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

Huawei, a leading Chinese hardware manufacturer, made a notable return to the spotlight last year with its high-end Mate 60 series. Recently, rumors and leaks about the upcoming Huawei Mate 70 series have sparked significant consumer interest and anticipation in China. Reportedly, this new device is set to launch in mid-November. Given the information leaked so far, what key features can we expect?

Latest leaks and highlights

Recent leaks suggest that the Huawei Mate 70 series will, like last year, include four main versions: the Standard, Pro, Pro+, and the RS Ultimate Design. The Pro version is expected to be the highlight, offering a premium entry-level experience. Early glimpses of the Mate 70 Pro reveal a design that pays homage to the Mate 50 series, with a unified back color scheme and a triple-punch display on the front, likely enhanced by a quad-curved micro-edge design.

The new Kirin chipset is expected to deliver significant advancements in processing technology and performance. The Pro version will feature a BOE-supplied 2K display, approximately 6.8 inches in size, with 2160Hz PWM dimming and a 120Hz refresh rate. It will also be equipped with next-generation KUNLUN GLASS and reinforced with Xuanwu architecture, greatly improving resistance to drops, compression, and impact. Water resistance may also be upgraded to IP69 standards, adding further durability.

Popular blogger @厂长是关同学 shared a post on the Chinese social platform Weibo earlier in October saying, “If the rumors hold, the new Kirin chipset in the Huawei Mate 70 series will cost around RMB 1,100-1,300, marking a substantial investment. Other components—such as the screen, CMOS sensor, and power management chip—are also expected to be on the higher end of the price spectrum. Despite an estimated production cost nearly 30% above Apple’s 16 series, the Mate 70 series price won’t surpass Apple’s. The launch is slated for mid-next month (data for reference only).”

Additionally, blogger @智慧皮卡丘 leaked that the Huawei Mate 70 also features a flat-edge frame and side fingerprint power button, and the new Kirin chipset will be standard, along with 3D facial recognition. Although the battery capacity is thought to not exceed 6,000mAh, power optimization is still expected to be high. Regarding imaging, the main camera is expected to utilize the OV50K large sensor from China’s OmniVision.

HarmonyOS boosts Huawei’s hardware experience

On October 22, Huawei officially launched HarmonyOS NEXT, marking the third major mobile operating system globally alongside Apple’s iOS and Android. Unlike previous HarmonyOS versions, which relied on AOSP open-source code and compatibility with Android apps, HarmonyOS NEXT is entirely self-developed, bringing significant improvements in system smoothness, performance, and security, while enabling the Chinese tech giant to have full control over the OS.

At the launch event, Richard Yu, Executive Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Huawei’s Consumer BG, announced that HarmonyOS NEXT 5.0 delivers a 30% increase in smoothness, an additional 56 minutes of battery life, triple the connection speed, four times the device connectivity, and a 20% reduction in power consumption. Currently, there are over 15,000 native HarmonyOS apps and service modules, with updates being released almost daily. HarmonyOS has seen widespread adoption, with over 38 million enterprise applications in use nationwide in China and thousands of internal applications for businesses and government agencies going live.

HarmonyOS NEXT facilitates seamless connectivity across multiple devices, including smartphones, tablets, and in-car systems. Utilizing a new distributed soft bus, it achieves three times faster cross-device connections with lower power consumption, supporting simultaneous connections with up to four devices for features like cross-device scanning, photo library sharing, and clipboard sharing. These advancements are expected to drive Huawei hardware sales.

In conclusion

In summary, the Huawei Mate 70 series stands as the most eagerly awaited flagship phone of Q4 in China. From its design and internal configurations to advancements in imaging technology and its operating system, the device promises significant upgrades and breakthroughs. Particularly notable is the HarmonyOS NEXT, signaling a bold move toward ecosystem integration. Though Huawei has yet to reveal the full details of the new device, the hints so far are already building excitement.

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

As autumn unfolds, the Chinese internet is abuzz with anticipation for the year’s biggest shopping event—Double Eleven. Unlike in the past, this year’s shopping festival launched long before November, as a way for major e-commerce platforms to extend their presale periods. In fact, the constant stream of discounts and sales throughout the year has made consumers less enthusiastic about Double Eleven deals, challenging merchants to draw in shoppers with more than just price cuts.

This may be why e-commerce leaders Taobao and JD.com kicked off their presales on October 14, while platforms Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu, and Pinduoduo launched theirs on October 8, 10, 12, and 14, respectively. Meanwhile, competition among platforms for Double Eleven traffic has intensified, with each platform ramping up efforts to engage consumers and maximize gross merchandise value (GMV) while building long-term loyalty.

Taobao and Tmall “break down walls” with JD

Long-time e-commerce rival group Taobao and Tmall and JD have taken an unexpected step this year, putting aside their differences to “break down walls” to expand the market while seeking to enhance consumer satisfaction. On October 16, JD Logistics announced a partnership with Taobao Group, marking a major shift in China’s e-commerce landscape. Through this collaboration, JD Logistics will be fully integrated into the Taobao and Tmall platforms, allowing merchants to select JD Logistics as their service provider. JD’s comprehensive supply chain solutions, including JD Express, will now be available to Taobao and Tmall merchants, covering warehousing, courier services, and transportation across the supply chain.

On October 28, further reports revealed that Cainiao, Alibaba’s logistics arm, will integrate itself with JD’s third-party platform. This integration means JD’s third-party merchants can choose between Cainiao Express and Cainiao’s large-goods services. With the systemic integration already in place, some Taobao and Tmall merchants have opted for JD Logistics, and consumers can now track their packages via the Taobao and Tmall apps.

This alliance could be significant, especially given JD Logistics’ impressive growth. According to its semi-annual report, revenue from JD Logistics’ external customers reached RMB 59.9 billion—an 11.2% increase year-over-year—accounting for nearly 70% of its total revenue.

Dependence on top streamers remains unchanged

Top streamers remain invaluable to e-commerce platforms, driving substantial consumer engagement despite pervasive controversies. 

Douyin’s pre-Double Eleven report, released on October 18, highlighted the momentum of live-streaming e-commerce. Between October 8 and 17, 52 brands exceeded 100 million yuan in sales, while 323 live-streaming rooms surpassed RMB 10 million in revenue. Live-stream products reached users over 200 billion times during this period.

This surge is backed by the latest data from the Chinese Academy of Metrology Science, showing that live-streaming e-commerce penetration in China rose from 4.9% in 2019 to 30.4% in 2022, and further to 37.8% in 2023, marking 24.3% year-on-year growth.

AI Reshapes the e-commerce shopping experience

With the rise of generative AI, many labor-intensive marketing tasks, like creating product images and descriptions, sales, and software engineering work, can be automated, leading to significant cost savings. Alibaba, for example, has embedded AI across Taobao and Tmall, transforming its e-commerce business by enhancing the shopping experience and boosting merchants’ efficiency. Through AI-driven personalized recommendations, smart customer service, and logistics optimization, Alibaba has streamlined operations. One key feature, the “site-wide promotion” tool, leverages a “paid-free linkage” mechanism, where AI identifies user intent and applies precise tags, delivering more predictable ROI for merchants. During this year’s June 18 shopping festival, over 1.5 million products saw a 65% increase in GMV within seven days of investment due to this promotion.

JD has also upped its AI solutions portfolio. In March 2024, it introduced AI tools that can cut merchant operating costs by as much as 50%, accelerating product listings and creating realistic virtual digital influencers who host 24/7 live streams. Most recently, on October 14, JD launched a “Double 11” campaign featuring free trials of AI tools for brand merchants, promising to enhance video content production and support various marketing needs, including image and video content creation, product recommendations, and short-form drama content.

AI’s appeal is resonating with consumers as well, especially younger generations. Bain’s survey of over 3,000 Chinese consumers revealed that while 12% of consumers overall used generative AI tools in the past six months, that figure reached 23% for Gen Z users. The most popular AI features across demographics include visual search (using images instead of text), intelligent customer service bots, voice search, and smart shopping assistants, all of which are helping to redefine the consumer experience in China’s dynamic retail landscape.

Conclusion

Behind this year’s shopping extravaganza, e-commerce giants are entering the competition with a more collaborative approach, while the live-streaming arena continues to heat up as consumers hunt down the best deals. Despite the Double Eleven shopping frenzy, the influence of AI in this sector extends far beyond any single event. With enthusiasm for large promotional events gradually cooling, consumers are approaching purchases with greater rationality, looking not just for deep discounts but also for quality and service.

To adapt, e-commerce platforms must move beyond a singular focus on sales volume, shifting toward enhancing user experience and building long-term value. For manufacturers, this means pivoting from a reliance on short-term sales growth to a strategy that emphasizes lasting engagement. AI technology is at the heart of this transformation, serving not only to improve service quality but also to boost user engagement. As AI evolves from a support tool into a strategic asset, it is poised to become a core competitive advantage in e-commerce.

BYD said on Nov. 1 it sold more than 500,000 electric vehicles in October, setting a new record as the company reported quarterly revenue that exceeded Tesla’s for the first time, and made another leap towards becoming the country’s largest automaker. Meanwhile, nearly a dozen Chinese automakers reported record-breaking sales figures over the month.

Why it matters: The sales figures reflected the increasing popularity of hybrid electric vehicles and the slowing growth of fully battery electric vehicles (BEV) in the world’s largest auto market, as anxiety around EVs running out of power remains a major concern for many buyers.

