers computing services, semiconductors, telecommunications, and multimedia.
• In 2022, Huawei invested 20.925 billion euros, with a year-on-year growth of 11%, while TSMC invested 4.985 billion euros, demonstrating a significant year-on-year growth of 31%. Meanwhile, CATL invested 3.072 billion euros, an explosive year-on-year increase of 110%.
• The top three countries represented on the list are the US, China, and Japan. The US leads with 827 companies on the list, investing a substantial 526.5 billion euros, while China follows closely with 679 companies who have allocated a total of 222 billion euros to R&D endeavors. Japan boasts 229 companies on the list, with a total R&D expenditure of 116.2 billion euros.
• In terms of distribution of R&D investment across regions, the US, China, and the European Union occupied the top three positions, securing shares of 42.1%, 17.8%, and 17.5%, respectively.

Context: The Chinese Academy of Engineering issued its list of 2023 Global Top Ten Engineering Achievements on Wednesday, with Huawei’s self-developed operating system HarmonyOS being recognized among them. The other nine selected achievements were ChatGPT, the Chinese space station, AMD’s Frontier (a supercomputer capable of 100 billion x billion calculations per second), the Baihetan hydropower station, the double-asteroid redirection test, the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine, Spot & Atlas robots, lithium-ion power batteries, and unmanned aerial vehicles.

• In August 2023, Huawei released HarmonyOS 4.0 as a public beta version, in an effort to compete with Android and iOS. Currently, there are over 400 partners participating in co-building on and sharing of the technical foundation of HarmonyOS, according to Huawei. 
• Huawei plans to commence construction of its first European factory in France in 2024, as reported on Dec. 11. The facility is expected to focus on 4G and 5G equipment production, reinforcing Huawei’s presence in Europe.

Douyin, China’s TikTok sibling which is increasingly focusing on on-demand local services, has released a fine dining list for the first time covering 14 first-tier and new first-tier cities in China on Tuesday, in a further challenge to rival Meituan’s dominant position in the sector. Listing a total of 175 outlets that “offer quality catering services,” the Douyin catering report seems like a response to Meituan’s Black Pearl guide, itself a riposte of sorts to the Michelin Guide that has been released annually since 2018 with the stated goal of creating “Chinese’s own cuisine list.” Of the 500 restaurants and cafes initially shortlisted for the guide, all 500 have already opened accounts on Douyin and most promote themselves through short video. Vice President of Douyin’s in-store business Li Wei said at the guide’s release event that the platform hopes to select good restaurants for users that are “really worth going to and affordable to go to.” Chinese tech outlet LatePost reported previously that the TikTok sibling app generated RMB 100 billion in local life services in the first half of this year. [Douyin, in Chinese]

Three of China’s biggest electric vehicle makers – BYD, Chery, and SAIC – are in discussions with Mexican authorities over the setting up of car assembly plants in Latin America’s second largest economy, arousing concerns of Chinese firms finding a way to bypass US restrictions. US government officials are concerned that such investments would allow the Chinese carmakers to sidestep Biden administration measures such as the Inflation Reduction Act, which prohibits China-made EVs from receiving US tax breaks, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times. Sources added that BYD could initially invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the country, while SAIC-owned MG Motor could look to invest up to $2 billion. Speaking to Motortrend on Oct. 11, Brian Wu, executive vice president of Chery Mexico, said the company has developed a roadmap for entering the US, but how and when it would happen exactly had not yet been determined. [Financial Times]

Chinese auto tech startup iMotion saw its stock end almost 13% below its initial public offering price on Wednesday in an underwhelming Hong Kong debut, reflecting investors’ concerns about its heavy reliance on a single client in a competitive market. The Suzhou-headquartered company has been a partner to Intel’s Mobileye since early 2018 and facilitated the adoption of Mobileye’s SuperVision advanced driver-assist system on electric vehicles launched by Geely-owned electric car brand Zeekr since late 2021. However, the firm’s current revenue model relies heavily on Geely, from which it generates roughly 95% of its revenue during the first half of 2023, making it subject to the risk of immediate instability from the loss of its single biggest client. Over the period, the company posted revenue of RMB 543 million ($76 million) on a net loss of RMB 100 million, while predicting losses to continue in the foreseeable future. [Caixin, in Chinese]

Xiaomi said on Tuesday that it had sacked three employees for “spreading rumors” about plans for its electric vehicle business, as the company also said it was planning legal action over photos of its first car model leaked online by two media outlets. For months, multiple reports have circulated on Chinese social media featuring unauthorized confidential information about the smartphone maker’s EV business.

Why it matters: The news comes as Xiaomi, known for its low-cost pricing advantage in the smartphone market, has captured growing attention from Chinese netizens due to speculation of an imminent launch of its inaugural EV model, potentially heightening competition in the already low-margin sector. 

Details: The three employees were found by the company to have spread inaccurate information without permission during conferences hosted by brokerages and investment firms, severely misleading the markets and disrupting operations at Xiaomi’s EV division, the company said in a post on the Chinese Twitter-like platform Weibo. 

• Xiaomi is taking legal action against the trio, who have been dismissed for breaching the company’s code of conduct. 
• In addition, the smartphone maker is taking legal measures against two Chinese media outlets over allegations that their employees leaked images of its upcoming EV and violated their non-disclosure agreements with Xiaomi. 
• The Beijing-headquartered tech giant said it will continue to take action to ascertain liability for the alleged wrongdoings, including leaks and rumor-spreading. 

Context: A research note recently circulated on the Chinese internet and obtained by financial news agency Jiemian published what it said was “key information” regarding Xiaomi’s first EV, naming some of the suppliers for components such as the head-up display. 

• Xiaomi is also rumored to be set to debut the car at a press conference on Dec. 28, an influencer with the handle “Dianwankeji” wrote earlier this month on social e-commerce app Xiaohongshu. The company later said (in Chinese) that it has not decided yet on the event date.
• On Nov. 15, images of Xiaomi’s first consumer car along with key specifications were posted online for public review, as required by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, TechNode has reported. 
• More information revealed by China’s industry ministry last week showed that the premium version of the SU7 sedan will have a driving range of 800 kilometers, powered by a 101 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery pack sourced from CATL. 

Alibaba on Wednesday gave CEO Eddie Wu direct control of its Chinese e-commerce business, making him chief executive of both its cloud and domestic retail units at the same time in the tech giant’s latest restructuring. Former executive Trudy Dai is being appointed to assist with the establishment of an asset management company, the group’s chairman Joe Tsai announced in an employee-facing letter. “A new era requires a new strategy and organizational system change,” said Tsai, as the e-commerce giant increasingly sees its market dominance threatened by low-price-focused Pinduoduo. The move strengthens Wu’s direct control over Alibaba’s most profitable business and will likely the company’s retail marketplaces adhere to a more AI-driven strategy as proposed by Wu in September. [NBD, in Chinese]

TSMC Chairman Mark Liu has decided not to pursue a nomination for the upcoming term on the TSMC board and intends to retire from the company following the 2024 annual shareholders meeting, according to the company’s statement. The board of TSMC recommends Vice Chairman C.C. Wei to take over as the next chairman, pending the election of the incoming board in June 2024. Mark Liu, who joined TSMC in 1993 and took on the role of chairman in June 2018 after founder Morris Chang’s retirement, expressed gratitude for the 30-year journey with TSMC. Currently, TSMC manufactures advanced 3nm chips and plans to start mass production of 2nm chips in 2025. [TSMC]

A Thai coffee chain that shares an almost identical logo with China’s Luckin Coffee is reportedly claiming 10 billion Thai baht ($2.86 billion) as a financial loss from the latter, according to Chinese media outlets quoting Thai reports. 50R Group, a Thai company that operates Luckin’s Thai version, noted in the indictment that Luckin had “repeatedly compelled the plaintiff to cease using the trademark and forcibly seized its property” before the court made a final judgment on Luckin’s accused “fake” Thai stores on Dec. 1. Luckin, on Wednesday, posted on its official Weibo account, saying the claim has “yet to be verified,” and added it’s really shocked about how the lawsuit is progressing. The move comes after the Chinese coffee chain failed in a lawsuit alleging 50R Group’s trademark infringement in the Southeast Asian country. [Luckin Coffee, in Chinese]

Qorvo, a US manufacturer of semiconductors and radio-frequency (RF) solutions, announced on Monday that it has reached an agreement to sell its assembly and test facilities located in Beijing and Dezhou, China, to Luxshare Precision Industry, a Chinese contract manufacturer. The companies expect to complete the transaction by the first half of 2024, pending regulatory approvals and the fulfillment or waiver of other closing conditions. Upon closing, Luxshare will take over the operations and assets of each facility, including property, plant, equipment, and the existing workforce, while Qorvo will retain its sales, engineering, and customer support in China to continue serving its customers. Luxshare will be responsible for assembling and testing products for Qorvo under a newly established long-term supply agreement, according to Qorvo’s statement. [Qorvo]

Shares of Gaotu, a Chinese online education firm, slumped nearly 20% on Monday as a previous influx of livestreaming viewers returned to rival East Buy’s Douyin channel after a recent screenplay dispute at the latter, which had driven users to seek alternative platforms, came to an end.

Why it matters: The 58% surge in New York-listed Gaotu’s share price last week has now been halved with the previous surge seemingly an exception that does not accurately reflect the sustainable growth prospects of Gaotu’s e-commerce business at present.

Details: China’s Gaotu was once a provider of after-school tutoring courses, but transitioned to the live commerce sector a year ago, in a similar move to East Buy, which found viral success after blending online language lessons with e-commerce. Gaotu witnessed eightfold growth in followers on Douyin in the last two weeks, taking it to almost 2.5 million followers on the TikTok sibling platform.

• The East Buy exodus began as a protest over a controversy surrounding Dong Yuhui, the most influential host on the platform. His fans were dissatisfied with the company’s Douyin account operator attributing a Jilin province screenplay read by Dong during a livestream to the collaborative efforts of the team. Fans insisted that Dong was the sole author and should be accredited as such.
• In the following days, Dong failed to appear on East Buy’s livestreams, prompting a large number of fans to flood rival Gaotu’s platform as a way of expressing their dissatisfaction with East Buy’s treatment of their live commerce idol. One user even stated, “I will only go back if Dong continues to appear in East Buy’s livestreams.”
• However, the week-long infighting came to an end on Monday night when East Buy CEO Michael Yu announced his decision to promote Dong to the position of senior partner in the company while committing to the establishment of a separate studio for the top influencer. That evening there were wildly contrasting figures for the two rivals: East Buy’s livestream featuring Yu and Dong saw them sell goods worth RMB 1 billion and hit a peak of 3.8 million simultaneous viewers; at the same time, Gaotu’s livestream had fewer than 5,000 viewers.

Context: Gaotu’s current stock price is still nearly 97% lower than its peak in 2021, when the Chinese government introduced a policy known as “double reduction” that dealt an unprecedented blow to private for-profit educational companies, and prompted them to seek rapid transformation to stay afloat. East Buy, a subsidiary of New Oriental, found unexpected success with a livestream last June as a host, who was once a tutor, taught English and simultaneously sold products, gaining significant attention on the internet.

• In November 2022, Gaotu was warned by the New York Stock Exchange as its stock price remained below $1 for 30 consecutive trading days. A month later, the company initiated its first livestream on Douyin under the name Gaotu Jiapin, mainly selling agricultural products and snacks. Its revenues for the third quarter were down by nearly 60% compared to 2020.

On Monday, Xiaomi responded to user concerns about its smart door lock after reports of accidental door openings, as the incident sparked discussions about the lock’s safety. Xiaomi clarified that the products showcased in related videos employ semi-automatic lock bodies equipped with in-line C-level lock cylinders. These models lack the automatic retraction function of the lock tongue, eliminating the potential for spontaneous openings. There exists a theoretical scenario in which the door may open automatically, in instances where the door is not fully closed or when the installation tolerance of the door frame is too large. Xiaomi underscored that the smart door lock cannot support network remote unlocking. The engineer conducted on-site inspections of the product but did not reproduce the situation as shown in the video, according to Xiaomi. The company will also invite a third-party agency to conduct tests on the product, Xiaomi added. [Xiaomi Representative’s Weibo, in Chinese]

Renowned for developing popular games like Genshin Impact, Chinese game publisher HoYoverse will be creating exclusive games designed specifically for HarmonyOS, as announced by Huawei on Monday. Huawei continues to advance HarmonyOS for smartphones this year, positioning it as a competitor to iOS and Android. Despite its potential, HarmonyOS faces a challenge in limited application support, prompting Huawei to collaborate with multiple Chinese companies to enhance its app ecosystem. Currently, leading domestic applications or platforms that have announced partnerships with Huawei’s HarmonyOS include Alipay, Weibo, NetEase Games, Meituan, Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, Amap, and DingTalk. [Huawei Cloud’s Weibo, in Chinese]

NIO said on Monday that it had signed a share subscription agreement with CYVN Holdings for a $2.2 billion capital injection, as the Abu Dhabi-controlled fund raised its bet on the Chinese electric vehicle maker following a $1.1 billion investment in July. CYVN Holdings will take a total of a 20.1% stake in NIO after the deal is completed, making it the largest shareholder of the company entitled to hold two seats on NIO’s board of directors. Founder and chief executive William Li still holds a controlling stake and voting rights at the EV maker. The Middle East is becoming a major supporter of Chinese EV makers as the Gulf region, known for its oil and gas riches, looks to diversify the economy in preparation for a global transition to green energy. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Investment is set to invest $5.6 billion in Shanghai-headquartered Human Horizons based on an agreement signed in June, while Beyonca, backed by Renault and Dongfeng Motor, in October signed a memorandum of understanding with Riyadh-based Al Faisaliah Group Holding Company. Li told Chinese reporters on Dec. 14 that NIO plans to enter the United Arab Emirates in 2024. [NIO statement]

Unitop Fitness, a Chinese fitness equipment maker, unveiled the U-trainer Plus in September, at a price of $649. Our team was given a fortnight to review the home gym. 

The U-trainer Plus enables users to exercise on their own schedule with real-time performance tracking and built-in workouts. It eliminates the need for gym memberships and, despite this meaning the lack of a supportive fitness community, the personalized nature of the smart equipment enhances individualized training. 

Assembly at home

The difficulty of assembling home fitness equipment can vary widely depending on the type of equipment, the manufacturer’s instructions, and your own level of experience and comfort with assembling items.

The U-trainer Plus arrives in two relatively large, heavy  boxes.

The entire assembly process, including unpacking, reading the instructions, watching the assembly video, and manually assembling the equipment, took four hours. Although the fitness equipment includes installation tools, the tester, with limited assembly experience, still found the process somewhat challenging. For added convenience, it is recommended to have two people to work on the assembly together, especially since some parts of the equipment are quite heavy.

It’s also worth noting that the equipment takes up a sizable space in the home. Here are some of its basic specifications:

Packaging size: 1,445 x 490 x 275mm
Folded: 702 x 992 x 2,105mm
Expanded: 1,450 x 992 x 2,105mm
Net weight (main parts): 47kg
Gross weight (including accessories): 58kg
Resistance level: 100 levels
Maximum resistance: 50kg on each side
Resistance range: 2-50kg
Maximum weight capacity: 110kg

Customized app for home workouts

The U-trainer Plus comes with an app called Unitop, which features built-in programs and the option to customize workouts according to individual fitness levels and goals.

Through the app, users can establish a Bluetooth connection between their equipment and their chosen device, enabling them to choose from various training programs and set up personalized training plans. 

Different combinations of exercises, repetition rates, and the resistance weight of the equipment are all customizable. Each training exercise in the app comes with instructional videos and detailed explanations, providing assistance for beginners and alleviating concerns about confusion during workouts.

The equipment includes a barbell rod, wrist straps, handles, deltoid ropes, and a waist belt. Users have the flexibility to choose to use the appropriate accessories based on their individual training goals. However, some functions in the app require paid membership, and the one-year membership fee is an additional expense not included with purchase of the equipment.

Motivational partner mode

The U-trainer Plus offers adjustable resistance on both sides, enabling users to exercise together with friends or family members. Although this function was not tested during our two week trial, it is an interesting option for home fitness. Typically, exercising with friends or family is more motivating than working out alone.

Dual electromagnetic motors

The U-trainer Plus is equipped with dual electromagnetic motors, ensuring a friction-free workout experience without any physical wear and tear. It allows independent adjustment for each side, with the motors supporting 100 levels of resistance weight increments, precisely adjustable at 0.5kg per level. This enables users to train with a maximum resistance weight of 50kg on each side, totaling 100kg.

Workout at home with ease

The U-trainer Plus suits individuals who are seeking privacy, convenience, and a focused exercise environment at home. It enables users to engage in personalized workouts without the distractions or potential discomfort associated with public gyms. 

The equipment set seamlessly transitions between different functions, serving as a cable machine, a rowing machine, or a boxing machine. This provides users with the opportunity to engage in a comprehensive, low-impact workout that effectively targets a wide range of muscle groups throughout the body.

While home workouts offer convenience and flexibility, they may lack the social element found in traditional gym settings, which can serve as a significant source of motivation for some individuals. 

Therefore, the potential impact and value for money of this fitness equipment varies completely based on an individual’s personality, as some people may lack the motivation to exercise at home. While it provides virtual coaching and tutorials, it may not be a substitute for in-person guidance from a certified fitness professional, especially for beginners who need more personalized instruction and support.

Conclusion

The choice between using smart fitness equipment at home or going to a traditional gym depends on individual preferences, lifestyle, and fitness goals. It is essential to weigh the advantages and disadvantages to determine the best fit for an individual’s needs.

But the U-trainer Plus is suitable for fitness enthusiasts with a basic level of exercise awareness who enjoy working out at home. Beginners or those who prefer the atmosphere of a gym should carefully consider their purchase.

Pros:

Convenient and flexible at home option
Individualized training to fit different fitness levels
Customized app with built-in programs
Motivational partner mode
Dual electromagnetic motors
Comprehensive workouts targeting all muscle groups

Cons:

Assembly may be challenging for one person
Extra charges for certain features in the app
Lack of social element compared with traditional gyms
Challenging for beginners who need in-person guidance

Bilibili users sent the Chinese word “Ah?” over 13.2 million times as a bullet comment on the video site over the course of 2023, serving as a brief way for viewers to express surprise in response to content creators showing off their skills, or to discovering “treasured content” and witnessing major technological breakthroughs via the site’s videos. The platform labeled “Ah?” as the annual bullet subtitle of 2023 in cooperation with the state-affiliated institution China Cultural Relics Exchange Center and National Museum of Chinese Writing last week. Bullet comments are so-called because of the way they shoot across the screen when posted by users watching a video. 2023 marks the seventh consecutive year that Bilibili, the video-streaming platform highly favored by Chinese millennials and Gen Z, has published the most representative bullet comment. The phrase of the year last year was “youya”, or “elegant” in English, which was used to complement impressive videos. [Bilibili, in Chinese]

OpenAI has suspended ByteDance’s account after tech outlet The Verge reported that the TikTok owner has been secretly using OpenAI’s API to train its own large language model at almost every stage, violating the ChatGPT creator’s business terms that forbid users from developing a rival AI model using ChatGPT outputs. ByteDance acknowledged that it had previously used GPT-generated data to “annotate the model”, but had already removed this data around the middle of this year. The Beijing-based firm implemented most of its GPT usage through Microsoft’s Azure, with an OpenAI spokesperson admitting the usage appeared “minimal”, but the Microsoft-invested startup has nevertheless suspended ByteDance’s account while it undertakes a full investigation into any potential violations of its terms and conditions. [Caixin, in Chinese]

Shanghai local authorities have continued their policy of issuing free license plates for battery electric vehicles for another year starting Jan. 1. However, they have lifted the requirements for applicants aiming to promote green vehicles while restricting vehicle ownership to control the city’s traffic. Individuals are now required to have received social security payments for at least 36 months consistently, rather than 24 months as previously stated, before applying for free license plates for their electric vehicles. This information comes from a document released by the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, along with four other government departments. The updated regulation has also tightened the requirements pertaining to institutions’ applications for EV license plates. It details that businesses should have at least five employees covered by social security or pay their taxes for more than a year. Shanghai initiated restrictions on the sales of gasoline vehicles in 1994. Buyers have to bid for license plates through auctions and lotteries, boosting EV sales to more than 262,000 units in the city for the first 10 months of this year, the highest among Chinese cities. [Shanghai gov announcement, in Chinese]

Chinese EV brand Zeekr on Thursday announced the launch of a fast-charging, affordable, lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery capable of running 500 kilometers (310 miles) on a 10-minute charge, becoming the latest automaker to seek more self-reliance and better cost control over the critical EV component.

Claiming to be the world’s first LFP battery with an 800-volt electrical system for fast charging, the so-called Gold Brick battery features a faster recharging speed than some of the most advanced offerings from established battery suppliers such as CATL and BYD. CATL’s latest Shenxing battery adds 400 km on a 10-minute charge. 

The decision by Zeekr to make its own EV batteries is one of the clearest examples of the Geely-owned brand’s determination to have greater control over its EVs’ core technologies, Chief Executive Andy An told a press conference in the eastern city of Quzhou on Thursday. 

Here’s what Zeekr’s management said about the battery and its production plan: 

Gold Brick battery: The blade-shaped LFP battery will be first equipped for the entry-level version of the Zeekr 007, the brand’s first battery electric sedan with a pre-sale price of RMB 224,900 ($31,059), offering a driving range of 688 km on a single charge. 

• Zeekr’s new batteries have a cell-level energy density of 250 watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg) and reach 128 Wh/kg at a system level. The company said it can fit more battery cells into a given space, which enables more energy density and requires fewer connection components. 
• For comparison, CATL’s other most recent battery, Qilin – which is packed with more expensive nickel and cobalt-based cells – reaches 255 Wh/kg at a system level and can power an EV for 1,000 km. The next-generation Qilin will give 500 km of range after 12 minutes of charge. 
• In what An described as a “very important” strategic partnership (our translation), Zeekr continues to source batteries from CATL. The long-range 007 sedan, offering a driving range of 870 km, will be powered by CATL’s nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) batteries.

Quzhou production base: The Quzhou factory, which also produces NMC batteries for other Geely-owned marques such as Smart and Galaxy, will have an annual capacity of 24 gigawatt-hours (GWh) next year. This will allow the automaker to achieve an annual production run rate of 840,000 EVs. 

• An mentioned the likelihood of supplying the battery type and module assembly to other Geely-affiliated brands, especially those that share the SEA vehicle platform Zeekr builds its cars on, as well as rivals’ models. 
• The facility started operations last month after being constructed in 15 months. The company is targeting a yield rate, which measures the number of satisfactory units coming out of all produced items, of 93% in Quzhou, Vice President Xie Shibin told reporters during an interview on Thursday. 
• Zeekr’s parent company Geely, which owns the facility, has deployed a set of solar arrays on the rooftop with a long-term goal of making it a zero-carbon plant, the executives added.

Context: Geely is the latest in a range of Chinese automakers from GAC to Changan that has turned to making its own electric vehicle batteries in order to lower production costs and gain control over its supply chain. An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) could recover its investment and make a profit if it produces more than 15 GWh worth of batteries, McKinsey & Company has estimated.

• The global EV battery market is currently led by CATL, with the Chinese giant accounting for more than a third of the market from January to October, according to figures compiled by industry tracker SNE Research.
• Among automakers, BYD made an early bet on in-house battery making, launching its blade-shaped LFP batteries in 2020 and recording shipment of 87.5 GWh during the first nine months of this year.
• Zeekr has been partnering with CATL, with the latter’s Qilin battery first equipped by the Zeekr 009 luxury van and the completion of a $750 million financing round partly backed by the battery giant early this year.
• The EV brand filed for an initial public offering in New York last December in the hope of raising more than $1 billion at a valuation of more than $10 billion. It has also made a foray into the European market, currently selling EVs in the Netherlands and Sweden.

Temu has filed a fresh lawsuit against rival Shein accusing the fast fashion giant of carrying out “a multifaceted scheme” to slow Temu’s growth in the US, according to a Wednesday filing. The ultra-low price retailer is alleging its Chinese counterpart infringed upon its intellectual property rights and entered into anti-competitive exclusivity agreements with merchants. The documents from Temu say Shein’s actions have “escalated recently.” The new lawsuit comes just weeks after the two sides agreed to end legal battles with each other in late October. According to the filing, Whale Inc, the operator of Temu in the US, has accused Shein of using “false imprisonment”, “phone seizure” and “loyalty attestations” as tactics to force merchants not to work with Temu, with the documents labeling Shein “a Potemkin village”. [Temu court filing]

East Buy, a subsidiary of private tutoring giant New Oriental that successfully transitioned to livestream-selling farm products, saw its market price slump nearly 20% after a dispute involving influential livestreamer Dong Yuhui intensified. East Buy’s official Douyin account said promotional content read by Dong in a recent livestream was a result of multi-party collaboration and not Dong himself. East Buy now has over 30 million followers on China’s TikTok sibling Douyin, 800,000 less than a week previously. Founder and chairman of New Oriental Michael Yu apologized on Thursday as public uproar resounded online, saying it was supposed to be an “internal matter” and exposed to “big holes” in East Buy’s management. [TechNode reporting]

AGIBOT, an intelligent robot company, recently secured a new round of financing valued at RMB 600 million ($85 million), according to a report by Chinese media outlet 36Kr. The company is reportedly also preparing another round of financing with a pre-investment valuation of RMB 7 billion ($980 million). Founded by Peng Zhihui in February, AGIBOT unveiled the Expedition A1 humanoid robot with a PowerFlow joint motor, a reverse-joint design, and a dexterous hand called SkillHand, in August. Peng (also known as Zhihui Jun and who was born in 1993), chose to depart from Huawei in December 2022 to establish his own robot company, despite being offered an annual salary of millions of RMB through Huawei’s Genius Youth Program. [36Kr, in Chinese]

Chinese tech giant Alibaba is doubling down on artificial intelligence to spur the growth of its e-commerce division, after founder Jack Ma wrote an internal memo saying the era of AI e-commerce “has just begun.” The company’s domestic and international retail businesses are testing multiple AI-driven tools and are on a hiring spree for AI-related roles, according to local outlet LatePost.

Why it matters: Alibaba hopes that by integrating generative AI into its core e-commerce business, it will further boost sales in the highly lucrative sector and create new forms of customer experience to up business retention rates.

Details: Taobao and Tmall Group have channeled their AI focus into four key areas:  marketing platform Alimama, customer apps, merchant apps, and industry-specific apps. Before the reorganization led by Alibaba’s chief technology officer Wu Zeming, there were around 20 teams within the group exploring AI-related businesses, the report said.

• This year’s Singles Day shopping festival, which started in late October, was a testing ground for Alibaba-created AI shopping assistants, including Taobao Wenwen, a chatbot designed for consumer-facing interaction that relies on its pre-trained generative ability to provide users with shopping recommendations. 
• The firm also introduced at least ten free tools for merchants to assist in their marketing and merchandising efforts during the month-long bonanza. While Alibaba kept silent on sales achieved during the festival this year, it announced that the Wenwen chatbot engaged with over five million users, and the merchant tools were used over 1.5 billion times.
• Enabling businesses to achieve lower operation costs through generative AI solutions is seen as a commonality among Alibaba’s AI products. Earlier last month, in a pilot launch event of Aidge, a tool facilitating features from translation and marketing to localized content and design, vice president of Alibaba International Zhang Kaifu said that it is dedicated to “simplifying global operations for small and medium-sized enterprises.” 
• Zhang also leads AI initiatives within Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group, overseeing a team of more than 100, according to LatePost, with one-third engaged in training large language models.

Context: AI appears to be a top priority in Alibaba’s strategy since new management took over in September. In his first letter to all staff, CEO Eddie Wu announced “user first, AI-driven” as his vision for the 24-year-old company, a business that has recently been overshadowed by rivals. “We will realign our operations and refocus our business around these two core strategies,” said Wu.

• An employee posted a critical note on an Alibaba internal forum after Temu parent PDD closed in on  the company’s market valuation late last month, a move that prompted Jack Ma’s rare appearance with him calling on staff to provide more constructive comments and suggestions, especially innovative ideas to the group.

On Wednesday, Huawei launched the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA) app, a smart driving application for its Huawei-branded cars, on major Android application platforms in China. HIMA represents a new upgrade of Huawei’s auto business, currently encompassing the AITO and LUXEED series models. Users can remotely control their vehicles through this app, including locking the car, controlling windows and the trunk, adjusting air conditioning, monitoring real-time vehicle status, and finding charging stations on the map. Additionally, it provides online test drive reservations and facilitates online purchasing for Huawei cars. In November, the AITO series achieved a record-breaking 18,827 vehicles, marking a 48.24% increase compared to the 12,700 vehicles delivered in October, as reported by the company. [IThome, in Chinese]

The update log for Xiaomi’s HyperOS reveals a new feature that can automatically block porn apps and trigger a police alarm, as per a recent image posted on Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok). This image has sparked widespread discussion and concern among Xiaomi’s domestic users. Wang Hua, the manager of Xiaomi’s PR department, posted a clarification via the Twitter-like platform Weibo, stating that the original update log is focused on “updating Google security patches to enhance system security.” He encourages netizens who have updated the HyperOS to help spread the clarification. On October 26, Xiaomi announced the launch of the domestic version of HyperOS, a self-developed operating system for Xiaomi devices, with the international release scheduled for the first quarter of 2024. [Weibo, in Chinese]

Xiaomi on Tuesday released a statement refuting an apparent claim made by senior Huawei executive Yu Chengdong that Xiaomi’s dragon bone hinge technology for its foldable phones is a direct copy of Huawei’s dual rotating water drop hinge. Yu, the CEO of Huawei’s consumer department, made these comments during a company event last week; Xiaomi has said the accusation is “seriously inconsistent with the facts.”

Why it matters: One of the key elements of foldable phones lies in their unique hinge design, which directly influences the phone’s folding mechanism and screen creases. The controversy between Huawei and Xiaomi, two of China’s biggest phone brands, reflects intensifying competition in the foldable phone market.     

Details: In the statement, Xiaomi posted detailed comparisons, including the application dates, publication dates, and technical features of relevant patents. Both the design concept and mechanical structure of their dragon bone hinge are completely different from Huawei’s dual rotating water drop hinge, according to the statement, which was posted to the company’s account on the Twitter-like Weibo platform.

• “Some companies directly copy our technology and then claim it as their own invention. The concept of the dragon bone hinge is fundamentally non-existent, as they’ve transformed our double rotating water drop hinge into a dragon bone hinge,” said Yu during an annual Huawei event on Dec.10. “Once competitors make modifications, this technology becomes their own,” he added.
• While he didn’t explicitly name the rival phone brand, Yu’s remarks were widely interpreted as an attack on Xiaomi, which launched its new generation of foldable flagship, the Xiaomi MIX Fold 3, in August and is the only phone brand on the market to use what it terms a dragon bone hinge.
• According to Xiaomi’s statement, the dragon bone hinge was patented on September 18, 2020, and received patent authorization on January 5, 2021. Huawei’s dual-rotating water drop hinge was only publicly disclosed on June 18, 2021, though it was patented on December 13, 2019. 
• Xiaomi’s dragon bone hinge features a “three-level rod, five-component, seven-low-friction design,” the statement continued, while Huawei’s dual rotating water drop hinge is described as a “two-level rod, three-component, four-low-friction design.” 
• Furthermore, Huawei’s current three-level rod patent was applied for on October 29, 2021, and was publicly disclosed on May 5, 2023, but it has not yet entered mass production, according to Xiaomi.
• In the concluding part of the statement, Xiaomi emphasized that Yu Chengdong should adhere to “the basic principles of science” and refrain from misleading the public.

Context: Research firm TrendForce‘s report indicates that the anticipated shipment of foldable smartphones in 2023 is around 18.3 million units, with a year-on-year increase of 43%. Huawei’s estimated shipment of foldable smartphones this year is expected to reach 2.5 million units, according to the same report.

• The Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 set a new record for Xiaomi upon its release, with sales increasing 2.25 times compared to the previous generation, according to the company’s second quarter financial report.
• In the third quarter of 2023, sales of foldable smartphones in the Chinese market reached 1.98 million units, representing a year-on-year increase of 175%, according to CINNO Research. In terms of brand ranking, Huawei occupied the top spot with a market share of 28.6%, while Xiaomi was in sixth place with a market share of 8.7%.

