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ca central cordobaBaidus shares surged 10.1% to HK$ 95.05 ($12.17) on Wednesday in Hong Kong, its highest price in the past month, after a mainland Chinese taxi fleet operator publicly complained about the companys autonomous ride-hailing cars becoming a threat to its human taxi drivers. Four taxi drivers at Wuhan Jianshe Automobile Passenger Transport Co., Ltd. have suspended services since April and more are facing a significant reduction in salary, the company said in a letter sent to local authorities on June 20 and circulated on Chinese social networks this week.The taxi firm blamed a sprawling expansion of Baidus autonomous carsjogo fc lugano, while multiple taxi drivers told media outlet CLS that it had become difficult to get fares in areas of the city where the internet giant had deployed large numbers of its robotaxis. Baidu said in May that its robotaxi service, known as Apollo Go (or Luobo Kuaipao in Chinese) and launched in 2021, had provided 6 million rides as of April 19, while it was aiming for the business to turn a profit by 2025, TechNode reported. Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has previously announced that the company will unveil its robotaxi design on August 8, as competition in the sector heats up. [TechNode reporting, CLS, in Chinese]

TSMC, listed in both Taiwan and New York, saw its market value surpass the $1 trillion mark on Monday, becoming the seventh-largest tech company globally by market capitalization, local media outlet Jiwei reported. Ranked by market valuation, the top ten most valuable companies include Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Alphabet, Amazon, Saudi Aramco, Meta, TSMC, Tesla, and Berkshire Hathaway. Over the past 15 to 18 months, the semiconductor industry has led the stock market due to soaring global chip demand driven by the rise of AI, the report said. Semiconductors have attracted significant investment and government subsidies, notably the US governments CHIPS Act, which offers companies billions of dollars to establish domestic chip factories. [Jiwei, in Chinese]The US-listed Chinese electric vehicle trio has made some progress in their push to replace the chips for advanced driving functions inside their cars with home-grown components, following Teslas suit in hopes of deriving better computing performance to train their artificial intelligence models. NIO has carried out the tapeout phase for the Shenji NX9031, its first self-developed system on chip (SoC) for assisted driving and conditional autonomous functions, and will integrate the five-nanometer chip into its ET9 executive sedan as planned, scheduled for delivery in early 2025, according to a Monday report by Chinese media outlet 36Kr. The report cited sources as saying the tapeout for Xpeng Motors in-house replacement for Nvidias DRIVE Orin chips has also started, marking the end of the design process and the beginning of manufacturing. The report added that there is a bit of catching up for Li Auto, which aims for the completion of the tapeout for its in-house advanced driving chip, codenamed Schumacher, by the end of this year. In August 2018, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk revealed the companys plan to swap Nvidias AI system with its Hardware 3.0 chips. [TechNode reporting, 36Kr, in Chinese]Chinese electric vehicle maker Zeekr is looking to enter South Korea by 2026, with plans to open showrooms in Seoul and the nearby province of Gyeonggi by next year, parent company Geely said last week in response to questions from Bloomberg. Under the current plan, the mainstream luxury carmaker will bring the Zeekr 001, its first model featuring advanced driving functions including autonomous parking, to woo local tech-savvy customers. The news comes as peer BYD recently started regulatory preparations in South Korea aiming to launch its first EV locally in the second half of 2024. Zhejiang-headquartered Zeekr, with four models on offer, will launch two new models in China later this year, including a five-seater van, the Mix, as well as a medium-to-large sports utility vehicle, codenamed CX1e, targeting Chinese families. Zeekr chief executive Andy An told investors last month that the New York-listed company would expand its footprint from 25 to more than 50 global markets by the end of the year. [Bloomberg, TechNode reporting]Bloomberg on Monday claimed to have obtained an internal memo indicating that Microsoft will soon require its Chinese employees to use only Apple devices for identity verification when using work computers or phones. Employees will be restricted to using iPhones in offices starting this September, the report said. As part of Microsoft’s global Secure Future Initiative, this measure aims to ensure that all employees use Microsoft Authenticator, Identity Pass, and other similar applications for identity verification, which will affect hundreds of employees in mainland China. Microsoft made this decision because Android phones in China cannot access Google services such as the Play Store. Employees who previously used Android phones (including Huawei, Xiaomi, and other brands) will receive an iPhone 15 from the company. [Bloomberg]BYD has reached a deal with the Turkish government to build a $1 billion electric vehicle plant in the country, part of the European Unions Customs Union, a move that would allow the Chinese EV giant to export vehicles to the bloc without additional tariffs. Scheduled for operation by 2026, with roughly 5,000 new jobs created, the plant will be capable of making 150,000 vehicles a year, the government said on Monday, reported the Financial Times. The move comes after the EU, on July 4, began imposing temporary duties of 27.4% on China-made BYD cars, while that percentage ranged between 29.9% and 47.6% for other Chinese car manufacturers, slightly lower than what Brussels initially proposed. The company is also establishing a Ft 10 billion ($30 million) battery pack plant near Budapest in Hungary that will begin production next year. [Financial Times]