• Nearly 60% of total BYD sales between January and October were plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), while a growing number of rivals, including Changan-owned Avatr and Geely’s luxury brand Zeekr, are hoping to drive PHEV sales by rolling out similar offerings.
• Sales of passenger PHEVs, which include extended-range hybrids (EREVs), grew 78.5% in China for the first nine months of this year, compared with only a 17.6% growth rate for consumer BEVs, according to figures published by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

Details: BYD set another record just a month after surpassing the 400,000 threshold for monthly sales in September, reporting sales of 502,657 passenger EVs in October (in Chinese). The company’s year-to-date sales volume hit more than 3.2 million cars as of October, bringing it near its annual goal of 4 million car sales.

• This means the EV giant is on track to officially become the number one automaker in China this year, ending SAIC’s nearly two-decade-stay at the top of the country’s rankings. Volkswagen and General Motors’ Chinese partner sold more than 2.6 million cars for the first nine months of this year, down 21.6% from a year ago.
• Geely also announced a sales record of more than 100,000 green vehicles last month, partly driven by strong demand for its luxury Zeekr-branded BEVs (in Chinese). Volvo’s parent on Oct. 30 unveiled its Leishen EM-i hybrid EV system, providing its vehicles with a longer driving range of up to 2,390.5 kilometers (1,485 miles) and a lower fuel consumption of only 2.62 liters per 100 km compared with that of BYD’s similar technology.
• New energy vehicle (NEV) sales of state-owned Changan and Chery, which mainly refer to PHEVs and BEVs in China, also surpassed the 80,000 and 70,000 unit thresholds for the first time in October, respectively. The number for Avatr, a niche, luxury brand controlled by Changan, more than doubled to over 10,000 units, thanks to the strong sales of its 07 crossovers with both BEV and EREV options launched in late September.
• Both Huawei-backed EV brands, which fall under the umbrella of Huawei’s Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance, as well as Leapmotor, which counts Stellantis its largest shareholder, achieved solid growth last month with an expanding lineup of BEVs and EREVs. The October deliveries for Li Auto, a major player in the country’s EREV market, slightly declined by 4% month-on-month but still hit more than 50,000 units.
• Xiaomi sold more than 20,000 EVs per month for the first time in October, with only one model on offer, and last week began pre-sales of the SU7 Ultra, a luxury version of its first EV model the SU7. Both NIO and Xpeng Motors delivered more than 20,000 vehicles last month. NIO is reportedly planning to introduce its first hybrid model in 2026. The timeline for Xpeng to do the same is 2025, local media reported.

Context: China’s passenger NEV sales increased 50.9% year-on-year to more than 1.1 million units in September, buoyed by strong product launches and new government stimulus packages, the CPCA figures showed. Secretary General Cui Dngshu expects the sales momentum to stay strong in the fourth quarter of 2024.

READ MORE: Interview: CATL executives on hybrid vehicles, sodium-ion batteries, and more

Chinese automakers SAIC and Geely have “never” had private tariff negotiations with the European Commission over the prices of their China-made electric vehicles sold in the region, according to statements provided by the companies to Chinese media outlets on Thursday. Rather, they have “always” been working on the matter with the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products (CCCME), a government-backed industry group authorized by multiple automakers to proceed with negotiations (quotes translated by TechNode).

The news comes after China’s Ministry of Commerce on Oct. 12 publicly criticized (in Chinese) the European Union for conducting separate price commitment negotiations with some companies, warning that this could “shake the foundations” of bilateral tariff negotiations. According to a document published by the European Commission on Tuesday, SAIC, Smart (an EV brand jointly owned by Mercedes-Benz and Geely), and Geely-owned Volvo submitted alternative price commitment proposals in case an overall plan offered by CCCME was not accepted in Europe.

State-owned SAIC, a long-time partner of Volkswagen and General Motors, also announced that it was filing a lawsuit at the European Union’s Court of Justice after the additional EU tariffs ranging from 7.8% for Tesla to 35.3% for SAIC took effect on Wednesday, Reuters has reported. China stated it does not agree with or accept the ruling, saying it will continue the ongoing negotiations with its European counterpart to establish a price floor on Chinese EVs. The consultations started in mid-September after China’s commerce minister Wang Wentao and EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis held talks in Brussels.

Although CATL has been quite successful with its energy-dense Qilin and fast-charging Shenxing batteries for passenger electric vehicles (EVs), the Chinese battery giant is already pursuing a third brand as it eyes strong growth in the flourishing hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) segment.

The world’s largest battery manufacturer has captured 45.9% of China’s EV battery market as of September this year, but its share in the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) segment is lower at about 40.2%, closely followed by BYD at 30.9%, official figures have shown (in Chinese). Nearly six out of every 10 new energy vehicles (NEVs) sold this year by BYD were PHEVs, powered by the EV giant’s proprietary blade batteries.

Despite double-digit growth for PHEVs this year, which in China include extended range hybrids, or EREV, many customers have complained about overly short EV-only ranges and slow charging, an Aito M5 owner surnamed Li told TechNode.

Li normally charges his crossover, which provides up to 255 kilometers (159 miles) on its electric-only range, from 30% to 95% in 40 minutes using a direct current (DC) fast charger. Another popular and cheaper sports utility vehicle (SUV), the BYD Tang DM-i, charges from 25% to 80% in 30-plus minutes. It has an EV-only range of 115 km.

CATL’s Freevoy hybrid battery was developed to alleviate pain points for a growing number of PHEV and EREV owners. The company said it offers hybrid vehicles a range of up to 400 km, takes only 10 minutes to add up to 280 km of range, and can charge and discharge at normal rates at temperatures as low as -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit).

Such superior low-temperature performance is mainly attributed to the dual deployment of sodium-ion and lithium-ion materials in an integrated AB battery system, making it possible to leverage the advantages of each material. The sodium-ion batteries are used as a monitoring scale to assist in calibrating the system to measure the state of charge (SOC) of lithium-ion batteries, reducing lapses in calibration and boosting driving range.

The move reflects CATL’s view of the future of the broader EV market – PHEV and EREV, which combine an internal combustion engine with an electric motor system, will not after all be a temporary solution as previously estimated, but a major option over an extended period of time. More than 30 upcoming models will be equipped with the Freevoy battery, Gao Huan, chief technology officer of CATL’s electric vehicle business in China, told reporters on Oct. 24.

Here are some highlights from the interview, which have been condensed and edited for clarity:

Can you share details of how the Freevoy battery will be deployed when it comes to key metrics such as energy density and lifespan?

Different vehicle models have varying requirements for battery energy density and CATL is capable of supplying corresponding products to meet the needs of our customers. For instance, it is necessary for A-class PHEVs and EREVs to integrate batteries at a cell-level energy density of 450-500 watt-hours per liter (Wh/L) for a one-charge range of 400 km. That number for MPVs (multi-purpose vehicles) will likely go up to around 650 Wh/L.

The energy consumption levels of different models also vary, leading to differences in battery capacities. For example, the energy consumption of B-class and C-class MPVs is often around 16-17 kilowatt-hour (kWh) per 100 km; thus, a 70 kWh or even higher battery pack is required to ensure a driving range of 400 km. It is important to note that the Freevoy battery showcases CATL’s advantages in energy density, charging speed, and cycle life. In addition, the life cycle of the products providing a range of 400 km is above 2500 cycles, as long service life is a standard feature of CATL batteries.

Although a growing number of automakers are making their new models with more modern 800-volt architecture, the normal voltage for most EVs on the market is around 400 volts or even lower. Would the Freevoy battery’s charging capability be limited by the charging architecture of vehicles?

The 4C charging capability of the Freevoy battery is definitely related to the vehicle’s power system architecture. For EVs with 400-volt systems to handle a 4C charge rate, the charging current needs to be double that of those with 800-volt systems, and the additional thermal energy generated throughout the process will be more than that. As a result, 400-volt EVs need more advanced thermal management capabilities.

This doesn’t mean that an EV equipped with a 400-volt charging architecture can’t handle a 4C charge rate. The idea is still feasible when the car is designed to have a shorter EV-only range, like 300 km or even 200 km. However, if a car is set to have both a high energy capacity and a long range, the trend now is toward 800-volt architecture.

What prompted CATL to develop sodium-ion batteries against the backdrop that battery-grade lithium carbonate prices have been going down?

Our decision to continue developing sodium-ion batteries is certainly based on their advantages. Sodium-ion batteries have a relatively lower energy density than lithium-ion ones, and it is difficult for a PHEV or EREV to have an electric-only range of 400 km with a sodium-ion battery pack at a favorable size and weight. 

(Editors note: The Chinese spot lithium carbonate prices had been hovering around RMB 100,000 ($14,020) per ton until recently, after reaching their November 2022 peak. The prices fell to RMB 73,000 per ton on Oct. 28, compared with their year-high of RMB 116,000 in March, according to figures from the metal research institute Shanghai Metals Market.)

However, with CATL’s AB battery pack solution, which combimes sodium-ion battereis and lithium-ion batteries into one battery pack, both types of battereis can leverage their respective advantages to deliver superior performance under low-temperature conditions and maintain a high cycle life. Therefore, we will continue to invest in the research and development of sodium-ion batteries and other electrochemical battery systems.

Sodium-ion batteries perform well at low temperatures. However, will frequent charging and discharging in low-temperature conditions affect the lifespan of EV batteries?

We know that the internal resistance of batteries increases at low temperatures, which requires a reliable Battery Management System (BMS) and strong thermal management capabilities to ensure its great performance under low temperatures. CATL has developed technologies to achieve that. Battery charging technology in low-temperature environments is more critical because the battery’s SOC could be calibrated inaccurately in frigid conditions, which could result in issues with battery performance. Such issues could accelerate the degradation of the battery’s lifespan. 