WeChat is set to charge security deposits for mini-programs that are designed for users to watch short dramas within the messaging app, as reported by the Shanghai Securities Journal, citing various industry sources. According to the report, the deposit amount varies, with some receiving RMB 1,000 payment notices, while others are required to pay RMB 100. Mini-apps may face limited visibility in search results unless operators fulfill the deposit payment, as outlined in the payment notice. The deposit aims to ensure the provision of “high-quality goods and services” by the operator, according to Tencent regulations. This move underscores the increasing content control within the rapidly growing short web drama market. [Shanghai Securities Journal, in Chinese]

Alibaba injects an additional $634 million into Lazada, its Southeast Asia arm, amid escalating regional competition, reports Tech in Asia. This latest investment brings Alibaba’s total injection into Lazada this year to over $1.8 billion. The move follows Chinese counterpart TikTok’s $1.5 billion investment in Indonesia-based GoTo’s e-commerce unit to revive its online shopping business, three months after the short video platform had been forced to suspend retail services. Alibaba’s International Digital Commerce, overseeing overseas marketplaces including Lazada, saw quarterly revenue soar at a double-digit pace this year though still making a loss. [Tech in Asia]

SES, a battery startup supported by General Motors, Hyundai, and Honda, has entered into a joint development agreement (JDA) with one of its major investors to create prototype lithium-metal batteries labeled as B-Sample. This move aims to promote the adoption of this emerging technology in electric vehicles. Chief Executive Hu Qichao, declaring the agreement the first of its kind in the industry on Wednesday, didn’t disclose the carmaker’s name but mentioned that a similar deal with another backer is imminent. The B-Sample is the second-level prototype in the automotive industry, featuring full specifications and can be installed into test vehicles for further validation, typically taking one to two years. Last May, the Boston-headquartered company announced its intention to enter the series production process after completing the validation of C/D-sample which may last another two years. Lithium-metal batteries, which lack the carbon materials used in existing lithium-ion batteries and have pure metal lithium in the anode, theoretically offer longer driving ranges and more cabin space. [TechNode reporting]

China’s central government is set to raise the threshold for the exemption of new energy vehicles (NEVs) from purchase taxes in June, introducing changes such as higher driving ranges for battery electric vehicles. The lowest driving range for all-electric vehicles qualifying for EV tax breaks will increase from 100 kilometers (62 miles) to 200 kilometers, as outlined in a document published on Monday by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, and the State Taxation Administration. As part of the update, Beijing has also issued new technical standards, including the lowest energy density of EV batteries, aimed at ensuring limited degradation of driving ranges in freezing temperatures. Additionally, carmakers are now required to provide proof of ensuring battery swap services to customers who purchased their EVs with swappable batteries, either by establishing their own battery swap stations or delegating third parties to offer the service. In June, the central government had announced that Chinese EV buyers would be entitled to a 10% purchase tax exemption until the end of 2025, marking the extension of the policy for the fourth time since its initial release in 2017. [MIIT release, TechNode reporting, in Chinese]

Chinese tech giant Tencent is planning to expand its short video and livestreaming e-commerce team as sales surge, according to a Monday report by LatePost, which said WeChat’s in-app shopping feature has achieved a total of RMB 100 billion ($13.9 billion) gross merchandise volume this year via its TikTok-like short video service.

Why it matters: The figure shows Tencent has increasingly drawn in users to spend more time shopping on Video Accounts, a service that launched in beta mode in January 2020.

• According to the company’s president Martin Lau, Tencent could gain a competitive advantage by attracting “a pretty significant high-income and affluent customer base” on WeChat, who may not typically make purchases on other short video platforms.

Details: WeChat Video Accounts, Tencent’s short video feature also known as Channels, has been seen as the “hope” of the company since founder and CEO Pony Ma highlighted it in an end-of-year meeting in 2022.

• As a latecomer to livestreaming e-commerce, Tencent is set to further develop the basics of online shopping, including WeChat payments, LatePost reported. During the company’s latest earnings call, Lau said the livestreaming e-commerce playbook was “quite clear” despite involving many steps. Tencent wants, “to build it in a systematic way, step by step,” Lau added.
• While Tencent’s e-commerce sales have reached an impressive RMB 100 billion, it has a long way to go before catching up with rivals Kuaishou and Douyin, as the former boasted sales of nearly RMB 800 billion worth of goods in the first three quarters this year, while TikTok’s sibling app Douyin is expected to see more than RMB 2 trillion in goods sales this year.
• Video Accounts brought RMB 3 billion in advertising revenue in the second quarter, Tencent said, adding that the figure for the subsequent three months showed “strong growth” over the previous quarter, although exact figures were not disclosed. Kuaishou generated RMB14.35 billion in advertising revenue in the same period.
• Ad load, which sits at less than 3% for Channels compared to rival platforms that regularly exceed 10%, serves as a growth driver that translates into more revenue, according to Tencent’s Chief Strategy Officer James Mitchell.

Context: WeChat, which started as an instant messaging service, now offers users a rich ecosystem of services via its mini-programs (in-app mini-apps) and Video Accounts. Tencent’s hope is that it can continue to offer the company more routes to profitability.

• Lau highlighted that several hundred million users interact with over one million mini-programs on WeChat, which facilitated over RMB 1.5 trillion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) between July and September this year. 
• In an indication of the Tencent platform’s importance, iPhone maker Apple opened an official retail store within WeChat this July.

China Literature Limited (Yuewen in Chinese), a leading online literature and intellectual property platform in China, announced on Monday that the company has entered into an asset transfer agreement with Tencent to acquire the related assets of Tencent Animation and Comics, including related app platforms and the intellectual property rights and related rights to its content, for RMB 600 million ($84 million). Established in 2012, Tencent Animation and Comics is a domestic animation and comic platform that has launched popular titles including The Outcast, The Fox Spirit Matchmaker, and Spare Me, Great Lord. Notably, the adapted animation series of the comic title The Outcast has accumulated over 6.5 billion video views on the Tencent Animation and Comics platform. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

The Chinese version of Cookie Run: Kingdom is set to launch on Dec. 28, following a final user test conducted by game distributor Tencent Games in China from Dec. 4 to assess the game’s overall completeness. The Chinese version will introduce new content, including a Chinese voice cast, additional characters, game skins, decorations, and collaboration plans with other Tencent games. Developed by Korean developer Devsisters, Cookie Run: Kingdom is a mobile RPG (role-playing game) where players build a kingdom and lead a team of cookie characters on an adventure to defeat the evil enemy Slimes. Combining base-building elements with real-time combat, the game features colorful graphics and various cookies with unique abilities. Since its release in January 2021, Cookie Run: Kingdom has generated $400 million by February 2023, with over 27 million downloads in two years, according to analytics firm Sensor Tower. [nadianshi, in Chinese]

KargoBot, the autonomous truck unit of Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi, announced on Monday that it has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Beijing-based auto tech unicorn Horizon Robotics. The two companies are strengthening their alliance to promote the adoption of autonomous vehicles. KargoBot stated that it has been validating domain controllers, a computer that controls vehicle functions related to a specific area, such as body and chassis. This validation is based on Horizon’s Journey series processors, following their partnership established in April. The news follows reports in October that Didi raised RMB 450 million ($61.7 million) for the separate unit from investors, including cashmere maker Erdos Group. Didi has been piloting over 150 robot trucks for cargo deliveries in China, especially in the northern region. Horizon has also supported Chinese self-driving companies like Qcraft, as they collaboratively develop assisted driving technologies for passenger electric vehicles, including Li Auto and other carmakers. [KargoBot announcement, in Chinese]

Volkswagen’s software unit Cariad and Chinese auto tech startup Horizon Robotics expect to recruit 300 employees by the end of this month for a newly established joint venture called Carizon, in an effort to meet growing local demand for advanced driving technology. 

Why it matters: The hiring spree marks the German auto major’s latest effort to develop its own in-vehicle software following an announcement last year of a $2.3 billion investment deal for a 60% stake in the JV in partnership with Horizon. 

Details: The two companies have not officially provided details of the recruitment plan, but Horizon’s co-founder and technology chief Huang Chang, leading a team of more than 100 engineers, has reportedly joined the JV. 

• Su Jing, a former head of Huawei’s autonomous driving team who has been on board at Horizon since earlier this year, will lead the development of advanced driving systems based on Horizon’s next-generation computing solution Journey 6. 
• Beijing-headquartered Carizon was officially set up on Nov. 20 with a registered capital of RMB 6.8 ($940 million), with VW and Horizon taking 60% and 40% stakes in the entity respectively, according to Chinese corporate data site Tianyancha.
• The JV will focus on rolling out automated driving technology powered by Horizon’s Journey series processors and integrated into VW’s upcoming battery EVs in China, according to an announcement dated Dec. 8. 
• VW and Horizon are on track to deliver their first collaborative development effort as early as 2025, Cariad China’s chief executive Chang Qing told Chinese reporters last month. This will allow VW vehicles to function independently on Chinese highways and certain urban streets, a feature popular with Chinese consumers.

Context: VW has made a series of moves to step up the pace of its software development for the Chinese market, including a $700 million deal for a 5% stake in Chinese EV maker Xpeng Motors unveiled in July.

• The German carmaker is also forming a JV with China’s ThunderSoft to improve its infotainment systems and car cockpits, Reuters reported in April, while partnering with smartphone maker Vivo on a similar effort.
• VW sold roughly 2.3 million cars in China for the first nine months of 2023, recording a year-on-year decline of 3%, of which roughly 117,100 units were EVs, up 3.9% from a year ago. It delivered 341,100 EVs in Europe over the same period, an increase of 60.9% from last year.
• Horizon said in April it has shipped more than 3 million computing solutions for over 120 car models from prominent Chinese automakers ranging from BYD to Geely. Self-driving startups such as Pony.ai and Qcraft are developing assisted driving technology based on its processors.
• US chip powerhouse Nvidia is also ramping up its self-driving car efforts in China with plans to expand its workforce locally after recently hiring Wu Xinzhou, a former vice president at Xpeng Motors, TechNode has reported.
• Speaking to Chinese media outlet LatePost in July, Wu said that foreign companies would need to establish research and development teams of “at least several hundred people” locally to be able to compete with Chinese carmakers and self-driving car companies (our translation).

Bubble tea chain Heytea opened its first US store last week in New York, marking the first Chinese-style tea maker to enter the world’s largest economy while its Chinese rivals still focus on building their presence in South East Asia. The New York Heytea menu has 16 beverages on sale, including fruit-made tea and milk tea, priced between $3.99 and $7.49. The brand is initially offering buy one get one free deals at the Manhattan-located store. The Shenzhen-headquartered company began its global expansion in Singapore in 2018, six years after its founding, and currently has operations in the UK, Australia, Canada, and Malaysia. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

Huawei’s deputy general manager of the French branch, Zhang Minggang, announced on December 10 that Huawei’s first overseas factory will be established in France, with production expected by the end of 2025. The construction is progressing toward the goal of manufacturing one billion devices annually and creating 500 local employment opportunities. Huawei plans to manufacture and supply the entire European market from France, with an investment of 200 million euros. Instead of smartphones, this factory will produce components for 4G and 5G base stations, including chipsets and motherboards. By 2021, Huawei achieved 2.5 billion euros in sales in France, creating approximately 10,000 jobs and holding a 20% market share in France’s telecommunications infrastructure market, according to the company. [IThome, in Chinese]

Richard Liu, founder of Chinese e-commerce giant JD, admitted the company “must change” at an internal forum and blamed himself for the mismanagement of multiple issues at the firm. Liu’s comments came in response to an operations employee who pointed out that a flurry of problems currently exists at the retailer, from complicated promotion mechanisms and inadequate implementation of low-price strategies to insufficient cross-sector linkages, according to local media outlet LatePost. “It hits the company’s pain points,” Liu wrote, while encouraging JD employees to be more patient due to the time he said it would take to adjust at the “huge and bloated organization.” Liu’s comments come after Alibaba founder Jack Ma also urged his company to embrace change two weeks ago in a rare memo as Temu parent PDD closes in on China’s online retail leader in market valuation, with PDD’s latest quarterly earnings reflecting its strong growth momentum. [LatePost, in Chinese]

On Dec. 8, Xiaomi collaborated with HoYoverse’s hit game Genshin Impact to introduce an exclusive version of the Smart Band 8 Pro in China. This flagship wearable is uniquely packaged, complete with hidden surprises dedicated to one of the game’s favorite characters, Tartaglia. The package includes a character poster, themed stickers, a special strap, and a wireless charger designed to match the character. The user interface (UI) is also designed to reflect the theme of Genshin Impact. Despite these enhancements, the specifications remain consistent with the regular Xiaomi Band 8 Pro. Priced at RMB 549 ($77), the limited edition is slightly more expensive than the standard Smart Band 8 Pro, which starts at RMB 355 ($50) in China. [Zaker, in Chinese]

Revolutionary Event Unveils Global Short Video Trends and Business Opportunities

FastMoss, a leading TikTok data analytics platform, is thrilled to announce the FastMoss Global Short Video Conference & Expo (FGVCon), a revolutionary two-day event set to take place from January 18th to January 19th, 2024, at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center.

FGVCon transcends borders and platforms, assembling industry leaders, top influencers, brands, sellers, agencies, and platform officials in the dynamic world of short-form video content. The conference not only highlights TikTok but also explores emerging opportunities on platforms such as Facebook Reels, YouTube Shorts, Amazon, Kwai, and more. Confirmed guests include Xiaobin LIU (VP & CMO of Miniso), Grace YANG (Founder & CEO of NextWave), Chris Pereira (Founder & CEO of iMPact), and renowned brands like Anker, F-Commerce, MeToo, among others. International guests from the US, Europe, Vietnam, Thailand, and more will converge in Shenzhen, China, to share their knowledge and secrets, collectively propelling the global short video and live streaming industry forward.

Top TikTok Influencers to Share Success Secrets at FGVCon

FGVCon marks the first Chinese conference of short video and live streaming industry to invite overseas top influencers and innovatively introduces China’s first “FGVCon”. The event features leading figures such as “Vietnam Viya,” top American TikTok influencers Jeremy Pugh and Janey, TikTok headliner Venny Albert (with 12.1 million followers), and Akash Ellahi (with 14.9 million followers), making their Chinese show.

In addition to confirmed influencers, the event will showcase other outstanding domestic and international talents from TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Facebook Reels and more.

First Collaboration and engagement with multiple Official platforms at once

FGVCon pioneers’ collaboration with multiple platforms, including TikTok, Facebook Reels, YouTube Shorts, Kwai, Shopee, Lazada, TEMU, Amazon, and more. Confirmed guests include Yuki Yuan (Google’s YouTube Shorts), Vivian (Shopee), Liu Na (Kwai for Business) and more. These platform representatives will delve into market trends and consumer demands in Southeast Asian countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Indonesia, and Thailand. More mystery guests and platform representatives are confirmed, with detailed information to be gradually revealed.

The FastMoss Global Short Video Conference & Expo (FGVCon) emerges as a beacon of innovation and collaboration in the dynamic realm of the short video and live streaming industry. Assembled at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center from January 18th to January 19th, 2024, FGVCon promises an immersive experience, offering a deeper understanding of market trends and consumer demands from around the world.

A recent report by Taiwanese media outlet DigiTimes suggests that Chinese panel manufacturer BOE is facing challenges in expanding its OLED (organic light-emitting diodes) supply for Apple’s iPhone 15 models, primarily due to light leakage issues. 

Why it matters: If BOE fails to address the light leakage problem, there is a high possibility that they may lose potential orders for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 from Apple.

Details: The current yield rate of BOE’s OLED panels for the iPhone 15 has dropped to 30% on the back of the issue, causing a decrease in production output, according to the DigiTimes report. 

• BOE has been selected to supply OLED panels for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. However, the supplier encountered a problem with light leakage, specifically in the panels designed for the standard models. The issue revolves around the Dynamic Island on the OLED display, where the hole punch and the pill-shaped cutout housing the TrueDepth camera sensor and FaceID are located.
• Given the light leakage issue and potential impact on iPhone sales, BOE may face challenges in expanding orders from Apple, which in turn would impact its revenue. According to industry analysis, BOE was expected to supply 5 million to 15 million panels for the iPhone 15 this year. However, due to lower production yields, the actual supply may be limited to a range of 2 million to 3 million panels.
• As Apple shifts its focus to the next-generation iPhone 16 series, avoiding light leakage is becoming more challenging, especially with larger panels. The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus are expected to feature OLED panels similar to the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, while the Pro series may sport larger sizes, according to US media outlet Wccftech. The iPhone 16 Pro is anticipated to come with a 6.3-inch display, larger than the 6.1-inch display on the iPhone 15 Pro.

Context: Samsung also manufactures OLED panels for the iPhone 15 lineup, holding a dominant 91% share of the supply from June to August this year, according to DigiTimes. If the issue of light leakage persists, Samsung’s greater efficiency would become a significant concern for BOE in the short term.

• In terms of the foldable panel market, Samsung is anticipated to uphold its leading position during the third and fourth quarters of this year, commanding a 74% market share, according to Korean media outlet Business Korea. While this represents an increase from the second quarter’s 63%, it marks a decline of 17% from the 91% share it held during the same period last year. 
• BOE, which previously held a 4% market share in the foldable panel market during the third and fourth quarters of 2022, is projected to surge to 18% in the same period this year. This growth can be attributed to its supply to Chinese foldable smartphone manufacturers such as Huawei, Honor, and Oppo.

TikTok parent ByteDance intends to sell 4.389 million shares in Zhangyue, the owner of the digital reading platform iReader, marking its third stock setback since becoming the company’s third-largest shareholder in 2020. Currently, ByteDance holds a 7.49% stake in Zhangyue. This recent divestment follows a nearly 15% surge in Zhangyue’s shares over the past two months, attributed to the popularity of short web dramas before China’s broadcasting regulator tightened content control in mid-November. The share reduction, to be carried out by a wholly-owned subsidiary of ByteDance, will not exceed 1% of the total share capital of iReader’s owner, as per Zhangyue’s regulatory filings on Wednesday. ByteDance initially acquired an 11% stake in the e-book reader shares through a RMB 1.1 billion investment three years ago, aiming to diversify growth into new areas. [Zhangyue, in Chinese]

Chinese electric vehicle battery maker Gotion High Tech said on Thursday that the first locally-made battery pack has rolled off assembly lines in the facility it partners on with state-owned energy giant PTT in Thailand’s Rayong province. The news marks the beginning of local manufacturing in Southeast Asia’s second biggest economy for the Volkswagen-backed battery supplier, which is set to begin supplying the product to Chinese EV startup Hozon Auto in the first quarter of 2024. The 38 kilowatt-hour (kWh), relatively inexpensive lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery provides an EV with a driving range of around 400 kilometers (249 miles) and the joint plant has an initial capacity for making two gigawatt-hours (GWh) worth of batteries each year. Larger rival CATL also said in June that it will license its technologies to PTT-affiliated Arun Plus to establish a battery production base in the country. EVE, whose clients include BMW and Mercedes-Benz, in July announced plans to jointly build a six GWh battery plant with local renewable energy startup Energy Absolute. [Gotion announcement, in Chinese]

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Evan Huang and translated by Zinan Zhang and Jake Newby.

On Dec. 5, 2023, Pete Lau, the founder of OnePlus (now Senior Vice President at Oppo), held a press conference to mark the Chinese mobile phone brand’s tenth anniversary where he answered a series of screened questions from netizens, posted on the social media platform Weibo. These questions led Lau to offer a retrospective on OnePlus’s entrepreneurial history, discuss its brand positioning, and evaluate some of its classic products from the last decade. 

OnePlus was founded on Dec. 17, 2013, and released its first product, the OnePlus One, in Beijing five months later. Time magazine later praised the phone as a “Phone of Dreams” in an article that made OnePlus the first Chinese smartphone brand to be reviewed by the outlet. Yet in recent years the brand has struggled to differentiate itself from Oppo, with whom it shares a large amount of investment, leading to several restructurings in the relationship between the two firms.

Understandably, the tenth anniversary milestone found Lau in a reflective mood, but he also laid out some of his ambitions for the brand’s future and repeatedly emphasized that OnePlus’ has its place in a crowded mobile phone market.

Material innovation

One area in which Lau feels the brand has excelled – and differentiated itself – in the last ten years is in the materials it has used.

As early as 2014, with the OnePlus One, OnePlus introduced two innovative materials: “baby skin” and bamboo. The baby skin white variant, featured a three-layer evenly brushed back cover, with a delicate and smooth texture due to its spray-on material extracted from natural cashew nuts that didn’t retain sweat stains. The bamboo version, using the grass as its back cover material, provided a warm and smooth feel.

With the OnePlus 3 series protective cases, OnePlus introduced another new material: ebony wood. This is a scarce wood with a tight structure, hardness, and corrosion resistance, showcasing distinct wood grains.

With the OnePlus 5T, OnePlus once again challenged traditional material usage and craftsmanship modes, using a new spray-on material and process on the white back cover. Through four new high-precision spray processes, sandstone white and metal materials were organically fused to provide outstanding tactility.

AG glass, widely used in current phones, gained its popularity from OnePlus. On the OnePlus 6T, AG etching was used to create AG glass, providing an impressive matte feel. Today, OnePlus has adopted the fifth-generation AG glass technology, achieving a haze of the glass surface to 72%, and delivering a matte texture resistant to fingerprints and sweat stains.

OnePlus’ pursuit of material innovation extends beyond this. In the spring of this year, OnePlus launched the OnePlus 11 Jupiter Rock Limited Edition, using 3D microcrystalline rock, a material that has never been used before in the industry.

OS issues: From independence to adoption

OnePlus phones were originally equipped with an in-house developed operating system, HydrogenOS. HydrogenOS was known for its simplicity. The “smoothness” of HydrogenOS was highly praised by many early users and was considered a competitive advantage for OnePlus.

As other domestic smartphone systems became more localized, however, HydrogenOS, which leant more towards Android systems, began to see that competitive advantage significantly reduced. 

ColorOS, developed by Oppo, is a more comprehensive operating system compared to HydrogenOS, offering rich and stable functionality. Therefore, with the OnePlus 9 series in 2021, OnePlus directly adopted ColorOS, aiming to gradually replace its HydrogenOS with a higher caliber system. On Nov. 13, Oppo announced that ColorOS’s global monthly active users exceeded 600 million. 

The recently released OnePlus 12 comes equipped with ColorOS 14, debuting the all-new AndesGPT model and integrating deeply with the PANTANAL system to break down barriers between data and services.

OnePlus and Oppo integration

Due to Pete Lau’s connections with Oppo, OnePlus has always had a close relationship with the mobile phone giant. In 2021, OnePlus and Oppo fully integrated, with the former becoming an independent sub-brand under Oppo. 

Lau has always been keen to emphasize that OnePlus and Oppo are two completely independent companies, with overlapping relationships only in terms of investment. However, OnePlus has benefited from the support and resources provided by Oppo in areas such as product development, technology, supply chain, and channels. To seize new opportunities and promote the healthy and long-term growth of OnePlus, collaboration with Oppo is needed to enhance the former company’s brand strength, while also bringing positive synergies to both sides, Lau said.

In recent years, OnePlus has opened up a new Ace series product line, as part of an attempt to differentiate its brand from Oppo. The Ace series is intended to enable more people to gain access to what Lau terms “premium flagship” products but with lower price points. 

After the release of the Ace series, OnePlus achieved a year-on-year growth of 9.6% in total domestic sales in the third quarter of last year, with a month-on-month growth of 44.3%. In the first half of 2023, OnePlus’ smartphone sales increased by 335% year-on-year, making it the fastest-growing mobile phone brand in the industry during the same period. Therefore, Lau jokingly remarked that competitors should be grateful that OnePlus has yet to venture into products priced below RMB 2,000.

Thinking globally

At the OnePlus tenth anniversary event, Lau repeatedly emphasized the mantra of “making good products”. Yet he also stressed that for OnePlus, this philosophy doesn’t mean that they excessively emphasize the differences between countries. Whether in design style or product experience, there is no deliberate effort to create different products based on regional distinctions. He believes that “internationalization is a false proposition.” Truly good products are universal and have no borders, he said – as long as the product is good enough, it will be accepted by users both domestically and internationally.

Looking back over the past decade, Lau admitted that OnePlus has many dreams yet to be realized. In the future, Lau said, the company will continue to persist in making good products, continually pursue higher performance, and bring users more quality products and experiences.

Kuaishou, the operator of its eponymous short video platform, is currently undergoing its biggest organizational overhaul in a year, encompassing core business lines such as the main site, e-commerce, and commercialization sectors, as reported by the local outlet Jiemian on Monday. As part of this restructuring, the former local consumption department is poised to be renamed to reflect a shift in focus toward the real estate industry. This unit will now oversee real estate-related business, given Kuaishou’s robust performance in property promotions through livestreaming and short videos. In the last quarter alone, the company successfully sold RMB 14 billion in property, surpassing its full-year 2022 sales by RMB 4 billion, despite challenges posed by China’s real estate crisis. Additionally, the company plans to establish a new segment dedicated to the creator and content ecosystem, aiming to further support content generation within a profit-driven strategy, according to the report. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

On December 14, China’s Zeekr will unveil the first battery pack custom-designed by the electric vehicle maker in a ceremony emphasizing its scale, vertical integration, and expertise. The event will take place at a production base in the eastern Chinese city of Quzhou. While Zeekr provided no further details on the Twitter-like platform Weibo, sources suggest that these batteries will initially be integrated into Zeekr’s first premium sedan, the 007, priced from RMB 224,900 ($31,059) and set for delivery next month, as reported by local media outlet Jiemian on Thursday. Geely’s subsidiary has formed an alliance with CATL, and its 009 multi-purpose vehicle becomes the first model powered by the battery giant’s Qilin battery, offering a driving range of 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) on a single charge. Notably, rival NIO has been developing its own batteries since last year, planning to introduce them with the first model of its upcoming mainstream sub-brand, Alps, in 2024. [Zeekr announcement, Jiemian, in Chinese]

Tesla is preparing for a major expansion of the Gigafactory Shanghai, its core electric vehicle production facility in China, in a move that looks set to enable the US automaker to bring out its long-rumored budget compact hatchback, local media has reported. 

The company is also said to be readying to supply Chinese clients with its large-scale utility batteries known as Megapacks from next year, having begun searching for a head of local sales. The availability of the Megapack in China will step up the pace of Tesla’s entry into the country’s energy storage market.

Why it matters: The news comes after Tesla CEO Elon Musk had dinner with Chinese president Xi Jinping, alongside other American company executives, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in San Francisco on Nov. 15. 

• In a statement published on the Chinese Twitter-like platform Weibo the next day, Tesla said it looked forward to joint developments with China in areas such as green energy vehicles, energy storage, and artificial intelligence, citing Xi’s support for Tesla’s operations in the country. 
• The moves are expected to help Tesla almost double its local production capacity and diversify its revenue sources at a time when the EV giant sees slowing sales due to growing competition from domestic players. 

Details: The so-called phase-three expansion could facilitate the production of Tesla’s upcoming car, dubbed the “Model 2” or “Model Q” with a price tag as low as RMB 150,000 ($21,800), people with knowledge of the matter told LatePost on Wednesday. 

• The expansion was put on ice early this year, according to a Jan. 12 report by Bloomberg, after apparent concerns from the Chinese government over data security issues related to Starlink, the satellite internet unit of SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket company. 
• Details of the plan remain unclear, but if it proceeds, Tesla is expected to be able to nearly double its manufacturing capacity in China to 2 million EVs a year. Analysts expect volume production of the lower-priced, next-gen Tesla vehicle no earlier than 2025.
• Meanwhile, Tesla in April announced plans to build a new facility in Shanghai – capable of making 10,000 large-scale, energy-storage battery systems, or 40 gigawatt-hours-worth (GWh) of the Megapack – scheduled to commence operations in the second quarter of 2024. 
• Sources told LatePost that the China-manufactured Megapack batteries will be delivered locally and overseas. 

Context: Tesla sold 771,171 China-made EVs in the first 10 months of the year, up 39% from a year ago, of which 308,816 were overseas exports, according to figures compiled by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). The annual growth rate saw a drop compared to 50.3% last year. 

• The US firm said in January that it deployed 6.5 GWh of energy storage in 2022, representing year-on-year growth of 64%. It estimated that the world requires a total capacity of 2,310 GWh per year of electric-chemical battery storage systems such as the Megapack in order to achieve a 100% global clean energy transition, according to estimates from the EV maker’s Master Plan 3.

Tencent’s multiplayer online battle arena game, Honor of Kings, claimed the top spot in global mobile game revenue for November, reaching approximately $100.8 million, as reported by mobile market intelligence firm AppMagic. Meanwhile, Tencent’s battle royale game, PUBG Mobile, secured the fourth position with a monthly revenue of around $80 million. Genshin Impact, an action role-playing game by HoYoverse, climbed to the third spot in November, generating a global revenue of $96.4 million—a $25 million increase from October. Conversely, HoYoverse’s Honkai: Star Rail experienced a revenue decline of over 50% compared to the previous month, only reaching $32.4 million in November.[nadianshi, in Chinese]

Chinese audio-sharing platform Ximalaya has said a report on its plan to lay off 30% of its workforce, with product and operation employees hit the hardest, is “baseless and completely untrue,” according to local media outlet Jiemian. Ximalaya claimed the company is currently undergoing regular organizational restructuring and recruitment efforts are also underway. The industry-leading firm is facing profitability challenges after 11 years of operation, with several executives quitting in the past six months including the senior vice president and chief content officer, the report said. Ximalaya recorded its first quarterly profit in the final quarter of last year, generating tens of millions of yuan, which came after an earlier prediction from the CEO in August anticipating profitability in the fourth quarter and a full-year profit in 2023. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

On Wednesday, China’s national television broadcaster, CCTV, unveiled its mascot for the 2024 Spring Festival Gala, Long Chenchen. Chenchen signifies a new beginning, while Long translates to dragon in Chinese, aligning with the Year of the Dragon in Chinese astrology for 2024. The mascot’s design draws inspiration from antique collections across various Chinese cities, featuring a turquoise dragon-shaped artifact from Luoyang, a gilded walking dragon from Xi’an Museum, and a five-clawed golden dragon from the Beijing Palace Museum. The red-skinned dragon’s back is adorned with a long cyan-colored pattern, symbolizing spring, hope, and growth in accordance with ancient Chinese astronomy. [IThome, in Chinese]

ByteDance plans to offer investors a $5 billion share buyback at $160 per share, matching the price of its latest stock repurchase option for employees in November, as reported by the South China Morning Post. This program values the TikTok owner at $268 billion, marking a 33% decrease from its peak valuation of $400 billion two years ago. Despite this, ByteDance remains China’s most highly valued unlisted tech company. The company abandoned its plans for a public listing in Hong Kong or New York following the Chinese government’s crackdown on the tech sector in mid-2020 which led Ant Group to suspend its IPO process. [SCMP]

On Tuesday, Oppo smartphone subsidiary OnePlus unveiled its flagship series OnePlus 12 just in time to celebrate the brand’s tenth anniversary on Dec. 16. To showcase the specifications of the new device, OnePlus China’s CEO Li Jie spent a full three hours describing it in detail at the launch event, making regular comparisons to Xiaomi’s 14 Pro throughout.

Why it matters: The launch of OnePlus’ new flagship is a direct challenge to Xiaomi and its subsidiary Redmi, as the Oppo sub-brand looks to focus on high-quality smartphones with cutting-edge features offered at competitive prices. 

Details: At the launch event, OnePlus repeatedly compared the OnePlus 12’s software and hardware capabilities with those of the Xiaomi 14 Pro, emphasizing its starting price of RMB 4,299 ($606), compared to the latter’s RMB 4,999 ($705).

• The OnePlus 12 features a 2K BOE screen with medical-grade eye protection, the Find imaging system created in collaboration with Hasselblad, and the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset.
• OnePlus claims to have worked with Chinese display panel maker BOE for the past two years to create the 2K BOE screen for the OnePlus 12. The screen boasts medical-grade eye protection and industry-leading peak brightness of 4,500 nits. 
• The OnePlus 12 offers a camera setup that includes a 50 MP Sony LYT-808 sensor, a 48 MP IMX481 ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 64 MP Omnivision OV64B periscope telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. For selfies and video calls, it is equipped with a 32 MP Sony IMX615 sensor at the front. The Find camera system is enhanced with Hasselblad branding and tuning technology, ensuring a high-quality imaging experience, according to OnePlus.
• The new flagship comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor under its hood. Working in conjunction with the Adreno GPU, the smartphone aims to achieve an improved gaming performance, thanks to the PixelWorks X7 Visual processor, as claimed by the company.
• The phone has a 5,400 mAh dual-cell battery, marking the largest capacity ever applied in a OnePlus device. It can charge at up to 50W via the company’s self-developed AirVOOC technology, which is three times faster than the 15W rate of Apple’s MagSafe wireless chargers. 
• The entry level model with 12GB RAM + 256GB storage is priced at RMB 4,299 ($606), while the premium version of 24GB RAM + 1TB storage is available at RMB 5,799 ($818). The phone is available in black, green, and white.

Context: In June 2021, OnePlus announced it had merged teams with Oppo, its parent company, to streamline its operations. 

• According to market research platform Counterpoint, Oppo and Xiaomi accounted for 14% of each of global smartphone shipments in the third quarter of 2023, with both firms shipping around 41.5 million units. Oppo’s data includes figures for its OnePlus brand.
• The Xiaomi 14 and 14 Pro, the first phones to feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, were launched on Oct. 26 in China. The two smartphones are currently only available in China but are expected to launch globally in early 2024.
• OnePlus founder and chief product officer Liu Zuohu stated at the anniversary event that OnePlus smartphones are available in 10,000 Oppo offline stores in China.