Electric vehicle maker Polestars China division is reportedly set to undergo its first major layoff with plans to reduce its workforce by about 30% by the end of September. The move is expected to have a significant impact on its local car manufacturing activities. The brand, owned by Chinese automaker Geely, has already suspended production at a facility in the countrys southwestern city of Chengdu while it also looks to downsize office space at its regional headquarters in Shanghai, local media outlet FEAutoCar reported on July 2, citing sources at the firm. The news comes just months after the Swedish company announced it was looking to reduce about 15% of its workforce globally in January. The company sold fewer than 1,000 cars during the first four months of this year in China, the worlds biggest auto market. [FEAutoCar, in Chinese]The US chip manufacturer Nvidia will ship over one million new H20 accelerator chips to the Chinese market this year, generating over $12 billion in revenue for the company, according to the latest forecast data from market research firm SemiAnalysis. Due to US export control policies, the export of Nvidia’s advanced AI chips to China has been restricted since 2022. The H20 is a cut-down version GPU that Nvidia specifically launched for the Chinese market based on the H100, but its AI performance is less than 15% of that of the high performance chip. Nevertheless, analysts at SemiAnalysis stated that the H20 chip is now being shipped in volume and is growing in popularity with Chinese customers despite its reduced performance compared with its US counterpart the H100. [Icsmart, in Chinese]US chipmaker onsemi reported a record revenue of $4.3 billion for the automotive business for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, reflecting a 29% year-on-year growth driven by robust demand for high-resolution image sensors for advanced driver assistance systems. Specifically, the company’s 8-megapixel image sensors for advanced safety features nearly doubled in revenue year-over-year, as highlighted by Chief Executive Hassane El-Khoury during an earnings call. The revenue surge is also attributed to the increasing demand for its silicon carbide chips, with business revenue witnessing “the highest growth in the industry,” reaching over $800 million, approximately four times higher than a year ago, El-Khoury added. Silicon carbide (SiC) power modules, featured in the company’s chips, can operate at much higher voltages than traditional silicon-based ones, enabling faster recharging and longer driving ranges for electric vehicles. Parts suppliers like Bosch and Infineon have been expanding their capacities to meet the surging demand. [onsemi release]

NIO is gearing up for the test production of its initial electric vehicle model for the mainstream market, set to commence in July, with a planned launch as early as October. The Chinese premium EV manufacturer aims to enhance sales amidst escalating competition in its home market. The company has set an ambitious target to deliver “several tens of thousands” of the upcoming sedan this year and is eyeing a sales goal of 230,000 NIO-branded EVs, according to sources cited by 36Kr on Monday. Last June, Chief Executive William Li informed investors about NIO’s plan to unveil the first model under the new brand in the second half of 2024. This brand, codenamed Alps, is priced between RMB 200,000 and RMB 300,000 ($27,820-$41,730). Additionally, another small car brand, codenamed Firefly and priced even lower, is slated for a debut later this year. [36Kr, in Chinese]Finnish telecoms firm Nokia announced on Monday that it has signed a multi-year patent license agreement with the Chinese phone brand Vivo. Nokia had previously accused Vivo of patent infringement and won a case against the Chinese firm in a German court last year. Under the new agreement, which resolves all pending patent litigation between the parties in all jurisdictions, Vivo will make royalty payments to Nokia, as well as back payments to cover the dispute period. Jenni Lukander, President of Nokia Technologies, stated that the Vivo deal means that Nokia has now concluded patent license agreements with six major smartphone brands in the last 13 months. [Nokia]Tencent is adapting the action role-playing console game Elden Ring into a mobile game to revitalize its aging game portfolio. In 2022, Tencent secured licensing rights from Japanese game developer FromSoftware and formed a team to develop a prototype. The same year, Tencent acquired a 16% stake in FromSoftware, but progress on the adaptation has been slow. Tencent aims to offer the mobile version of Elden Ring as a free-to-play game with in-app purchases, similar to miHoYo’s popular game Genshin Impact. Elden Ring, released in 2022 for $60, sold around 20 million copies in its first year, ranking as the world’s second best-selling game in 2022. Additionally, Elden Ring received the Game of the Year award at the Game Awards 2022, a prestigious ceremony recognizing the best video games of the year. [Reuters]Alibabas domestic marketplace, Taobao, is on the way to giving away red packets worth a total of RMB 1 billion ($140 million) that could be used for shopping on both Taobao and Tmall platforms within the specified period, the company said on Monday. Beginning on Feb. 5, the bonus-accumulating campaign lasts for 12 days, with users earning more cash rewards of up to RMB 1,888 by sharing links with friends. Taobao and JD, Chinese top e-commerce players, are increasingly giving real money subsidies to lure shoppers, while a low-price strategy remains their main operational focus due to rival Pinduoduo showing no sign of stagnation in high revenue growth rates. [Taobao, in Chinese]