What is CATL’s view on the outlook on the Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) market, and more specifically the PHEV and EREV segments?

Regardless of vehicle type, A-class cars priced between 100,000 and 200,000 yuan are the preferences of consumers. Based on data analysis and forecasts, entry-level A-class cars, with a price tag of roughly RMB 100,000, will soon be capable of traveling 200 km on a single charge. Meanwhile, a driving range of 300 km will likely become a mainstream feature for mid-range A-class cars. A top-end A-class car could achieve a range of 400 km, while Chinese consumers increasingly expect an EV-only range of 400 km or even higher from B-, C-, and D- class models priced above RMB 200,000 to meet their travel needs.

READ MORE: BEYOND EXPO 2024 | CATL CEO’s vision takes shape with AI, energy storage, and more

China’s Zeekr on Wednesday launched a futuristic vehicle with the kind of design that is normally seen more from self-driving car companies. The vehicle features what it claims is the widest entrance area of any car on the market and a versatile, living room-style cabin space, specifically designed to meet the needs of three-generation, middle-income Chinese households.

Why it matters: The Zeekr Mix, a roundish, cute-looking vehicle, is the first production model that uses Geely’s newly-developed SEA-M platform, which stands for “sustainable experience architecture,” a base it shares with the newest robotaxi prototype operated by Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving car unit.

• Zeekr is on track to begin volume delivery of a sister model to the Mix, dubbed the M-Vision concept, to Waymo next year. This could facilitate the US firm to create the world’s first autonomous vehicle brand that goes into high volume, chief executive Andy An told reporters on Wednesday.
• Waymo began testing a small number of Zeekr-made prototype vehicles – outfitted with its sixth-generation, more cost-effective self-driving technology – in the US earlier this year as part of an alliance with the Geely-affiliated electric vehicle maker that was revealed in December 2021, TechCrunch has reported.

Details: The Zeekr Mix, advertised as having an interior “like a living room,” is the first fruit of the company’s transformation initiative which has seen it focus on the future of smart mobility. The vehicle comes with a number of industry-first elements at a price range between RMB 279,900 and RMB 299,900 ($39,339-$42,150).

• A radical alteration to the traditional way of designing a car’s structure, it features a double sliding door construction with four ultra-high-strength steel B-pillars, a nearly two-meter-long slide rail for all chairs, including two front swivel seats, and a capsule-shaped exterior design.
• This, along with a movable central console, would allow children to play or families to dine together in a 1.5 square meter (16.2 square feet) interior flat space, according to the company. The five-seater van also offers a 1.5-meter width opening area and a vehicle floor height of 390 millimeters (15.4 inches) for passengers.
• The unusual design of the nearly 4.7-meter-long vehicle required an extensive engineering process, including the use of shorter front overhangs and a more compact electric motor, as well as new development for springs and dampers, and the repositioning of the air conditioning system, Zeekr said.
• Despite concerns from customers wondering whether the car is safe enough to use, the company said the car’s hidden B-pillars are made of 2,000 megapascal (MPa) ultra-strong, high-formability steel. It also uses parts for crash energy absorption in the electric power system, as well as a rear body in a single piece – all features it says enhance safety.
• The Mix, with a 3,008-millimeter-long wheelbase, is highly maneuverable with a turning radius within five meters. It has two variants with a driving range of 550 kilometers and 702 km (342 and 436 miles), powered by Zeekr’s affordable iron-based batteries and more energy-intensive ones sourced from CATL, respectively.

Context: Waymo, formerly known as the Google Self-Driving Car Project, operates a fleet of roughly 670 driverless vehicles in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. It has reached long-term partnerships with several automakers. In 2018, it signed a deal to buy 20,000 crossovers from Jaguar.

• Year-to-date deliveries for New York-listed Zeekr, with five other models on sale, are up 81% to 142,873 units as of September compared to 2023. A video posted by the firm’s vice president, which shows a group of people enjoying a Chinese hotpot meal inside the Zeekr Mix, went viral on social media recently, the SCMP reported.

READ MORE:Global carmakers take on Chinese giants in EV showdown at Beijing Auto Show 2024

Tesla, Mobileye, Alibaba, and Didi have denied speculation that they have been involved in conducting illegal map-making activities after China’s top security agency said it found an incident of spying in which a foreign enterprise used a local company to collect sensitive map data.

The unidentified international firm illegally conducted geographic mapping activities in the name of implementing autonomous driving research projects, China’s state security ministry said on Wednesday in a post on the popular social media platform WeChat. It was assisted through outsourcing the activities to a Chinese company that has a government license for geographic surveying and mapping, according to the post. It added that the Chinese government had pursued legal action against the entities over the incident.

Tesla responded to the post by Beijing with Grace Tao, vice president in charge of external relations in China, reposting the article on the Chinese microblogging platform Weibo, with the comment: ”Compliance is the bottom line for business operations” (our translation).

Mobileye, which has partnered with Chinese automakers including Geely-owned Zeekr and state-owned FAW Group, followed suit immediately. “We have continuously invested in data compliance and regulatory adherence, including in China, where we operate under the supervision of licensed entities in full accordance with legal requirements,” Intel’s self-driving car unit said in a statement published Thursday on Weibo.

On the same day, China’s Alibaba Cloud and Didi also said they had nothing to do with the incident. Alibaba’s cloud arm terminated its mapping permit three days ahead of the release of the case, according to a statement by the Department of Natural Resources of Zhejiang Province, while Didi has been testing autonomous vehicles in a number of major Chinese cities. The two companies were also among the targets of Beijing’s regulatory crackdown against the country’s tech sector during 2020 and 2022.

China has for years required automakers and self-driving car developers to secure licenses or use authorized companies for mapping data used in vehicles. Some electric vehicle makers and tech companies, such as Xpeng Motors and Huawei, have pivoted to make assisted driving technologies without the assistance of high-definition maps for cost-saving reasons and because of regulatory issues.

Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC), a long-time manufacturing partner of Toyota and Honda in China, has hired a veteran marketing executive from BMW as the chief operating officer of its overseas business unit, as it seeks to accelerate growth in Europe and beyond.

Why it matters: Making the announcement at this year’s Paris Motor Show on Monday, GAC joins an array of Chinese automakers tapping Europe amid ever-intensifying competition at home and following the imposition of nearly 40% tariffs on Chinese EVs by the European Commission.

READ MORE:  EU anti-subsidy EV probe: What Chinese automakers have done in Europe and what’s next

Details: Thomas Schemera, a longtime executive at BMW and Hyundai, will join GAC International, the overseas business subsidiary of the state-owned automaker, as the global chief operating officer and senior vice president. GAC aims to establish positive consumer resonance in the European market with this move and inject new impetus into the company’s global development, according to a Chinese statement.

• German-born Schemera held various roles at BMW over three decades. He started his career at the German carmaker in the late 1980s as an engineer of computer-aided manufacturing and briefly led the development of sales and dealerships for the manufacturer in China between 2005 and 2008, according to his LinkedIn profile.
• After his departure from BMW, he served as global chief marketing officer and executive vice president at Hyundai from 2021 to 2023, a role that included bolstering communication of Hyundai’s N brand and its dedicated battery electric vehicle lineup IONIQ, according to a Hyundai announcement.
• GAC will begin sales of a sports utility vehicle, Aion V, in several European markets in mid-2025. It has a driving range of 520 kilometers (323 miles) per charge and will be priced at no more than €40,000 ($43,748). To compare, a Tesla Model Y starts at €42,900 with a driving range of 244 miles in Germany.
• Meanwhile, the Chinese automaker is looking at the possibility of making EVs locally to avoid EU tariffs, an executive told Reuters. Still, speaking to Chinese media outlet Caixin on Tuesday, Feng Xingya, the general manager of GAC, explained that the company’s pursuit of local production would be premised on strong demand.
• GAC’s developments show its serious intention to dig deep roots in Europe, expanding its dealership and service networks with a timeline to sell cars and provide maintenance repair all over the continent in 2028. A transit warehouse for Europe will come into service next year to ensure a more timely supply of car components.

Context: GAC is among several Chinese automakers to steal the show in Paris with debuts of their price-competitive and technology-advanced EVs, and announcements displaying a continued ambition to crack the market despite rising protectionism.

• Stellantis-backed Leapmotor showcased its B10 compact SUV, a global model designed for tech-savvy consumers with assisted driving and infotainment functions powered by Qualcomm’s latest processors. It began taking reservations for a budget EV and a large SUV at sticker prices of €18,900 and €36,400 last month.
• At a press conference during the show, Xpeng Motors announced the pre-sale price for its P7+ sports sedan starts at RMB 209,800 ($29,493) in China. Meanwhile, BYD and Huawei-backed Seres showcased their newest models – the Yangwang U8, and the Aito M7, –  respectively.
• Chinese EV imports will face additional duties in the 17-35.3% range on top of an existing 10% levy likely starting from November. Beijing is still pushing for negotiations on alternative solutions, while Brussels is poised to publish tariff implementation  regulations by Oct. 30.

READ MORE: Chinese carmakers to become dominant globally despite tariffs – AlixPartners

China’s GAC Group said on Oct. 10 it planned to invest $27 million in self-driving car startup Pony.ai through its wholly-owned subsidiary GAC Capital, a move expected to “create synergies” between the two companies and speed up the development of GAC’s automated driving functions. The investment marks the latest bet by a Chinese automaker to boost their autonomous driving capacity in the hope of catching up with Tesla, which on the same day said it aims to produce its driverless taxi, the Cybercab, in 2026.