Xiaomi is actively preparing showrooms for vehicle sales, currently renovating and expanding retail stores in Beijing, Shanghai, and other cities. The first batch of display models is expected to arrive in the first quarter of 2024. Financial media outlet Jiemian reported on Tuesday, citing employees from a Xiaomi store in Shanghai, that the first floor of the two-story shop will be dedicated to Xiaomi’s electric vehicles after renovation work is complete. This news comes after images of Xiaomi’s first EV model were revealed on the website of China’s industry ministry last month, showcasing a five-seater sedan with a sporty design similar to the Porsche Taycan. The Chinese smartphone maker aims to commence sales in the first half of next year, entering the intensely competitive EV market in China, where rivals like Huawei have been selling EVs through their retail network. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

TikTok is reportedly nearing a deal that will help the short video app restart e-commerce operations in Indonesia, its second-largest market, nearly three months after it suspended its shopping feature in fear of being banned by the Indonesian government. A Bloomberg report said TikTok is in talks with local company GoTo to invest in its e-commerce sector Tokopedia in a deal that is expected to close as early as this month. The government of the Southeast Asian country has said apps such as TikTok hurt its bricks-and-mortar shopping businesses by encouraging people to buy online. Before the ban could be imposed, TikTok’s chief executive officer Shou Zi Chew pledged to invest billions of dollars in the country over the next few years at a public event in Jakarta. [Bloomberg]

Chinese tea chain Heytea removed a tea latte from its menu, available for less than a week, after allegations that the co-branded beverage violated Religious Affairs Regulations. Multiple local media reports indicate that Heytea introduced the controversial drink at RMB 19 ($2.7) in collaboration with Jingdezhen China Ceramics Museum on Nov. 28. The promotion featured a specially designed matching cup and fridge sticker showcasing the three Lohan porcelain. The National Religious Affairs of Shenzhen Bureau, Heytea’s headquarters, conducted a talk with the tea chain on Dec. 1. Subsequently, it acknowledged Heytea’s cooperation and stated that the company had admitted to its mistake “in a very good manner.” Although the religious regulation body did not specify the exact violation, the public widely believed that Heytea was accused of engaging in prohibited commercial propaganda under the guise of religion. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

NIO on Tuesday reported an 11% margin on vehicle sales in the third quarter to Sept. 30, up from 6.2% three months earlier and driving its total gross margin to 8% from a mere 1% over the same period. Founder and chief executive William Li attributed the improvement partly to the company’s strategy of stable pricing, when rivals such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz responded to competition by cutting prices on some of their models by as much as 30%. Revenue for the third quarter was nearly RMB 19.1 billion ($2.6 billion) compared to predictions of RMB 19.3 billion, with adjusted net losses falling 27.4% quarter-on-quarter to RMB 4.6 billion. The electric vehicle maker also announced plans to acquire two manufacturing plants it has been operating with partner JAC Group in Hefei for RMB 3.2 billion, following news that it secured a production license from the Chinese government over the weekend. Li said he expected NIO’s production costs to fall 10% if the company began making its own EVs instead of continuing to rely on contract manufacturing. [NIO financial report]

Food delivery giant Meituan has shown its ability to defend its moat advantage in local services amid a challenge from ByteDance-owned TikTok sibling Douyin, with the company achieving RMB 2 billion single-month livestreaming sales this October, up from the less than RMB 600 million recorded in July when it officially introduced its in-app livestream feature, local media outlet 36Kr cited multiple sources as saying in a Monday report.

Why it matters: Meituan, a newcomer to the livestreaming domain, is employing a high-subsidy strategy within livestream rooms to attract both customers and merchants. Despite the strong growth momentum indicated by sales figures, the company’s profit margin has seen a decline for two consecutive quarters.

Details: Livestreams conducted by Meituan itself are the main focus of the newly launched function, where hosts are sourced from external multi-channel network (MCN) companies and generate more than 70% of live gross merchandise volume (GMV), according to the 36Kr report. However, this balance is shifting as small- and medium-sized merchants flow in to sell vouchers via independent livestreams. 

• Around 30% to 40% of orders paid for on livestreams are ultimately verified at physical stores and converted into the shop’s sales, one source was cited as saying in the report. Another source, a Meituan service provider, claimed that the overall verification rate is about 60%, nearly double that of Douyin.
• Shen Quan Jie and Shen Qiang Shou are two major official livestream brands within Meituan’s food delivery segment, selling discounted takeout coupons, especially for well-known or chain restaurants. The former is a monthly promotional event occurring on the 18th of each month, while the latter livestreams for 12 hours every day, primarily targeting users in China’s first-tier cities.
• Meituan’s Hong Kong-traded shares have slumped over 50% this year, and the company’s stock experienced its largest single-day decline in over a year last Tuesday after executives warned of a slowdown in revenue growth for its core food delivery business in the fourth quarter.

Context: Meituan has increased its marketing expenses this year in an attempt to resist TikTok sister app Douyin’s push into the local life services sector, spending RMB 16.9 billion in the last quarter, a 62.5% increase from the first quarter. Meanwhile, the operating margin of its core local business has continued to decline over the last two quarters, dropping below 20% in the three months from July to September to 17.5%.

• Short video app Douyin first took a step into the local services space with food delivery trials two years ago. It has now expanded its reach to include everything from sightseeing tickets and leisure events to parent-child activities. Local media outlet LatePost previously reported that these services generated over RMB 100 billion in sales for Douyin in the first half of 2023.

Honda’s joint venture with China’s state-owned GAC Group made around 900 contract workers, or 7% of its workforce, redundant in late November, becoming the latest Japanese automaker to downsize its operations due to competition with domestic automakers. GAC-Honda promised to compensate workers removed from its assembly plants in the southern city of Guangzhou in keeping with local regulations, after the JV produced roughly 520,000 cars during the first 10 months of this year, 20% fewer than a year ago. Japanese car majors, mainly those selling gasoline and hybrid cars, have faced significant setbacks in China as consumers opt for Chinese-branded battery cars instead. Toyota cut around 1,000 workers at its joint venture with GAC in July, while Mitsubishi announced a retreat from car production in China in late October. [Nikkei]

China’s four major panel manufacturers – BOE, TCL CSOT, Huike Electronics, and Xianyang Rainbow Electronic Accessories – have recently notified suppliers of their plans to further reduce production by 20% to stabilize the declining price of TV panels. The manufacturers hope that they can keep prices above their profitability level by significantly reducing the supply, Taiwanese media outlet Economic Daily News reported. China is the world’s largest producer of TFT-LCD (thin-film-transistor liquid crystal display) panels, with a global market share of over 70%, according to industry analysis cited by Icsmart. The recent significant reduction in production by major companies such as Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron in the memory chip market has led to an increase in chip prices, driving the industry into a positive cycle. The four major panel manufacturers in China are hoping that their production cuts can help replicate the chip industry recovery in the panels sector. [Icsmart, in Chinese]

NIO has received approval to begin manufacturing at its own electric vehicle assembly plant in the eastern Chinese city of Hefei, a signal that the company is on track to end the contract it has had with carmaker JAC Motors since its inception. NIO Technology (Anhui) Co., Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary that operates NIO’s second joint plant with JAC in the Xinqiao Science and Technology Innovation Demonstration Zone, is recorded as a vehicle manufacturing enterprise on the website of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). The news comes after speculation that the nine-year-old EV maker has been mulling a bid for two production bases put on sale by partner JAC on Oct. 20, given Beijing’s tightening control over the release of manufacturing licenses for EVs in recent years. NIO has been delivering EVs produced with JAC since mid-2018 under an outsourcing agreement. [MIIT information, TechNode reporting, in Chinese]

Chinese electronics manufacturers Foxconn and Pegatron have currently halted production of iPhones at their factories in southern India near Chennai due to heavy rains, as reported by Reuters on Monday. The region, a key electronics and manufacturing hub, experienced heavy rains and floodwaters as hurricane Cyclone Michaung moved towards the neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh. Foxconn, which employs around 35,000 people at its Tamil Nadu iPhone facility, is yet to decide on resuming production on Tuesday. Pegatron faces its second factory shutdown in recent months, having temporarily stopped iPhone assembly after a September fire. Foxconn’s rapid expansion in India aligns with Apple’s strategy to diversify production beyond China. In the third quarter, Apple achieved its highest quarterly shipments from India, surpassing 2.5 million units, according to market analytics firm Counterpoint. [Reuters]

TechNode, as the first independent English-language media focusing on China’s technology and innovation, has become an important window into China’s technology in the international technology arena over the past decade. TechNode’s reader base has expanded to 150 countries worldwide, and its independent and fair reporting is quoted by many international media including Fortune, The Economist, etc. Through media, events, and other channels, it has brought many Chinese technology companies and innovations into the global view.

Over the past 15 years, the world and China’s technology sector have greatly changed. Chinese technology sector has made a complete change from the copy to China model, to the unique innovation model and the rapid development of technological capabilities in certain areas. From BAT being in the spotlight to the global blossoming of big Chinese companies, tech unicorns, and startups, more and more Chinese innovations urgently needed to be recognized and acknowledged by the world.

Therefore, TechNode will launch “NextChina”, a series of interviews focusing on the latest industry tracks and the most promising innovative companies, with its resources in English and Chinese as well as its global media partners, aiming to promote more outstanding Chinese companies to the international stage.

The first series: Rise of Robotics

Exploring one of today’s trending subjects, robotics takes the forefront in our coverage. Currently, robotic technology is gaining prominence across various sectors, including industry, healthcare, services, households, etc. Beyond being the future of technology, robotics has seamlessly integrated into everyday life. Our focus will be on showcasing the stories and innovative spirit of the most promising companies in China’s robotics sector.

Stay tuned in early January for ‘NextChina’ to explore the tech insights in China! If your company is interested in being part of this series interview, or if you have a recommendation for a company, don’t hesitate to contact us at zinan.zhang@technode.com

Don’t miss this valuable opportunity to show your company’s power in the world!

Major Chinese electric vehicle makers from BYD to Xpeng Motors have collectively posted strong delivery figures in November as they attempt to hit their annual targets and as competition shows no signs of subsiding in the world’s biggest auto market. 

Why it matters: Jefferies analysts wrote in a Dec. 1 note that they estimated sales of China’s new energy vehicles (NEVs), mostly all-electrics and plug-in hybrids, to reach 1 million units in November with a solid month-on-month growth rate of 10% from a high base. 

• However, analysts warned of an intensified price war as 2023 comes to a close, as major EV brands including BYD and Li Auto have either cut prices or increased the royalties for customers since late November to boost year-end sales. 

Details: BYD on Dec. 1 revealed monthly sales figures of its premium Fangchengbao and Yangwang marques for the first time following their launches earlier this year, announcing it handed over 626 and 408 units to customers, respectively. Delivery of the RMB 1 million ($150,000) Yangwang U8 and the Bao 5, with a price range of RMB 289,800 to RMB 352,800, began in late September and November separately. Overall, the EV giant outsold its October figures by 70 units in November. 

• Geely’s NEV sales increased 4.7% month-on-month to 65,034 units last month thanks to a wide product portfolio under a multi-brand strategy. Volvo’s parent said it delivered 13,770 units under the Galaxy marque and 13,104 Zeekr-branded battery EVs, while sales of its Lynk & Co 08 extended-range hybrid EV surpassed the 10,000 mark over the month. The numbers of GAC’s Aion and Great Wall Motor rose 0.15% and 0.23% from a month previously, respectively. 
• Huawei-backed Aito posted its best-ever month by delivering 18,827 units, which is nearly 50% higher than its deliveries in October and surpassed the top end of the guidance provided by Huawei’s head of consumer business group a week ago. The number is expected to exceed 23,000 this month and to hit 30,000 in January, as the EV maker said it has secured more than 100,000 non-refundable orders for the revamped M7 crossover over the last two months or so.
• Growth momentum has been sustained for both Li Auto and Xpeng Motors which once again reported record-setting deliveries of 41,030 and 20,041 vehicles last month respectively. Li Auto’s founder Li Xiang said it is aiming for deliveries of 50,000 EVs this month, while Xpeng on Nov. 15 forecasted the fourth quarter delivery of up to 63,500 units. NIO‘s November delivery of 15,959 vehicles is basically flat from the previous month. 

Context: China’s NEV sales were partly boosted by the opening of the annual Auto Guangzhou show on Nov. 17 with dozens of debuts of all-new cars, as major players try to enhance their presence among a crowded field. 

• More than 5.9 million NEVs were sold during the first ten months of this year, representing a year-on-year growth of 34.2% and accounting for 34.1% of total car sales in China, according to figures from the China Passenger Car Association. 
• Miao Wei, former minister of Industry and Information Technology, expects the NEV penetration rate to exceed 50% of all new car sales as early as 2025. That would be 10 years ahead of Beijing’s schedule. Miao made the comment on Nov. 29 during this year’s China Automotive Industry Forum, reported media outlet The Paper.

Luckin Coffee lost a lawsuit alleging trademark infringement in Thailand on Dec. 1, according to multiple Thai media reports, after the Chinese coffee chain sued local company 50R Group over its registration of Luckin’s trademark in the southeast Asia country and opened a number of stores over the past two years. Luckin Coffee issued a statement a year ago emphasizing it has not yet entered the Thai market, adding that counterfeit stores have caused “serious damage” to its brand. Singapore is Luckin’s first destination outside of China, with the company running 18 offline outlets since opening its first store there this March. Luckin’s logo features a deer looking to the right with a blue background color; in the Thai version produced by 50R, the only difference is that the deer gazes to the left. [Southern Metropolis Daily, in Chinese]

Tencent’s video-sharing service experienced an outage last night, resulting in the unavailability of memberships and issues with content refreshing. This incident marks the latest major setback in a series of frequent incidents observed within Chinese tech products. Tencent Video acknowledged the outage on Weibo, attributing it to “technical issues.” The service noted that the VIP function had been restored on Monday morning. Social media comments widely suggested that a continued and unprecedented wave of cost control measures accelerated the frequency of major service outages in the past month. Alibaba’s flagship Taobao also crashed shortly after the Singles’ Day festival, and last week, the car-hailing platform Didi suffered a widespread service outage, leading to a surge in commuter complaints. [Tencent Video, in Chinese]

A federal judge has blocked a law in the US state of Montana that sought to bar the use of TikTok, saying it “oversteps state power”, a month before the ban was due to take effect.

Why it matters: The move suggests efforts to prohibit use of the Chinese-owned video sharing app in the US will face significant legal challenges. Montana was the first state set to implement a blanket TikTok ban.

Details: In a statement, the US District Judge Donald Molloy said the ban targets “China’s ostensible role in TikTok” rather than protects Montana consumers.

• “We are pleased the judge rejected this unconstitutional law and hundreds of thousands of Montanans can continue to express themselves, earn a living, and find community on TikTok,” an account called TikTok Policy posted on social media platform X.
• However, the office of Montana’s attorney general signaled it was not giving up on a ban, saying “the analysis could change as the case proceeds,” and noting that it looked forward to “presenting the complete legal argument to defend the law.”
• The ByteDance-owned video platform filed a federal lawsuit against Montana in May, claiming the law “unlawfully abridges one of the core freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment,” days after the state passed a law to ban the widely popular app across the state. Senate Bill 419, the initial ruling to ban TikTok in Montana from Jan. 1  2024, outlined a concern that the app accessed data against users’ will and shared it with the People’s Republic of China. An additional consideration for the ban was that it promoted dangerous social media challenges that threatened the health and safety of Montanans.
• TikTok’s Chinese links have been a focal point of running controversy in the US, where the app says it has 150 million users. Inadequate protection of minors’ data is another legal fight the platform has been dealing with.

Context: TikTok has continued to face criticism during its rise in the US, but its popularity and ad revenue point to a continued upward trend in use of the app nationwide. Its parent company ByteDance reportedly generated $54 billion globally in the first half of 2023, a figure close to Facebook owner Meta’s $60.6 billion. The video platform also officially launched an in-app e-commerce feature in September.

Xingji Meizu, a Chinese smartphone maker controlled by Geely’s founder Eric Li, will launch its first own brand electric vehicle model in 2024, with a plethora of customized options for vehicle software, interior styling, and car wrapping. The DreamCar MX will be based on Geely’s dedicated electric vehicle chassis base, dubbed its Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA), and come with Meizu’s in-car operating system called FLyme Auto, boasting the same smooth experience that its handset users are used to. Meizu has also been selling Geely and Volvo jointly branded Lynk & Co EVs at its brick-and-mortar stores for the past few months, in a defensive move against Chinese smartphone giants Huawei and Xiaomi. Huawei has been leveraging its distribution and retail network to sell several EVs developed with its manufacturing partners since early 2021, while Xiaomi is set to launch its first consumer car in the first half of 2024. [Meizu announcement, in Chinese]

Gaming giant Blizzard is reportedly engaging in negotiations with leading Chinese game publishers NetEase and Tencent, exploring the possibility of a return to Chinese servers for the World of Warcraft publisher almost a year after its deal with NetEase ended in acrimony. Tencent subsidiary Morefun Studios was reported to be streaming Warcraft-related content on Chinese video platform Bilibili on Thursday, but its livestream has now been discontinued. Tencent Games told Chinese media outlet Yicai that it was only a test stream. Morefun Studios is an in-house studio at Tencent and does not act as an agent for external products, according to an insider at the Chinese gaming behemoth. Tencent Games refused to directly comment on any possible negotiations with Blizzard. [Yicai, in Chinese]

BMW and Mercedes-Benz, two of the world’s biggest luxury carmakers, announced on Thursday that they will begin operating their first batch of joint super-charging stations in China next year. They plan to expand the network to more than 1,000 facilities with roughly 7,000 charging piles by 2026. The two companies are establishing a 50:50 joint venture for the daily operations of the power infrastructure, which will also be available to electric vehicles from their competitors. BMW and Mercedes car owners can access online reservations to ensure their charging experience. This move is expected to allow the German majors to share the cost of building charging piles and accelerate the expansion of their charging networks, potentially leading to improved customer satisfaction and increased EV sales. Chinese EV maker NIO has recently announced similar plans with Geely and Changan Automobile. According to figures compiled by Shanghai-based consultancy LandRoads, BMW reported sales of 78,568 battery EVs in China for the first 10 months of this year, while Mercedes-Benz reported 20,595. [Caixin, in Chinese]

More Chinese automakers are planning to adopt NIO’s battery swap technology as two giants join the program – Changan and Geely. NIO on Wednesday said it will partner with Geely to develop a common standard for electric vehicle battery packs and create a sprawling network of swap stations for both consumer cars and commercial fleets, just a week after Changan said it had become NIO’s first ally in a similar effort. 

The move could give a further boost to NIO’s long-term plan to split its money-losing recharging infrastructure unit into a standalone business with financing from outside investors, two people with knowledge of the matter told TechNode on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Geely and NIO will explore the possibility of establishing a shared battery swap network in overseas markets, said one of the people, without elaborating further. 

NIO and Geely declined to comment when contacted by TechNode on Thursday, referring instead to the announcement published by the two companies.

Car industry experts foresee the acceleration of the Chinese EV industry’s migration to a more unified standard for battery specifications and swap techniques originated by NIO. Still, the EV maker and its bigger allies could face a bumpy road despite their eagerness for a unified swapping standard until a number of business and technical hurdles are cleared. 

A common standard? 

It is clear that Chinese authorities are behind the move given that Changan is state-owned and given Geely’s position as the poster child for the Chinese privately-owned car industry, said Lei Xing, former chief editor at China Auto Review. Xing expects no real progress to be made within the next 12-18 months given the challenges in achieving a clear consensus for designing new batteries compatible with their recharging networks. 

A market-wide standardization may also not happen without government intervention. It’s one thing to require a certain plug type, and quite another to force standardization of batteries and chassis configuration, said Daniel J. Kollar, head of automotive and supply chain at business development consultancy Intralink Group. 

“This could have major effects on several design aspects and possibly even lead to certain limits on innovation and supplier choice,” Kollar added.

NIO may also find the need for considerable back and forth with its partners in order to get its swap technology closer to becoming the industry standard. It’s going to be NIO dictating its intellectual property to swapping partners, but Geely and Changan may want to have a say as well, said Tu T. Le, founder of business intelligence firm Sino Auto Insights. 

“There’s a lot that needs to be settled still,” Le added, citing Geely running its own swapping system as one reason. Volvo’s parent began operating its first battery swap station for commercial fleets in the southwestern municipality of Chongqing in late 2020, with plans to run 300 more by the end of this year.

A big relief?

Although it is too early to predict where NIO’s power business may end up, it is possible that a new entity jointly invested in by NIO and multiple other carmakers could be in play – something akin to what Huawei recently announced for its vehicle business unit, according to Xing. “This would ease the financial pressure on NIO and make them de facto outside investors of the startup.” 

The partnership would probably shoulder some of the investment burden for NIO with cash injections, although it may not help them sell cars, Le said. The increase in adoption of swapping will likely result in short-term improvements to their bottom line, but the big question is if it will result in more vehicle sales. 

The Shanghai-headquartered EV maker has built up a nationwide network of more than 2,100 swap stations, each reportedly costing more than RMB 3 million ($420,000) on average. That number is expected to surpass 2,300 by year-end. It delivered 126,067 vehicles for the first ten months of this year, in line with the industry’s average growth rate but lagging behind rivals such as Li Auto. 

“It’s hard to see how this is going to change NIO’s fortunes in the long run to a significant degree without added help from their new partners – either via providing a boost to their marketing reach or supporting the development of mid-market solutions,” said Kollar.

Xiaomi’s budget smartphone sub-brand, Redmi, launched the Redmi K70 series on Wednesday, marking the brand’s 10th anniversary. At the anniversary event, Redmi CEO Lu Weibing claimed that the global sales of Redmi mobile phones amounted to one billion units in ten years. The Redmi K70 series includes the Redmi K70, Redmi K70E, and Redmi K70 Pro, all sharing a similar design. The flagship model, Redmi K70 Pro, is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. The standard Redmi K70 is equipped with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, while the Redmi K70E runs on a MediaTek Dimensity 8300 Ultra SoC. Both the Redmi K70 and Redmi K70 Pro feature a 5,000mAh battery with support for 120W fast charging. The price ranges from RMB 1,999 ($280) to RMB 3,299 ($463). [China Economic Network, in Chinese]

Alibaba founder Jack Ma rarely appeared in an internal memo urging the e-commerce giant to “change and reform” after rival PDD nearly closed in on Alibaba’s market capitalization with a stronger earnings report. Ma congratulated eight-year-old PDD for its decision-making, execution, and efforts over the past few years, while calling on Alibaba employees to return to the company’s mission and vision to reform for securing “tomorrow and the day after’s glory.” Taobao and Tmall Group, despite operating as the most profitable business within Alibaba, are being challenged by emerging e-commerce participants, including PDD and ByteDance’s Douyin. Ma also said he believed the era of AI e-commerce has just begun, which poses both an opportunity and a challenge. This statement aligns with Alibaba’s primary strategic focuses, previously disclosed by the new Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu, which prioritize being “user first” and “AI-driven.” [36Kr, in Chinese]

Chinese video platform Bilibili reported flat revenue of RMB 5.8 billion ($795.7 million) in the last quarter, managing to narrow its net loss by 22% to RMB 1.3 billion. This positions the company on a gradual path towards its commitment to achieve profitability by 2024. Revenues from mobile games dropped by 33% from a year prior, marking four consecutive quarters of decline. The company cautioned that its annual total earnings would likely fall at the “low-end” of the RMB 22.5 billion to RMB 23.5 billion range due to lower-than-expected revenues generated from games. Daily active users surpassed 100 million for the first time, providing a rare highlight in the latest financial report. Bilibili’s CEO noted that the firm anticipates reducing the workforce to around 9,000 by the end of 2023 compared to the previous year’s 11,000 employees. This move aims to make the organization more agile for “long-term success” while remaining committed to future projects that prioritize return on investment (ROI). [Bilibili]

On Wednesday, a donation signing ceremony was held at Wuhan University, where Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun donated 1.3 billion ($183 million) to his alma mater to celebrate its 130th anniversary. This donation sets a new record for the largest single donation to Wuhan University since its establishment in 1893. Lei Jun stated that the donation will primarily focus on three areas: fundamental research in six disciplines (mathematics, physics, chemistry, literature, history, and philosophy), technological innovation in the field of computer science, and financial support for university students. In 1991, Lei Jun graduated from Wuhan University with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and has been a member of the university’s board since 2003. [Wuhan University]

Chinese-owned semiconductor company Nexperia announced on Monday that the Dutch government has approved its acquisition of Nowi, a Dutch semiconductor startup. Previously, the Dutch government had been investigating the transaction on the grounds of national security.

Why it matters: In June, the Dutch government introduced the Act on Security Screening of Investments, Mergers and Acquisitions (Vifo Act), which includes the scrutiny of sensitive technologies such as photonics, quantum technology, and semiconductors. However, despite the influence of export sanctions led by the US, the Dutch government’s approval of Nexperia’s acquisition indicates that the Netherlands may still be open to business with China.

Details: The Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Micky Adriaansens stated in a letter to the Dutch parliament on Nov. 27 that there are no legal objections to the acquisition of Nowi by Nexperia, according to Bloomberg. 

• Established in 2016, Nowi, is a semiconductor startup based in Delft, in the western Netherlands. The company specializes in manufacturing power management chips capable of harnessing ambient energy sources such as light or vibrations, offering a promising solution to eliminate the reliance on batteries in basic electronic devices. In November 2022, the company announced that it would be acquired by Nexperia. 
• In June of this year, the Dutch government initiated an investigation into the Chinese firm’s takeover of Nowi, based on the Vifo Act that came into effect on June 1. The Dutch government stated at the time that it would order the cancellation of the transaction if the deal was found to affect national security.
• On Monday, Nexperia issued an announcement in response to the Dutch government’s final decision. The retrospective effect of the Vifo Act is applicable only to military or dual-use items, and it is evident from the government’s assessment that Nowi’s products do not fall within this category, the company said. After a “period of uncertainty,” Nexperia and Nowi are “able to further realize their ambitions in the Dutch chip ecosystem,” the announcement added.
• In the current climate, it is crucial to establish a well-defined policy that enhances the investment environment in the Netherlands, said Charles Smit, director of Nexperia Netherlands. A transparent and fact-based communication channel between the government and businesses is essential during these times, he asserted.
• Having access to the production, sales and marketing infrastructure of a leading chip manufacturer allows Nowi to bring products to market faster and therefore have a greater impact, according to Simon van der Jagt, co-founder and former CEO of Nowi.

Context: Based in the Netherlands, Nexperia is a subsidiary of the partially state-owned Chinese company Wingtech Technology. The semiconductor firm has a workforce of over 15,000 spread across Europe, Asia, and the US. Nexperia’s components are used in automotive, industrial, mobile, and consumer industries.

Chinese on-demand delivery giant Meituan reported a 22.1% revenue jump to RMB 76.47 billion in the last quarter, with revenue from core local commerce, including food delivery and Meituan Instashopping, rising 24.5% to RMB 57.69 billion. During the three-month period, food delivery orders reached a daily peak of 78 million in August, the company’s highest on record and double that of three years ago. However, Meituan executives said they expect growth in order volume to slow in the fourth quarter due to the current macro environment as well as warmer-than-usual weather this winter, but added that the company will increase its marketing efforts to try and stimulate demand. The company narrowed operating loss in its new initiatives by 24.5% and CEO Wang Xing told investors on a related earnings call that the segment has a “clear path” to profitability. Wang said Meituan is a “rational” company, and will adjust its strategy if they realize any of the new initiatives have a limited chance to make significant profit in the long run. [Meituan]

Nvidia is recruiting scientists and engineers for its autonomous driving team in China, as indicated by a job post on the social media platform WeChat published on Tuesday. The US artificial intelligence giant aims to capitalize on the increasing demand for assisted driving technology. This move follows the hiring of Wu Xinzhou, a former vice president at Xpeng Motors, to lead Nvidia’s automotive business in August. Wu anticipates the local team to be the “core strength” for engineering Nvidia’s autonomous driving solutions. Nvidia has listed numerous new jobs related to software engineering for autonomous cars, covering specialties from sensor fusion to motion planning. These positions are located in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, as Nvidia collaborates with clients such as Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar Land Rover, according to the post. China’s growing adoption of driver assistance technology has led auto majors like BYD to intensify hiring for talented engineers, while tech giants like Huawei are entering the market. Huawei mentioned on Tuesday that the higher-end versions of the redesigned Aito M7 crossover, featuring the company’s Advanced Driving System, have accounted for 60% of total orders since its launch in September. [Nvidia announcement, TechNode reporting, in Chinese]

On Tuesday, Chinese chip designer Loongson unveiled its latest 3A6000-series processors, based on the self-developed LoongArch microarchitecture. The 3A6000 CPU boasts a quad-core design with four cores and eight threads, operating at a peak frequency of 2.5 GHz. The overall performance of the 3A6000 processor is equivalent to Intel’s 10th gen quad-core models launched in 2020, as claimed by Loongson. It adopts the 4th generation Dragon architecture, incorporating LA664 cores that support 128-bit vector processing extended instructions (LSX) and 256-bit advanced vector processing extended instructions (LASX), alongside SMT2 (2 independent threads can run simultaneously on 1 CPU core). [Icsmart, in Chinese]

Revenue at Temu’s owner PDD almost doubled in the third quarter while profit rose nearly 50% as the hit budget shopping app continued to win over millions of Chinese consumers this fall. The Shanghai-headquartered company reported stronger-than-expected revenue of RMB 68.8 billion, representing growth of 93.9% year-on-year, pulling it far away from rivals Alibaba and JD Retail, which saw earnings increase 4% and 0.06% in the quarter respectively. Revenue from transaction services, for which PDD charges merchant fees, surged 315% to RMB 29.2 billion from a year earlier, contributing more than 40% of the total quarterly revenue. The strong performance saw the Nasdaq-listed firm jump 18% on Tuesday to $185 billion market value, bringing it close to Alibaba’s market value of $194 billion. PDD executives emphasized in an earnings call that its global business Temu, offering shoppers from over 40 countries direct goods from “high-quality” factories, is still “in a very early stage.” [PDD]

Xpeng Motors announced on Tuesday that it has initiated a broad release of its advanced driver assistance system in China. Car owners who purchased its Navigation Guided Pilot (XNGP) package in 25 major cities can now download the latest software. This enables Xpeng’s electric vehicle to operate autonomously on both highways and busy urban streets in over 20 Chinese cities, including Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, in addition to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, where customers had already accessed Xpeng’s partially automated driving technology. The company reiterated its goal for broader coverage on traffic roads in 50 cities by the end of this year and plans to make the software, which has become less reliant on high-definition maps, available to drivers across China next year. In comparison, Huawei released its Navigation Cruise Assist (NCA) function for urban scenarios to customers in China’s top four cities, as well as Hangzhou and the southwestern municipality of Chongqing in August, aiming for a nationwide release by year-end. [Xpeng announcement, in Chinese]

Fast fashion giant Shein has confidentially filed for an IPO in the US, Reuters reported on Monday, citing two sources. The move puts to an end long-running speculation around the China-founded company’s intentions to go public.

Why it matters: A successful listing for the fast-fashion giant would help Shein expand its global reach while diversifying its sources of funding.

Details: Shein has hired Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley as lead underwriters for the share offering and expects to go public sometime in 2024, according to Reuters.

• The company’s current valuation is uncertain. In a $2 billion funding round in May, Shein was valued at $66 billion, a third less than its $100 billion valuation from a funding round a year earlier.
• Now headquartered in Singapore, the retailer sells everything from skirts to sweaters, typically for around $10 a piece, in more than 150 countries. Shein has actively sought to diversify its supply chain, moving away from reliance on China. The company began manufacturing in Turkey and Brazil this year and is in the process of planning for a factory and warehouse in Mexico.
• Under ongoing regulatory scrutiny in the US, its largest market, Shein faces allegations related to design infringement and the use of forced labor in its factories.
• Shein did not respond to TechNode’s request for comment.

Context: In 2022, eleven years after its founding, Shein recorded $23 billion in revenue and $800 million in net income, according to the Wall Street Journal. A company executive reportedly told investors in July that it had achieved record profitability in the first half of 2023 thanks in large part to strong sales in the US.

• In a bid to further expand its international presence, Shein acquired a one-third stake in Forever 21’s parent company in August, followed by the purchase of fast fashion brand Missguided and all of its intellectual property in October.

Huawei is on track to reach record monthly deliveries of between 16,000 and 18,000 Aito-branded electric vehicles with manufacturing partner Seres this month, with that number expected to surpass 23,000 in December and further increase to over 30,000 in January, Richard Yu, chief executive of Huawei’s consumer business group and head of its automotive business unit, told a press conference in Shanghai on Tuesday. Yu added that Huawei is anticipating a potential collaboration with FAW Group, meaning Volkswagen and Toyota’s manufacturing partner could be the latest member of the technology giant’s expanding car alliance. Yu also announced that Huawei’s first model co-developed with Chery,  the Luxeed S7, will be priced from RMB 249,800 ($34,921), cheaper than the pre-sale starting price of RMB 258,000 revealed earlier this month. The new battery electric sedan is being positioned to compete against Tesla’s Model S and Porsche’s Taycan 4S and will incorporate Huawei’s all-round vehicle technologies, including its partially autonomous driving software, proprietary operating system for infotainment, and Tuling, a high-tech chassis with adaptive air suspension and torque vectoring to provide enhanced handling and comfort. [TechNode reporting]

TikTok maker ByteDance announced on Monday that its gaming brand Nuverse plans to scale down and adjust its structure, but this move will not affect those launched games. As for unreleased projects, apart from a few innovative technical projects, all others will be halted, ByteDance stated. Bullet Finger Universe Technology, the gaming company under Kuaishou, released a recruitment poster welcoming employees from ByteDance’s Nuverse to join in. Positions are available in cities such as Hangzhou, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Beijing. HR teams from other domestic gaming companies are also active, sharing their locations near Nuverse on WeChat with a humorous post: “whether you are available or not, come downstairs for a chat.” [IThome, in Chinese]

Apple is set to mass-produce its first-generation MR (mixed reality) product, Vision Pro, in December, with the proportion of the supply chain in China significantly increasing to 60%, as exclusively reported by the local media outlet Jiemian. The initial batch will be around 400,000 units, as Apple’s sales target in 2024 is one million units, according to insiders from several supply chain companies. Lingyi iTech serves as the exclusive supplier for Vision Pro’s cooling modules, headbands, eye masks, and nose pads, while Luxshare Precision provides the exclusive assembly for the MR device, sources revealed. Currently, both Lingyi iTech and Luxshare Precision have declined to comment.[Jiemian, in Chinese]

Tesla’s China operations team on Monday denied that a technical failure was to blame for a crash on Nov. 25 in the southwestern city of Chengdu involving a speeding Tesla and 11 other vehicles; three were injured but no one was killed. An analysis of the car by the US automaker found the accelerator pedal had been pressed hard, increasing the vehicle’s speed from 54 kilometers (34 miles) per hour to 132 km/h at the time of the crash. Queried online in China about why the brake light was on but the car did not slow down, the company explained that the brake pedal was only applied two seconds after the initial hit when the brake was already damaged. The car owner surnamed Wang told Chinese media outlets that his new Tesla, registered the same day, accelerated suddenly and had been unable to stop. [Chinanews.com, in Chinese]

Huawei is spinning off its automotive business unit, enabling Changan Automobile and other manufacturing partners to invest, in a move aimed at turning the loss-making car division into a profitable operation amid fierce competition. 