In 2023, tablet PC shipments witnessed a notable decrease of 10% year-on-year, reaching 1.353 billion units, according to the latest data from market analyst firm Canalys. Chinese tech giant Lenovo took the third place with a market share of 6.9%, while Huawei secured the fifth spot with 6.1%. Amazon experienced the largest decline in market share among the top five companies this year, dropping from 9.1% in 2022 to 5.8%. Notably, Huawei was the only brand among the top five to maintain yearly growth of 1.9%. The report revealed that China and India played key roles in driving tablet sales and served as essential markets to offset the prevailing stagnation observed in other regions across the globe. [Canalys]Chinese e-commerce giant JD said on Monday that it has raised the salary for its over 20,000 customer service staff from Feb. 1, with more than a 30% increase in the annual average wage. This commitment comes a month after the Beijing-based company promised to offer an average growth of 20% for its retail unit, while procurement and sales employees would see their salary nearly double in 2024. The online retailer has increasingly poured investment both internally and externally, as it also prepares to send 100 million gifts during Chinas most-watched Spring Festival Gala, set to air on Feb. 9, as part of its exclusive interactive partner role with this years event. Gifts include one year’s access to a single-family mansion, Voyah cars for one-year driving, as well as rose bouquets, the company said on Tuesday. [JD, in Chinese]

Huawei has recently been preparing for the mass production of a new triple-folding smartphone, with an expected launch as early as the second quarter of this year. As the hinge is a key component in foldable phones, reports suggest that Huawei has expanded its hinge orders from the Taiwanese manufacturers Jarllytec and Fositek. The Chinese panel maker BOE is expected to supply the screen for the triple-folding phone, which may adopt a Z-shaped design with a folded screen size of approximately 6.4 inches. Differing from current foldables using a 16:9 or 18:9 design, Huawei’s upcoming triple-folding smartphone might feature a 28:9 or 18:9 design, providing users with an innovative transformation from phone to tablet. [Icsmart, in Chinese]Chinas ride-hailing giant Didi has recently set up a travel-related company, according to the corporate database Qichacha. The move indicates the company’s focus on tourism, as the new firm covers a wide range of businesses, including ticketing agency and mini-bus leasing business services to tourism project consulting. Established on Feb. 2, Tianjin Yingkesong Technology Co. is wholly-owned by Beijing Xiaoju Technology Co., which operates the taxi-hailing service Didi, with a registered capital of RMB 10 million. [Qichacha, in Chinese]Chinas ride-hailing giant Didi has recently set up a travel-related company, according to the corporate database Qichacha. The move indicates the company’s focus on tourism, as the new firm covers a wide range of businesses, including ticketing agency and mini-bus leasing business services to tourism project consulting. Established on Feb. 2, Tianjin Yingkesong Technology Co. is wholly-owned by Beijing Xiaoju Technology Co., which operates the taxi-hailing service Didi, with a registered capital of RMB 10 million. [Qichacha, in Chinese]Chinese electric vehicle maker Human Horizons has failed to raise the new capital it needed from Middle East investors, spurring the recent closing of two showrooms and prompting the firm to look at cutting headcount in some departments to reduce costs and attempt to remain in business, souces told Chinese media outlet Caixin on Sunday. The Shanghai-headquartered company in June signed a letter of intent with Saudi Arabias Ministry of Investment for setting up a joint venture to make EVs in the Gulf country as part of a $5.6 billion deal. However, Saudi later scrapped its planned investment with concerns about the sales growth of Human Horizons, which delivered roughly 8,000 units of its HiPhi-branded premium EVs in 2023 after six years of operation, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The EV startup has recently shut down two shops in the southern city of Guanghzou and southwestern municipality of Chengdu, and will need to implement more cost-cutting measures before it manages to secure new funding, according to Caixin. [Caixin, in Chinese]