GAC and Pony.ai first forged a partnership in 2018, TechNode reported, followed by Pony’s undisclosed investment in GAC’ ride-hailing platform OnTime in April 2022, when the two companies said they would together operate an autonomous ride-hailing fleet. Meanwhile, Pony.ai has been backed by a Toyota investment worth $400 million since 2020, and the two companies, along with GAC, a manufacturing partner of Toyota in China, announced a RMB 1 billion ($139 million) joint venture to make robocars last August.

State-owned GAC has also been a strategic investor in WeRide since late 2021, a self-driving car company with regional headquarters in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. Both WeRide and Pony.ai are looking to sell shares in the US and have obtained approval for overseas listings from Chinese regulators. Pony.ai said on Monday its autonomous ride-hailing vehicles have traveled a total of 40 million kilometers (25 million miles), of which around 4 million km were entirely driverless.

More Chinese automakers are following Tesla’s lead with their robocars. Xpeng Motors’ new model for autonomous ride-hailing services is expected to enter production in 2026, chief executive He Xiaopeng posted on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo on Oct. 10. On the same day, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company’s long-awaited robotaxi, with two gull-wing doors and no steering wheel or pedals, will eventually cost less than $30,000, Reuters reported.

READ MORE: The Chinese startup battling for robotaxi supremacy

Xpeng Motors is shifting towards a  camera-based sensor system and away from expensive lidar, on Thursday providing a handful of new details on its assisted driving technology. A new electric sedan also made its debut at an event, bringing the company into direct competition with popular models including the Tesla Model 3, BYD’s Han, and the Xiaomi SU7.

Why it matters: The P7+, a completely new model following in the footsteps of its first sedan P7 launched four years ago, is expected to go on sale at a competitive price point and replicate the initial success of its cheaper-than-expected and technologically advanced MONA M03.

• Xpeng reduced the cost of making its vehicles by 25% with this B-class model “through technological advancements,” expecting it to become a top-seller in the second half of this year, chief executive He Xiaopeng told investors during an earnings call in May.

New image sensors: CEO He called Xpeng’s new lidar-less, vision-based approach, “the Eagle Eye,” saying it will be the first in the industry to harness the capabilities of the so-called lateral overflow integration capacitors (LOFIC), which allow its vehicle’s cameras to capture scenes with a large brightness discrepancy.

• Image sensors usually have a limited dynamic range of brightness that can be photographed, creating overexposed or underexposed images in difficult lighting conditions such as nightscapes and backlight. However, those with a LOFIC structure have a wider dynamic range, meaning objects could be captured with a more balanced exposure.
• This makes it possible to avoid blowing out the front vehicle when the cameras on an Xpeng’s car try to recognize it at points of extreme illumination such as at the exit of a tunnel, according to a slide presentation seen on Thursday by TechNode. Xpeng said the P7+ will integrate 26 sensors, mainly cameras, as well as dual NVIDIA’s DRIVE Orin chips, but no lidar units.
• The technology is being adopted in more premium and newer consumer electronics devices due to the sophistication of the circuit’s structure, with Sony and Samsung among the major suppliers, while Chinese firms are making their replacements. Smartphone maker Honor in March announced its Magic 6 Ultimate would feature a main camera using image sensors with a LOFIC structure from Omnivision.

A sporty sedan: The P7+ is a sporty hatchback-style sedan with a gently sloping rear roofline, and a spacious interior with an impressive headroom of 973 millimeters for passengers in the rear row. With a wheelbase of three meters, it has a boot capacity of 725 liters which can rise to 2,221 liters with the rear seats down.

• All the variants come with an electric motor mounted on the rear wheel with 180 kW or 230 kW of peak output. It is powered by an affordable iron-based battery pack featuring 60.7 or 76.3 kilowatt-hour (kWh) capacity, achieving a driving range of 602 kilometers and 710 km, respectively.
• The fives-seater boasts premium comfort for both driver and passengers, as all the seats can be heated and ventilated with massage options as standard. It also provides a folding table and an eight-inch infotainment screen for rear passengers.
• The P7+ competes with rivals’ models such as the Tesla Model 3, Xiaomi’s SU7, and the BYD Han, which are priced from RMB 231,900 ($32,764), RMB 215,900 and RMB 165,800, respectively. Xpeng will reveal the pre-sale price of the car at the Paris Motor Show next Monday. A redesigned P7 went on sale last March at a price range between RMB 249,900 and RMB 339,900.

Context: Xpeng is among the Chinese EV makers pivoting to self-driving technology that uses low-cost cameras, following the lead of Tesla, over the past two years. Its advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) will be able to work on all Chinese roadways in the fourth quarter of this year, providing users with “door-to-door” automated driving across the country, the company said in July.

New orders for electric vehicles from multiple Chinese companies, including Huawei, Xiaomi, and Leapmotor, increased more than expected during the recent seven-day National Day holiday in China, as strong sales momentum continued in October and the festival season boosted positive sentiments further in the market.

Why it matters: The figures come shortly after a number of major Chinese EV makers, led by BYD, set new records for deliveries in September with strong product launches and new government stimulus measures boosting consumer confidence, likely pointing to further sales growth ahead.

Details: Huawei on Monday announced (in Chinese) that the EV brands under its Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIIMA) collectively received more than 28,600 orders with non-refundable deposits for models such as Aito’s M9 and M7 crossovers during China’s week-long National Day holiday which started on Oct. 1.

• Notably, the Luxeed R7, positioned as a direct competitor to the Tesla Model Y, reached over 9,600 pre-orders over the period. The car went on sale on Sept. 24 at a similar starting price of RMB 259,800 ($37,022) but with a longer driving range and featuring Huawei’s assisted driving tech.
• Xiaomi is seeing a similar trend, as chief executive Lei Jun confirmed rumors (in Chinese) on Monday that more than 6,000 customers converted their reservations for the SU7 sedan to a binding order over the week. The smartphone giant, with only one EV model on sale, said it aims to deliver 20,000 vehicles this month.
• Stellantis-backed Leapmotor received over 17,000 reservations with RMB 5,000 deposits for its affordable EVs over the past seven days, CEO Zhu Jiangming said in a public post on Chinese messaging app WeChat. The numbers come after the company posted its best-ever month by selling 33,767 units in September.
• Meanwhile, Li Auto and Zeekr vehicles racked up more than 20,000 and 10,000 pre-orders respectively, according to figures published by Sun Shaojun, founder of consumer behavior research agency CarFans, on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo. Both companies set sales records last month, selling more than 53,000 and 21,000 units.

Context: This time of year, known as “Golden September, Silver October,” is traditionally the high season for car consumption in China. Passenger car sales are expected to have grown 4% year-on-year and 10.1% month-on-month during September, said the China Passenger Car Association.

• The strong demand comes after an enhanced stimulus package from Beijing that started in late July and offers subsidies of up to RMB 20,000 to consumers who scrap gas-powered vehicles for new and energy-efficient ones. More than 1.2 million customers have sent their applications for the subsidy as of Oct. 4, reported Xinhua News Agency (in Chinese).
• Meanwhile, Chinese players have beefed up their product launches seeking to steal market share from more established international rivals such as Volkswagen and Tesla. At least five automakers – NIO, Geely-affiliated Zeekr, Huawei-backed Luxeed, SAIC, and Changan – introduced new models to compete with the Tesla Model Y over the past month.

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Steven Lee and translated by Zinan Zhang.

Kunlun Tech recently launched Melodio, which claims to be the world’s first AI-generated music streaming platform. On Melodio, you can input prompts based on your current mood, and the system will continuously generate customized music to match the specified style. So, how does the experience of the Melodio app hold up? Let’s dive in.

User interface

Melodio’s interface design is simple and intuitive, with the main functions easy to navigate and smooth overall operation. The home screen is the music player, where the background’s wave visualization changes color, making the listening experience more immersive. At the bottom is a music description panel, and when swiping to the far right card, you’ll find the lyrics. On the far left is a music discovery area, where you can easily find music to listen to. The top-left corner houses the “My” section, where you can browse your saved and favorite tracks anytime. The app doesn’t offer settings or other similar options, making it extremely minimalist.

User experience

All you need to do is enter keywords into the search bar, and the app’s AI will quickly generate a song that matches the description.

It’s worth noting that while it supports Chinese-language prompts, we could only hear music when using individual Chinese words in testing. When we inputted combined Chinese descriptive phrases, the system didn’t respond. For example, entering “hard rock, Linkin Park style” in Chinese resulted in no output.

We then tried using simple English descriptions, such as “happy” and “Winter Cabin Escape with Metal Essentials,” both successfully generated music that fitted the described atmosphere.

It’s important to mention that, in some cases, the AI-generated music may sound repetitive or disconnected, which can slightly affect the listening experience.

Conclusion

Overall, Melodio is a promising AI music app. If you’re a music lover or want to experience AI’s new approach to music creation, Melodio is worth a try. However, its current features are still somewhat incomplete, and we hope to see improvements in the future.

Pros:

• Listen to any style of music you want

Cons:

• Interface does not yet support Chinese

• Poor recognition of Chinese descriptions

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Steven Lee and translated by Zinan Zhang.

The name Zhumengdao evokes a sense of wonder and fantasy upon hearing it. As the name suggests, the app has a rich character setting and immersive interactive experiences.

According to the official introduction, the “Dream Companion” feature in the Zhumengdao App is not just a simple virtual character, but a character created by the user with a unique identity, personality, and interests to act as the user’s virtual reading partner. This feature gives the user-created dream character a high degree of openness, allowing the user to customize a unique identity based on their likes, interests, and imagination.