Why it matters: The reorganization is a rare move for Huawei – a company under 100% ownership of founder Ren Zhengfei and its staff since 2003, according to its official website – as the Chinese telecommunication giant puts a date of 2025 on its target of profitability for its as-yet loss-making auto business. 

• Deemed by Citic Securities analysts as “a milestone” for the Chinese auto industry, the move is expected to help Huawei court new industry allies and gain investment to pursue intelligent vehicle technology. Established automakers such as SAIC have reportedly voiced concern about Huawei’s move into electric cars. 
• The equity structure of the new entity may be comparable to that of the United Automotive Electronic Systems, a joint venture formed by German auto supplier Bosch and several Chinese carmakers including SAIC, FAW, and Dongfeng in 1995. This would allow more automakers to benefit from collaboration, and not just Changan, analysts wrote in a Nov. 26 note. 

Details: The new joint venture will focus on areas already covered by Huawei’s Intelligent Automotive Solution (IAS) business unit, including the development of intelligent driving software, digital cockpit systems, and digital platforms, among others, according to a regulatory filing published by Shenzhen-listed Changan dated on Monday. 

• Huawei will take at least a 60% stake in the new entity but will no longer directly compete against the new company in principle. Changan and its relevant parties will acquire no more than a 40% stake in the JV. The two companies plan to discuss the details of the transaction and sign an agreement within six months, the filing said. 
• The establishment of the new entity will have no impact on the ongoing collaboration between Huawei and Chinese car manufacturer Seres, according to a Nov. 26 statement. Seres, which makes Aito-branded EVs for Huawei, added it has been asked to participate in the investment and is in discussions to jointly develop intelligent electric vehicle architecture.
• The entity will prioritize diversified ownership, said the filing. It is anticipated that various parties will engage deeply in the development of the open vehicle platform, said Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s consumer business group and chairman of the IAS BU, who compared the platform to “a train engine.” 

Context: Huawei, state-owned Changan and Chinese battery maker CATL announced a partnership to establish EV brand Avatr back in late 2020. The companies have sold roughly 20,000 units of the Avatr 11 battery electric crossover since delivery began last December, launching their second premium model with a starting price of RMB 300,800 ($41,240) earlier this month. 

• Huawei has also been selling EVs since mid-2021 with lesser-known Seres, formerly the Chongqing Sokon Industrial Group, followed by the launch of the first Aito-branded EV last September. Huawei said in early October that it had secured more than 50,000 non-refundable orders for the redesigned version of the M7, Aito’s second model, less than a month after its launch. That number was updated to more than 100,000 as of Monday.
• The Chinese tech giant is also partnering with domestic manufacturers Chery, BAIC, and JAC, showcasing the first model under the new Luxeed marque jointly set up with Jaguar Land Rover’s manufacturing partner Chery on Nov. 9. The Luxeed S7 sedan will be officially launched on Tuesday and the respective new models co-built with BAIC and JAC are set to hit the market in 2024. 
• Huawei reportedly invested $1 billion in its automotive business in 2021 and has since maintained its push into the Chinese intelligent EV market in an effort to diversify its revenue sources and offset the impact on its core businesses from US trade restrictions. The IAS BU recorded revenue of RMB 1 billion during the first half of this year, accounting for around 0.3% of its total revenue. 

READ MORE: Xpeng and Huawei-backed EV maker set new delivery records as demand grows for self-driving tech

A former assistant of Jack Ma refuted that Ma’s new venture would involve selling pre-packaged food, following speculation over the exact business of the Alibaba founder’s venture named Ma’s Kitchen Food. Chen Wei, Ma’s former assistant, posted on his WeChat Circle on Nov.25 saying “Eating is meant to be a great pleasure in life, rather than a path for pursuing financial gain through investments.” Chen emphasized that Ma’s Kitchen Food, which was incorporated last week in Hangzhou with an initial registered capital of RMB 10 million, will “definitely” not be engaged in selling pre-packaged food, and they still have no idea what the newly-established company would actually do. However, according to corporate data platform Qichacha, the scope of the company’s business ranges from sales of pre-packaged food and import and export of goods to wholesale edible agricultural products. [36Kr, in Chinese]

Intel’s processor Lunar Lake will likely generate orders exceeding $14 billion for TSMC over the next two years, revealed semiconductor analyst Andrew Lu on Facebook. Following Apple, Intel may become TSMC’s second-largest customer for the advanced 3nm processor. Andrew Lu broke down TSMC’s anticipated orders from Intel to nearly $4 billion in 2024 and $10 billion in 2025. TSMC is preparing to produce around 15,000 of the chips for Intel monthly by the end of 2024, revving up to 30,000 chips a month in 2025, Lu said. [Icsmart, in Chinese]

Damo Academy, the research initiative of e-commerce giant Alibaba, has donated its Quantum Lab and related equipment to Zhejiang University, the company told local outlet Caixin after an early report claimed the cutting-edge disciplines-focused lab had been disbanded, affecting more than 30 employees due to budget and profitability difficulties. The Damo Quantum Lab, formerly the Quantum Computing Lab, was co-founded by Alibaba’s cloud unit and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2015. The Damo Institute subsumed the Quantum Lab under its umbrella after its establishment in 2018. Zhejiang University will employ a placement process involving “two-way selection” and “open recruitment” for those impacted employees, according to Caixin. [Caixin, in Chinese]

ByteDance is set to exit the game sector by shutting down its major gaming arm, Nuverse, according to local media outlet IFENG. Insiders revealed that ByteDance will announce the closure of Nuverse on Monday, instructing employees internally to cease development on all unreleased games. Meanwhile, the company is also expected to explore potential sales of existing gaming titles. This move signifies the end of ByteDance’s adventure into the gaming sector, with no plans to re-enter the global game market valued at $185 billion, as claimed by sources. As of the time of writing, ByteDance has not commented on this matter. [IFENG, in Chinese]

Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu will continue to lead the company’s cloud division in a recent organizational restructure. Wu assumed the role in September following Daniel Zhang’s surprise step down. It is widely believed within Alibaba that Wu is temporarily serving as the chief executive of the e-commerce giant’s cloud backbone, according to local media outlet Jiemian, quoting an employee. As part of the adjustment, Alibaba Cloud has introduced a new unit with a specific focus on public cloud service, which generated more than 70% of the company’s external cloud revenue in the three months to September, as Alibaba executives mentioned in a recent earnings call. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

Chinese mobile phone company Honor issued an internal announcement on Wednesday stating that the former Huawei sub-brand plans to optimize its equity structure and attract diversified capital through an initial public offering (IPO), as reported by local media outlet Icsmart. Honor has not announced a timeframe or a location for the upcoming listing.

Why it matters: The announcement comes three years after Huawei was effectively forced to sell Honor in November 2020 to help the sub-brand bypass the restrictions imposed upon Huawei by US sanctions. Bought by a state-owned enterprise in Shenzhen, Honor has since emerged as a leading phone brand in the Chinese market.

Details: As part of its preparations for the IPO, Honor has made adjustments to its board of directors: Wu Hui will serve as the new chairperson, while the former chair Wan Biao becomes vice chairperson.

• Following Xiaomi and Transsion, Honor may become the third domestic phone company to go public, according to Jiemian. Xiaomi is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange and currently holds a market capitalization of HKD 377.8 billion ($48.87 billion), while Transsion’s market capitalization is valued at RMB 95.6 billion ($13.36 billion). 
• Ever since Honor’s spin off from Huawei, there has been speculation in the industry about a possible listing for the handset maker, including the possibility of a backdoor listing through Transsion.
• Honor resumed allocation of shares around June of this year, primarily targeting distribution partners at the municipal level in each province, according to the aforementioned report from Jiemian. Additionally, Honor has initiated an employee stock allocation program, with high expectations for the company’s listing among its staff.
• At the end of 2022, Honor completed another round of strategic financing, adding six new shareholders, with leading display-panel industry player BOE among them.
• The newly appointed chair, Wu Hui, previously served in the Shenzhen municipal committee office, before later being transferred to work in the Hubei provincial government and the municipal government in Xianning, a city in Hubei. In April 2021, Wu Hui returned to Shenzhen and took on the role of chairman of Shenzhen Environmental Water Group.
• Vice chair Wan Biao was once a key figure in Huawei’s consumer business department. He joined Huawei in 1996 and held various positions such as president of Huawei’s wireless product line, president of its terminal company, and COO of its consumer business department. In November 2020, Wan Biao joined Honor and became its chairperson.

Context: In the third quarter of 2023, Honor secured the top spot in the domestic smartphone market with a shipment share of 19.3%, according to research firm IDC. 

• During July to September of this year, Honor released three foldable devices, namely the Magic V2, V Purse, and Magic Vs2, aiming to establish a strong presence in the high-end phone segment. 
• In the third quarter of 2023, the Chinese foldable smartphone market continued its rapid growth trend, reaching a shipment volume of 1.96 million units, an increase of 90.4% year-on-year, according to the same report from IDC. Honor captured a market share of 15.1%, ranking fourth in this segment.

Huawei is planning to spin off the firm’s automotive business unit at a valuation of RMB 250 billion ($35 billion), seeking funds from the government of China’s southwestern municipality of Chongqing and state-owned automaker Changan Automobile. Sources informed Chinese financial media outlet Yicai, reported on Thursday, that Chongqing’s state assets regulator, the city’s state-owned assets supervision and administration commission, will be the biggest shareholder of Huawei’s Intelligent Automotive Solution (IAS) business unit. Meanwhile, Chongqing-based Changan, a manufacturing partner of Ford and Mazda, will obtain 15% of shares in the entity for RMB 37.5 billion, making it the sole carmaker participating in the financing, the report said. Changan has collaborated with Huawei for years, jointly establishing Avatr, a premium electric vehicle brand, with Chinese battery supplier CATL back in late 2020. A Changan spokesperson denied the report to Yicai on Friday. Huawei did not respond to TechNode’s requests for comment. [Yicai, in Chinese]

DingTalk, Alibaba’s workplace communication tool, has officially started developing a native app suitable for HarmonyOS, Huawei’s operating system, as part of its “comprehensive cooperation” with the fellow tech giant, the Slack-like platform said on Thursday. HarmonyOS has said it will no longer support Android apps in the near future, although a specific timeframe has not been announced. HarmonyOS is already run on over 700 million devices in China as of August this year, and internet-focused companies including ByteDance, NetEase, and Meituan have been actively hiring developers for the Harmony OS in recent weeks. [DingTalk, in Chinese]

Tesla is advancing the launch of its Full Self-Driving software package in mainland China, partly prompted by Beijing’s new policy that could significantly increase the rollout of partially and highly autonomous vehicles on major city roads. A Tesla spokesperson confirmed the news to the state-owned China Fund reported on Thursday, stating that there was no specific timeline yet for the release. Nevertheless, the US automaker has begun selling the software to Chinese customers, now priced at RMB 64,000 ($8,949), as per information published on its official website. The company stated that the suite would enable cars with on-ramp to off-ramp driving, automatic lane changing on Chinese highways, smart summon in a complicated parking lot, as well as traffic light and stop sign recognition on urban roads. [TechNode reporting, China Fund, in Chinese]

A Tesla car owner who protested against the company during the Auto Shanghai show in early 2021 has been forced to apologize for damaging the US car company’s reputation by alleging that Tesla sold defective cars, Chinese media outlets reported on Wednesday. 

Why it matters: The verdict marks the latest victory for Tesla in China after it faced mounting numbers of car owner complaints over various quality issues including unintended acceleration and brake failure in the past two years. 

• Among infamous cases are the woman who climbed onto the top of one of Tesla’s electric vehicles at the Auto Shanghai show in April 2021, and an accident resulting in two deaths and three injuries in southern China last November.

Details: A local court on Nov. 9 ordered a woman surnamed Li from the northwestern city of Xi’an to apologize to Tesla and pay the company RMB 2,000 in damages in addition to bearing the cost of vehicle appraisal totaling RMB 20,000 ($2,800). The public apology should remain on social media platform Weibo for at least 15 days, the court ruled.

• The female owner alleged faulty brakes caused an incident in March 2021 when her China-made Model 3 crashed into a car coming the other way in the capital of Shaanxi province. Tesla has denied the claim. 
• Li took part in a protest at the Tesla booth during that year’s Auto Shanghai show when she wore a white T-shirt with the words “brake failure” above a Tesla logo. Another female car owner surnamed Zhang then clambered atop a Tesla to express her anger. 
• The Chinese court required a third-party appraiser to conduct systematic inspections of the vehicle after Tesla filed a lawsuit against Li for defamation. The result showed no proof that any mechanical failure had contributed to the accident. 
• A company representative confirmed the news to Caixin on Wednesday, saying the automaker was attempting to appeal for higher compensation. It is also suing Zhang for damaging its reputation without taking further steps, as she rejected a third-party investigation of her car. 

Context: Tesla in May launched a recall involving over 1.1 million EVs in China following an investigation by Chinese regulators that showed Tesla owners could hit the accelerator pedal rather than the brake by mistake when its regenerative braking system was switched on by default. Beijing said the recall was intended to reduce the chance of accidents. 

• The US carmaker shipped 771,171 vehicles from its Shanghai gigafactory during the first ten months of this year, of which 462,355 were for domestic sales, a growth of 37.9% from a year earlier, according to figures from the China Passenger Car Association. Retail sales of new energy vehicles in China, mostly battery EVs and plug-in hybrids, increased 34.2% year-on-year to more than 5.9 million units over the same period, the CPCA figures showed. 

PDD is hiring for large language model-related roles as the e-commerce company doubles down on AI prospects, as seen on multiple recruitment websites. The owner of the budget shopping app is offering salaries of up to RMB 80,000 a month ($11,275) for staff with at least one year of experience in modeling NLP algorithms, according to recruitment details. Engineers will be responsible for supporting the adoption of AI-generated content across the company’s businesses, including customer services and user growth. Chinese tech outlet TechPlanet added more details on AI development at PDD in a Wednesday report, saying the operator of Pinduoduo and Temu has already set up an AI model team at its Shanghai headquarters with dozens of staff. [TechNode reporting; TechPlanet]

Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma has not sold any shares in the e-commerce giant, Chief People Officer Jane Jiang told employees in an internal letter on Wednesday, following regulatory filings last week showing Ma’s intention to sell 10 million shares for around $870 million, the day Alibaba released its second-quarter earnings. Jiang gave the reason as a current lower-than-expected share price since valuation in August. Proceeds of the now-canceled sale were expected to fund investments in agricultural science and public welfare projects, the letter said. [LatePost, in Chinese]

Moore Silicon, a chip subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned electronics company TCL, announced its dissolution on Tuesday, resulting in the layoff of hundreds of employees. All employees were offered compensation based on N+1 (N representing the working year of an employee). For instance, an employee who has worked in the company for two years can receive three months’ salary in one lump sum. Moore Silicon was established in March 2021 with a registered capital of RMB 180 million ($25.19 million). “Our main challenge lies in the progress of financing, not project progress,” said a representative from Moore Silicon. The capital investment in the chip industry has become more cautious in 2023, as demand in the consumer electronics market remains weak, according to a professional from a domestic chip design company interviewed by YiCai reporter. [Yicai, in Chinese]

Baidu said on Tuesday it has “comprehensively reshaped” its product portfolios thanks to its AI foundation model ERNIE, resulting in increased operational efficiency, after the Chinese search giant company reported 6% year-on-year revenue growth to RMB 34.4 billion in the third quarter. However, the company’s cloud unit reported its first decline in revenue in almost three years.

Why it matters: Baidu pointed to artificial intelligence bringing about positive changes in key performance indicators across all of its businesses in its latest earnings report. The firm also highlighted that its ChatGPT-like service ERNIE Bot has already amassed 70 million users.

Details: Although the company’s overall growth was up, Baidu’s AI cloud revenue decreased by 2% in the three months to September. Robin Li, CEO of the firm, said this was due to weak demand in smart transportation projects, despite strong demand for generative AI. The figures marked the first decline in Baidu’s cloud business since it started announcing its earnings separately in the last quarter of 2020.

• Online advertising business, which accounts for over half of Baidu’s total earnings, experienced 5% year-on-year revenue growth during the period. This growth rate was slower than the preceding two quarters and lags behind some of its internet-focused peers.
• During the related earnings call, Li expressed confidence that Baidu’s current chip reserves could “keep improving ERNIE Bot for up to two years” amid the US’s tightening of curbs on advanced chip exports to China. He did, however, add that Baidu will still seek alternatives due to the pace of AI development in China being “inevitably” impacted by difficulties in acquiring the most advanced chips.
• The chief executive of Baidu warned a week ago that China’s rush to develop multiple large language models had led to a “wasting of resources,” and he again told investors on the call that “the best option on the market” is companies developing AI-native apps based on Baidu’s foundation model rather than training models themselves.
• Baidu also named JD CEO Sandy Xu as an independent director of its board effective from the beginning of 2024.

Context: Baidu’s large language model, ERNIE, was made available to the public at the end of August after receiving government approval. Last month, Baidu launched the latest version of its AI model, ERNIE 4.0, seven months after the release of its first version.

LI Auto is hiring specialists in Singapore for the research and development of silicon-carbide (SiC) power modules, which enable a longer driving range for its electric vehicles, according to several job posts on LinkedIn reported by media outlet LatePost on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the EV maker is rushing to reach the final phase for the design of its neural processing units (NPU), a key component for its advanced driver assistance system. The goal is to enable all Li Auto users to partially autonomous driving on fixed routes in major cities by next June. The report, citing several people familiar with the matter, added that Li Auto’s in-house team for chipmaking has expanded to over 160 employees in various locations, including Beijing, Shanghai, and Silicon Valley, led by technology chief Xie Yan. The Beijing-based EV startup has followed in the footsteps of Tesla to develop its own artificial intelligence chips, an effort that may also help reduce the negative impact of the US chip ban. [LatePost, in Chinese]

On Tuesday, Chinese electronic components producer BOE told Chinese media outlet ThePaper that recent reports alleging the end of its collaboration with Samsung were “not accurate.” Last week, South Korean media outlet BusinessKorea claimed that the collaboration between Samsung and BOE had been halted, with the electronics giant removing BOE from its supply chain amid concerns around geopolitical tensions between China and the US. A supplier of LCD (liquid crystal display) panels for Samsung, BOE provided 10% of the Korean firm’s TV panels in the first half of 2023, ranking third among its global panel suppliers. [ThePaper, in Chinese]

TSMC is reportedly considering constructing a third facility in Japan dedicated to producing cutting-edge 3nm chips, according to sources familiar with the matter. TSMC has informed its supply chain partners that the company plans to establish its third chip plant, designated as TSMC Fab-23 Phase 3, in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. TSMC’s first factory in Kumamoto is expected to commence mass production next year, with the current number of employees surpassing a thousand. There have been previous reports about TSMC’s second facility in Japan aiming to be constructed by the end of 2026, while the timing for the third facility remains uncertain at this point. [Bloomberg]

Changan Automobile said on Tuesday it will implement NIO’s sprawling electric-vehicle swapping infrastructure across China with the first EV model powered by swappable batteries scheduled for launch in 2025, making it the first automaker to adopt NIO’s swapping technology. The two companies will together push for the establishment of a common standard to guide the development of swappable EV batteries. Several other automakers are currently in negotiation with NIO for a similar collaboration, according to founder, chairman, and CEO William Li. The partnership echoes recent comments from Xin Guobin, a vice minister of industry and information technology, who in June called on businesses to “invest rationally” and come together to write a standard configuration for battery swap connectors and a communication protocol, among other issues. NIO operates 2,103 battery swap facilities as of Nov. 20, which makes it China’s biggest battery swap network, with that number expected to grow to more than 2,300 by the end of 2023. [TechNode reporting, Changan statement, in Chinese]

The huge growth of Douyin (TikTok’s China sibling) has led to an increasing number of advertisers using the platform to launch their marketing campaigns.

However, although Douyin has more than 809 million users, advertisers have to take the profile of these users into account to successfully reach their target audience and launch effective campaigns.

Age distribution

According to official data released by Douyin, the age distribution of the ByteDance-developed app’s users is relatively wide, mainly focusing on the 18-35 age group. Within this group, the proportion of users aged 18-24 is the highest, accounting for 35%; the proportion of users aged 25-30 is 27%, and the proportion of users aged 31-35 is about 16%.

The data shows that TikTok’s China sibling is most popular among those born in the 1990s and the first decade of this century, often referred to in China as the ‘post-90s’ and ‘post-00s’ generations. The Post-00s and Post-90s have a longer average daily usage time and high user stickiness. Compared to the Post-90s, the Post-00s are more prominent as “digital natives”, with 173 hours of monthly per capita use of the internet, much more than the 159 hours of the overall population in China, and with a higher activity rate throughout the day than the overall user base, with 30.9% of the user base still active after midnight. Furthermore, some younger individuals only use Douyin when it comes to entertainment, rejecting rivals such as Xiaohongshu.

If your target audience is a young consumer group such as Generation Z or Millennials, Douyin could be a highly useful vehicle for your marketing.

Gender

The male-to-female ratio of Douyin users is about 4:6, which is a significant increase in the proportion of male users compared to the previous 3:7. But there are still more female active users. Beauty and other industries mainly targeting female users tend to put a lot of resources into marketing Douyin for this reason.

Geographical distribution

Douyin users are mainly concentrated in first and second-tier cities in China, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. Among them, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou have the highest proportion of users compared to other first and second-tier cities in China, with 7.9%, 6.7%, and 6.3% respectively.

Crowd classification

Douyin categorizes its users into eight strategic groups according to their city level, age, consumption power, life stage, and other indicators: Gen-Z, refined mothers, new white-collar workers, urban blue-collar workers, small-town youths, senior middle-class, urban silver-haired people, and middle-aged/old people in small towns.

Generation Z: Generation Z refers to the new generation of young people born into a world of online technology, mainly in third-tier cities and above. China’s Generation Z has been brought up in a world vastly different from that of their parents and grandparents and has a more confident culture, which allows them to pursue higher spiritual needs such as socialization, respect, and self fulfillment. China’s Gen-Z internet population is around 342 million.

Delicate Moms: Compared with the previous generation of mothers, new generations of mothers have unique values and self-consciousness. In addition to meeting their children’s developmental needs, they also pay attention to their children’s education at an early age. Living fast-paced urban lives, they are more enthusiastic about online shopping, attaching particular importance to the health and safety of products, and are also very inclined to buy high-quality milk powder and complementary food products originating from overseas. Their online consumption power is very strong, and in addition to buying just-demanding products on big FMCG platforms more frequently, they are also very concerned about new products with high value and convenience.

New white-collar: Mainly refers to the high-income group aged 25-35, living in first- and second-tier cities, with a young mindset, financial independence, and strong consumption ability. Different from the previous generation, new white collars are more willing to try new things, pay attention to product quality, have higher acceptance of new brands, and love to pay for self-improvement. They are the main force in the consumption of fitness and knowledge products.

Urban blue-collar: More than 50% of urban blue-collar workers are aged 31-40, and more than 70% of them have children. The consumption concept of this generation of blue-collar workers has changed drastically compared to their forebears. They pursue high-frequency and high-quality shopping experiences, pay attention to the quality of goods, and are willing to pay for a high-quality state of life, having a greater demand for non-rigid material goods such as sculpture ornaments, fine dining, and medical beauty and skincare.

Small-town youths: This group mainly resides in fourth-tier cities and is aged 24-40 years old. Small-town youths do not have a high consumption level, but are good at online shopping, keen on promotions, and focus on quality. Small-town youths prefer health care and pets, and they are incredibly fond of cost-effective goods.

Small-town middle-aged and elderly people: This mainly refers to middle-aged and elderly users living in fourth-tier cities; their consumption habits are more arbitrary, and often focus on cost-effectiveness. They attach importance to socializing with acquaintances and have high social needs.

Senior middle class: This group is focused on 35-50 year olds living in third-tier cities and above. The senior middle class has a high consumption level, focuses on quality experience, and pursues luxury.

Silver-haired people: The silver-haired people in urban areas have sufficient income such as a pension. They represent the “second spring of Internet consumption”. According to CNNIC data, those over 50 accounted for 26.3% of the total number of Internet users in Dec. 2020. These users are more inclined to new ways of spending their retirement, taking after the lifestyle of silver-haired influencers on China’s answer to TikTok, and are willing to boldly try new things. They are enthusiastic about novelty products and trying trendy tools, such as using live streaming to talk with young people.

Conclusion

The users of Douyin are mainly young women in first- and second-tier cities. The male user segment is growing fast, however, and the ratio of male and female users on the app is likely to become more balanced in the coming years. In addition, although the proportion of people under 35 years old accounts for nearly 75% of users, the middle-aged and older-aged group is still an indispensable part of the platform that can not be ignored. With a high consumption level, strong consumption ability, and increasing use of the Internet, these groups have great potential.

The wide array of categories and content found on China’s TikTok sibling means that it is important to have precise positioning and targeted content for any marketing strategy. But for those who get it right and who understand the platform’s vast user base, the pay-off could be enormous.

This article was provided to TechNode by Xiaoyan Chen, founder of RougeLink, an agency offering high-performance e-commerce tactics based on data-driven technologies and livestreaming.

GAC Group and Changan Automobile, two of China’s biggest automakers by sales volume, detailed their respective timelines to manufacture solid-state batteries on Nov. 17, entering a global competition to bring the potentially transformative technology to play in electric vehicles (EVs). 

The moves resonate in an industry that has long attempted to commercialize the technology, widely seen as a next-generation energy storage device because of its superior performance and safety compared with the current batch of liquid-state electrolyte lithium-ion batteries. Several international carmakers have bet on solid-state batteries, with leading promoter Toyota reportedly projecting adoption by 2027. 

The news also indicates a growing trend among automakers of developing their own batteries, parts that comprise at least 40% of overall vehicle costs, to establish a self-sufficient supply chain. “Few companies have so far profited from making new energy vehicles [mostly battery EVs and plug-in hybrid EVs in China],” said Changan president Wang Jun during a press conference, citing a goal of achieving “sustainable, high-quality development” (our translation). 

Here’s what the two automakers said on Nov. 17 during the ongoing Auto Guangzhou show in southern China’s Guangdong province.

GAC: The Guangzhou-headquartered automaker is hoping to see an EV in production with its own in-house developed solid-state batteries as early as 2026. For now, the batteries have achieved a cell-level energy density of 400 watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg) and have proven effective under extreme conditions, according to an announcement. By comparison, the maximum energy density of CATL’s latest Qilin battery is 255 Wh/kg (per pack level).

• The state-owned manufacturer added that it is working on several other new battery types including cobalt-free and sodium-ion packs, without revealing further details.
• Meanwhile, the Chinese partner of Toyota and Honda expects its first wholly-owned battery plant to start rolling out conventional lithium-ion batteries later this month. The RMB 10.9 billion ($1.5 billion) plant, Guangzhou’s biggest ever, will produce an annual capacity of 36 gigawatt hours (GWh) by 2025, enough for 600,000 EVs. 

Changan: China’s fifth largest automaker’s plans include commercializing its first solid-state batteries by 2027 at a cell-level energy density of up to 500 Wh/kg, while large-scale vehicle application is scheduled for 2030 with the launch of several new battery products, said president Wang.

• As part of an RMB 10 billion investment plan, the Chongqing-based manufacturer will more than double its number of research and development employees from 1,200 to 3,000 by next year. It has also set its sights on making lithium-sulfur and other new battery types next decade.
• Ford’s manufacturing partner also projected its timeline for mass-producing lithium-ion batteries, starting as soon as next year. The product features a design in which battery cells are integrated directly with the vehicle body rather than segmented into several modules. This technology has enabled CATL’s Qilin batteries to promise a driving range of over 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) on a single charge. 

Context: Established automakers worldwide have been rushing to get solid-state batteries commercially ready for their green energy cars, which is intended to give them an upper hand as they navigate increasing competition in the global EV market. 

• In addition to Toyota, Nissan plans to launch a production EV with a solid-state battery pack by 2028 and BMW by 2030. China’s SAIC said in May that it has increased its investment in local battery startup Qingtao as part of its ambitious goal to sell 100,000 EVs with solid-state batteries in 2025.
• CATL in April unveiled a so-called condensed matter battery, a semi-solid state product using a condensed electrolyte, with plans to start mass production for aviation by year-end, Reuters has reported. The battery giant controls more than a third of the global market, according to figures compiled by South Korea’s SNE Research on Nov. 7. 
• The world’s second-biggest battery maker by shipment, BYD initiated its battery efforts two decades ago and accounted for 15.8% of global EV battery sales in the first nine months of 2023. Having benefited from its vertically integrated supply chain, the EV giant recorded a net income of RMB 10.4 billion in the past quarter.
• ​​A solid-state battery uses a solid electrolyte instead of liquid electrolytes, boasting a theoretically higher thermal stability and energy density than existing offerings. However, the batteries still suffer interface instability between electrodes and solid-state electrolytes, among other design issues.

Chinese mainstream entertainment apps, including WeChat, Douyin, and Kuaishou, have removed hundreds of short web dramas in the past week, citing content with inappropriate or negatively oriented values. These actions by platforms follow China’s broadcasting regulator’s announcement of tightened control over the short drama market’s popularity on Nov. 15, with measures ranging from accelerating the formulation of rules for content reviews in the industry to conducting a month-long campaign to combat violent content. Video apps have systematically refined their guidelines for short dramas on platforms to align with specific requirements since the broadcasting regulator issued the statement. For example, content that promotes “undesirable values” or “contains pornographic” is strictly prohibited from promotion.[People’s Daily, in Chinese]

Xiaomi experienced a significant increase in quarterly net profit, surpassing market expectations, according to its unaudited financial results for the third quarter. In the third quarter, Xiaomi’s revenue reached RMB 70.89 billion ($9.98 billion), while the adjusted net profit saw an increase of 182.9% year-on-year, amounting to RMB 5.99 billion ($0.84 billion). Xiaomi secured the third position in global smartphone shipment for the third quarter, with a market share of 14.1%, marking a 0.5% increase compared to the previous year, as reported by Canalys. Xiaomi stands out as the sole brand among the top three to achieve year-on-year growth in shipment volume amid the slump in the phone market. The company also demonstrated its commitment to innovation by investing RMB 5 billion ($0.7 billion) in research and development during the third quarter, reflecting a substantial 22.0% year-on-year growth in expenditure. [Yicai, in Chinese]

Temu, PDD’s rapidly expanding overseas business, has reportedly set a $30 billion GMV goal for next year, which would mean nearly doubling its 2023 total, according to Chinese media outlet LatePost. The shopping app is also in the process of negotiating its second commercial ad collaboration with the Super Bowl, the US annual championship NFL game, the report said. Temu made its Super Bowl ad debut this February at a cost of around $14 million, resulting in a 45% surge in downloads and a 20% increase in daily active users on the night of the ad’s launch. “Shop like a billionaire,” the final message of the commercial, has since turned into a memorable Temu slogan. Temu now estimates a total of $14 billion in GMV will be made by the end of 2023, $2 billion less than its target set at the beginning of the year. [LatePost, in Chinese]

There are reports suggesting that Huawei’s self-developed system, HarmonyOS, will no longer be compatible with Android next year. The iOS, Android, and HarmonyOS will be three independent operating systems, according to sources familiar with the matter. Huawei has not yet responded to this, but there are currently no plans to apply HarmonyOS to overseas smartphones, as reported by local media outlet Jiemian. Overseas consumers can continue to use Android applications with confidence on Huawei phones running EMUI, the previous Android-derived operating system, the report added. As of Oct. 30, 100 million devices upgraded to HarmonyOS 4, released on August 4, according to Huawei. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

TikTok owner ByteDance is threatening the long-established positions of China’s traditional “big three” tech firms – Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent – with $29 billion in revenue and 40% year-on-year revenue growth in the second quarter this year. The Douyin operator’s earnings reached $54 billion in the first half of 2023, close to Meta’s $60.6 billion for the same period, according to tech outlet The Information. ByteDance overtook rival Tencent in terms of total sales in the quarter, but failed to overtake e-commerce giant Alibaba. ByteDance’s revenue growth came mainly from advertising and e-commerce business, the report stated, with most of the firm’s earnings coming from its domestic market; overseas markets accounted for about 20% of its revenue during the period. [The Information]

Oppo launched its latest high-end foldable phone, the Find N3, on Oct. 19, highlighting advances in screen, imaging, security, and system interaction. The 12GB+512GB variant is priced at RMB 9,999 ($1,392), while the collection edition with 16GB+1TB storage costs RMB 12,999 ($1,810). The new device comes in three colors: green, gold, and black. Our team was given a fortnight to review a black 12GB+512GB model.