Chinese electric vehicle maker Human Horizons has failed to raise the new capital it needed from Middle East investors, spurring the recent closing of two showrooms and prompting the firm to look at cutting headcount in some departments to reduce costs and attempt to remain in business, souces told Chinese media outlet Caixin on Sunday. The Shanghai-headquartered company in June signed a letter of intent with Saudi Arabias Ministry of Investment for setting up a joint venture to make EVs in the Gulf country as part of a $5.6 billion deal. However, Saudi later scrapped its planned investment with concerns about the sales growth of Human Horizons, which delivered roughly 8,000 units of its HiPhi-branded premium EVs in 2023 after six years of operation, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The EV startup has recently shut down two shops in the southern city of Guanghzou and southwestern municipality of Chengdu, and will need to implement more cost-cutting measures before it manages to secure new funding, according to Caixin. [Caixin, in Chinese]Chinese telecoms giant Huawei reclaimed the top spot in Chinese smartphone sales during the first two weeks of 2024, according to market research firm Counterpoint’s China Smartphone Weekly Model Sales Tracker Report. The performance marks a strong comeback for Huawei, as the company has experienced a consistent decline in market share since US sanctions were introduced in 2019. The report attributes this achievement primarily to Huaweis new flagship Mate 60 series, featuring the self developed Kirin 9000S chip. Additionally, renewed brand loyalty and the launch of the HarmonyOS operating system have both played key roles in the company’s resurgence in the market, the report noted. [Counterpoint Research, in Chinese]Alibabas enterprise communication tool DingTalk launched an official version built for the Apple Vision Pro on Feb. 4, two days after the hardware’s release in the US. The software features a range of workplace functions, including chats and meetings in a virtual environment. Based on the new visionOS features, DingTalk has created a complete 3D environment for the native app on the iPhone makers revolutionary spatial computer, boasting a number of unique features, the platform said in an official WeChat post. These unique features include enabling parallel processing of multi-tasks and persona, which shows users real-time facial and hand movements. Apples Vision Pro has not yet officially landed in China, but CEO Tim Cook said a launch in the country is coming soon. [DingTalk, in Chinese]On Sunday, tech blogger Smart Pikachu revealed on Chinas Twitter-like platform Weibo that the Xiaomi 15 smartphone will debut with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 and is expected to be released around October this year. The Xiaomi 15 series is expected to enter into mass production in September, with testing so far ahead of schedule, another account called Digital Chat Station added. Qualcomm may accelerate its efforts to release the upcoming flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, aiming for mass production as early as September, according to US tech media Wccftech. Alongside its powerful hardware, the Xiaomi 15 Pro is reportedly set to feature advanced satellite communication capabilities, following in the footsteps of Huaweis satellite-enabled devices. [IThome, in Chinese]

Chinese car manufacturer Chery Auto has formed a standalone business unit for its Luxeed electric vehicle brand, a move that could increase the speed of decision-making and enhance its partnership with Huawei, sources told the auto services portal Yiche on Sunday. The news comes after reports that the partnership might be in trouble, leading to a senior executive from Chery recently quitting his job and many customers waiting for up to a few months for the delivery of their first joint model, the Luxeed S7 sedan. The two companies, in late 2020, forged their alliance with plans to jointly launch at least five new EV models featuring Huaweis in-car technology, such as automated driving systems. The first model, the S7, went on sale on Nov. 28 with a starting price of RMB 249,800 ($34,921). [Yiche, in Chinese]Chinas e-commerce giant Alibaba is reportedly set to sell the grocery supermarket chain Freshippo and offline retailer RT-Mart, according to a Friday report by Reuters. This marks the latest news on the companys potential sale of its non-core and loss-making businesses. However, the report added that these selling discussions are at an early stage, and Alibaba may not proceed further. Founded in 2015, Freshippo signifies the Taobao owners ambitious entry into offline supermarkets and has diversified into various business forms, including the membership-only X store and the budget brand Freshippo Outlets, boasting over 300 stores nationwide. The Hangzhou-based company’s loss-making units have frequently been rumored to be up for sale since new management came on board in September, as it aims to focus more on its core business of domestic e-commerce. Alibaba did not immediately reply to a TechNode comment request. [Reuters]