The fun of conversations

The biggest highlight of Zhumengdao lies in its ability to allow users to engage in deep conversations with AI virtual characters. Taking the “Coaxing simulator” as an example to try out the dialog, you just need to appease the character. Every response from the simulator will count towards their “Forgiveness Value”, and you will pass the test once you reach a value of 100.

In addition, you can invite two characters other than yourself to chat and set the relationship between the characters. You must manually trigger the character to speak to chat in the chatroom. You can watch them interact without saying a word or join in to create endless possibilities through all sorts of combinations.

Mini-play

The mini-play feature adds more backstory and personality traits to the virtual characters. Through reading mini-plays, you can gain a deeper understanding of these characters. Taking the “Mid-Autumn Bunny Lantern” experience as an example, the mini-play scenarios in the app immerse you into the story with the option of autoplay, and the addition of background music enhances the overall experience.

Dream collection

Every conversation you have with a virtual character can be saved and turned into a precious memory. You can revisit these dream scenarios anytime to relieve those beautiful moments. In the “Chat” and “Activity” pages you can browse the chat history and dream history records.

Looking forward to more possibilities

Of course, there is still room for improvement in Zhumengdao. For example, some of the virtual characters’ dialogue is still relatively fixed, lacking the element of randomness and flexibility. Additionally, Zhumengdao has the potential to add a wider variety of virtual characters to satisfy different requirements of different users.

Conclusion

Zhumengdao is a highly promising AI interactive product. It offers users a platform to engage in deep exchanges with virtual characters, enriching our social experiences. When you do not feel like reading novels or scrolling through short videos, you can try interacting with the virtual characters on Zhumengdao.

Highlights

–   Wide selection of virtual characters

–   Great mini-play experiences

Shortcomings

–   Some virtual characters’ dialogue modes lack flexibility

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Steven Lee and translated by Zinan Zhang.

At the 2024 INCLUSION in Shanghai, Ant Group unveiled its independent AI app, Zhixiaobao.   Developed based on Ant’s Bailing large language model, this new AI lifestyle assistant is integrated with Alipay, offering quick services like booking tickets, ordering food, accessing public transit codes, and finding nearby activities through conversational interactions.

The app’s introduction graphic highlights its slogan, “Your AI Life Companion.”  But does it live up to that promise?  Here are our ideas.

Features and User Experience

Zhixiaobao’s user interface adopts Alipay’s signature blue theme but with a lighter tone. The interface is simple, featuring a standard chat window layout. The main menu is divided into three sections: “Current,” “Chat,” and “Intelligent Agents.”

The “Current” section displays cards with immediate needs like weather, package status, food pickup numbers, or ride-hailing updates. The “Intelligent Agents” section contains various AI assistants across domains such as airlines, cultural guides, nutritionists, fitness coaches, relationship experts, and personality tests. Over time, the number of these assistants is expected to increase. During the test, this section primarily showed weather and package information, and tapping on a card launched the related mini-program service.

In some situations where the AI reads content (e.g., 5-minute news summaries), users can choose between male and female voices.

At present, Zhixiaobao only supports Alipay login, and it prompts users to enable service shortcuts. If enabled, the platform will share personal and order information with third-party services as necessary.

On the left side of the input bar, there’s a “Quick Commands” button, which includes frequently used commands like weather updates, news, monthly expenses, and finding shared bikes. For instance, when we selected “Help me find a nearby bike,” the service provider was HelloBike. You can scan a code to ride the bike directly from the chat window or click the service card arrow to access the corresponding Alipay mini-program for further actions.

We asked Zhixiaobao a few questions about the weather and Black Myth: Wukong, and they provided fairly satisfactory responses. Some of the solutions offered by the AI agents also met expectations.

It’s worth noting that Zhixiaobao is described as an “AI life assistant” initially, which means it primarily focuses on providing practical, everyday services. However, features that TechNode typically tests in an AI tool, such as multimodal capabilities like text-to-image generation, are beyond Zhixiaobao’s capabilities.

Summarize

Zhixiaobao, as an AI life assistant product that operates independently of the main Alipay app (though it can also be accessed within Alipay), has indeed achieved the goal of “providing certain life services” at this stage. In the same chat window, it can read the news for you, remind you of the weather, help you book a ride with one click, recommend great hotpot places, and even plan a night CityWalk route for you.

However, the quick services Zhixiaobao offers are currently all part of Alibaba’s ecosystem. You won’t find services from Tencent-related companies (for example, you can’t track JD.com deliveries). The reasons behind this “invisible wall” are well understood by everyone. Therefore, Zhixiaobao has yet to achieve the status of a truly all-in-one AI life assistant.

Highlights:

• Fresh interface, easy to use

Drawbacks:

• Functions need improvement; sometimes they give irrelevant answers
• Still can’t fully deliver an “all-in-one AI service” experience

NIO has signed an agreement for a combined RMB 3.3 billion ($471 million) investment in its China unit with three existing state-owned investors, the latest show of strong ties between the electric vehicle maker and the Chinese authorities, and local authority support for the industry.

The three investors, namely Hefei Jianheng New Energy Automobile Investment Fund Partnership, Anhui Provincial Emerging Industry Investment Co., Ltd., and CS Capital Co., Ltd. will collectively invest over RMB 3 billion into NIO Holding Co., Ltd. Meanwhile, the US-listed EV maker, with a production base in the eastern Chinese city of Hefei, is set to pump RMB 10 billion in fresh capital into the business through the purchase of new shares in its Chinese entity, according to an announcement.

“As China approaches its 75th anniversary, NIO China has once again received support from shareholders for increased capital. Four years ago, Anhui and Hefei rescued NIO from the intensive care unit,” William Li, NIO’s founder, chairman, and chief executive, said on Sunday in a public post on WeChat, China’s ubiquitous messaging app (our translation). “NIO has transformed from a small seedling into a little tree capable of withstanding some storms. As this little tree grows into a big tree, and eventually into a forest, Hefei and Anhui continue to nurture and cultivate it.”

Hefei Jianheng is a subsidiary of state-owned Hefei City Construction and Investment Holding (Group) Co., Ltd., while Anhui Provincial Emerging Industry Investment is fully owned by the regional bureau of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council. CS Capital is largely controlled by the State Development and Investment Corporation (SDIC), public records show. The new investment demonstrates the strategic investors’ strong recognition of NIO’s industry leadership, as well as firm support for the high-quality development of the EV industry, the company said in the announcement.

Upon completion of the deal, expected by the end of this year, NIO’s stake in its Chinese entity will be diluted to 88.3% from 92.1% as of last year, with the three investors and others holding the other 11.7%. The deal comes four years after the Chinese EV maker raised RMB 7 billion from the three investors, among others, offering the cash-strapped company a crucial lifeline, TechNode reported.

NIO delivered 128,100 vehicles from January to August, a 35.8% growth from a year earlier, and launched the first model under the mainstream sub-brand Onvo on Sept.19.

Huawei is coming after the Tesla Model Y with its second EV model under the Luxeed brand in a partnership with Chinese automaker Chery, featuring its advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), a longer driving range, and a roomier interior, all at a similar price. 

The entry-level Luxeed R7 travels 667 kilometers (415 miles) on a single charge, powered by an 82 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery pack from Chinese supplier CALB at a price tag of RMB 259,800 ($37,022), which is RMB 9,900 more than Tesla’s Model Y. It drives autonomously on Chinese expressways using the basic version of Huawei’s Advanced Driving System (ADS) without a lidar unit for remote sensing.

The higher-end versions of the compact crossover have a maximum driving range of 802 km and can navigate Chinese urban roads, for a cost of between RMB 299,800 and RMB 339,800. Customers pay RMB 10,000 on top to access the more premium Huawei ADS 3.0 software. By comparison, Tesla sells the top-end Model Y at a sticker price of RMB 348,000 and is looking to roll out its so-called “Full Self-Driving” software in the country in the first quarter of 2025, TechNode reported.

The five-seater vehicle is said to have more head and leg room than the Model Y and a boot capacity of 837 liters which rises to 2,130 liters with the rear seats folded. Still, it faces strong competition not only from the US automaker but also from local rivals, including NIO’s sub-brand Onvo and Geely-controlled Zeekr which launched similar offerings for less money last week. 

Huawei and Chery delivered only 18,091 units of the Luxeed S7 sedan from January to August, compared with more than 254,045 Aito-branded EVs sold by Huawei and partner Seres. Tesla shipped 354,693 Model Y vehicles from its Shanghai Gigafactory over the same period, according to figures released by the China Passenger Car Association, and sales of the world’s top-selling EV model totaled 1.22 million units last year, said market research firm JATO Dynamics.

READ MORE: Huawei, Chery introduce second joint model following setback

China’s Zeekr on Sept. 20 unveiled the 7X, its first family sports utility vehicle with off-road capabilities and enhanced safety features, with a cheaper price tag than Tesla’s Model Y letting it compete against the world’s top-selling model in its home market.

Zeekr said more than 58,000 customers gave refundable deposits to reserve a place in the production line queue following the car’s debut on Aug. 30. The New York-listed electric vehicle maker is ready to deliver at least 3,000 units in the remaining days of September by ramping up manufacturing rates as demand grows, vice president Jason Lin said in an interview with TechNode.

Why it matters: Geely’s stand-alone EV brand has a tough task ahead to ensure the Zeekr 7X is successful in the highly competitive mainstream market. At least four new models from Chinese car brands, including Zeekr, NIO’s Onvo, and Dongfeng’s Voyah, are testing themselves against the benchmark in the class – the Tesla Model Y.

Details: The Zeekr 7X comes in three variants with a number of creature comforts on offer, including heated front seats with massage functions and large, automatic sun blinds on the rear-side windows and car roof.