The Find N3 is a stylish device, albeit slightly weighty in the hand, with a dual high-resolution display, and a processor that plays to its visual prowess. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor ensures a steady performance, placing it among the top foldable smartphones currently available. 

Mature leathery design

The leather case with a discernible grain offers users a comfortable grip and a pleasant feel. In terms of dimensions, when folded, the device feels hefty both in the hand and pocket compared with other non-foldable devices’ lightweight profiles. However, for a foldable device, the Find N3 surprises with its relatively lightweight, coming in at approximately 239 grams. The device boasts a thin profile, measuring a mere 5.8mm when unfolded and 11.7mm when closed.

In terms of overall appearance, the Find N3 leans towards the classic, giving it a business look. This is an aesthetic geared somewhat towards older generations.

LTPO technology and durable hinges

The Find N3 unfolds to a 7.82-inch screen with a resolution of 2,440 x 2,268 pixels, and the outer cover screen measures 6.31 inches with a resolution of 2,484 x 1,116 pixels. LTPO (low-temperature polycrystalline oxide) technology makes a smooth 1-120Hz dynamic refresh rate possible for fluid scrolling and gameplay, with up to 2,800 nits peak brightness.

Both screens are covered in toughened glass, improving drop resistance and strength. In addition to IPX4 splash resistance, the Find N3 is the first phone to be independently tested to withstand one million folds by TÜV Rheinland, according to Oppo. The phone’s crease is not visible unless you look at it from a certain angle.

Enhanced imaging performance

The Find N3’s camera system is branded by Hasselblad and sets new benchmarks in its category. It features two selfie cameras, with a 20MP camera inside and a 32MP camera on the cover screen. On the back, there is a 48MP LYTIA-T808 sensor from Sony, which is a 1/1.43″ sensor equipped with dual-layer transistor technology. This technology ensures great light sensitivity and ultimately leads to improved image quality.

The device’s day and night time photography capabilities stand out within the foldable phone category, as evidenced by the following images. In portrait mode, photos have a great sense of contrast, even in low light.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 powers high-performance gaming

The Find N3 features the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB. Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 at its Snapdragon Summit on Oct. 24 but as no foldable phone currently on the market features the new processor yet, the N3 is the most powerful in its category. Our two-hour test of the mobile game Honor of Kings revealed stable performance without any overheating. Stereo speakers also enhance gameplay.

Users can play the same game on two different screen sizes: unfolded and folded. Although the display size and games have been adjusted to some extent, the gaming experience may feel quite different to what users are used to when the phone is unfolded. Gaming enthusiasts be warned that, folded, it also takes some time to get used to the phone’s thickness.

High-capacity battery 

The Find N3 is equipped with a high-capacity 4,850mAh battery. For reference, the iPhone 15 Pro features a battery rated at 3,274mAh. Our practical tests have shown that the new Oppo phone’s battery life can support a full day’s use even under moderate or high-intensity usage. The phone also supports 67W fast charging technology and can be fully charged in around an hour.

Privacy protection and office functions

The Find N3 offers multiple privacy protection functions, including a security chip with national encryption certification, file encryption technology, and end-to-end cloud transmission encryption. The device is equipped with a button on the side, allowing users to easily switch to “VIP” mode, which disables the camera, microphone, and location permissions in one go. 

On the software interaction front, the Find N3 improves office efficiency by enabling users to directly access files made in Apple’s office trio Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, as well as CAD engineering drawings. This breaks down a barrier between Android and Apple, enabling seamless file sharing.

Conclusion

The Oppo Find N3 performs well in terms of chipset performance, screen quality, camera capabilities, and battery life, setting a new benchmark in the foldable smartphone category. It is just as well that the Find N3 is suitable for business professionals, as its relatively high price excludes many other consumer groups.

Pros

• Thin and lightweight entrant in the foldable category
• Leathery design for a firm grip
• LPTO screen with 120Hz adaptive refresh rate
• Great camera performance for a foldable phone
• Large battery and 67W fast charging technology
• Self-developed security chip

Cons

• Slightly heavy for long-time use and carrying in the pocket 
• Gaming on the device takes some getting used to
• No wireless charging support
• Expensive

China on Nov. 17 issued a new program to accelerate the rollout of highly autonomous vehicles on the road by allowing more of the futuristic technology onto the market and expanding zones where the cars can go. Automakers and actual users of mass-produced, semi- or highly-autonomous cars (Level 3 and 4) in certain cities have until Dec. 20 to file joint plans for commercial operations to the regulators, according to a document released by four central government departments. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) will review plans alongside the country’s top public security, transport, and housing authorities. for final approval with a goal to help refine the technology and sustain the drafting of relevant rules, regulations, and national standards. The first approvals, aimed at refining the technology and improving the drafting of rules, are likely to come in the first quarter of 2024, and expected participant cities include Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, according to industry insiders who spoke to financial media outlet Caixin. Several self-driving companies, including Baidu and http://Pony.aiPony.ai>, have been testing their robocars on the public in designated areas in the four cities since 2018. [MIIT document, Caixin, in Chinese]

WPS, a word processing brand operated by Chinese software company Kingsoft, apologized after being accused of using private documents to train AI, in a violation of users’ privacy. The controversy stems from public interest in a WPS privacy policy saying that the company “will use material users voluntarily upload as the base material for AI training after desensitization,” leading the tech brand to offer a statement on Weibo at the weekend saying it had removed the misleading phrase in the updated policy after online criticism. “User documentation will not be used for any AI training purposes or in any scenario without the user’s consent,” it emphasized. [WPS, in Chinese]

As automakers continue their struggle amid an unrelenting price war in China, both established brands and startups are showcasing their latest products at the Auto Guangzhou 2023 show in a bid to take pole position ahead of what promises to be another year of tight competition. 

Traditionally one of the country’s largest car shows, this year’s Auto Guangzhou offers a glimpse of how intense competition in China has been, and how successful it has been at flushing out weaker foreign marques as domestic rivals fall over one another in a mad rush to crack the market. 

“Joint car manufacturers are faced with unprecedented challenges against the backdrop of the current situation,” said Wen Dali, a deputy general manager of GAC-Toyota, a joint venture between the Japanese automaker and its Chinese partner (our translation). More than 20% of the JV’s new car sales over the next three years in China are set to be new energy vehicles, mostly battery-run electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs), Wen added at a press event on Friday. 

Here’s a quick roundup of some of the highlights from the Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition, which kicked off on Friday in the capital of China’s Guangdong province. 

BYD – Sea Lion 07

The BYD Ocean family of electric cars on Friday welcomed a new sibling and its latest answer to the Tesla Model Y, the Sea Lion 07, crafted by Wolfgang Josef Egger, BYD’s design chief and a former head designer at Audi Group. 

The mid-size crossover boasts distinctive design elements with its muscular fenders, bold air inlets, and clean character lines on all four corners, while the high shoulder lines and the dual, through-type waistlines give the vehicle a sporty vibe. The features are intended to make the car look unique from miles away, Fan Jihan, a deputy director of BYD said on Friday during the show.

Slightly larger than Tesla’s Model Y at 4.8 meters in length and with a 2,900-millimeter-long wheelbase, the top-end all-electric car is expected to have a driving range of more than 700 kilometers (435 miles), compared with the 688 km claimed by the long-range version of its US rival. Scheduled for official launch later this year, it will be equipped with BYD’s latest advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), according to the company.

Geely – Zeekr 007 

This year’s Auto Guangzhou saw the debut of the long-awaited Zeekr 007, the first electric sedan under the premium marque of auto major Geely. 

The latest model from Stefan Sielaff, formerly a head of design at Bentley, the 4.9-meter-long all-electric vehicle comes with 1,711 high-intensity lamp beads powered by 75 automotive chips. This enables the car’s LED headlights to display a dazzling, customized lighting sequence with animation about 90 inches wide, showcasing some of the most advanced lighting technology by a Chinese carmaker. 

Meanwhile, the Zeekr 007 features an 800-volt battery system, which offers a driving range of up to 870 km on a full charge and can travel another 610 km on 15 minutes’ extra charge. Zeeker claims it to be the quickest accelerating road car of the same class ever made, going from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 2.84 seconds, while also being one of the earliest models to use Qualcomm’s latest 5-nanometer cockpit chip 8295. 

The company aims to begin delivering the car in January at a lower-than-expected pre-sale starting price of RMB 224,900 ($31,059). 

Xpeng Motors – X9

Xpeng on Friday was on its home court when it unveiled details of its first flagship multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) the X9, which the Guangzhou-headquartered electric vehicle maker expects will stand out from existing offerings with superior comfort and top-notch performance. 

With a competitive pre-sale starting price of RMB 388,000 ($53,544), the seven-seater has a claimed interior space of 7.7 square meters, which makes it 12% bigger than the Toyota Alphard, a worldwide top-seller in the chauffeur-driven luxury people mover category, according to chief executive He Xiaopeng. 

The family van is also said to have the best third-row seats on the market that can be adjusted for recline to a desired angle of nearly 180 degrees and folded down flat to increase cargo capacity. Meanwhile, the luggage compartment offers space for seven suitcases. 

The Xpeng X9 is claimed to be the world’s first MPV equipped with rear-wheel steering as a standard configuration, which reduces the car’s turning diameter to an industry record of 10.8 meters (35.4 feet), making it easy to maneuver. 

Li Auto – Mega

Li Auto has finally made available the details of its long-anticipated MPV, the Mega, with an exterior echoing the bullet-style look of China’s high-speed trains. The seven-seater van boasts the world’s fastest charging speed among electric vehicles of all kinds, capable of traveling up to 500 km on 12 minutes of charge powered by CATL’s next-iteration Qilin batteries. 

It has a drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.215, which the company claimed is the lowest Cd rating for an MPV, while it will consume 15.9 kilowatts (kWh) of electricity for every 100 km of travel, also among the lowest in the industry. 

The company, which has delivered more than 500,000 plug-in hybrid SUVs as of September, confirmed plans to build 300 supercharging stations in China by year-end. Pre-sales of the Mega started on Friday with a price tag of around RMB 600,000 ($82,800) and delivery scheduled for February 2024.

READ MORE: Chinese carmakers showed up big time at Auto Shanghai 2023

Douyin has initiated trials for a pay-to-watch feature as the short video platform pursues a 30% revenue-sharing model with creators. The move suggests the TikTok sibling is banking on a new revenue stream on the widely adopted entertainment platform, having previously charged fees for in-app short dramas. Viewers can access a preview of the content before making a payment and are allowed to watch repeatedly within seven days of purchase, as outlined in the purchase instructions. Douyin has specified that creators with at least 100,000 followers can join the paid content function, provided they maintain a clean record with no violations and complete real-name authentication to qualify for the feature. [Caixin, in Chinese]

Alibaba has paused the public listing of its supermarket chain because of what it sees as a volatile market and canceled its cloud unit spin off, the company announced on Thursday alongside reports of its earnings for the three months to September. The US’s decision to tighten controls on exports of advanced AI chips to China has created uncertainties, says Joe Tsai, Alibaba chairman, adding that the company will instead chase “sustainable growth” based on AI-driven demand and operate its cloud computing services independently. Meanwhile, Alibaba has put grocery chain Freshippo’s IPO on pause citing market conditions and the need to reevaluate various factors. Alibaba generated RMB 224.79 billion ($46.03 billion) in revenue in the July to September period, up 9% from a year earlier, with revenue from its international digital commerce group that operates Lazada and AliExpress seeing a 53% earnings increase, again recording the highest growth rate among its six groups, and partially offsetting lackluster domestic performance. [Alibaba]

Images of what could be Xiaomi’s first electric vehicle model have leaked online ahead of the car’s expected launch next year. The photos from the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology show a large sedan with styling similar to the Porsche Taycan, adorned with a Xiaomi logo. 

Why it matters: Automakers are required by Chinese regulators to apply for registration before officially selling vehicles in the country, and the government ministry’s post indicates that the debut of the first Xiaomi car is approaching. 

• Xiaomi has begun trial production of its first EV at its facility on the outskirts of Beijing, with the vehicle expected to hit the market as early as February, a person with knowledge of the matter told Chinese media outlet National Business Daily on Wednesday. 
• A Xiaomi representative declined to comment when contacted by TechNode on Thursday, but in late October, chief executive Lei Jun reaffirmed the company’s plan for the car to go on sale in the first half of 2024, according to an Oct. 25 post published on the Twitter-like platform Weibo. 

Details: The Xiaomi SU7 is around five meters long and spans a 3,000-millimeter-long wheelbase, making it bigger than many mid-size sedans such as Tesla’s Model 3. It has a total mass of 2,430 kg and a curb weight of 1,980 kg, based on the registration details revealed by the MIIT on Wednesday. 

• The car features a sleek, athletic low profile with Xiaomi’s logo on the front and its name on the rear hatch, similar to the Porsche Taycan, a likeness brought to light by a Chinese auto influencer. The images also show a couple of wheel options and a choice of yellow brake calipers.
• The SU7 will be able to reach a top speed of 210 kilometers per hour on a relatively affordable, iron-based lithium-ion battery from BYD. The top speed of the premium SU7 Max will be 265 km/h, with the higher-end model equipped with a more expensive, nickel and cobalt-based battery pack from CATL. 
• An electric motor will provide a power output of 275 kW and 220 kW respectively, while the top-end version will integrate laser sensor units on the roof to enable partially autonomous driving capabilities, according to images released by MIIT.
• The five-seater sedan will be manufactured at Xiaomi’s factory in the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone, which has an initial annual capacity of 150,000 units, although its production application was filed in the name of a subsidiary of state-owned automaker BAIC.
• This appears to confirm speculation that BAIC, a manufacturing partner of Mercedes-Benz in China, has joined hands with Xiaomi, meaning the smartphone maker is still waiting for final approval to begin manufacture from the Chinese authorities. 

Context: Xiaomi and Huawei are among the Chinese technology giants with the potential to become major players in the EV space with advanced intelligent capabilities and a broad sales network, which remain difficult for many carmakers to replicate, Morgan Stanley analyst Tim Hsiao commented on an earnings call held by Xpeng Motors on Wednesday. 

• Huawei said on Oct. 6 that it had secured over 50,000 non-refundable orders for the revamped M7 sports utility vehicle less than a month after its launch. The number was updated to more than 90,000 as of Wednesday, local media outlet IT Home reported. 
• The telecoms giant started pre-sales of the first electric sedan under the new Luxeed brand with automaker Chery on Nov. 9, followed the next day by the launch of the Avatr 12, a premium crossover co-developed with partners Changan Automobile and CATL. 

READ MORE: Five things to know about Xiaomi’s new electric car company

Chinese tech giant Tencent on Wednesday reported 10% year-on-year revenue growth to RMB 154.6 billion ($21.5 billion). The firm’s net income decreased for the first time in 2023, falling 9% compared to the same period last year to RMB 36.2 billion, but this figure was still RMB 10 billion higher than the two preceding quarters. Ma Huateng, chairman and CEO of Tencent, said in the company’s earnings report that the revenue was “high quality”, as online advertising and international games showed 20% and 14% growth, respectively. The robust growth in advertising was largely due to the huge demand for Video Accounts, Tencent’s mobile ad network, and Weixin Search, according to the company. Executives also highlighted the “great potential for growth” in the monetization of WeChat. On a related earnings call, senior figures from the company noted the recent chip curbs imposed by the US, saying that Tencent has “one of the largest inventories of advanced artificial intelligence chips of any vendor in China,” enough for the firm to upgrade multiple versions of its Hunyuan large language model, they said. [Tencent]

Chinese GPU manufacturer Moore Threads recently completed a new round of B+ financing, raising hundreds of millions of RMB, significantly less than the RMB 1.5 billion ($0.2 billion) it raised in last December’s B round. Moore Threads was founded in October 2020, drawing in team members from chip giant companies Nvidia and AMD. Last month, Moore Threads was blacklisted by the US government as the country imposed broader limits on selling advanced AI chips and chip-making tools to China. The company subsequently decided to cut jobs last week, as announced by CEO Zhang Jianzhong in an internal open letter. [Icsmart, in Chinese]

ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, is reportedly in discussions with potential buyers for the sale of its gaming unit, Moonton Technology, as exclusively reported by Reuters on Wednesday. This move follows ByteDance’s acquisition of the Shanghai-based game studio two years ago in a deal valuing it at $4 billion. Sources suggest that the talks are in the early stages, and the deal is not assured. The decision to explore the sale aligns with ByteDance’s strategy to focus resources on its core business, according to the report. Moonton Technology gained recognition for developing the popular mobile game “Mobile Legends: Bang Bang,” acquired by ByteDance in 2021. Despite the success of “Mobile Legends,” Moonton has yet to replicate the same level of success with another hit game since its establishment in 2014. [Reuters]

JD, a major participant in the Chinese e-commerce sector, generated RMB 247.7 billion ($134.0 billion) in revenue for the three months to September, representing only a 1.7% year-on-year growth. Meanwhile, net income increased by 31.67% to RMB 7.9 billion in the period. JD Retail, the company’s key support business, experienced a decline in revenue growth to 0.06%, down from 4.85% in the previous quarter. However, JD’s chief financial officer anticipates a return to “normal growth rates” for both overall and retail business in 2024. On the same day, JD announced that CEO Sandy Xu will take over the role of chief executive of the retail sector from Xin Lijun, who is leaving due to another appointment. Despite a slow rebound in China’s consumption, JD executives highlighted that its core GMV achieved “high single-digit growth” in the third quarter, a figure surpassing the country’s total retail sales of consumer goods. [JD]

In the third quarter of 2023, the import of chip-making equipment by China surged by 93% compared to the same period last year, reaching a total value of RMB 63.4 billion ($8.75 billion), according to data from China’s customs authorities, as reported by Japanese media outlet Nikkei. In terms of product categories, the import of lithography equipment, a key part of the chip-making process, skyrocketed nearly fourfold.

Why it matters: The US began attempts to control the export of advanced chip-making equipment to China last October, with Japan and the Netherlands following suit this year, but these new figures show the issues with enforcing such controls rapidly. As the lead time for chip-making equipment from order placement to delivery is between six months to one year, many Chinese manufacturers had already placed a large number of orders for chip-making equipment from the latter two countries last year, likely in anticipation of a ban.

Details: Although the Netherlands has implemented policies restricting the export of advanced semiconductor equipment to China, imports of semiconductor equipment by China from the country in the third quarter nevertheless increased rapidly. 

• According to data presented by Nikkei, the US accounted for only 9% of semiconductor equipment imported into China in the third quarter, significantly lower than its 17% share during the same period in 2021. Japan’s share also decreased from 32% to 25%, while the Netherlands saw an increase from around 15% to 30%.
• The data from China’s customs authorities reveals that the import value from the Netherlands skyrocketed by over six times in the third quarter compared to the same period last year, rising to 2.44 billion euros. A significant portion of this increase is attributed to lithography machines produced by Dutch market leader ASML. Imports of these machines from Japan grew by approximately 40%, while lithography equipment imports from the US increased by 20%.
• Compared with the second quarter of 2023, ASML’s sales revenue from China doubled from 24% to 46% of the firm’s total in the third quarter, amounting to 2.44 billion euros, according to the company’s financial report. In the first quarter of this year, ASML’s proportion of sales revenue generated by China was only 8%.

Context: According to the Netherlands’ new regulations on semiconductor exports, ASML’s lithography systems require an export license from the Dutch government for shipment. However, a statement from ASML indicated that the company believes its existing licenses still allow it to continue delivering lithography machines to China until the end of 2023, despite the export restrictions taking effect in September.

• ASML dominates the lithography market with an 82.9% market share followed by Canon and Nikon. It holds a market share that is over eight times greater than second-place Canon.

Temu is set to ship China-manufactured goods via express sea vessels in cooperation with various shipping companies, including Matson, ZIM, and CMA CGM, according to a Tuesday report by Chinese media outlet 36Kr. The move is expected to reduce the cross-border retailer’s logistics costs compared to its current reliance on air transportation, while strengthening the company’s profitability. Temu launched in the US in 2022, expanding to Canada earlier this year, followed by launches in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the Middle East. [36Kr, in Chinese]

A developer on Hugging Face, a collaborative AI platform, found that Yi, the large language model released by Chinese AI venture 01.AI, used “exactly” the same structure as Meta’s Llama, but changed the names of two tensors. AI pioneer Kai-Fu Lee’s venture 01.AI, founded in June, was recently valued at $1 billion following a funding round led by Alibaba’s cloud unit. The developer called on 01.AI to republish Yi with the tensors aligned with Llama’s architecture. The Chinese AI unicorn, in response to the allegations, told Chinese outlets on Tuesday that Yi “draws on public results at the top level of the industry,” and its design is based on the proven structure of GPT. An open-source signatory of 01.AI, Richard Lin, published a statement under the Hugging Face post claiming the tensors’ renaming had been needed to meet “experimental requirements” during model training, and had not been switched back before release. “We’re going to change them back from Yi to Llama, just as you suggested,” wrote Lin. [Hugging Face; Jiemian, in Chinese]

BYD is set to supply cost-effective, iron-based batteries for Audi’s Q6L e-tron, the inaugural electric vehicle model constructed on a dedicated premium EV architecture and manufactured in China by the German carmaker, as per a Tuesday report from financial media outlet CLS. Simultaneously, Chinese battery giant CATL is set to furnish Audi with pricier, more energy-dense, nickel-based batteries, according to individuals familiar with the matter, who declined to disclose further details. In March, the Volkswagen subsidiary announced plans to commence mass production of the Q6 e-tron and the A6-tron lineups in collaboration with partner FAW Group at their joint facility in the northeastern Chinese city of Changchun, with an annual capacity of 600,000 units by 2024. The Q6 e-tron, the inaugural model based on the PPE (Premium Platform Electric), a jointly developed EV platform by Audi and Porsche, has faced delays in its launch due to behind-schedule software development. Despite TechNode’s requests for comment, BYD and Audi have not responded. [CLS, in Chinese]

iPhone maker Apple has reportedly asked China’s major app developers to refrain from using gyroscopic motion, a feature that tracks the motion of a user’s phone, for advertising, as it all too readily redirects users to third-party apps on detecting even the slightest shake of a device. 

Why it matters: Open-screen advertising serves as a monetization method for many apps, while gyroscopic ads can boost the click-through rate of the target app. Those employing the feature have found that both parties can gain commercially, despite it taking control away from the user and thus impacting the user experience.

Details: Deployment of the function, criticized by numerous users, escalated during November’s three-week-long Singles Day shopping festival that has just ended. E-commerce platforms extensively used redirect ads across various apps, including the most widely used video and music streaming platforms, as well as social media apps. These ads can be triggered by clicking on an ad page or moving the phone, redirecting the user’s attention to another app.

• A netizen on Weibo, a Twitter-like platform, jokingly wrote that the redirection speed was faster than if they had directly opened the app.
• On-device gyroscopes help to achieve the ad redirect feature, though gyroscopes were originally designed to provide “experiences based on real-time, motion-based information in apps and games,” according to Apple.
• Another form of advertising similarly concealed within social media during China’s largest online shopping event was activated by Weibo blog comments – – individuals would write related comments and attach seemingly relevant webpage links. Once users clicked, they would find their phones had already opened advertised shopping websites. It remains uncertain whether this type of promotional tactic is directly linked to e-commerce sites.
• According to local media outlet Yicai, Taobao, JD, Pinduoduo, and Douyin have not explicitly said they received a notification from Apple, and Apple has not responded to the rumors.

Context: In February, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation made it clear in a guideline that advertisements should be clearly labeled using a closing icon, and should not deceptively induce users to click on or browse any advertisement. The new measures were supposed to further refine the norms of online advertising in China.

Xiaomi’s first consumer electric vehicle will be a medium- to large-size sedan featuring HyperOS, its latest operating system. The car offers a spacious interior with an exterior comparable to the Porsche Taycan, positioning it with a starting price exceeding RMB 300,000 ($41,124). Car influencer Han Lu, a former senior director at the New York-listed car sales website Autohome, first shared this information on the Chinese Twitter-like platform Weibo on Monday. Although the post was later deleted, it has circulated on social media. The top-end version of the car might approach a price point of RMB 400,000, representing a significant achievement in Xiaomi’s new corporate strategy of building a comprehensive ecosystem spanning devices from smartphones to cars. Last month, Ming-Chi Kuo, a well-known Apple analyst, predicted that the initial price of Xiaomi’s first car, set to be released next year, would be below RMB 300,000. Xiaomi did not respond to TechNode’s requests for comment.[TechNode reporting, a screenshot of Han Lu’s Weibo, in Chinese]

A total of 37 Chinese companies made it to the top 100 global mobile game publishers by revenue in October, generating a combined income of $1.91 billion, according to analyst firm Sensor Tower. This accounts for 38.7% of the total revenue generated by the top 100 mobile game publishers worldwide during the period. HoYoverse’s Honkai: Star Rail saw an 11% month-to-month increase in overseas revenue last month, reclaiming the global mobile game top spot. Tencent’s PUBG dropped to second place, while HoYoverse’s Genshin Impact took third place. Notably, the fourth position was taken by Whiteout Survival, a survival strategy game centering on a glacial apocalypse theme developed by Century Games. [Sensor Tower, in Chinese]

On Monday, Vivo unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, the X100 series, succeeding last year’s X90 series. These devices mark the introduction of the first Android phones powered by MediaTek’s new Dimensity 9300 chipset. The X100 Pro model boasts a Zeiss APO 100mm equivalent periscope lens. Both phones feature a 6.78-inch AMOLED display with curved edges, offering a 1.5K resolution, adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support, and a peak brightness of 3,000 nits. The X100 series sports a triple rear camera setup, including a 50MP main sensor, a 50MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 64MP telephoto lens with 3x optical and 100x digital zoom, utilizing the Zeiss-certified Vario-APO-Sonar lens. The starting price of the X100 is RMB 3,999 ($550) for the basic 12GB + 256GB variant. [IThome, in Chinese]

Didi announced on Monday that revenue for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 grew 25% year-on-year to RMB51.4 billion ($7.1 billion), marking a record-breaking quarterly result for the ride-hailing platform. Chinese citizens returning to regular activities drove demand for road transport. Average daily rides reached a historical peak of 31.3 million in the home market over the period. The country’s biggest ride-hailer implemented targeted measures to subsidize trips, particularly those driven by red-hot demand for music events during summer holidays. Net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 107 million contrasts with a net loss of RMB 2 billion earned a year ago, partly due to the benefit from the investment in Nasdaq-listed rival Grab and the spin-off of its autonomous truck business. Didi has also completed the sale of its electric vehicle business to Xpeng and is currently assessing the impact on its consolidated financial results. [Didi filing]

A series of Alibaba-built apps that run on the group’s cloud services, including Taobao, DingTalk, and Xianyu, crashed for over three hours yesterday evening. The incident occurred one day after Alibaba wrapped up the country’s biggest shopping bonanza Singles Day, with the company’s cloud backbone later claiming the incident was due to an “anomaly” in the cloud product console access and API calls. The large-scale outage marks the second system failure for Alibaba within a year. Then-Alibaba CEO and chairman Daniel Zhang took over as head of the cloud division after a massive breakdown of cloud services in Hong Kong and Macau last December, which the firm described as its “longest major-scale” outage. Eddie Wu, the new chief executive of Alibaba, now also serves as head of the e-commerce giant’s cloud division. [Alibaba Cloud, in Chinese]

Following a year of negotiations, Tencent and Meta have made a deal for Tencent to  exclusively sell Meta’s VR (virtual reality) glasses in China from late 2024, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

Why it matters: As social media platforms Facebook and Instagram are banned in China, the return of Meta to the Chinese market is unexpected. It remains unclear if Tencent requires government approval to sell Meta’s devices due to the absence of VR-related government regulations in China.

Details: The agreement provides Meta with a fresh opportunity to tap into China’s expansive consumer market, a door that closed when access to Facebook was restricted in China in 2009.

• The VR glasses will offer consumers more affordable lenses compared to Meta’s existing Quest 3 headset, which is currently priced at around $500 in the US, according to The Wall Street Journal. The less expensive device is scheduled for sale in various international markets in addition to China in 2024. 
• Insiders told the WSJ that Meta will receive a larger share of hardware revenue, while Tencent will obtain a higher proportion of revenue from content and services. The Chinese version of the VR headset will offer games and apps distributed by Tencent.
• Meta’s current lineup of VR headsets includes the 2023-released Quest 3, the 2022-unveiled Quest Pro, and the Quest 2, which went on sale in 2020. The upcoming VR device from Meta may be named Meta Quest 3 Lite, with an estimated price of $199 for the basic model, according to Chinese media outlet Cailian Press. This new product may feature a modified chip that will impact upon its performance due to its low cost.
• In its third-quarter financial report on Oct. 25, Meta disclosed that its Reality Labs unit, which develops metaverse-related technologies, experienced an operating loss of $3.74 billion. Revenue in the virtual reality and augmented reality division dropped 26% during the reporting period, falling to $210 million from $285 million a year earlier.

Context: Global shipments of augmented reality and virtual reality headsets went through a decline for the fourth consecutive quarter in the second quarter of 2023, dropping by 44.6% year-on-year, according to data from market research firm IDC.

• Meta emerged as the dominant player in the headset market during this period, occupying an approximately 50% market share, according to the same report from IDC. Sony and Pico (the headset division of TikTok parent ByteDance) secured second and third places, respectively.
• On Nov. 7, in response to a decline in global demand for VR headsets, Pico reportedly initiated a significant round of job cuts, marking its most substantial overhaul since being acquired by TikTok’s owner two years ago.

Nov. 12 marked the global debut of Volvo’s first all-electric multi-purpose vehicle model, the EM90. Unveiled in Shanghai and with a price tag of RMB 818,000 ($112,095), the car represents Volvo’s entry into the increasingly competitive premium segment in the world’s biggest electric vehicle market. The single-motor EM90 has a power output of 200 kW and is equipped with a 116-kilowatt-hour battery pack that offers a driving range of 738 kilometers (459 miles) and can be charged from a low-level to 80% in 30 minutes. The six-seater features almost the same dimensions as the Zeekr 009, a similar offering launched by Volvo’s parent Geely with a significantly lower price tag of RMB 499,000. The EM90 is also priced higher than some other existing offerings such as BYD’s Denza D9, priced from RMB 329,800, as well as the redesigned Voyah Dreamer, priced from RMB 339,900. EV startups Li Auto and Xpeng Motors are also set to launch their first electric MPV models next month. [TechNode reporting, Volvo’s announcement, in Chinese]

Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD kept quiet for the second year in a row on their overall sales volumes for the weeks-long shopping festival centered on Nov. 11, with Alibaba merely saying Taobao and Tmall recorded “positive year-on-year growth” in GMV, order number, and participating merchants, and rival JD pointing to “all-time high” transaction volume, order volume, and user engagement during the period. Data from industry watcher Syntun showed that from Oct.31 to the end of Nov.11, Tmall, JD, and Pinduoduo generated less than RMB 10.5 billion in sales combined, compared with last year. By contrast, content-based e-commerce sites led by Douyin and Kuaishou saw GMV increase by 18.6% to RMB 215.1 billion within the same period, compared with growth of 146.1% last year. Singles Day shopping festival was originally a 24-hour online commerce event that took place on Nov.11 every year. On Nov. 11 this year, total online transactions decreased by nearly 10% to RMB 277.65 billion. Similarly, the number of express parcels dropped 16.4% from last year. [Yicai, in Chinese]

Avatr, a Chinese electric vehicle brand established by Huawei, CATL, and Changan Automobile, launched its first electric sedan on Nov. 10. Priced between RMB 300,800 and RMB 400,800 ($41,240-$54,950), the Avatr 12 is set for delivery in December. Boasting three lidar sensors and Huawei’s latest Advanced Driving System, the sedan, according to Richard Yu, Huawei’s consumer business group chief executive, can detect and identify 99.9% of objects, when navigating major Chinese city streets. The sports sedan features Huawei’s HarmonyOS 4, an alternative to Google’s Android operating system, and includes innovative elements like a camera-based digital rear-view mirror system, providing a monitor view of the vehicle’s rear in the cabin. With a driving range exceeding 700 kilometers (435 miles), the five-seater can cover an additional 350 km on a 20-minute fast charge, utilizing CATL’s 94.5-kilowatt-hour battery pack. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

Electric vehicle maker Zeekr is seeking to raise over $1 billion in an initial public offering in New York, marking the largest US listing by a Chinese company in two years, as revealed in updated federal regulatory paperwork made public on Thursday. However, a source familiar with the matter informed Reuters that investor sentiment could influence the Geely affiliate’s success amid ongoing tensions between China and the US over trade, technology, and geopolitics. Zeekr reported a net loss of RMB 3.87 billion ($531.34 million) in the first six months of this year, up from RMB 3.09 billion a year earlier, while revenue more than doubled to nearly RMB 21.3 billion during the same period. The company currently offers three models for sale—the 001 hatchback, the 009 van, and the X compact crossover—and is set to unveil its first sedan, the 007, on Nov. 17. [Reuters]

Huawei on Thursday revealed its first electric sedan under the new Luxeed marque in collaboration with automaker Chery, saying it will compete with Tesla and Mercedes Benz’s premium offerings at a price comparable to the cheapest models of its international rivals.