Meituan CEO Wang Xing is taking direct control of the food delivery giants overseas businesses and drone delivery in its largest overhaul in recent years, according to Wangs employee-faced memo on Friday, as Meituan sets to step up bets on international markets amid more serious challenges inside China. As part of the reorganization, the company integrates its in-store and food delivery services that previously operated independently, with the consolidated division reporting to Meituan Senior Vice President Wang Puzhong. The current situation for Meituan is full of challenges, both internally and externally, but it is an opportunity for the company to grow further at the same time, Wang said in the email. The integration of Meituans most vital businesses within its core local segment comes at a time when the main delivery operation has slowed in recent months while Douyin poses aggressive threats to its in-store services through highly subsidized strategies. [21jingji, in Chinese]Chinese automakers saw their share of the global electric vehicle market rise to 68.2% over the last three months of 2023, compared with 57.4% as of March, as European car companies market share declined to the lowest level since 2019 on the back of shrinking subsidies and weak sentiment. The numbers were published by Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), on his WeChat account on Saturday. Specifically, sales of Chinas green energy passenger vehicles, including pure EVs and plug-in hybrids, increased by 37% to nearly 8.9 million units last year, outperforming a 16% rise and a volume of 2.9 million units from European firms, according to CPCA figures. The industry group expects Chinas new energy vehicle sales to surpass 11 million units in 2024, up 22% from last year and representing a penetration rate of 40%. [Cui Dongshu, China Passenger Car Association, in Chinese]

ByteDance on Thursday rolled out a GPT-like platform that allows users to build their own chatbot for specific purposes, accelerating Chinese tech companies’ new bet on artificial intelligence. The platform is named Coze and supports user-created bots to share with the workplace communication tool Feishu and even Tencent-owned WeChat. The launch comes days after the chief executive of ByteDance, Jiang Rubo, criticized employees as “too slow to react” to the emergence of ChatGPT, which OpenAI teased in November 2022; the TikTok owner only started discussions around the promising technology in 2023. [Coze]Alibaba is reportedly considering the sale of Intime Department, a bricks-and-mortar retailer that the e-commerce giant privatized in 2017 for HK$19.8 billion, and which once formed a key part of its bid to modernize offline retail. The Taobao owner has engaged in talks with several potential buyers to assess their interest in acquiring Intime, which operates more than 100 department stores and shopping centers across China, according to local media outlets. Alibaba did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. Rumors that Alibaba intends to sell its non-core businesses, including food delivery service Ele.me and entertainment-related ventures, have garnered market attention in the last two months amid the firm’s efforts to revamp its most profitable platforms Taobao and Tmall, but Alibaba has claimed that such speculations is “untrue.” [Jiemian, in Chinese]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. NetEases 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]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. NetEases 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]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 giants 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 cars 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 miHoYos 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 Huaweis 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 OpenAIs most advanced model, according to the company. The Hefei-based firm didnt 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 iFlyteks WeChat account. The platform was co-launched by iFlytek and Huawei in October. [iFlytek, in Chinese]

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 CATLs 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 companys 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 unicorns 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. Toyotas 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]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. Toyotas 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]Volkswagen has appointed Thomas Ulbrich, a veteran of more than 30 years at Germanys 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 companys 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]Volkswagen has appointed Thomas Ulbrich, a veteran of more than 30 years at Germanys 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 companys 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 Intels 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 Intels 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 countrys 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 Teslas 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 Tuesdays morning trading session in Hong Kong. [BYD filing, in Chinese]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 ByteDances 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 Chinas 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 Huaweis self-developed 5G Kirin chip and will be positioned similarly to the Chinese tech giants 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]Tesla shares slid 12.1% to $182.60 on Thursday, marking the stocks 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. Teslas 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 firms 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 Teslas 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 Chinas 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 Sheins alleged use of forced labor have been fully investigated. Scrutiny from both the US and China has further dented investors confidence in Sheins 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 BMWs midsize sedan lineup, boasts a roomier space with a 3.1-meter wheelbase, compared to the global models 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 BMWs 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]

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 BMWs midsize sedan lineup, boasts a roomier space with a 3.1-meter wheelbase, compared to the global models 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 BMWs 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]Chinas Baidu has expanded its AI business with the integration of the ERNIE foundation model in Samsungs latest smartphone, the Galaxy S24 Series. In China, Galaxy AI, powered by Baidus 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 Googles AI model Gemini outside China due to the Great Firewall blocking Google, OpenAIs ChatGPT, and other mainstream sites on the mainland. [TechNode reporting]

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, Chinas 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]Alibabas seldom-seen co-founder Jack Ma and current chairman Joe Tsai become the giants 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 Japans SoftBank gradually exits Alibaba. According to the e-commerce titans 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 companys 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]Chinese e-commerce giant JD has secured a deal to serve as the exclusive interactive cooperation platform for the upcoming Spring Festival Gala, the countrys 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 firms 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]