• All the variants also boast high-tech specs such as NVIDIA chips and a lidar unit for automated driving, a 36.21-inch augmented reality head-up display for navigation, and an 800-volt electrical system that can charge the battery from 10% to 80% in 10.5 minutes.
• The entry-level 7X travels 605 kilometers (376 miles) on a single charge and goes from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 5.8 seconds at a sticker price of RMB 229,900 ($32,632). The dual-motor version costs RMB 269,900, has a 705 km-plus driving range, and is able to reach 100 km/h in as little as 3.8 seconds.
• Zeekr said the five-seater is great fun to drive off-road, as the standard version has 197 millimeters (7.8 inches) of ground clearance, while its air suspension can raise it another 33 mm for maximum clearance. In the case of an emergency submerging, a car driver can break one of the car’s windows with the press of a hidden button.
• With its raised ground clearance and a high roofline, the compact SUV goes for a traditional SUV shape, which the automaker said gives passengers ample interior headroom. It features an LED strip that can display customized lighting sequences with animation on the front hood, like its sibling, the 007 sedan.

Context: Designed to provide sufficient space and a gutsy performance catering to family occupants, the 7X will expand Zeekr’s portfolio into the Chinese mainstream SUV segment with a price range between RMB 200,000 and 300,000. The EV penetration rate surpassed 46% in this price segment last year, according to figures compiled by Chinese brokerage Guolian Securities.

• Zeekr delivered 121,540 vehicles across four models from January to August, including the 001 shooting brake and the 009 van, representing an 81% growth annually. It aims to deliver 230,000 EVs this year. Tesla shipped 354,693 Model Y vehicles from its Shanghai Gigafactory over the same period, including an undisclosed number for export, according to figures released by the China Passenger Car Association.

NIO on Thursday announced its foray into the Chinese ultra-competitive mainstream vehicle segment with the launch of the first model under its family-oriented lineup Onvo, featuring class-leading utility at nearly half the price of Tesla’s Model Y by leveraging its unique battery leasing program.

The cheapest Onvo L60 crossover costs only RMB 149,500 ($21,154) under the NIO’s Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) leasing program, which allows customers to buy the EV without ownership of the battery pack, versus RMB 206,900 including the pack. Priced at RMB 100,400 cheaper than a China-made Tesla Model Y, the car aims to be a meaningful competitor not only to the world’s top-selling model, but also to popular gas-powered vehicles such as Volkswagen’s Tiguan L and the Toyota RAV4.

The management is witnessing “a surge” in order intake following the launch, as dozens of millions of Chinese netizens watched the livestream, William Li, founder, chairman, and chief executive, told reporters in the eastern Chinese city of Hefei on Friday (our translation). More than 60% of the customers choosing the Onvo L60 consider battery-swapping technology, part of NIO’s broader BaaS strategy, as the most desirable attribute, according to Li.

BaaS becomes the key

Boasting significant ownership cost savings and fast battery swapping, the Onvo L60 is the first serious contender from NIO to challenge the Tesla Model Y, and could be different from the previous Chinese SUVs trying to win over families from the global EV crown.

Stuffed with an autonomous driving stack of 30 sensors, Qualcomm’s latest processor for infotainment applications, and attractive extras such as a huge, 52-liter car refrigerator, the affordable, functional compact sports utility vehicle offers more than RMB 100,000 worth of specifications than the Model Y. That’s according to Ai Tiecheng, president of the Onvo brand, speaking at the launch event on Thursday.

Moreover, the management expects NIO’s battery swap service, with each time taking around three minutes from an ever-expanding power infrastructure network, to mitigate the range anxiety from Chinese consumers and even remove the real obstacle of insufficient chargers away from EV driving. Onvo owners can replace their empty battery packs for a charged one in over 1,000 NIO battery swap stations nationwide by December, and more than 2,500 such facilities will be available by the end of next year, said Ai.

The standard range version of the L60 went on sale on Thursday with the impressive starting price plus a leasing fee of RMB 599 per month for the use of a 60 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery pack that offers a 555 kilometer (345 miles) driving range. The long-range version costs the same amount with a monthly rental fee of RMB 899, claiming a driving range of 730 km with an 85 kWh battery pack, versus RMB 235,900 including the pack. A typical Onvo owner would pay an additional RMB 100-200 each month in electricity costs, according to Ai’s estimates.

“Overall it costs you roughly a tank of gas per month,” Ai added (our translation). NIO said the total energy consumption of the car is 12.1 kWh per 100 km, compared with the 12.5 kWh achieved by the Model Y.

A turning point

The success of the L60 is of vital importance to whether or not 10-year-old, loss-making NIO would become a stronger and profitable player in a bruising battle where even some of the bigger rivals are already feeling the heat. Global auto giants from Detroit’s big three to Japan’s leaders have been hurt in China, and NIO is joining an expanding group of local players in bringing their better-equipped EVs at relatively affordable prices into the market.

Against the backdrop of a slowing economy, Onvo’s first model was precisely developed to meet the real demands of Chinese families who take space, safety, comfort, and affordability in the first place, rather than performance features like extra torque or horsepower, according to NIO.

NIO said the five-seater crossover could comfortably accommodate passengers in a carefully designed cabin, providing larger headroom and legroom across both rows than the Tesla Model Y. Owners could also access popular high-tech features such as an AI voice assistant from an in-house developed operating system, as well as perform autonomous driving functions in more than 700 Chinese cities and 2,700 counties, powered by advanced chips and AI algorithms.

Li said the company is now ready for a production ramp-up with parts suppliers, with a timeline of October to make 5,000 units of the car and increase the monthly output to 16,000 in January. Another 20,000-unit milestone could follow next March, Li added, again promising a “decent” gross margin for the model. NIO’s CEO earlier this month had briefed investors about the outlook of delivering 20,000 Onvo EVs sometime next year and setting a 15% margin goal for the Onvo brand in the long term. 

Having not had a distinct hit product in recent years, NIO and peer Xpeng Motors are showing signs of making a turnaround with their multi-brand strategies.

READ MORE: NIO CEO details thinking on first Onvo EV, battery swap alliance

BYD in a recent regulatory filing is seen to be planning a 35.6 million square feet global research and development center in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, where the auto giant is headquartered, as part of the company’s latest push to drive tech innovation.

The facility is to be located about eight kilometers (five miles) north of its headquarters in the city’s Pingshan district, covering an area of 3.3 million square meters (35.6 million square feet). It will comprise nine buildings and include parking space for 20,000 cars and 8,054 non-motorized vehicles, according to a filing published by the Shenzhen Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau on Sept. 4.

The disclosure was revealed a year after China’s top electric vehicle maker announced the construction of its global R&D center, which will cost RMB 20 billion ($2.8 billion) and house 60,000 engineers, the city government said in a statement last June. The center will also include more than 50 research labs for emerging technologies such as nanoscale photonic physics and the development of high polymer materials.

BYD has been ramping up its R&D efforts to beef up its technology offerings over recent years and has pledged to invest RMB 100 billion in vehicle automation technologies over the long term. It expanded its software engineering team by more than 4,000 employees last May, according to senior vice president Stella Li, and over 80% of the 31,800 fresh graduates recruited last year have worked on R&D projects, TechNode reported.

The company announced on Friday that it now has the largest R&D team in the industry, as nearly 110,000 out of its approximately 900,000 employees are scientists and engineers, Li Yunfei, a general manager for branding and public relations, said on microblogging platform Weibo. Year-to-date sales of its passenger EVs, including all-electrics and plug-in hybrids, grew 29.4% year-on-year to 2.3 million units as of August.

READ MORE: BYD begins building a $2.9 billion industrial facility in Shenzhen

Huawei and Chinese automaker Chery on Tuesday began taking orders for the second model under their premium electric vehicle brand Luxeed, priced between RMB 268,000 and RMB 348,000 ($37,654 and $48,894) and featuring what an executive called the world’s most advanced driver assistance system. 

The Luxeed R7 five-seater sports utility vehicle has a sloping, coupe-style roofline, making it the most aerodynamic production car in the SUV segment, and boasts a roomier interior space than that of the Tesla Model S, according to the companies.

“We have conducted comprehensive evaluations from multiple aspects and found that Huawei ADS is the most powerful and safest intelligent driving system, bar none,” Richard Yu, chairman of the board of directors of Huawei’s Intelligent Automotive Solution business unit, said at a press event (our translation). Yu previously said Huawei’s employees narrowly avoided several incidents where a Tesla almost crashed into stationary objects such as trucks during a recent test drive in the US and Canada, TechNode reported.

The smartphone maker said drivers of ADS-enabled EVs traveled over 200 million km (124 million miles) in August, while its autonomous emerging braking feature has prevented more than 560,000 collisions for users as of Monday. By comparison, Tesla FSD users surpassed 1.3 billion cumulative miles in three years as of March this year.

The entry-level R7 has a driving range of 667 kilometers (415 miles) on a single charge and is capable of handling on-ramp to off-ramp driving and lane changing autonomously on national highways without the assistance of expensive lidar units. The higher-end versions of the R7 crossover travel 802 km at most per charge and feature the third version of Huawei’s Advanced Driving System (ADS), which the tech giant claimed allows cars to carry out most driving functions automatically from garage to garage nationwide.

The two companies expect the second model to help expand their product portfolio and drive sales for the new brand, following the lackluster sales performance of the S7 sedan, which reported deliveries of only 15,608 units from January to July. An earlier price cut did little to lift sales after customers complained about delivery delays and rivals such as Xiaomi and Zeekr rolled out their competitive offerings.