“After some deliberation, we will make all versions of the Luxeed S7 available for purchase despite making a loss,” Richard Yu, the chief executive of Huawei’s consumer business group, told the media during a press conference in Shenzhen (our translation). This will allow more customers to try Huawei’s smart vehicle technology at an affordable price, said Yu.

The aggressive pricing strategy unveiled at the Luxeed S7’s launch marks the latest push by the Chinese technology giant to crack the world’s biggest and most competitive electric vehicle market. Huawei hopes it will be a new revenue source to offset the negative impact of US restrictions on its smartphone business. 

Here’s what we know about the newly-launched Luxeed S7 sedan:

Pricing: The sedan comes at a minimum price of RMB 258,000 ($35,381), RMB 2,000 lower than Tesla’s entry-level Model 3 in China. Pre-sale started on Thursday and the official launch is scheduled for Nov. 28.

Automated driving: The Huawei-Chery electric sedan is the first model to use the tech giant’s latest proprietary Harmony operating system. Its autonomous valet parking feature enables the car to park itself in lots and then return to a designated spot using a remote-control assisted function.

The premium versions of the Luxeed S7 will include Huawei’s laser sensor units and its Advanced Driving System (ADS) that uses deep learning networks and computer vision algorithms, including one called the General Obstacle Detection network, for navigating its surroundings. 

Huawei has claimed its partially autonomous driving technology will be accessible on major city roads across China by the end of the year, potentially ahead of rivals including Xpeng Motors. 

Main specs: Yu specifically identified Tesla’s Model S as Huawei’s major competitor, claiming that Huawei and Chery’s full-size luxury sedan outperformed its rival’s in terms of range, energy efficiency, and luxury. 

The top-end Luxeed S7 will have a driving range of more than 800 kilometers (497 miles) and be capable of driving another 400 km on 15 minutes of supercharging using Huawei’s facilities. By comparison, the dual-motor Tesla Model S has a 715 km range and can add 347 km in 15 minutes. 

The car also impresses with high energy efficiency, consuming an estimated 12.4 kWh per 100 km, compared with 13.2 kWh and 17.5 kWh achieved by the rear-drive Model 3 and the dual-motor Model S respectively. “This is far ahead of our rivals,” said Yu, using a phrase that has become a Huawei-related buzzword on the Chinese internet. 

The S7 slightly beats out the Model S with a drag coefficient of 0.203. Meanwhile, it offers a 0 to 100 km/h (62mph) acceleration of 3.3 seconds, just under the 3.1 seconds reported by the Model S performance version but faster than the Porsche Taycan 4S, according to Yu. 

Interior: The sleek, aerodynamically favorable sedan boasts of a larger cabin space than its major luxury competitors with an interior length of 1,910 mm. The Mercedes E300L and the Tesla Model S measure 1,898mm and 1,816mm in interior length respectively, according to figures cited by Huawei during the press conference. 

The S7 also comes with a sporty design concept for the inside, featuring a wide dashboard, a 12.3-inch smart screen, as well as an oval-shaped steering wheel, allowing drivers to see the whole display, rather than having to view it through the steering wheel. 

In addition, it has adopted so-called zero gravity seat technology for the front passenger seat. This allows the human body to take on a neutral spinal posture, reducing the amount of stress placed on bones and joints, while the backs of the rear seats are heated, ventilated, and 27/32° adjustable.

READ MORE: Huawei-backed Aito now has 50,000 orders for its redesigned M7 model

Order volumes have emerged as a new metric for assessing the overall performance of Singles Day within Taobao and Tmall, Alibaba’s domestic online marketplaces, according to Chinese media outlet LatePost. Gross merchandise volume of goods orders, without any adjustment for returns, has previously been the key metric in e-commerce, but Alibaba has declined to reveal the figure publicly since its announcement of achieving RMB 540.3 billion for Singles Day 2021, ten thousand times the first shopping festival held in 2009. According to LatePost, Taobao Tmall Group reached a consensus internally that total turnover growth should naturally result from unit price, daily active consumers, and order volume. [LatePost, in Chinese]

TikTok sibling Douyin has reportedly sold nearly RMB 2 trillion ($274.2 billion) worth of goods in the e-commerce business in the first ten months of this year, representing a 60% growth year-on-year. Over 65% of these sales were generated through short videos and live-streaming, according to the local outlet LatePost. The emerging influence of the short video platform has attracted a flurry of branded merchants to sell on Douyin, with a figure conducted by investment bank CICC showing not only Chinese brands like Proya but also international giants L’Oréal and Lancome experienced higher year-on-year increases in GMV on Douyin compared to Alibaba’s Tmall marketplace during this year’s Singles Day bonanza. [LatePost, in Chinese]

US tech giant Nvidia plans to introduce new AI chips tailored for the Chinese market, just weeks after the US government tightened regulations on exporting high-end AI chips to China, reports China Star Market. The exclusive report suggests that Nvidia has created three customized versions of AI chips for Chinese customers: HGX H20, L20 PCle, and L2 PCle. The official announcement is anticipated on Nov. 16, with insiders revealing that Chinese manufacturers could receive the products in the coming days. As of now, Nvidia has not provided a response on this matter. [China Star Market, in Chinese]

Temu, the e-commerce platform celebrated for its cut-rate prices, has launched a legal offensive against fraudsters who masquerade as the company. These imposters lure customers into downloading bogus apps that infest devices with malware and pilfer personal data, according to lawsuits filed in the US in the past two weeks.

Boston-based Temu, operating under its legal name Whaleco, has filed suit against seven websites accused of deceptively prompting visitors to download a counterfeit app. The aim, the lawsuit claims, is to snatch personal details from Whaleco’s clients, slip malware onto their devices, or hack into them. This legal move, initiated on November 7 in a U.S. court, comes on the heels of Temu’s earlier legal action against twenty websites for trademark violation and orchestrating internet phishing scams to defraud consumers.

“Fraudsters are posing as Temu on fake apps and websites to scam consumers. This not only damages our reputation but also hurts consumers who were deceived into believing they were engaging with genuine Temu platforms,” said a Temu spokesman.” We will take swift legal action to defend our rights and shield our customers from such malicious and unlawful activities.” 

In the year since Temu launched in the US, it has soared in popularity, propelled in part by its “Shop Like A Billionaire” Super Bowl commercial. Now, the e-commerce contender has broadened its reach, serving customers in 48 countries, from the UK to Malaysia.

Sensor Tower data reveals that Temu broke into the global top 10 most downloaded apps list in the second quarter of 2023, surpassing both its rival Shein and the American titan Amazon in downloads. Further, a data.ai analysis reported by CNBC shows that Temu has outstripped Shein in Japan and South Korea, clinching the top spot in shopping app rankings over an extended stretch.

Wendy Chen, a GAM Investments senior investment analyst, points to Temu’s innovative “fully entrusted business model” as the engine of its meteoric rise. This model blends direct retail sales with a marketplace for third-party vendors, drawing on the strengths of both. Temu streamlines its operations by sourcing directly from manufacturers, who are tasked merely with shipping to Temu’s global warehouses. The company then takes the reins, overseeing customer acquisition, pricing, logistics, and customer service.

This strategy affords Temu the quality control, timely delivery, and customer satisfaction of a first-party model, while it still benefits from the extensive selection and scalability of a third-party model. By connecting factories directly with consumers, Temu not only slashes middlemen expenses but also sidesteps the hazards of overstocking, Chen explains.

According to a recent report by Chinese tech media outlet 36 Kr, the US market, the first destination Temu entered, currently contributes 60% of the platform’s overall sales. The same report stated that the platform’s third quarter sales surpassed $5 billion, and the extraordinary pace of growth may allow Temu to exceed its annual GMV target of $15 billion this year.

“We are in a cost-of-living crisis and people are looking for anything to save a bit of money,” Miya Knights, the publisher of Retail Technology magazine, told the Guardian. “Everyone likes a bargain and Temu ticks those boxes.”

To be sure, Temu’s popularity has come at a price, with a small group of scammers capitalizing on the company’s reputation to launch phishing schemes and install malware, according to its lawsuit. Critics have also accused Temu of intrusive data practices, allegations that Temu has sought to dispel by prominently listing the permissions that it seeks from users. 

In its latest lawsuit, Temu accuses websites such as Dltemuapp.com and temudl.net of mimicking Temu’s domain name and describes them as primarily designed to lure consumers into making purchases or to mislead unsuspecting consumers.

“Bogus websites like these serve as a platform for various cybercrimes. They could be used to extract sensitive and financial information from duped consumers. They could be used to install malware on people’s sites (and/or those of their employers) to steal information or install viruses and serve as leverage for large ransoms,” Temu said in its lawsuit.

“In any of these scenarios, the results would be devastating—and the harm irreparable–to (Temu) and the public alike,” according to the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Temu has intensified efforts to warn consumers about fake Temu promotions and scams. The company has also advised users of the importance of downloading the official Temu app from the Apple Store and Google Play Store, which have stringent vetting controls.

Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu said on Wednesday that the company aims to become an open tech platform serving the whole of society in the AI era, as AI “becomes the key to innovation breakthroughs in China’s digital economy.” Wu gave a speech at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, expressing his expectation for Alibaba to “provide infrastructure for AI innovation and transformation in thousands of industries.” The comments were part of Wu’s first public speech since taking over as chief executive from Daniel Zhang in September, and align with the latest speech from Joe Tsai, Alibaba’s new chairperson, outlining Alibaba Cloud’s goal of transforming artificial intelligence into a major productivity tool. [Securities Times, in Chinese]

Chinese electric vehicle maker Human Horizons is reportedly in discussions with the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, to secure at least $250 million at a valuation of $3 billion, according to Bloomberg sources. The deal is anticipated to close within the year, though final decisions are pending from both parties. This development follows Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Investment signing a cooperation agreement in June worth $5.6 billion with the six-year-old automaker. The agreement aimed to establish a joint venture in the Middle East country. As part of its strategy for a global shift from oil to electricity, the government aims to have over 30% of cars in its capital be electric by 2030. Similarly, in June, NIO announced a cash injection of approximately $738.5 million from CYVN Holdings, an investment firm supported by the Abu Dhabi government. [Bloomberg]

A source at state-owned telecommunications corporation China Telecom has disputed claims that Huawei has a monopoly on the country’s satellite communications, stating instead that there is a minimum technology threshold to be met to implement satellite communications on mobile phones. The comments to local media outlet IThome came after reports that rival mobile phone brands Xiaomi and Vivo were looking to follow Huawei by deploying satellite communication technology. Still, they were experiencing delays because of alleged Huawei exclusivity. In August, Huawei released the Mate 60 Pro series, the industry’s first smartphone to support satellite calls, which only work with a China Telecom SIM card. An insider at China Telecom pointed out to IThome that such features require a lot of R&D investment to tackle technical problems, such as chip module miniaturization, satellite protocol system optimization, and user terminal management. [IThome, in Chinese]

On Tuesday, the US investment research firm Hindenburg Research published a report titled “EHang: Hollow Order Book And Fake Sales Make This China-Based eVTOL Company Last In Line For Takeoff.” EHang, China’s autonomous aerial vehicle company, is grappling with a significant credibility issue. The report accuses EHang of inflating its pre-order numbers and providing misleading information about early sales, creating an appearance of fraudulent revenue. EHang promptly refuted these claims on Wednesday, asserting that the report contains false statements and misrepresentations about the company’s business operations and financial status. The company strongly denies the allegations, particularly those suggesting that EHang deceived investors regarding its order pipeline and sales. [EHang]

BJEV, the electric vehicle unit of the Chinese state-owned automaker BAIC, witnessed a 9.1% surge in shares in Shanghai on Wednesday. This followed media reports that the manufacturer had been invited to attend a closed-door meeting hosted by smartphone maker Xiaomi, hinting at a potential partnership between the two entities. Xiaomi, the tech giant, has reportedly been gearing up for a production ramp-up at its own plant in Beijing since September, with an initial production capacity set at 150,000 EVs. CEO Lei Jun, on Oct. 25, reaffirmed the timeline for launching its first EV model, possibly a sports sedan, in the first half of 2024. Despite these plans, the company is reportedly seeking a manufacturing partner for its second model, a sports utility vehicle, in the short term. This move aims to avoid expanding its Beijing facility, leading the company to engage in discussions with various Chinese automakers, including Brilliance and Chery. [Shanghai Securities News, in Chinese]

Chinese video giant ByteDance will conduct a new round of layoffs from its virtual reality arm Pico as demand for headsets was not “as fast as expected,” said chief executive Henry Zhou, acknowledging at an internal meeting that projections for VR had been overly optimistic.

Why it matters: This large-scale downsizing is the latest restructuring effort by ByteDance in response to dim prospects in the VR industry. Despite significant investments in technology and marketing over the past two years, which failed to yield satisfactory sales results, the company has stated its intention to keep its hardware team intact.

Details: The biggest overhaul since Pico was acquired by the TikTok owner two years ago was announced in a ten-minute meeting on Tuesday, with staff from sales, videos, and platform operations hit the most.

• Although the exact percentage of layoffs was not disclosed by the company, a source close to Pico told local media outlet VR Tuoluo saying around half of its VR staff would be affected.
• In February, Pico slashed nearly a third of its positions, equivalent to hundreds of jobs, mere months after ByteDance launched the flagship Pico 4 VR headset, benchmarked against Meta’s Quest 2. Recent layoffs will shrink the workforce to only a few hundred employees, down from a peak headcount of over 2,000.
• Affected employees will be compensated based on their years of service plus one month’s salary, according to Tencent News.

Context: ByteDance acquired Pico for approximately RMB 5 billion in 2021, and launched an extensive marketing campaign for the Pico 4 standalone VR headset when it was launched a year later. The company enlisted musician Leah Dou and ping-pong star Sun Yingsha as spokespeople, covering major shopping malls and bus stops with advertisements. 

• The TikTok owner has high hopes for its VR business, as Pico founder and president Henry Zhou said at last year’s launch event, expecting the headset to sell more than 1 million units eventually. However, early this year, the company lowered its sales target to “slightly over 500,000 units” due to disappointing initial results.
• The Pico 4 boasts a total of 561 apps, according to figures compiled by VR Tuoluo, surpassing Quest’s 532. The report quoted a source as saying ByteDance had spent at least several billion yuan on building a content ecosystem within Pico.

Fast fashion giant Shein is targeting up to $90 billion in its upcoming US IPO, according to a Tuesday report by Bloomberg, despite the China-founded company’s recent valuation dropping to $50 billion in secondary market trading due to market concerns. The timing of Shein’s long-awaited IPO remains uncertain due to a dim economic outlook as well as copyright and forced labor disputes concerning the company. The report also noted that although it faces intensified competition with its Chinese counterpart Temu, Shein shows continuing profitability, expecting to reach $2.5 billion in net income this year, a figure 2.5 times that of 2019. [Bloomberg]

Chinese electric vehicle maker Li Auto is set to deliver 800,000 units next year, followed by rivals Xpeng Motors and NIO, which will aim for annual deliveries of 280,000 and 230,000 units respectively, media outlet 36Kr reported on Tuesday, citing figures from local suppliers. Specifically, Li Auto is hoping to sell 80,000 units next year of the Mega, the company’s first all-electric model and multi-purpose vehicle, while Xpeng expects sales of its similar offering to reach 2,000 units each month. Both vehicles are scheduled for launch later this year. The report said the estimates do not include projected sales by the forthcoming sub-brands of NIO and Xpeng, codenamed Alps and Mona. Li Auto, NIO, and Xpeng delivered 284,647, 126,067, and 101,445 vehicles respectively from January to October. The three companies did not respond to media requests for comment. [36Kr, in Chinese]

Chinese internet giant Baidu has ordered artificial intelligence chips from Huawei this year, according to an exclusive report from Reuters. In August, Baidu placed an order for 1,600 Huawei 910B Ascend AI chips as an alternative to Nvidia chips, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. The move was made ahead of new regulations by the US government in October, which imposed stricter restrictions on AI chip exports to China, including those made by Nvidia. Baidu has become a leading AI company in China with the development of its ERNIE large language model (LLM), the firm’s answer to ChatGPT. By October, Huawei had already delivered over 60% of the Baidu order, comprising approximately 1,000 chips, the report stated. The total value of the order is estimated to be around RMB 450 million ($61.83 million), with Huawei expected to fulfill the remaining chip deliveries by the end of this year. [Reuters]

iQOO, a sub-brand of the Chinese phone maker Vivo, launched the iQOO 12 series phones in China on Tuesday, featuring the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and a self-developed gaming chip Q1. Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, the new device offers 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM along with the option for up to 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage. To enhance the immersive gaming experience, it boasts a self-developed Q1 chip that enables smooth gameplay at a refresh rate of up to 144Hz (at 1080P). This Q1 chip also incorporates advanced technologies such as low-latency frame insertion, superframe, and super-resolution. Additionally, the iQOO 12 Pro provides a 5,705mm² vapor chamber for efficient heat dissipation. The iQOO 12 is priced at RMB 3,999 ($550) for the 12GB+256GB model, while the iQOO 12 Pro starts at RMB 4,999 ($687). [IThome, in Chinese]

FAW-Toyota, the joint venture between Toyota and China’s FAW Group, will further reduce production in three months from December following output cuts during the previous two months, as part of its measures to mitigate the pressure on the operations of local dealerships. According to a letter circulated Tuesday, the automaker told partners on Nov. 3 that the vehicle allocation, which refers to the number of cars assigned to a franchise holder, will be adjusted to 66,000, 60,000, and 38,000 units from December to February accordingly. It also called on dealerships in the letter to “make the most of it” as the year-end peak season approaches, despite the market being in a slow gear. A sales employee told Chinese financial media outlet Jiemian that some car dealers are facing a heavier inventory of unsold vehicles in their lots, especially in the Chinese second and third-tier cities such as Jinan, as sales remain weak after the pandemic. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

The CEO of Chinese GPU (graphics processing unit) maker Moore Threads, Zhang Jianzhong, sent an open letter to staff on Monday, stating that the company would begin layoffs within a week, according to a report by local media outlet Icsmart. In the letter, which comes just weeks after the company was added to the US government’s restricted Entity List, Zhang also said “There are no darkest hours for Chinese GPU makers, only boundless possibilities.” 

Why it matters: On Oct. 17, the US government implemented a series of new restrictions, limiting the export of more advanced AI chips and semiconductor equipment to China. As one of 13 Chinese companies now added to the Entity List, Moore Threads and its subsidiaries have been substantially impacted by the policy.

Details: In his letter, Zhang directly blamed the impact of US sanctions on Moore Threads’ personnel cuts. The company will now undergo a restructuring, with plans to establish two new divisions: an AI strategy group and a metaverse computing strategy group.

• The exact number of employees facing layoffs at Moore Threads has not been disclosed, and the size of the company’s total workforce before the job cuts remains unknown. However, the company’s LinkedIn page shows a range of 500 to 1,000 employees.
• In the open letter, Zhang claimed that the entire domestic GPU and AI chip industry has been severely impacted by the new limits, but that nothing could deter the company’s determination to move forward. Moore Threads will continue to build high-quality GPUs in China at the juncture between challenges and opportunities, he stated.
• To address the challenges brought by the external environment and policy changes, Zhang announced a three-year plan. The company will focus on four key areas: accelerating independent research and innovation, refining high-quality products, promoting application implementation, and building efficient teams.
• On Oct. 31, the spokesperson for the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Zhang Xin, stated that the US measures violate market economic principles and international trade rules, exacerbating fragmentation and risks in the global semiconductor supply chain. 

Context: Established by Zhang, the former global vice-president of Nvidia and general manager of Nvidia China, in October 2020, Moore Threads is a Chinese technology company specializing in graphics processing unit design. The firm has developed two consumer-grade cards for China’s domestic gaming segment, including the MTT S80 and the MTT S70. 

• Chinese retailers are currently offering promotions for the annual 11.11 Singles’ Day shopping festival. Among these deals, the MTT S80 and MTT S70 GPUs are available at their lowest prices ever. The MTT S80 has been reduced from RMB 2,999 ($412) to RMB 1,199 ($165), while the company has cut the original price of the MTT S70 from RMB 2,499 ($343) to RMB 899 ($124).

Chinese logistics company Best said on Monday that it has received a preliminary buyout proposal from a group consisting of Best founder and CEO Shao-Ning Johnny Chou on behalf of a flurry of the company’s chief figures and external companies, including Alibaba Investment and Cainiao. The buyout offer plans to acquire all of the outstanding ordinary shares in Best at a price of $0.144 per ordinary share, funded by the buyer group’s own equity capital and cash, according to Best’s statement. The proposal comes after Cainiao, the logistics arm of Alibaba, filed an IPO in Hong Kong in September that aimed to raise more than $1 billion. [Best]

The joint venture between Jaguar Land Rover and China’s Chery Automobile laid off about 15-20% of its staff from functions including manufacturing, engineering, and logistics, making it the latest global automaker to reduce its workforce amid growing competition in China. Several employees told Chinese media outlet Meiren Auto that the company had terminated a large number of contracts early this year, and executed cost-saving measures on travel and training. Facing quality issues and slowing demand for its gas- and diesel-powered off-road vehicles, the British carmaker sold around 68,000 vehicles in China last year, falling from a peak of 146,000 units in 2017, according to figures published by the China Passenger Car Association. JLR is not the only overseas automaker feeling the heat as Chinese electric vehicle makers BYD and Li Auto gain momentum at home. Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors on Oct. 24 announced an end to production of its joint plant with Chinese partner GAC. [Meiren Auto, in Chinese]

01.AI, a Chinese AI startup founded by AI pioneer Kai-fu Lee, has achieved a $1 billion valuation, earning unicorn status in less than eight months, according to a Monday report by local outlet 36Kr. The company reached this valuation after concluding a new funding round led by Alibaba’s cloud division. On Monday, http://01.AI01.AI> also unveiled its first open-source bilingual large model “Yi,” featuring a 200K context window. It claims to process around 400,000 words of text in a single prompt, outperforming OpenAI’s improved model version GPT-4 Turbo, launched on the same day, which can handle up to 128K tokens of context. Yi, the foundation model of http://01.AI01.AI>, is available in Chinese and English in two versions, each equipped with six billion and 34 billion parameters. Lee noted that his company has initiated the training of the next model with a hundred billion parameters, as reported by 36Kr. [36Kr, in Chinese]

Baidu has appointed Wang Yunpeng, previously a vice president and general manager of its Intelligent Driving Group (IDG), as the new head of the group to oversee the development of autonomous vehicles and the operations of mobility services for the tech giant. Li Zhenyu, the former head of the IDG and a senior corporate vice president, will become an assistant to Chief Executive Robin Li and lead Baidu’s ethical committee of artificial intelligence governance, according to an internal memo obtained by media outlet LatePost on Monday. Several company insiders expect more restructuring as China’s biggest search engine is diving into generative AI amid surging interest and demand in the technology across businesses, when technical and business challenges still prevent the widespread adoption of driverless cars. The Apollo Go, its autonomous ride-hailing service, has offered 3.3 million rides as of June, according to financial results published on Aug. 22. [LatePost, in Chinese]

Xpeng Motors said on Nov. 3 that it will offer some existing owners of its P5 sedan discounts on new purchases after hundreds of customers accused it of failing to deliver promised advanced driver assistance features, which were supposed to be available across the country. 

Why it matters: The complaints, which went viral on Chinese social media last week, mounted after Xpeng on Oct. 24 unveiled plans to roll out its latest advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), the XNGP, nationwide by next year. The company said it will be applicable to existing models including the G6, G9, and P7i, without mentioning the P5. 

Details: Xpeng said in a statement issued on Nov. 3 that it will offer an RMB 20,000 ($2,747) coupon for people who have subscribed to Xpilot, its previous generation driver-assist software, along with their purchases of the premium version of the P5 sedan. The benefit could be used for a new purchase of one of Xpeng’s most popular models, including the G6, G9, P7i, or its upcoming X9 van. 

• The announcement comes after more than 700 P5 owners recently published an open letter, obtained by National Business Daily, asking the company for an explanation as to why its partially autonomous feature for urban driving has remained unavailable to them in most domestic cities, despite the company’s promises.
• Xpeng further explained that the availability of its previous-generation ADAS feature “relies heavily on” high-definition maps, which has reportedly required automakers to secure approval for using mapping data in their vehicles, partly resulting in slow progress in adoption (our translation). 
• The EV startup released the so-called City Navigation Guided Pilot (NGP) function first to Xpilot users in the city of Guangzhou last September and has since expanded the adoption to five major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. 
• “We will strive for more new features and improved user experience, despite many challenges,” Xpeng said in the statement, adding that more functions will be available to P5 owners through over-the-air updates next year, including steering assist and more music streaming apps. 

Context: Xpeng began delivery of the P5 electric sedan back in October 2021, with its premium versions featuring two lidar sensors to facilitate more reliable automated driving functions at a price range of between RMB 199,900 and RMB 223,900 ($27,453-$30,749). It sold 19,618 units of the car over the last 12 months, according to figures from the auto services portal Dongchedi.

• The automaker is shifting to a more affordable approach for autonomous driving, which will reduce its reliance on technologies such as lidar and HD maps as part of a plan to roll out its XNGP system in 50 domestic cities by December. 
• The Xpilot system, formerly Xpeng’s rival to Tesla’s Autopilot system as reported by CNBC, is unavailable for driving scenarios without the support of HD maps, according to a Q&A document published by the company last November.

On Nov. 3, Tencent announced a 115-minute gameplay demonstration of its new first-person shooter game, Delta Force, with the first test of the PC-end being launched in China. The test requires a minimum configuration of an i7-4790 processor + RTX 3060 GPU (graphics card). Delta Force, a tactical shooter game co-developed by iDreamSky Technology and Tencent’s Timi Studio, will be available for free on PC, consoles, and mobile platforms. In August, Tencent unveiled a gameplay trailer of Delta Force at Gamescom 2023, a renowned annual game event in Cologne, Germany. Currently, the pre-registered players on the official website have exceeded four million. [IThome, in Chinese]

Meituan has denied a rumor that the company will no longer give orders to couriers aged over 45, according to local media outlet Yicai. A Meituan spokesperson told the outlet that the firm hires couriers aged between 18 to 57, taking into consideration safety factors related to the delivery process. It says some hiring stations may recruit older individuals. Social media has been awash with a phenomenon known as the “curse of 35”, referring to a fear that those aged 35 and older are likely to face job cuts. The food delivery giant has not disclosed a recent breakdown of its riders by age, but official data from early 2020 shows that male riders account for 93.3% of the total while more than 83.7% of riders are aged between 20 and 40. [Yicai, in Chinese]

Huawei announced on Nov. 5 that its e-commerce platform, Huawei Mall, will start the “90-day pre-order reservation” service for Huawei Mate 60 Pro on Monday. During these 90 days, customers can cancel their reservations at any time and receive a full refund. According to the latest data from Counterpoint, Huawei sold 1.6 million units of the Mate 60 Pro within six weeks of its release on Aug. 29. Currently, the Huawei Mate 60 Pro series is consistently out of stock, as it is selling out quickly in China, said the analyst from Counterpoint. The Mate 60 Pro series offers three storage variants: 12GB+256GB ($892), 12GB+512GB ($961), and 12GB+1TB ($1098). [IThome, in Chinese]

MeiOne, the live-streaming agency behind China’s top influencer Li Jiaqi, issued a statement on Nov.4 insisting that there was no “green channel” for selecting products promoted on live-stream events. This comes after a former employee of MeiOne was found guilty of receiving more than a million yuan in benefits over two years as a product commissioner, beginning in July 2020. The employee was sentenced to three years in prison for accepting bribes and job misappropriation, the criminal record shows. MeiOne disassociated itself from news of any charges aimed at guaranteeing products would be marketed in Li Jiaqi, writing on its official site that they were not connected to the company. It is reported that on the first day of this year’s Singles Day shopping festival, Li sold less than 50% of his last year’s record. [Beijing News, in Chinese]

On Thursday, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued guidelines on developing humanoid robots, stating that the robots may be the next groundbreaking products to reach consumers after computers, smartphones, and new energy vehicles. The government’s “Opinions on the Innovation and Development of Humanoid Robots” outlines goals and timelines for the new sector in China.

Why it matters: Humanoid robots incorporate advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence, high-end manufacturing, and new materials. With the potential to be a new competitive frontier in future industries, the government plans to promote innovation in key technologies by strengthening policies and mobilizing resources, given that China’s humanoid robot industry is in its budding phase.

Details: According to the guidelines, China expects to have a domestic ecosystem for humanoid robots established by 2025. By that time, robotic products are likely to be in mass production, fast catching up with international contenders.

• The ministry’s guidelines outline ambitious goals. By 2025, the country aims to nurture two to three world-beating companies, establish a cluster of specialized small- and medium-sized enterprises, and create two to three industrial development hubs. 
• By 2027, China is expected to establish a reliable industrial supply chain, with products from this sector seamlessly integrated into the real economy, as stated in the guidelines.
• The guidelines propose promoting artificial intelligence technologies with a focus on breakthroughs in key areas such as the “brain”, “cerebellum” and “limbs.” The “brain” encompasses core technologies of humanoid robots based on large AI models, while the “cerebellum” involves the robot’s environmental perception, behavior control, and human-machine interactive abilities. The “limbs” refers to humanoid mechanical arms, hands, legs, and feet. The emphasis is on addressing key technologies, including lightweight skeletons, high-strength body structures, and high-precision sensors.
• The guidance also outlines measures for expanding the application of humanoid robots in specific areas, including electronics, automotive, healthcare, services, agriculture, logistics, and even specialized industrial environments where humans currently undertake dangerous tasks in harsh conditions.

Context: The global market for humanoid robots, valued at $1.11 billion in 2022, is projected to experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.1% from 2023 to 2030, according to a report by Grand View Research. There is already rising demand from public and corporate subsidy funds for specific goals, guiding research in humanoid robotics, as well as progress in various fundamental aspects of this field like improved AI, natural language processing, and robot dexterity.

China-founded chain Luckin Coffee generated RMB 7.2 billion ($986.8 million) in revenue in the third quarter of 2023, marking an 84.9% year-on-year growth, as its baijiu-infused latte collaboration with Moutai witnessed huge sales in September. Net profit also increased by 87% to nearly RMB 1 billion, though the company’s operating income margin dropped from 16.2% in the previous quarter to 13.4% amid an ongoing price war with its domestic competitor Cotti Coffee; Luckin offers coffees priced from RMB 9.90 while the latter sells certain beverages at RMB 8.80. Luckin’s revenue during the period led Starbucks again after it first overtook the US-based coffee brand in the second quarter. Starbucks posted revenue of $841 million in China for the third quarter, up 8% year-on-year. [Luckin Coffee]

BYD announced Wednesday that it is offering significant discounts on five of its mainstream electric vehicle models, including a limited time deduction of RMB 18,000 ($2,461) for its Frigate 07 plug-in hybrid crossover up until the end of November. For those who place orders for the Dolphin hatchback and the Seal sedan, the Chinese EV giant also said that it will knock the standard RMB 2,000 deposit off of the final price in addition to discounts totaling RMB 7,000 on the original ticket price of the vehicles. Several other Chinese automakers are making similar moves. Lynk & Co, a brand jointly owned by Geely and Volvo, is offering a subsidy of RMB 6,000 to purchasers of its 08 sports utility vehicle this month. Meanwhile, the T03 small EV made by Leapmotor, a Stellantis-backed Chinese startup, is currently available with a discount of RMB 5,000. [TechNode reporting, Securities Times, in Chinese]

Rhea Vendors Group, an Italian manufacturer of tailor-made coffee and vending machines, today unveiled its Barista On-Demand vehicle in collaboration with Chinese robo-delivery firm Neolix. Showcased at the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, the new product combines a vending machine with self-driving tech as China’s coffee market expands rapidly. 

The vehicle “transforms the typical coffee consumption from a go-to-shop activity into shop-come-to-customers,” a press release accompanying the launch said Featuring a Rhea BL Doppio & Cup coffee machine, the vehicle allows users to order coffee with one click on a mobile application, with their desired drink delivered by the unmanned coffee vehicle, the companies said. Rhea and Neolix want to “ensure a vision for a more automated and sustainable future,” the press release added. The vehicle is powered by renewable energy sources.

Rhea Vendors Group, founded in 1960, is one of the largest producers of customized vending machines in the world. Beijing-headquartered Neolix describes itself as “the world’s leading autonomous vehicle maker that specializes in Robo-Delivery” and has collaborated on automated delivery vehicles for the likes of JD and FedEx, deploying over 1,000 vehicles worldwide in more than 12 countries.

“In today’s rapidly advancing world, we see the pace of daily routines accelerate at an unprecedented rate, calling for adaptive solutions to meet instant demand. This project responds to the shift and offers a new perspective on smart mobility in new retail. Instead of people moving to access coffee services, we can leverage our technology to mobilize coffee shops to reach consumers,” said Yu Enyuan, founder and CEO of Neolix Technologies. “Having been at the forefront of global mobility solutions, our aim isn’t merely to enhance mobility but also empower traditional sectors, ensuring, for example, that coffee lovers receive a frictionless experience on the go.”

The Chinese coffee market holds great potential, as coffee consumption is growing at a rate of more than 30 percent per year, according to Rhea and Neolix. 

“We are very proud of our collaboration with Neolix. The birth of Barista On-Demand is a symbolic outcome of Italian and Chinese business cooperation towards innovation and a new way of experiencing hospitality. Together, we harness Italy’s design legacy and our 60 years of coffee expertise, with Chinese tech advances to stay ahead of the age and provide a seamless coffee experience to our customers all over the world,” Andrea Pozzolini, CEO of Rhea Vendors Group, said. “The unmanned coffee vehicle showcases Rhea’s unwavering commitment to pioneering innovative solutions in the vending world. We’ll initiate this groundbreaking venture in its birthplace, already ready to understand that the coffee machine is only one part of the broader consumer experience.”

This article is provided by Rhea Vendors Group and NEOLIX.

Alibaba’s wholesale marketplace 1688 and its second-hand goods platform Xianyu have been elevated to first-tier businesses within the company’s domestic e-commerce group, according to local media outlet LatePost, as Chinese consumers are increasingly looking for highly cost-effective products. The heads of these two businesses will directly report to Trudy Dai, chief executive of Taobao Tmall Group, which became a separate operating company in March. The report noted that 1688, Xianyu, office management tool DingTalk, and supermarket chain Freshippo are internally considered to have the most growth potential within the Alibaba ecosystem. While 1688 previously served as a B2B wholesale and direct sales website, it has recently attracted more retail buyers. LatePost quoted one of its staff as saying the site’s monthly active users have witnessed double-digit growth, with a big part of new users coming in this year being under the age of 30. For Xianyu, which currently boasts 500 million users, user growth is the primary focus, according to LatePost, which added that the platform has set an internal target of achieving 40 million daily users by the end of the year, with the figure standing at 36.7 million in September. [LatePost, in Chinese]

Volkswagen’s software unit Cariad and smartphone maker Vivo announced on Friday that they are setting up a joint lab in China, allowing the two companies to integrate mobile technology and artificial intelligence into cars to provide customers with a “seamless” in-vehicle experience. The arrangement expands on the existing partnership through which various information and entertainment applications, such as gaming, have been available to Volkswagen car owners by leveraging the computing power and ecosystem of Vivo smartphones. Additionally, Vivo Vice President Zhou Wei mentioned that the companies will explore providing more technology services based on its Lanxin generative AI models, unveiled at Vivo’s annual developer conference on Wednesday and capable of understanding human language and generating content. Chinese carmakers and tech companies are collaborating closely as cars become increasingly defined by their software. Geely, on Oct. 27, launched the Jiyue 01, its first vehicle model powered by Baidu’s ChatGPT-like chatbot, while Huawei and Seres began delivering the Aito M5, the first model equipped with the tech giant’s HarmonyOS operating system last March. [TechNode reporting]

AI chip giant Nvidia may be forced to cancel orders worth over $5 billion for advanced chips to be exported to China next year, due to expanded export restrictions imposed by the US government, The Wall Street Journal exclusively reported on Tuesday. The US Department of Commerce issued a series of new chip export restrictions on Oct. 17, broadening the definition of advanced AI chips. The new restrictions are set to take effect on Nov. 16. However, on Oct. 23, the US government requested Nvidia to immediately cease the export of high-end chips to China. A source mentioned that major Chinese AI and cloud computing companies, including Alibaba, ByteDance, and Baidu, have placed $5 billion orders with Nvidia for next year, which are expected to be canceled in accordance with the new policy. [The Wall Street Journal]

Chinese state-owned automaker SAIC Motor’s new battery assembly plant in Thailand is up and running. The 500 million Thai Baht ($13.9 million) plant, established with leading Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group at an industrial park in eastern Thailand is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy. The endeavor is expected to shore up electric vehicle production in the country, China News Service reported on Wednesday, citing Zhao Feng, general manager of SAIC Motor-CP, the companies’ joint venture. The 75-hectare (185-acre) facility will be able to make up to 50,000 lithium-ion battery packs a year. SAIC said it has sold 18,000 battery cars in Thailand since 2019, while rival BYD sold nearly 16,000 Atto 3 electric SUVs there between January and September, according to Autolife Thailand. [China News Service, in Chinese]

Chinese electric vehicle makers Xpeng Motors and Aito on Wednesday posted record-breaking figures for monthly deliveries, as the pace of adoption of self-driving technology accelerates among local customers despite slowing growth in China’s electric vehicle segment as a whole. 

Strong orders for Huawei, Xpeng, and DJI’s city NOA (Navigation on ADAS) products mark the start of the commercialization of smart driving, Jefferies analysts wrote in an Oct. 24 note. They added that Chinese automakers are becoming more willing to “test the waters” with chips by Huawei on some of their vehicles.

Why it matters: The latest figures highlight a brutal price war that has been continuing for months in the market, and the struggle automakers are facing in having to choose between lower prices or losing market share. 

• Xpeng in June unveiled the G6, its crossover answer to Tesla’s Model Y, at a price tag 20% lower than its US rival in China. Aito’s all-new M7 sports utility vehicle now costs RMB 40,000 ($5,468) less than the version launched a year ago.

Riding the self-driving boom: Xpeng Motors handed over 20,002 electric cars to customers in October, crossing the 20,000 unit milestone, nearly a threefold increase from a year ago and  31% growth from September. 

• Aito also reported a record delivery number of 12,700 units last month. The Huawei-backed brand does not report its delivery figures consistently, but its Shanghai-listed manufacturer Seres posted sales of 40,389 EVs for the first nine months of the year. 
• The two companies appear to have taken an early lead in an emerging battlefield for partially autonomous technology among consumer carmakers. More than half of the orders of Aito’s redesigned M7 SUV were placed for versions with Huawei’s Advanced Driving System, Chinese media outlet Caixin reported on Oct. 7, citing company insiders. 
• The Max versions of Xpeng’s G6 crossover, which features the company’s XNGP assisted driving technology, accounted for 70% of total orders in the first month after the launch, chief executive He Xiaopeng said in August. Both companies said their vehicles would be able to travel autonomously most of the time in dozens of major Chinese cities by the end of the year. 

EV startups: Li Auto also accomplished a delivery milestone last month, distributing 40,422 vehicles, making its year-to-date deliveries 284,647 units, the highest among the country’s nascent EV startups. The company has upped its goal to 50,000 units for the remaining two months of the year, CEO Li Xiang said on Wednesday on the Chinese Twitter-like platform Weibo.

• NIO’s October delivery of 16,074 units represented a 59.8% growth from this time last year and a slight 2.8% increase month over month. The company has delivered 126,067 vehicles as of October this year, still far from the annual goal of 245,000 units revealed by CEO William Li in March. It is now aiming for monthly delivery of more than 20,000 units in the fourth quarter of 2023. 
• Leapmotor’s delivery of 18,202 EVs last month comes after the Zhejiang-based EV maker recently announced a deal with European major Stellantis for a $1.6 billion war chest and turned its negative gross margin into a positive for the past quarter. Rival Hozon delivered 12,085 units, representing a decrease of 32.9% year-on-year and 8.5% month-on-month. 

Established majors: BYD’s growth momentum continued to some extent in October as the company saw sales surpassing 301,000 vehicles with a mild 5.2% rise from a month earlier. Analysts expect China’s biggest EV maker to achieve its annual goal of selling 3 million cars this year, as the company on Monday launched a wagon version of its popular Song SUV and readied to sell its long-anticipated Bao 5 off-roader.

• Sales for Aion declined 19.6% from a month earlier to 41,503 units, as the GAC subsidiary ramps up production of its new models, company insiders told financial media outlet CLS. Changan-affiliated Deepal delivered 15,513 vehicles in October, a 10.7% decrease from September. 
• Zeekr delivered 13,077 vehicles last month, up 29.2% from a year ago and 8.5% from September. On Aug. 11, the two-year-old premium EV brand, set up by Volvo parent Geely, cut the price of its 001 hatchback by up to RMB 37,000 to RMB 269,000 for a limited period until the end of this year. 
• Voyah saw its deliveries grow 21% on a monthly basis in October after the Dongfeng-backed EV maker launched its redesigned Free SUV in August, with the model arriving 15% cheaper than the previous version and equipped with Baidu’s advanced driver-assist system. 

Context: Retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles, including all-electrics and plug-in hybrids, are expected to reach 750,000 units in October, up 34.6% year-on-year and 0.9% month-on-month, according to estimates from the China Passenger Car Association. The past two months, known as “Golden September, Silver October,” are traditionally peak seasons for auto sales in China.

China’s first commercial reconfigurable fifth-generation chip, the Pofeng 8676 chip, has been showcased on Alibaba’s e-commerce site Taobao recently in an online store run by an agency under the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. Although China Mobile’s research unit released the chip in August, it has yet to be made publicly available for sale. The store currently features 16 prototypes, among which is the world’s first 100,000-ton deep-water semi-submersible oil production and storage platform, China’s self-developed Deep Sea No.1. Shoppers are urged not to place orders but can add these showcased products to their shopping carts to boast about having “the most hardcore China-produced goods.” [Guancha News, in Chinese]

At the 2023 Vivo Developer Conference, the tech giant unveiled BlueOS on Tuesday, making it the third Chinese smartphone company, alongside Xiaomi and Huawei, to develop its self-made operating system for the device ecosystem. Vivo BlueOS stands out for its utilization of the Rust programming language, marking it as the first globally to be built on this framework. This innovative system is equipped with advanced features supporting large language models (LLM) and various interaction types, including voice, picture, text, video, gesture, sign language, and even brainwave recognition. BlueOS also transforms application development by facilitating automatic code generation and allowing customization of desktops, wallpapers, and themes. [IThome, in Chinese]

Baidu launched a paid version of ERNIE Bot on Wednesday, offering users a ChatGPT-like service powered by its latest large AI model at a charge of RMB 59.90 ($8.20) per month. The move suggests that the search giant has intensified efforts to monetize its AI chatbot nearly eight months after it debuted. The subscription price is reduced to RMB 49.90 monthly for auto-renewal subscriptions, while the basic ERNIE Bot 3.5 version will continue to be available to the general public for free. Chief executive of Baidu, Robin Li, released the ERNIE 4.0 iteration last month, claiming its capabilities are on par with OpenAI’s GPT-4 model. Baidu’s professional version, based on ERNIE 4.0, provides “enhanced modeling capabilities and image generation capabilities,” while also supporting “a variety of practical plug-ins,” according to the company. [Caijing, in Chinese]

The global laptop shipments totaled 51.2 million units in the third quarter, marking a 7% drop compared to the same period last year, according to analysis firm TechInsights. This decline has slowed to single-digit percentage points for the first time since the first quarter of 2022. Lenovo secured the top spot with a global shipment of 12.2 million units, capturing a 24% market share. The other top four brands are HP, Dell, Apple, and Asus. HP was the only brand among the top five manufacturers to experience year-to-year growth, with a positive increase of 7%, while Apple saw a significant decline of 30% year-to-year. Despite the continued sluggish demand in the laptop market, especially in the commercial sector, the deceleration in the rate of decline indicates that the market has overcome its most challenging period, as analyzed by TechInsights. [TechInsights]

China’s most populated social media platforms on Tuesday announced they will soon remove anonymity for content creators that have over 500,000 followers, confirming rumors that stirred up heated debate over personal privacy in recent weeks.

Why it matters: The new policy will force bloggers with large fan bases to disclose their real names to the public on social media, in a change to the rules that will likely further deter discussion online in China, especially when it comes to finance news and current affairs.

Details: At least seven social platforms serving hundreds of thousands of users daily issued statements urging influencers to reveal their real identities. These included X-like platform Weibo, messaging app WeChat, video sites Douyin, Kuaishou, and Bilibili, as well as lifestyle-sharing app Xiaohongshu and search giant Baidu. 

• Weibo has outlined plans to first require creators specializing in content related to social affairs, finance, and legal matters, with more than 1 million followers to post using their real names,  before extending the rule to bloggers in other fields.
• Influencers who refuse to show their real names may be limited by account traffic and revenue, according to Weibo and WeChat.
• WeChat said the move will  enhance the credibility of top “self-media” accounts, while Weibo said that as these influencers have a far greater impact on public opinion than ordinary users, requiring real name identification will encourage them to “take on responsibilities that align with the influence of their words.”
• In recent years, China has strengthened the management of social media accounts run by individuals or organizations independent of state-control. Many of those accounts have amassed sizable fanbases.
• Short video apps Kuaishou, and TikTok’s Chinese sibling Douyin, were among the platforms that published simultaneous statements. Accounts with over 500,000 followers will be the first affected by real-name ID disclosure requirements. Kuaishou added that accounts mainly sharing personal daily life stories will be exempt.

Context: On Oct.21, users noticed that Weibo’s CEO Wang Gaofei gave his real name on  his social media page, a move later confirmed by the executive who said he had decided to first test the policy on his own account.

• A year ago, China asked that posts mentioning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine showed the location of the poster, in response to an incident in which a social media user faked his whereabouts, causing a stir in overseas media. Shortly after, the practice of displaying IP addresses was extended to individual users of Weibo and those of other social media platforms.

Dating game Love is All Around has consistently topped the Steam bestseller list in the Chinese market in the past fortnight, surpassing hit games such as PUBG, CS2, and Apex. Launched by Chinese game developer Intiny on Oct. 17, Love is All Around reached a peak of 65,435 players online within 24 hours. The interactive video game allows players to experience a first-person perspective while dating women in various scenarios intended to imitate real life. The game’s popularity has sparked widespread discussion about its innovative approach of incorporating short dramas into gaming, with some suggesting that this combination may become the next trend to watch in China’s gaming market. [National Business Daily]

China’s state-backed “Big Fund” for chip-making has invested RMB 14.56 billion ($1.99 billion) in domestic memory chip company Changxin Xinqiao, one of its largest investments in recent years. The investment accounts for 33.15% of Changxin Xinqiao’s registered capital according to the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (NECIPS). Changxin Xinqiao, founded two years ago in Anhui province, has applied to build a manufacturing base for 12-inch memory wafers, as stated in the NECIPS database. Earlier this year, the Big Fund spent RMB 13 billion ($1.78 billion) on Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC), China’s only player in the global NAND (a type of non-volatile storage technology) memory market. In 2022, the US government blacklisted YMTC due to concerns that the company might redirect US chip technology to Huawei. [Reuters]

On Monday, BYD reported a record net income of RMB 10.4 billion ($1.42 billion) for July to September, marking the Chinese electric vehicle maker’s largest quarterly profit ever and representing an 82.2% increase from a year earlier. The gross margin experienced a three-point year-on-year growth to 19.79%, slightly below the 20.7% achieved as of June. Notably, the company exported approximately 71,000 cars in the third quarter, nearly matching the 75,000 units achieved in the first half of this year. This brings BYD’s total exports from January to September to around 145,500 units, comprising 17.6% of China’s new energy vehicle shipments to overseas markets, as per figures from the China Association of Auto Manufacturers. [Caixin, in Chinese]

Chinese telecom giant Huawei has applied to register the trademark Far Ahead in the fields of transportation tools and scientific instruments, according to China’s trademark platform Tianyancha. “Far ahead” became a trending term on the Chinese internet after the surprise early release of Huawei’s Mate 60 series of smartphones in August, which came with advanced chipsets despite the Chinese tech company being a major target of US sanctions. The trademark is currently pending review. 

Why it matters: Having seen its tech capabilities limited by US chip sanctions, Huawei has ridden a wave of nationalist approval in China following the release of its Mate 60 line, which came equipped with a better chip and higher processor power than many industry observers had thought possible. 

Details: Yu Chengdong, CEO of Consumer Business at Huawei, has repeatedly used the phrase “far ahead” to describe the tech gap between Huawei and its competitors during product launches. Huawei fans often use the phrase as a rallying call on social media. Huawei’s detractors have also utilized this term to satirize the company’s advertising and messaging.

• Huawei’s use of the term “far ahead” first came at the launch event of its Mate 40 smartphone in 2020, according to local media outlet ThePaper. During a presentation of the Mate 40’s features, Yu used the phrase 14 times. Last year, Yu again used “far ahead” to describe the advanced satellite messaging function of the Huawei Mate 50 series, further boosting the popularity of the phrase in China.
• In August 2023, Huawei launched the Mate 60 Pro series, featuring the self-developed Kirin 9000s chip, manufactured in China by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC). Related short videos with the tag “Far Ahead” went viral on the Chinese internet. For instance, videos on Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) with this tag have gained 960 million views.
• Huawei reportedly plans to ship between 60 to 70 million smartphones in 2024. Sources have told local media outlets that Huawei has placed sufficient orders from its supply chain to guarantee the fulfillment of this shipment goal for the year 2024.
• On Oct. 27, Huawei released details of its sales performance for the first three quarters of 2023. During this period, the firm achieved sales revenues of RMB 456.6 billion ($62.39 billion), representing a year-on-year increase of 2.4%, with a net profit margin of 16%. Huawei stated that these results were in line with expectations, though the company did not disclose specific figures for its various business streams during the period.

Context: Thanks to the newly launched Mate 60 series, Huawei’s domestic shipments in the third quarter increased by 37% compared to the same period last year, according to market research firm Counterpoint. Huawei’s share of China’s smartphone market has risen to 14%, making it the fifth largest company in the sector. 

• On Monday, Huawei announced that downloads of its HarmonyOS 4, which was unveiled in August, had topped 100 million. One of the key updates in HarmonyOS 4 is the ability to customize the home screen, allowing users to change system fonts, colors, clock styles, and widgets according to their preferences.

Shanghai’s market regulator said that its anti-monopoly office is aware of price-control disputes related to the country’s top livestreamer Li Jiaqi and is currently in the process of investigation and verification, according to a Monday report by Jiupai News, a new media platform under the state-run Changjiang Daily Press Group. The controversy began on Oct. 24, when local kitchen appliance brand Huaswirt accused online retailer JD of intentionally lowering the prices of its ovens, which reportedly caused Huaswirt to violate its minimum price agreement with Li Jiaqi on Taobao Live. Li’s agency MeiOne denied the allegation shortly after. However, Li’s rival on Douyin, with the nickname “Crazy Little Brother Yang” (our translation) subsequently accused Li of “kidnapping the brand” through his huge sales appeal, which resulted in brands not being able to sell their products at a lower price via other channels. Jiupai News also cited the anti-monopoly office as saying they would deal with the issue if violations were found. [Jiupai News, in Chinese]

Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Voyah has opened its inaugural showroom in Copenhagen, Denmark, and commenced sales of its flagship multi-purpose vehicle, the Dreamer, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday that Voyah had initiated the delivery of its Free sports utility vehicle in Norway last December. Affiliated with Dongfeng Motor, a state-owned automaker and manufacturing partner of Honda in China, Voyah also marked the regional debut of its five-seater sedan, the Chasing Light (Zhuiguang in Chinese pinyin). The company plans to enter additional European markets, including Germany, France, and Italy. Voyah had previously obtained European Whole Vehicle Type Approval (EWVTA) for the Dreamer, a plug-in hybrid van with a driving range of 1,231 kilometers (765 miles) on a full charge and full tank, enabling volume export and license plate registration in all EU countries. [TechNode reporting, Xinhua, in Chinese]

Shein has bought the UK-based fast fashion brand Missguided from Frasers Group, the company announced on Monday, as the China-tied fashion giant stepped up efforts to expand its global market share. The exact purchase price was not disclosed by either party. In this deal, Shein will license Missguided’s intellectual property to Sumwon Studios, a joint venture formed by Shein and Missguided founder Nitin Passi. Concurrently, Shein will manufacture and sell Missguided’s products as independent brands on its website. This acquisition follows Shein’s recent announcement of plans to launch a co-branded clothing line with Forever 21, aiming to enhance its global presence through the brand’s offline stores. [Shein]

China’s Hozon Auto said on Monday that it is partnering with EIH Automotive&Trading, an Abu Dhabi-based car distributor, to help launch its Neta range of electric vehicles and services in the United Arab Emirates in 2024. EIH Automotive&Trading is a subsidiary of investment conglomerate Ethmar International Holding (EIH), chaired by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan, a son of the country’s founding sultan, according to its website. The news comes months after rival BYD’s compact crossover Atto 3 arrived in UAE via an alliance with local dealership Al-Futtaim in June. Geely-affiliated Zeekr signed sales agreements with partners in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain last month. China shipped nearly 100,000 cars to the UAE in the first eight months of this year, turning the small Middle Eastern country into China’s ninth-largest car export destination, according to figures compiled by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. [TechNode reporting, Caixin, in Chinese]

Chinese automaker Geely on Oct. 27 unveiled its biggest bet ever on intelligent vehicles with the launch of the first Jiyue-branded model, which the company says is capable of driving itself on busy urban streets in partnership with search engine Baidu. 

The automaker stated its vehicle relies heavily on a camera-based approach to capture detailed visual information and then respond appropriately, removing expensive laser sensors from its hardware suite to keep costs down. Tesla is reportedly a rare advocate for using the so-called vision-only approach, while most other brands opt for multiple sensors to mitigate safety concerns of their self-driving technologies. 

“I believe we provide users a better self-driving experience [than existing players] in most major Chinese cities,” Luo Gang, Jiyue’s chief operating officer, told reporters during an interview, adding that the Jiyue 01 outperforms Tesla’s offerings in digital services such as its AI assistant (our translation). Tesla’s full self-driving (FSD) function is currently unavailable in China. 

The Jiyue 01, a battery sports utility vehicle, comes in two versions with a price range between RMB 249,900 and RMB 339,900 ($34,148-$46,446), slightly lower than its pre-sale price and differing based on acceleration, driving range, and number of electric motors, among other specifications. Customers are also encouraged to pay RMB 19,900, a 60% cut from its sticker price, for all the premium functions of its self-driving software. 

Here are some of the news and highlights from the launch event held in Shanghai by Jiyue, formerly known as Jidu before Geely and Baidu set up a new venture in August. 

Self-driving tech: Jiyue said its advanced driver-assistance system, the Robo Drive Max, is already available to drivers in Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen, meaning the cars can navigate complex urban streets in the three big cities with autonomous features such as overtaking, lane changing, and on-ramp/off-ramp driving. The firm is targeting nationwide availability for the software by 2024, which would mean it matched rival Xpeng. 

• Chief executive Joe Xia claimed the car could drive itself from point to point without many user interventions by using less costly high-definition maps and training multiple neural networks such as occupancy networks in big data sets, rather than relying on lidar. Rival Xpeng is also removing two radar sensors for its upcoming MPV model but retaining lidar technology for enhanced safety, TechNode has reported.
• The five-seater Jiyue 01 is equipped with 11 cameras and 17 ultrasonic sensors and radars. The company believes it is building public confidence in autonomous car safety, as Baidu has tested its autonomous car fleets without accidents for more than 70 million kilometers (43.5 million miles). Baidu has been handling various corner cases over the past decade, which greatly improves the safety of the system, said Luo. 

Smart cabin: The Jiyue 01 also boasts the most advanced voice recognition software on the market for in-car services, which can respond intelligently in milliseconds without losing its connection, as the company deploys artificial intelligence models and moves data analytics from cloud computers to the vehicle. The system is also set to evolve and become more alert to the needs of its owners, powered by Baidu’s ChatGPT-like chatbot, Ernie Bot. 

• Notably, the automaker is bringing voice activation outside the car, saying it is the world’s first model that allows autonomous valet parking via just a spoken command without the driver sitting in the car, from as far as two kilometers away, according to an announcement. A company employee demonstrated the feature with several reporters joined by TechNode in an indoor parking lot on the sidelines of the event. 
• Xia added that the vehicle’s in-car system is powered by Qualcomm’s most advanced smart cockpit computing platform, the SA8295, which provides a processing power of over 60 trillion operations per second (TOPS), compatible with that of flagship smartphones available on the market. This would allow users to play the hit racing game Asphalt with a 35.6-inch display across the dashboard, as would NIO owners do with their handsets and a smaller screen. 

READ MORE: Baidu’s EV firm Jidu aims to take on Tesla

In the collective effort to fight climate change, CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage) is one of the few frontline tools. Today, carbon dioxide (CO₂) is captured directly by power generation or industrial facilities, or even directly from the atmosphere. The captured CO₂ is then utilized or stored. If stored, it’s injected into deep geological formations for permanent storage. If utilized, carbon can be incorporated into several production processes.

But how many of us are aware of the size and scale to which CCUS is taking place in this day and age – and what happens to the carbon when it’s captured?

By capturing carbon dioxide emissions at their source, CCUS helps mitigate the overall effects of accumulated carbon in our environment. CCUS has its roots in decades of scientific exploration – back to the 1930s. Official figures from bodies like the International Energy Agency (IEA) reveal a significant increase in CCUS projects globally, with over 30 large-scale facilities in operation or under construction (as of the end of 2020).

There is an estimated global CO₂ emission of 33 billion tons per year. The global capacity for carbon capture in 2021 was 43 million tons per year, accounting for just 0.1% of the emissions. The target is for CCUS to reach 10 billion tons per year by 2050, removing a third of our annual carbon emissions. While capacities are increasing year by year (the next goalpost is 279 million tons of CO₂ captured annually by the end of 2023, according to BloombergNEF’s report), very little of that captured CO₂ has been applied in innovative, practical, or useful formats.

Most of the captured carbon at present is pumped into storage wells underground – that’s the ‘S’ in CCUS, but not enough has been done for the ‘U’. Annually, only an estimated 270 million tons per year of CO₂ have been used, mostly on fertilizers, food, metal fab, and concrete. Yet for some of these uses, the CO₂ is re-released back into the atmosphere upon use, defeating the purpose of capturing it in the first place.

This is doubly inefficient: let’s not forget that CO₂ storage facilities need to be maintained and often occupy a very large area that isn’t used for any other purpose.

With 270 million tons/year of CO2 used versus 37 billion tons/year of CO2 emitted – we have a very long way to go.

CO₂: a useful yet misunderstood element

Earth’s CO₂ issue really is about too much of a good thing. Despite the negative climate-related connotations, CO₂ primarily is a very useful element and potential resource. Aside from the need for plants to achieve photosynthesis to produce oxygen, everything on earth is carbon-based.

As the Scientific American mentions, carbon is “the most versatile, most adaptable, most useful element of all. Carbon is the element of life.” 

From the chart we can see that carbon, through conversion, can be applied into fuels, to chemicals, to building materials, and so on. Direct uses of carbon include crop yield boosting, heat transfer media, or applications in food, welding, medicines, and more. The usefulness of carbon is remarkably broad, with plenty of potential waiting to be untapped.

Carbon has the ability to form stable bonds with many elements, including itself. This property allows carbon to form a huge variety of very large and complex molecules. In fact, there are nearly 10 million carbon-based compounds in living things. 

Take for example, the Chimei Asai facility in Taiwan, a joint venture of Asahi Kasei Chemicals and Chi Mei Corp. They have been manufacturing around 150,000 tons of polycarbonates per year using CO₂ as a starting material for over a decade. 

And at the price of $15 to 100 per ton, carbon as an abundant resource isn’t expensive at all. Being so affordable, we believe more research can be done to use carbon as a resource for practical outcomes.

Carbon utilization and removal pathways

To understand what we can work with when it comes to handling carbon, we have to understand the different formats of carbon capture: Closed, Cycling, and Open Pathways.

Of the three methods, ‘Closed’ is the most conservative, practical, and commonplace. ‘Cycling’ and ‘Open’ have their uses, but both require a large investment in time and resources to make it practical.

There are three methods to utilize captured carbon:

1) CO₂ Splitting: CO₂ can be split into different components, leading to various applications.

2) Synthetic Biology (synbio): CO₂ can be absorbed by microbes/algae to produce chemicals, food, or feedstock to make products.

3) Direct Incorporation: CO₂ can be directly incorporated into products.

Splitting carbon to make chemicals and fuels

Electrochemical splitting of CO₂ can create useful chemicals, such as syngas, Formic acid, Oxalic acid, and more. However, as CO₂ is an inert molecule, the science behind splitting carbon is very complex and expensive. Efficiency rates are also very low, often ranking below 50%. The molecule-splitting process also requires plenty of water. If we consider the cost and complexity of the entire process, it’s more efficient to use electrolysis to create hydrogen, a more energy-dense fuel that’s gaining traction globally.

Converting CO₂ into liquid fuels that substitute gasoline or diesel fuel only locks in carbon until the fuel is combusted, at which point it is re-released into the atmosphere.

Synbio process to produce fuels, chemicals, food, and materials

The synbio route is an interesting one, where startups use genetically modified microorganisms to absorb carbon to create useful chemicals.

Examples include using microbes to produce useful chemicals such as bioethylene or glucose. Copious amounts of carbon can also be used to accelerate algae growth, to turn it into an abundant feedstock to make food, biofuels, plastics, or even carbon fiber. But the systems are complex, requiring AI-powered photo-bioreactors for biomass production, requiring at least a two-stage dewatering process.

Generally, the science, research, and development behind using Synbio to decarbonize our climate is extremely expensive and complex, with many companies exploring this space going under.

Direct incorporation of carbon into things we live with

Direct incorporation is a much more practical method of making use of CO₂. Today it’s part of the cement-production process, which ‘locks in’ carbon for much longer. Concrete won’t permanently keep CO₂ out of the atmosphere, but can store it for a century or more, which counts as a form of effective carbon storage. The Nature paper calls these “closed” processes.

As the Nature paper says: “Cement requires the use of lime (CaO), which is produced by the calcination of limestone in an emissions-intensive process. As such, unless calcination is paired with carbon capture and sequestration, it is difficult for building-related pathways to deliver reductions in CO₂ emissions on a life-cycle basis.”

Ironically, cement production itself emits carbon, which needs to be captured and sequestered to make it carbon-neutral. With economies and standards of living around the world improving, and real estate constantly developing, cement production is now the seventh highest emitter of carbon into the atmosphere, with energy production taking the number one spot. So that presents a paradox to the solution.

Another common use of captured CO₂ is incorporation into fertilizers. However, once the fertilizer is placed in the soil, it’s re-released into the environment within weeks.

So, all that investment and effort in carbon capture and utilization vaporizes in just weeks. Is there any point in that?

Locking carbon into a material that doesn’t degrade: plastic

It’s a challenging goal: make use of abundant captured carbon, don’t let it reintegrate with our climate, and ensure it makes no additional contribution to carbon emissions in the process.

One highly plausible solution we’ve studied over the years is to incorporate carbon in something that’s very common in our everyday living: plastics.

As the IEA puts it: “CO₂-derived products that involve permanent carbon retention, such as building materials, can offer larger emissions reductions than products that ultimately release CO₂ to the atmosphere, such as fuels and chemicals.”

More accurately, carbon can be incorporated in polyol, a raw material that’s used to make plastics/PU/surfactants. These become useful materials that we use commonly, and often for a very long time: shoe soles, car seats, insulation, beds, paints, and more. When incorporated into plastics, it keeps carbon locked away for long periods, just like carbon in concrete.

As for the production process, making traditional plastics contributes to carbon emissions (though not as much as the concrete-making process). That’s because traditional plastics rely on fossil-based feedstocks. The aim of incorporating captured carbon in plastics is to replace these fossil-based feedstocks, effectively cutting down carbon emissions in the process.

From the above chart, it is clear that the most practical and profitable use of CO₂ is incorporation into polyol, a raw material for plastics. A UK startup that’s been developing this method effectively is Econic, which uses a catalyst to incorporate carbon into the PU production process. Best of all, it doesn’t call for additional energy requirements (keeping it carbon-neutral), and it fits seamlessly into existing plastic production processes.

As mentioned in an IEA paper: “Potential climate benefits in polymer production depend on the amount of CO₂ that can be absorbed in the material, which can be up to 50% of the polymer’s mass. For example, a polymer containing 20% CO₂ by weight shows life cycle CO₂ emissions reductions of 15% relative to the conventional production process.” 

Of course, there are controversies to this: plastics are the very material the world wants to avoid, because it doesn’t degrade well, polluting our seas and environment. Yet, it’s this very fact that helps to lock the carbon away for decades. Plastic isn’t something we can live without – from fundamental living needs to medical applications, it’s a functional, durable, and waterproof material that is nearly impossible to replace.

A system in which used plastics made from carbon are responsibly collected or recycled at the end of their use will help mitigate this concern.

Economic considerations: profitability and society

Is CCUS economically viable? If the carbon is mostly stored in geological locations, most probably not. But if captured carbon can become an abundant, key resource or raw material that supports our living needs – making buildings from concrete incorporated with carbon, food from carbon, or useful plastic goods made from carbon – it would become very practical. As the human population, cities, and needs grow, so do the needs for real estate development, sustenance, and functional products made out of plastic. Wouldn’t it be great to have ‘locked-away’ carbon serving our living needs while staying out of the atmosphere?

For now, the CCUS systems in place are very expensive investments with very low or no returns. This is in part because many haven’t found a practical solution as to what to do with all that captured carbon, or how to lock it in effectively without having it re-released into the environment.

CCUS represents a multifaceted approach to managing carbon emissions. It challenges conventional perceptions of CO₂ and opens doors to innovative uses. Though still a subject of debate and development, CCUS is emerging as an indispensable tool for a sustainable future, offering untapped opportunities for more responsible use of carbon, potentially revealing paths toward both environmental protection and economic benefits.

If we can unlock the potential of captured carbon – making it useful while keeping it out of the atmosphere – the rewards for society, businesses, and mankind could be profound.