Meanwhile, Huawei, with another of its manufacturing partners Seres, has also introduced (in Chinese) a five-seat variant of their M9 full-size SUV priced between RMB 469,800 and RMB 569,800. Huawei said the three-row, six-passenger SUV has secured more than 130,000 reservations with non-refundable deposits since its launch in December and has been the top-selling model in the price segment of more than RMB 500,000 in China in the past five months.

Note: The article was first published on Automobility Ltd written by Bill Russo, Benjamin Fan, and Lorenzo Song.

Opening Comments from Bill Russo:

In early 2009, shortly after resigning from my position as head of Chrysler’s business in North East Asia, I founded an Asia-based consultancy called Synergistics Limited. It was my way of staying close to the market where I had invested 5 years of my career, and which that same year had become the world’s largest automotive market measured by both sales and production. At that time, it had become quite apparent that China had emerged as the front line in the battle for dominance of the 21st century automotive industry.

To gather my thoughts on where things were likely headed, I wrote an article in 2009 titled The Path to Globalization of China’s Automotive Industry where I predicted the emergence of Chinese brands as global players, and described a plausible path for this to occur. China surpassed Japan in 2023 to become the world’s largest exporter of vehicles, and surpassing this milestone represents an appropriate time to revisit this topic.

Where We Stand in 2024

• China has emerged as a transformative force in the global auto industry, having been the world’s largest market for production and sales of automobiles since 2009
• New Energy Vehicles now represent more than one-third of all vehicles sold in China, and Chinese companies have 80% of this segment.
• Over 60% of new energy vehicles and 70% of EV batteries are made in China
• Chinese brands now have 63% share of domestic passenger vehicle sales, up 27% since 2020.
• A recent slowdown in domestic sales has forced automakers in China to prioritize exports in order to improve the utilization of their installed capacities. As a result, 20% of the vehicles produced in China are exported and it is the largest car export nation in the world.
• With the world’s largest population, mobility demand in China is served by an increasingly diverse set of solution providers, including internet-backed Smart EV players, the equivalent of which do not exist outside of China.
• With the world’s largest digital economy, new players are emerging on the Chinese competitive landscape that view the car as a smart device. This has a direct impact on the product configuration with cars incorporating internet-era features to provide rich digital experiences.
• Facing rising geopolitical tensions and trade barriers, leading Chinese brands will likely accelerate the move from made-in-China exports to globalizing their production and supply footprint.
  

The Center of Gravity in the Global Auto Industry Moves East

While internal combustion engine (ICE) powered automobiles were invented in Germany in the mid-1880s, mass commercialization of automobiles emerged a few decades later in the early 20th century United States. Henry Ford, Alfred Sloan and Walter P. Chrysler led the Big 3 US automakers from an initially fragmented startup landscape. By 1950, the United States produced over three quarters of all the cars in the world, and Detroit was the epicenter of the global automotive industry (see Figure 1).

After World War II, Germany and Japan emerged as automobile production hubs, initially to serve their domestic markets. However, momentum decidedly shifted over to East Asia in the latter part of the 20th century as oil supply shocks rocked the global economy. As a result, consumer preferences around the world shifted toward makers of small, affordable and more fuel-efficient cars produced by Japanese and later Korean automakers.

Toyota and its lean production system with emphasis on quality, continuous improvement and supply chain management posed an existential challenge to the historical dominance of the US automakers. By 1990, Japan surpassed the United States to become the world’s largest car producing nation.

Over the next decade the US temporarily regained its position as the world’s largest car producing nation as German, Japanese and Korean automakers shifted from an export-oriented model to a more globalized production and supply footprint.

In the 21st century, China became the growth engine for the world’s automakers, contributing nearly all of the growth in automotive industry production and sales volumes since 2000.  Global carmakers flocked to China to sell their products to a large and growing population of consumers, while simultaneously leveraging scale and cost advantages to increase their unit margins. Today, nearly one-third of all cars produced in the world are made in China.

However, global new car sales demand has not kept pace with the growth in production capacity. Global sales of new vehicles peaked in 2017 at 96.1 million units (See Figure 2). Sales in China in 2017 also peaked at ~30 million units, representing just over 30% of the world’s demand for new vehicles. 

Peak Sales and the Rise of New Energy Vehicles

The China automobile market has changed dramatically since 2017, with new car sales declining ~2% on a compound annual basis (see Figure 3). Over this period, demand has also shifted in favor of New Energy Vehicles, which have risen by ~48% on a compound annual basis. Clearly, there has been a dramatic reversal of growth along with a shift in consumer preference.

Domestic sales of ICE powered vehicles have fallen by nearly 11 million units while sales of New Energy Vehicles have risen by 7.5 million units over this period (see Figure 4). Faced with this sudden domestic sales slowdown and shift in consumer preference, carmakers are turning to exports as a way to recapture growth. Exports have risen from 1.1 to 4.9 million units over this period. More that three-quarters of these exports are the pure gasoline powered vehicles that are no longer the first choice preference of Chinese consumers.

Three Waves of Automobility Disruption

China’s emergence as the leading global automobile market is not just a story of growth and scale leading to eventual globalization. While this pattern has happened in the past with German, Japanese and Korean carmakers, mobility problems are solved in a different way in China and often involves a different landscape of solution providers.In the late 20th century, Japanese and later the Korean carmakers gained relevance by building cars more efficiently with improved quality control and efficient supply chain management. Led by developments in China, the global industry now is experiencing a more fundamental shift, where the industry business model is being transformed by technology.

While electrification is perhaps the most clear discontinuity when viewed through the lens of the traditional industry, there is a far more transformative force being exerted by China’s internet economy as it enters into the business of serving mobility demand.We are at the early stage of mobility revolution sparked by entrance of internet and communications technology (ICT) players in the mobility sector. The internet population in China reached nearly a billion users by the end of 2020, providing a huge market for services-oriented demand aggregation. Virtually all of China’s population is served by mobile internet platforms that provide services that involve people or goods movement – and the internet economy is actively investing to optimize the economics of services that invoke some form of mobility.

Entrepreneurial private enterprises have emerged from the digital economy to invest in mobility innovation. As a result, the information and internet technology revolution that started in the late 20th century is now acting as an accelerating force for mobility innovation. The creation and commercialization of the consumer-oriented internet has transformed devices we interact with daily into service-oriented, software-defined platforms.

Digital platform players including China’s internet giants (Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent) and smart device makers (Huawei and Xiaomi) are investing heavily to create smart solutions that unlock new recurring revenue streams linked to mobility, energy and other online and offline services.

China’s digital economy is setting the pace for an entirely new services-centric business model where “new game” commercial opportunities are created. This “new game” is highly embedded in the digital ecosystem and will change the car from a device monetized primarily when sold to a device monetized in multiple ways over its productive life cycle. New Game players often emerge from digital ecosystems and have experience monetizing other software-defined smart devices, and are highly efficient aggregators of services that are accessed through smart devices.

The disruptive forces that are emanating from China and its automotive industry are not merely driving a shift in propulsion technology. Public sector support combined with private sector entrepreneurship and the massive scale of internet economy are disrupting the traditional automotive industry and reshaping the sector in three waves (see Figure 5). The three waves of “automobility” disruption are enabled by technology and are making mobility solutions more affordable and accessible.

The 3 waves of this “Automobility Revolution”form the underlying thesis of our company since we were founded in 2017.  This thesis has proven to be an accurate prediction of how the business model is transformed by technology – which is manifesting far faster in China than elsewhere.

We live in an era where big data is used to provide personalized services that are often accessed through a smart device, powered by the mobile internet. These smart device technologies are now being incorporated into the devices that transport people and goods, which will revolutionize the business of how these mobility devices are monetized.  This began in with app-based on-demand mobility solutions, which scaled rapidly in China in the Automobility 1.0 era.

Mobility services provide access to daily life needs and conveniences, linking us between the places we live, work and play. Multi-modal traffic systems, parking infrastructure, charging stations, public services have all become available through on-demand platforms, bringing investments from the internet giants and device players.

China’s auto sector has fully embraced the “Smart EV” or “Intelligent Connected Vehicle (ICV)” in the Automobility 2.0 era. As a result, we are witnessing a rapid acceleration of the commercialization of new energy vehicle (NEV) propulsion technology and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), making mobility safer, more economical and partially freeing the driver from the mundane task of actuating the vehicle.

This will lead to the Automobility 3.0 autonomous mobility on demand (AMOD) era, where people (robo-taxi) and goods (robo-delivery) movements are automated. Of course, driver-actuated mobility will co-exist with such devices, but the overall economic advantages of smart, autonomous vehicles will spark large-scale commercial deployment.

With its large and commercially aggressive digital economy, China is effectively transforming the traditional product-centric automotive industry business into a services-centric Internet of Mobility (IoM) business model.

When the vehicle is conceptualized as a smart device, it collects information on the users, the vehicle, and its surroundings. All the data generated from the vehicle and users can be uploaded to the cloud for analytics to better provide data-enabled services to users in vehicles (see Figure 6).

By configuring vehicles to be smart and interconnected, China is leading the way toward integrating Smart EVs into broader ecosystems, such as energy management. This integration not only serves as a model for global markets but also underscores the potential for Smart EVs to play a crucial role in the sustainable management of urban energy systems. This development is further described in our article “From Smart EV to Smart Grid:  Building the Internet of Energy Ecosystem”.

How IoM Impacts Product Configurations: Smart EV/ICV Case Examples

This “Internet of Mobility” revolution is happening faster in China and at an unprecedented scale, guided by supportive government policies and backed by investments from the world’s largest digital economy.