In the third quarter, China’s smartphone shipments saw a slight decline for the second consecutive quarter, dropping by 5% to 66.7 million units, according to analysts Canalys. Honor regained its leading position with an 18% market share and 11.8 million shipments, thanks to its competitive products and efficient distribution channels. Oppo (including OnePlus) secured second place with 10.9 million shipments. Apple came in third with 10.6 million shipments, benefiting from the recent launch of its iPhone 15 series. Vivo held fourth position with a 16% market share,while Xiaomi ranked fifth with a 14% market share. Notably in the third quarter, several Chinese vendors showcased foldable devices including Xiaomi Mix Fold3, Honor V Purse, Magic Vs2, Oppo Find N3 series, and Huawei Mate X5. [Canalys]

Fast fashion retailer Shein plans to design, manufacture, and distribute a line of Forever 21 apparel and accessories as part of further cooperation with its former competitor that will see the co-branded clothes sold on Shein’s website. The announcement comes two months after Shein and Sparc Group, Forever 21’s operator, signed a partnership agreement that saw the two companies acquire stakes in each other’s businesses. The deepening relationship enables Forever 21 to leverage Shein’s digital interaction and huge customer base while also enhancing the China-tied company’s physical retail presence as it prepares for a potential IPO in the US. [Shein]

Some Huawei and Honor smartphone users overseas reported last week that their devices had misidentified the Google app as a “TrojanSMS-PA” virus, a type of malware that can send messages without a user’s consent. According to feedback posted online, affected models include Huawei P10, Huawei P20 Pro, Huawei P30 Pro, Huawei P40 Pro, Huawei Mate 20 X, Huawei Nova 5T, and Honor Magic 5 Lite, operating in various languages. Members of the Google community offered two solutions online: disabling and deleting all Google apps before reinstalling, or clearing the cache and data of the phone management app, and updating the phone management app’s virus library. [IThome, in Chinese]

Li Jiaqi, the celebrity Chinese livestream salesman who attracted viewer anger earlier in 2023 for pushing high-priced cosmetics, reportedly sold RMB 9.5 billion ($1.3 billion) in goods on the first day of Alibaba’s annual shopping festival, a slump of more than 50% on his daily record of RMB 21.5 billion last year. The influencer was cited in several industry disputes in recent days. Li’s glory day seems to be over, as new and younger livestreamers demonstrate higher sales dynamism. Taobao Live said that 12 livestream rooms saw sales exceed RMB 100 million in the first four hours of pre-sales, of which Li Jiaqi’s was one. [Shanghai Securities Journal, in Chinese]

Xiaomi Group on Thursday unveiled its new operating system, the Xiaomi HyperOS, and its new flagship smartphone Xiaomi 14 series. CEO Lei Jun said the company’s strategy had moved beyond “smartphone connections to AIoT (Artificial Intelligence of Things)”, and now entailed having the “phone, home, and vehicle all within an ecosystem.”

Why it matters: The Xiaomi 14 smartphone series showcases the Xiaomi HyperOS, an Android operating system that uses Xiaomi’s self-developed Vela system that enables the phone to connect with other AIoT devices. The lineup is touted by Xiaomi as the first flagship smartphone driven by Qualcomm’s latest processor Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, unveiled on Wednesday.

Details: In the next two years, Xiaomi HyperOS will replace its MIUI operating system across every Xiaomi smart device, as the company seeks to build a comprehensive ecosystem.

• Xiaomi plans to invest RMB 100 billion ($13.66 billion) in research and development (R&D) over the next five years, Lei Jun revealed at the launch event. Xiaomi also revealed that in 2022 it had invested RMB 16.2 billion ($2.21 billion), or 0.53% of its national R&D expenditure. 
• Xiaomi HyperOS is a cross-platform operating system that has been in development for seven years, involving 5,000 engineers, according to the company. Aiming to create a “people-vehicle-home” interactive ecosystem, Xiaomi has integrated its self-developed Vela system with a modified Linux system.
• The Xiaomi 14 series comprises the Xiaomi 14 and Xiaomi 14 Pro, both carrying the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, as well as Xiaomi’s own Loop LiquidCool technology for heat dissipation. Both models feature Leica Summilux optical rear lenses.
• The latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, built using TSMC’s cutting-edge 4nm processor, is designed for AI applications and gaming, and comes with enhanced audio and camera features. The Gen 3 offers a notable improvement on its predecessor, being 30% faster and 20% more energy-efficient. Additionally, the chipset supports LPDDR5x memory at speeds up to 4,800 MHz and can accommodate up to 24 GB of RAM.
• Xiaomi has opted for a smaller sensor for the 14 Pro, introducing the Light Hunter 900 coupled with a custom Leica Summilux lens. Despite being approximately 44% smaller than last year’s 13 Pro 1-inch sensor, the new setup is up to 80% brighter, according to Xiaomi.
• Depending on storage requirements, a new Xiaomi 14 will cost from RMB 3,999 ($546) to RMB 4,999 ($683), with the pro version costing between RMB 4,999 ($683) and RMB 5,999 ($820).

Context: At the launch event, Lei also mentioned Xiaomi’s commitment to environmental protection and social responsibility, reiterating a pledge made in August to achieve carbon neutrality and to switch to 100% renewable energy by 2040. 

• According to intelligence firm Counterpoint, Xiaomi ranked fifth place in the Chinese phone market in the second quarter of 2023 with a 14% market share.

Taier Sauerkraut Fish, a well-known restaurant chain specializing in Chinese-style fish dishes, was absent from the TripAdvisor-like app Dianping on Thursday, according to the local media outlet Jiemian, which quoted the parent company of Taier as saying they’re still figuring out what is happening. Dianping, a Meituan-owned review and ratings app, is widely used in China for discovering local restaurants, shops, and activities. The incident occurred a day after Taier conducted its first livestreaming on Douyin, during which the restaurant offered 30% off on coupons that could be redeemed by consumers visiting the chain. Over the past year, the TikTok sister app has stepped up its efforts in the local life services sector, an area that has long been dominated by Meituan. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

Chinese electric vehicle maker Zeekr will begin selling left-hand drive battery electric cars in Macau later this year, followed by the availability of right-hand drive versions of its lineups in the city and neighboring Hong Kong in the third quarter of 2024. The company announced on Thursday that it will operate three retail locations in Hong Kong, including a clubhouse-style flagship store, as well as one smaller shop in Macau in the first half of next year, in partnership with local dealership Kam Lung Motor Group. This move represents the latest expansion effort by a Chinese EV maker into the emerging markets of the country’s two special administrative regions, as rivals Tesla, BYD, and NIO continue to attract local customers. An affiliate established by Volvo’s parent company Geely in early 2021, Zeekr is also exploring potential opportunities in other right-hand drive countries, including the UK and Japan, while simultaneously entering major overseas markets such as Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia. [TechNode reporting, Bloomberg]

Since its inception in 2011, the CHINABANG Awards has been dedicated to identifying and nurturing the power of innovation in China. Over the last decade, we have witnessed many innovative enterprises such as DiDi, Momo, DJI, Mobvoi, Ele. me, WeChat, and the Little Red Book evolved from humble beginnings to iconic symbols of China’s innovation landscape. At the same time, we have uncovered many exceptional individuals, most of whom have ascended to become highly regarded trailblazers in their respective industries.

Now, the CHINABANG Awards 2023 is officially underway! Since its inaugural launch in 2011, the list has undergone more than ten years of refinement and enhancement, marked by the continuous evolution of our selection process. This year, we have made another breakthrough by setting up the CHINABANG Awards -China’s Overseas New Power List. The list is dedicated to recognizing overseas innovation teams with strong ties to China, identifying the most promising and valuable overseas projects, and striving to create the most open and credible annual overseas accolade in the industry.

The CHINABANG Awards China’s Overseas New Power List aspires to spotlight innovative companies that have achieved breakthroughs in international emerging markets, as well as the innovative organizations and individuals who have played a pivotal role in bolstering China’s global influence. We will recognize companies that continue to explore overseas markets, exporting China’s technological prowess and influence, as well as pioneering entities contributing to the sustainable development of local business ecosystems during the process of localization. Above all, we will acknowledge Chinese overseas entrepreneurs, innovators, and entrepreneurial teams who have exhibited unwavering dedication to innovation throughout their journeys.

China’s Overseas New Power: 4 Awards Categories 

Overseas Technology Company of the Year:

Aims to discover and recognize Chinese technology companies that have taken root and grown in overseas markets. These companies have not only achieved remarkable results in the international market but also successfully integrated into the local business ecosystem during the localization process, winning international recognition for China’s technological and innovative strength.

Overseas Investment Organization of the Year:

Aims to select investment institutions that are keen on identifying opportunities in overseas investment markets. They search for booming emerging markets in China and around the world, providing financial support and strategic guidance to innovative companies, and driving the expansion and growth of Chinese companies globally.

Overseas Service Organization of the Year:

Aims to identify and recognize service providers that can help Chinese enterprises with different needs and in different fields to realize cost reduction and efficiency, and to make goods available globally. Whether it’s in the areas of overseas brand creation, logistics management, payment systems, marketing strategies, or SaaS, these service organizations provide critical support to Chinese companies to help them become more competitive in the international market.

Overseas Pioneer of the Year:

Aims to reward the pioneers who are the first to step out of their comfort zone and expand overseas in the wave of Chinese enterprises going overseas. Their courage to take risks, innovate, and break the limitations of national borders has set a good image for Chinese innovators internationally, as well as a role model for other innovative entrepreneurs.

Award Description: Overseas Technology Company of the Year, Overseas Investment Organization of the Year, and Overseas Service Organization of the Year are enterprise awards. Overseas Pioneer of the Year is an individual award. All awards must be nominated and declared independently through the official nomination channel.

Eligibility of Enterprises Nomination

1. The applicant must be a legally registered company or a legal organization.
2. Must be a Chinese technology brand with at least 1 year of overseas business operation.
3. The submitted product/project/solution must be first marketed/published after December 1, 2022, or must be expected to be marketed before December 1, 2023, and the relevant intellectual property rights have been acquired.
4. The applicant must submit product images in .jpg format and less than 10 MB. In the case of intangible products, the applicant may submit screenshots or diagrams.

All nomination information must be submitted by 23:59 on December 31, 2023. Please complete as much information as possible for the subsequent selection, list announcement, and potential media coverage.

Description of Enterprise Selection Process

Nomination: Enterprises may nominate themselves by scanning the QR code below or clicking on the Link to access the official website’s exclusive nomination portal for submitting information.

Nomination deadline: 12/31/2023

Second Round: Select the list of enterprises/organizations/individuals who qualify for the final round.

Final Selection: The overseas lists of the year will be selected.

Selection Calendar

September – December 2023: Self-nominations;
December 31, 2023: Nominations closed;
January 2024 – Judge’s Second Road and Final Selection.

Award Entitlement

Brand Promotion

CHINABANG Awards is a brand that has accumulated prestige over more than a decade in the tech industry. Award-winning individuals and companies will receive the official certification and trophy from CHINABANG Awards.

International Stage (*within 1 year of official award announcement)

1. Award-winning individuals and companies will be recommended for inclusion in the BEYOND Awards shortlist, with the chance to secure a complimentary exhibition booth and on-stage presentation opportunity at the BEYOND International Tech Innovation Expo, where they can showcase the latest technologies and trends across various industries.
2. Award-winning individuals/companies will also be recommended for inclusion in the shortlist for the Origin Innovation Awards, hosted by TNGlobal. They will receive exclusive invitations to speak at the Origin Summit, becoming featured speakers at the event.
3. Award-winning individuals and companies will have the opportunity to participate in the “出海时刻” (Overseas Moment) dialogue program, a media brand created and produced by Dynamic Tech, where they can discuss industry development trends and share insights into the challenges and opportunities of expanding businesses internationally.

Media Exposure (*within 1 year of official award announcement)

For finalists and winners, we will conduct an extensive promotion on Technode’s English and Chinese media platforms, while national and international media networks will provide ongoing coverage. For award-winning individuals and companies, we offer the reward of five free featured interviews or press releases.

Resource Sharing (*within 1 year of official award announcement)

Through the specialized communication platform established by CHINABANG, connecting businesses, organizations, capital, and media, award-winning enterprises will enjoy convenient resource matching and sharing services.

*More benefits will be continuously updated on the official website.

In this era filled with opportunities and challenges, we look forward to exploring, recognizing, and promoting China’s overseas innovation forces alongside you. CHINABANG China’s Overseas New Power is not just an awards event; it is also an industry celebration. We cordially invite outstanding innovative companies, investment firms, experts, scholars, and media friends to join us in witnessing the brilliant moments of Chinese innovation!

About TNGlobal

TNGlobal, formerly known as TechNode Global, is a pan-Asian tech platform that delivers premium tech news, industry insights, events, and tailored marketing solutions to startups, VCs, corporates, and other industry pioneers. TNGlobal facilitates cross-border collaboration and business through its extensive network, strategic partnerships, events, and resources, bridging the gap between China and the broader Asian tech ecosystem market. The flagship events of TNGlobal include the ORIGIN Summit and the ORIGIN Innovation Awards. TNGlobal is also one of the key organizers of BEYOND Expo, Asia’s leading technology and innovation expo. TNGlobal is an overseas company of TechNode, China’s leading innovation and entrepreneurship platform.

Learn more about TNGlobal: https://technode.global

About BEYOND Expo

Established in 2020, BEYOND Expo has already successfully organized three editions, making it one of the largest and most influential international technology expos in Asia. Over the past three editions, BEYOND Expo has showcased numerous valuable technological breakthroughs and innovations, attracting over 70,000 participants, hosting more than 1,400 exhibitors, inviting over 600 business innovation leaders as conference speakers, and simultaneously holding more than 300 industry forums and over 500 networking events. This extensive track record highlights its success as an international technology exchange platform.

Themed “Embracing the Uncertainties”, BEYOND Exp 2024 is scheduled to take place from May 23rd to May 25th, 2024, at the Venetian Macao’s Cotai Expo. The event will continue to gather the latest achievements and innovative thinking from the global technology sector, providing an unprecedented technological extravaganza for industry businesses and technology enthusiasts.

Learn more about BEYOND Expo: https://beyondexpo.com

Chinese kitchen appliances brand Hauswirt said on Monday that it had sent a legal letter to JD after the retailer lowered the price of one of Hauswirt’s ovens “without authorization” amid intense online battles over price in the run-up to Singles’ Day. Hauswirt claims the reduction led to a dent in the company’s profits.

Why it matters: Competition over low prices in a bid to attract consumers has intensified as China’s biggest shopping extravaganza kicks off, with this case suggesting an increasingly dysfunctional and imbalanced e-commerce ecosystem.

• While JD’s staff have claimed that the platform subsidized the oven in question to sell it below its normal price, Hangzhou-based Hauswirt has stated that they are the ones who actually incurred the loss. 

Details: Hauswirt’s home beginner oven normally retails for RMB 699 ($95.50), but this week consumers can get it on JD for RMB 319.50, a discount of more than 50%.

• Top livestreaming influencer Li Jiaqi was also caught up in the fiasco after a WeChat screenshot, believed to have been posted by a member of JD’s sales staff, showed he had received a legal letter from Hauswirt. 
• The poster said the appliance brand had filed a complaint against him due to the sale price of the oven on JD being lower than the price the controversial livestream star advertised during his broadcasts, thus breaching Hauswirt’s lowest-price agreement with Li.
• The oven was set to be marketed on Li’s Taobao Live livestream on Oct. 26, according to a teaser on his official WeChat account earlier today. The post did not reveal the item’s exact price.
• Local media outlet Jiemian cited Li Jiaqi’s agency MeiOne as saying they didn’t sign a so-called minimum price agreement with Hauswirt and that “pricing of livestreamed goods rests with the brand.” However, it is not known whether MeiOne will still require other brands they cooperate with to promise the lowest price for their products in return for exposure on Li’s livestreams, a practice they have reportedly pursued in the past.
• As the high-profile spat continued, Hauswirt commented with three demands on JD’s official Weibo social media account on Tuesday, asking the e-commerce giant to withdraw the sale of the oven at half price, requesting that it exclude the brand’s entire product line from JD’s regular coupon offers, and urging JD to conduct an “internal review” to “rectify any unreasonable behavior.”
• At time of writing, the oven is currently being sold at RMB 699 on JD. JD did not respond to TechNode’s requests for comment.

Context: The conflict over pricing control between e-commerce channels is growing more prominent in China’s latest online price war. On the one hand, online retailers are pursuing low prices amid a less-than-stellar consumer recovery, but on the other, this is adding pressure to merchants that have set up online stores on multiple platforms.

• During 2021’s Singles’ Day festival, some users found that the same L’Oréal face mask product they bought via the country’s hottest livestreamers, Li Jiaqi and Viya, was more expensive than the cosmetics brand’s own livestream days later, which led the duo to publicly accuse L’Oréal of failing to deliver on its promise to offer them the lowest prices.

On Tuesday, US chip giant Nvidia revealed that the US government has instructed it to immediately halt the export of certain high-end artificial intelligence chips to China, as regulators have expedited the enforcement of new restrictions, which were originally scheduled to take effect from Nov. 16.

Why it matters: The US withdrew Nvidia’s 30-day exemption period for chip exports to China on Oct. 23, implementing the new regulation 24 days earlier than expected. Currently, Chinese customers, such as Tencent and ByteDance, can no longer obtain any AI-related products from Nvidia. 

Details: The US government notified Nvidia of the immediate implementation of export restrictions on AI chips starting Oct. 23, as per Nvidia’s announcement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The affected products include five GPUs (graphics processing units): A100, A800, H100, H800, and L40S.

• On Oct. 17, the US Department of Commerce announced a series of new restrictions on chip exports, addressing loopholes identified after the US imposed export limitations on chips last October. These new regulations broaden the definition of advanced AI chips and impose additional licensing requirements on chip products destined for over 40 countries and regions, aiming to prevent resale to China. According to the regulations, the new restrictions will take effect from Nov. 16.
• Following the implementation of the new regulations, Nvidia must cease shipping A800 and H800 chips to China unless it has express permission from the US government. A800 and H800 chips are alternative solutions Nvidia offered in place of the originally prohibited A100 and H100 chips, following the initial AI chip export restrictions imposed by the US last October. The Nvidia L40S, an advanced GPU for data centers, will also be affected by the new restrictions.
• Due to the widespread global demand for these products, the sudden acceleration of US restrictions is not expected to have a short-term impact on the company’s financial performance, Nvidia said in its announcement. 
• However, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang earlier stated that the new ban is expected to significantly impact Nvidia’s sales in the Chinese market, though he added that the company remains committed to complying with US regulations. 
• Several AI industry professionals in China have voiced concerns and doubts over the new measures, according to a report by local media outlet TMTPost. They worry about the potential impact of the new restrictions on the future training of large-scale AI models in China, which could result in a tech gap compared to US-based AI companies like OpenAI.

Context: In August, Nvidia reported a fourfold increase in its Data Center revenue over the last two years, establishing itself as a leader in AI chips with a market share of over 70%. Nvidia’s stock continues to rise, as the company achieved a market cap of $1 trillion earlier in 2023.

• The data center sector comprises processors such as central processing units (CPUs), data processing units (DPUs), and graphic processing units (GPUs). GPUs are favored for AI applications due to their ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously.

On Wednesday, NIO began operating a third-generation battery swap station near the Macau Science Center, two years after the Chinese electric vehicle maker set up its first power facility for the country’s special administrative region in November 2021. The automaker has built a user base of 330 in the city, delivering 31 left-hand drive EVs to local customers last month, making it the second best-selling EV brand in the market, according to figures released during an opening ceremony on Wednesday. This move signifies NIO’s progress toward its ambitious target to open more than 2,300 swap stations across China this year, up from around 1,300 as of last December. NIO announced in May that its most updated power swap station offers up to 408 swaps per day, an increase of 30% from the previous generation. [TechNode reporting, NIO announcement, in Chinese]

Leapmotor will “make use of” the production capacities from Stellantis as part of a €1.5 billion (nearly $1.6 billion) investment deal from Europe’s second-biggest automaker, said Zhu Jiangming, founder and chief executive of the electric vehicle startup on Thursday. Amsterdam-headquartered Stellantis will hold 20% stakes in Leapmotor, secure two of the five board seats in the Hangzhou-based EV maker, and own 51% of a joint venture set to be established by the two companies for making and selling EVs worldwide, according to Thursday’s announcement. This move eliminates the possibility of Leapmotor expanding overseas markets independently, leading to a nearly 10% drop in the company’s shares as of Thursday in Hong Kong. The deal comes months after Volkswagen announced a $700 million investment in Xpeng for nearly 5% of the EV startup’s shares and the joint development of two VW-branded EVs with Xpeng’s self-driving technology set to launch in the Chinese market in 2026. [TechNode reporting, CLS, in Chinese]

Xpeng Motors teased how it sees the future of electric vehicles on Tuesday with the debut of its first multi-purpose vehicle model and a new timeline for the expansion of its self-driving software, as it faces an unprecedented offensive from major rivals like Huawei in a hotly competitive battleground.

Chief executive He Xiaopeng also revealed that the company has made significant progress in bringing flying cars closer to reality, while showcasing a working prototype of its humanoid robot, in a move reminiscent of Tesla’s introduction of its Optimus bot last September. 

Here are the key highlights from Xpeng’s annual 1024 Tech Day event. 

First MPV 

Navigating within a sharp and narrow turn at low speed on the stage at Tuesday’s event, Xpeng’s X9 is claimed to be the world’s first multi-purpose vehicle model equipped with rear-wheel steering as a standard configuration. This would allow the seven-seater, three-row van to handle “just like” a regular-sized sports utility vehicle, said He (our translation). 

Xpeng’s next-generation smart cabin system, the XOS, will also be available first to the owners of the X9, which is set to be formally launched at the upcoming Guangzhou Motor Show on Nov. 17. Powered by Qualcomm’s five-nanometer 8295 processor, the in-car software will offer a split screen mode, allowing drivers and passengers to run different applications simultaneously side-by-side for efficient multitasking.

Marking Xpeng’s entry into the Chinese MPV segment, the all-electric X9 will have to compete with an increasing number of similar offerings by established makers including BYD’s Denza brand, Great Wall Motor, and Dongfeng’s Voyah marque. Huawei-backed Aito and Li Auto are also set to launch their first MPVs later this year, targeting China’s growing three-generation families with larger interior car spaces.

Self-driving availability

Xpeng has also begun its switch to a more affordable hardware suite by removing some sensors from its incoming X9 model, betting more on cameras and artificial intelligence for its XNGP advanced driver assistance system, according to He. 

The Chinese automaker has updated its self-driving technology with what it described as some of the most advanced occupancy networks in the industry, comprising a deep neural network that reconstructs barriers and vehicles and predicts occupancy in a three-dimensional space for collision avoidance. 

A similar move has allowed Tesla to remove several ultrasonic sensors from its vehicles while enabling high-definition spatial positioning, longer range visibility, and the ability to differentiate between objects with its Full Self-Driving Beta software, which was announced by the US automaker last October. 

CEO He said Xpeng will deploy its XNGP system for urban traffic roads in 50 cities by December and make the functions available to drivers across China and Europe by 2024. It is competing with Huawei, which has quickly emerged as a rising player in the industry and previously announced a nationwide roll-out of similar features by year-end, while rivals BYD and Li Auto are playing catch-up.

Flying cars and robots

Experimenting with different approaches around flying cars, Xpeng also showcased two prototype aircrafts, or electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOLs). One of them boasts a two-in-one design that can fold up its wings and other components into the vehicle body, although He acknowledged that there are still some safety issues to be addressed. 

The 46-year-old serial entrepreneur sees greater potential for the commercial adoption of the other prototype, which is built on a modular system allowing the separation of the flight and automobile components. This model has a spacious interior with five seats while on the road and is powered by an extended-range hybrid engine, which can also recharge its aircraft component as it drives; up in the sky, the model is capable of carrying two passengers in an all-electric mode.

Xpeng further surprised the audience on Tuesday as its humanoid robotic prototype, the PX5, made its first public appearance. The company showcased the robot’s ability to navigate different terrain and pick up hand-held objects such as pens in a video. He envisions a near future where such AI machines could help look around in its factories or even mingle with customers at showrooms, hopefully by this time next year, he added.

On Tuesday, Xiaomi unveiled design renderings of its upcoming Xiaomi 14 series, set to launch this Thursday. The latest official photos showcase a sleek 6.36-inch flat screen with ultra-thin borders, featuring a unique Parisian stud texture design. Lao Wei, Xiaomi’s phone product manager, provided details about the Xiaomi 14’s bezel dimensions. The device boasts a narrow four-equal-width design, with bezels measuring 1.61mm on three sides. The bottom border or chin narrows at 1.71mm. The camera module adopts a square design with rounded edges, accommodating three lenses and a flash. At the center of this module, it displayed a LEICA logo. [IThome, in Chinese]

Chinese AI company iFlytek said on Tuesday its iteration large language model Spark 3.0 outperforms OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 in Chinese, while showing comparable ability in English contexts. However, the Hefei-based company, known for its voice recognition products, saw shares slump nearly 10% during its annual AI event on Tuesday, a slide believed to be linked to reports that the firm’s teenager-focused educational tablet was allegedly found to have criticized Mao Zedong in an article. iFlytek plans to train Spark 4.0, a further enhanced AI foundation model that it aims to benchmark against GPT-4, on an arithmetic platform built with Huawei and is expecting to launch the new iteration in the first half of 2024. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

Today, during the Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii, Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile platform, set to serve as the powerhouse for premium flagship Android smartphones in 2024. Xiaomi President Lu Weibing attended the event and stated that Xiaomi will globally debut flagship smartphone, the Xiaomi 14 series, equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor this Thursday. According to Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 offers a 30% performance improvement and a 20% increase in energy efficiency compared to its predecessor. Flagship Android devices featuring the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor are expected to be available on the market in the coming weeks. The first batch of Chinese phone manufacturers includes Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Honor, OnePlus, Meizu, ZTE, iQOO, Meizu, Nubia, and Realme. [IThome, in Chinese]

Temu’s monthly sales in the US nearly surpassed Shein’s in September, according to a Tuesday report by Chinese media outlet LatePost. The discount e-commerce platform has already expanded its presence to 47 countries worldwide since it launched in the US last September and has consistently taken the top spot in the Apple App Store and Google Play download charts. As the emerging business has experienced rapid growth, its marketing budget has seen a corresponding increase, with LatePost quoting an advertising agency representative who noted that Temu spent more than $300 million on advertising this August. The report also highlighted that the management team of PDD, Temu’s parent company, had planned for ongoing investment and prepared for a potential three-year period of losses when the Temu project was initially launched. [LatePost, in Chinese]

Shanghai Disneyland announced on Tuesday that the world’s first Zootopia-themed park is set to open on December 20, 2023. Based on the Disney movie Zootopia, this new development will transform the beloved film and its characters into a vibrant experience within the themed park. It will feature innovative entertainment, merchandise, food, beverage options, and a new thrilling attraction, allowing visitors to immerse themselves fully in the animated world of Zootopia. The new attraction, Zootopia: Power Tracks (a temporary translation), will invite visitors to embark on an adventure cruiser propelled by a cutting-edge trackless ride system as they explore the diverse districts of Zootopia. The preparations for the operation are currently underway, with cast members continuously improving various experiences, aiming to uphold Disney’s strict standards of guest service in the new park. [ThePaper, in Chinese]

Great Wall Motor submitted the documents required for the European Commission’s investigation into subsidies for China-made electric vehicles imports on Oct. 11, making it the first among its peers to do so, president Mu Feng said on Monday on the Chinese Twitter-like social media platform Weibo. In another post, Mu added that the manufacturer is accelerating its decision on a location for its first vehicle assembly plant in Europe, calling for “a fair and open trade environment” with pledges to promote collaboration and follow the rules of the respective markets. The automaker has been selling imported EVs in Germany since late last year, and is considering setting up its first regional plant in Germany, Hungary, or Czechia, Meng Xiangjun, president of its European operations told Automotive News on May 30. Other Chinese automakers, including BYD, SAIC Motor, and NIO, have also been asked to respond by the EU, while BMW and Tesla are among the non-Chinese brands involved in the investigation, formally initiated by Brussels on Oct. 4. [Great Wall Motor president’s Weibo post, in Chinese]

Chinese e-commerce platforms are racing to give consumers attractive deals during this year’s Singles’ Day festival, though the country’s biggest online shopping bonanza has slowly lost its luster as the pushing of low prices has become a standard marketing strategy throughout the year for platforms facing challenges in reviving consumer sentiment.

Why it matters: Emerging retailers such as Douyin and Kuaishou, along with established rivals Alibaba and JD, are turning to direct discounts for shoppers as the 11.11 pre-sale period kicks off because they continue to count on the mega event to encourage consumers to open up their wallets and submit their data, especially in the face of China’s uneven economic recovery.

Details: The Singles’ Day festival is now in its 15th year after it was first co-opted by Alibaba in 2009, who turned an organic, low-key celebration of singledom into a major consumerist event.

• While “low prices” remains a common advertising term for retail platforms, JD has taken a different approach during this year’s Singles’ Day by skipping the pre-sales period. In the past, this has been the standard way for major Chinese online retailers to record enormous sales sums on November 11th itself and allows consumers to pay an advance deposit for products to secure discounts.
• Alibaba is betting big on its premium program 88VIP, providing members with sizable coupons worth a total of RMB 20 billion ($2.74 billion), as the group fills with loyal consumers with high spending ability. 
• “We have a desire to return to our original intention of making Singles’ Day a joyful event for consumers,” said Trudy Dai, chief executive of Taobao and Tmall Group. The well-established Chinese e-commerce platform is introducing various entertainment shows and activities, including live music and cross-talk performances during the weeks-long event, to “create a more immersive shopping experience.”
• JD is once again offering a discount of RMB 50 for every RMB 299 spent, whereas Tmall is providing a similar deal for every RMB 300 spent. Alibaba also said its Tmall and Taobao site will grant a 15% price reduction in addition to the standard discount coupons. E-commerce upstart Douyin, TikTok’s sibling platform, has also adopted a similar strategy, emphasizing its commitment to giving “real price discounts.”
• Kuaishou was the first mainstream site to begin sales for this year’s Singles’ Day festival, commencing pre-sales on Oct. 18. The short video platform had previously announced that it would invest RMB 2 billion in cash subsidies. Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro, for example, can be purchased for a final price of RMB 8,009 if shoppers pay an RMB 100 deposit.

Context: In the third quarter, China’s economic growth outpaced expectations, indicating that a series of recent policy measures are aiding the initial recovery of the world’s second-largest economy. Retail sales increased by 5.5% last month, beating expectations and also surpassing the 4.6% growth recorded in August.

Shortly after its release in September, the iPhone 15 series has recently attracted attention in the domestic phone market as its prices plummeted in China. On Monday, “iPhone 15 Series Price Fall” became a trending topic on the social platform Weibo. For instance, the 128GB version of the iPhone 15 is being sold on e-commerce platforms for as low as RMB 5198 ($712), which is a decrease of over RMB 800 ($110) compared to the official prices of RMB 5999 ($822). Even the relatively popular iPhone 15 Pro series has seen varying degrees of price drops on e-commerce platforms, depending on different memory storage and color versions. Taking the example of the titanium iPhone 15 Pro 256GB version, which is officially priced at RMB 8999 ($1232), the current price from third-party channels declines to RMB 8249 ($1130). [ThePaper, in Chinese]

Mitsubishi Motors is set to withdraw from the Chinese auto market and will officially announce a finalized exit plan at the end of this month. The Japanese automaker aims to dispose of a regional unit that has long underperformed. Several employees informed the Chinese media outlet Tencent News on Monday, adding that GAC Aion, the electric vehicle unit of GAC Group, will take over around half of the 3,000 workers from a vehicle assembly plant jointly established by the two automakers a decade ago. Situated in the central Chinese city of Changsha with a production capacity of 200,000 units annually, the facility has been under renovation by GAC and will start manufacturing Aion-branded EVs as early as next May, according to the employees. The two companies have been offering significant discounts to help clear out inventory since early this year. They suspended production in June while posting sales of 12,000 vehicles for the first six months of 2023, as reported by local media outlet Yicai on July 13. [Tencent News, in Chinese]

NIO may consider bidding for two manufacturing plants in the eastern Chinese city of Hefei put up for sale by partner Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Co (JAC) on Oct. 20, reportedly in an effort to exercise more control over its production process.

Why it matters: Acquiring existing plants is one of the easiest ways for electric vehicle companies to obtain a production license in China, as NIO rival Li Auto did previously. The move could be a big positive for NIO in improving operational efficiency over the long term, a person with knowledge of the matter told the Chinese financial media outlet National Business Daily (NBD) on Oct. 20. 

• In 2020, Xpeng Motors, another competitor to NIO, announced that it had obtained a production license for its fully-owned factory in the southern Chinese city of Zhaoqing. This achievement followed years of collaboration with Haima Automobile, a former partner of Japan’s Mazda, to manufacture EVs, Reuters reported.

Details: State-owned JAC said on Oct. 20 that it plans to look for buyers publicly for part of its assets under its third factory and its Xinqiao plant for a combined value of approximately RMB 4.5 billion ($610 million). 

• This would represent a premium of nearly 6.8% to its book value and include some inventory, equipment, construction, and land use rights that belong to its passenger vehicle subsidiary, according to a regulatory filing (in Chinese).
• The two factories that JAC referred to were in fact the two advanced manufacturing bases established by the automaker for EV production with NIO, according to the person who spoke with NBD and noted the latter’s likely intention to reach a deal.
• A NIO spokesperson neither confirmed nor denied the news when contacted by TechNode on Monday, saying that the company will share more details on relevant matters “when the time is right” and that the decision by its partner has no impact on NIO’s production and operations.