With the rise of the mobile internet, smart devices have become a de-facto way for the more than 1 billion internet users in China to conveniently access services where mobility is required – these include ride hailing, e-commerce, and food delivery (see Figure 7).

As key stakeholders in the mobility value chain, internet companies exert a transformative force on the traditional automotive value chain. Internet-backed mobility players place user-centric mobility services – not just product hardware sales and service – at the center of their value chain (see Figure 8), while prioritizing the monetization of services that can be delivered through their app-enabled digital ecosystems.

This places higher emphasis on configuring the vehicle with internet-era features which optimize the ability for an Intelligent Connected Vehicle (ICV) to aggregate vehicle and user data in order to unlock new recurring revenue streams (see Figure 9).

Backed by the world’s largest digital economy, Chinese car makers are redefining premium as vehicles designed to deliver upgraded in-cabin user centric experiences, often leveraging internet-era features and technology. By doing this, they are able to generate recurring after sales revenues linked to their digital ecosystem. Several of China’s digital natives are also building the operating systems for the Intelligent Connected Vehicle (ICV). Examples include Huawei’s Harmony OS, Xiaomi’s MiOS, Alibaba’s AliOS, etc.

Consequently, features that unlock unique digital experience for all occupants – have become essential among Chinese consumers. While still important, driving experience is no longer the main purchase criteria. Brands that are late to recognize the importance of digital experience are left with a much weaker market position compared with a few years ago.

Figure 10 provides examples of how several internet-backed Smart EV players are influencing product configurations, and in the process are able to command pricing power based on their ability to deliver a differentiated in-cabin digital experience.

Figure 11 provides an example of how legacy automakers like BYD and its family of brands can also embrace this trend, incorporating unique in-cabin designs that provide their customers a differentiated experience of mobility.

What Happens in China WILL NOT Stay in China

Unlike Las Vegas, what happens in China will not stay in China. At least not as it pertains to the Future of Mobility. In fact, Made-in-China is already going global in a big way.

China’s domestic automotive market peaked in 2017, in part resulting from the diversity of mobility solutions that now compete with new car sales. This includes growth sales of previously owned vehicles that offer an affordable alternative to purchasing a new car. In addition, the wide embrace of on-demand mobility solutions offers an affordable alternative to car ownership for urban commuters.

Although there has been a small domestic sales recovery since 2020, we do not expect a big expansion of demand for new cars in the coming years. Rapid growth in NEV demand since 2020 has placed considerable pressure on companies producing gasoline powered vehicles, exposing a severe capacity overhang in China.

As a result, local and foreign carmakers in China are faced with a choice:  find markets outside of China to buy these vehicles or close factories that are no longer needed to serve the domestic market. Most carmakers have chosen to aggressively expand exports since 2020 (see Figure 12).

As noted earlier, more than three-quarters of these exports are pure gasoline powered vehicles that are no longer preferred by Chinese consumers. While Chinese consumers have shifted in their buying preferences toward Smart EV/ICV configurations, the same cannot be said for consumers in the rest of the world, where gasoline powered vehicles with limited digital content still prevail. This provides an opportunity to reallocate these capacities to the global markets.

Chinese companies will now encounter the risks that highlighted in the 2009 edition of The Path to Globalization of China’s Automotive Industry. However, the world of 2024 has been transformed by the mobile internet, and Chinese companies are far more evolved and capable players in this new “Internet of Mobility” game. 

The “Two Worlds” Scenario

Going forward, we see the auto industry moving toward a “Two Worlds” scenario by 2030 (see Figure 13). Carmakers from developed (W2) regions like US, EU, Japan and Korea remain committed to their traditional product, technology and business model preferences and only change incrementally.

However, another world (W1) has emerged, led by China. In this world, mobility problems are solved with shared, connected, electric and intelligent solutions. These solutions are delivered affordably by leveraging efficient and highly scaled supply chains.

We believe Emerging Markets (W3) in regions like Southeast Asia, Central and South Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America will gravitate toward affordable solutions that leading Chinese carmakers can offer. The rapid growth in demand for Chinese cars in W3 regions offers evidence that this is already happening. 

There is strong evidence that Chinese carmakers can gain acceptance in the W2 regions as well. However, protectionist tariffs have been erected in the US and EU, forcing Chinese carmakers to expand beyond “Made-in-China” even faster.

The Path to Globalization – 2024 Edition

Faced with a slowing domestic market and overcapacity, Chinese carmakers are going global rapidly by leveraging exports. In 2024 through July, about 1 of every 5 Made-in-China cars were exported to many destinations (see Figure 14).

While exporting vehicles is a way to get started in the global markets, it is not the most efficient business model. Tariff and trade barriers place significant additional costs on top, forcing companies to consider regionalizing their production and eventually their supply chains in order to navigate these challenges.

As regional demand expands, the business model evolves to toward knock-down (KD) assembly of parts sourced from the home country. As volume expands further, fully functional assembly of parts sourced in the regional markets eventually supplants the centralized Made-in-China export model. Ultimately global companies act locally in putting a “glocalized” hybrid ecosystem together (see Figure 15). This path is similar to what other global automakers like Volkswagen, Toyota, Hyundai and others have achieved.

Building robust regional supply chains and forming partnerships with distributors will become essential as companies seek to establish their footprint in the overseas markets.

Several Chinese carmakers (led by Chery, Great Wall, Geely and SAIC) have been investing to build capacities in overseas market even before the rise of China’s New Energy Vehicles (see Figure 16).

Recently BYD, the number 1 EV maker in China, has made a significant shift to regionalize their production in Thailand, Hungary, Turkey, Brazil and Mexico.

While tariff protections are a means of slowing the export of Made-in-China cars, they also encourage the carmakers to move more quickly to globalize their production and supply footprint.

Closing Comments from Bill Russo:

My 2009 paper was a thought experiment on what it would take for Chinese carmakers to emerge on the global stage.

In 2024, China makes nearly one third of all cars in the world, nearly two thirds of all electric vehicles, and 70 percent of EV batteries. The globalization of Chinese carmakers is a fact and it is a game-changer on many levels.

With a domestic market that is not providing an opportunity for growth,  automakers in China have prioritized exports in order to improve the utilization of their installed capacities. As a result, 20% of the vehicles produced in China are exported and it has quickly become the largest car export nation in the world.

At the same time, demand for New Energy Vehicles has expanded rapidly and now represents more than one-third of all vehicles sold in China, and Chinese companies have ~80% of this segment.

The unique capability for Chinese carmakers to offer affordable technology-enabled solutions has resulted in a complete realignment of the competitive landscape, where Chinese brands now have 63% share of domestic passenger vehicle sales, up 27% since 2020.

With the world’s largest digital economy, new players are emerging on the Chinese competitive landscape that view the car as a smart device. This has a direct impact on the product configuration with cars incorporating internet-era features to provide rich digital experiences.

Facing rising geopolitical tensions and trade barriers, leading Chinese brands will likely pivot from Made-in-China exports to globalizing their production and supply footprint.

Global automakers are now faced with the challenge of how to cope with the rise of Chinese companies both in China as well as in the markets around the world. We believe that Chinese companies may struggle in their efforts to go global, but several will ultimately prevail to become global leaders.

The time to act is now for global carmakers, suppliers, and dealers to leverage their global presence and capabilities by engaging with the leaders emerging from China via M&A, strategic partnership, joint R&D, and joint ventures.

Going global together with the new players emerging from China may be the best way forward. The alternative of retreating from China cannot prevent the Chinese from going global on their own.

NIO shares rose more than 14% on Thursday after the Chinese electric vehicle maker reported record revenue of RMB 17.5 billion ($2.4 billion) in the second quarter that ended June 30, beating estimates, according to a Bloomberg survey. Its quarterly adjusted net loss shrunk 16.7% to RMB 4.54 billion from a year earlier, and the margin per vehicle sale improved to 12.2% from 6.2% a year earlier and 9.2% a quarter ago, better than analysts’ expectation thanks to cost reduction efforts. NIO’s management expects vehicle margin to grow over the rest of the year as as much as 15% in the fourth quarter, as the company aims for a higher monthly delivery target of between 30,000 and 40,000 units of its namesake luxury brand.

Meanwhile, the first model under its mass market brand, Onvo 60, is set to go on sale in September with monthly deliveries expected to exceed 20,000 units some time next year, chief executive William Li told investors during an earnings call. NIO in May began taking reservations for the compact crossover with a pre-sale price tag of RMB 219,900, cheaper by RMB 30,000 than the entry-level Tesla Model Y. NIO will have three brands in the price segment of RMB 140,000 to RMB 800,000 next year, Li added, as its entry-level lineup, codenamed Firefly, is anticipated to debut at the end of this year.

Chinese manufacturer Changan Automobile said on Tuesday it had opened a new European office in Germany, facilitating the company’s entry into the world’s third largest regional market where peers such as BYD and Chery are also forging ahead.

Why it matters: The move is part of Changan’s ongoing efforts to sell vehicles overseas and improve its financial performance as cutthroat competition in the home market weighs on its margins.

• Changan last week reported (in Chinese) a 5.9% fall in net profit of around RMB 1.2 billion ($160 million) attributable to a deduction in non-recurring profits or losses for the first half of this year.
• Gross margins for overseas business sat at a decent 26.91% while that number for domestic car sales was 10.1%, generating an overall gross margin for the period of 13.8%, down 2.5% from a year prior.

Details: Changan Automobile Deutschland, Changan’s Munich-registered subsidiary, will cover market research, product engineering, testing or homologation work, as well as sales and customer services, the company said in an announcement (in Chinese).

• The automaker also said on Wednesday that its first regional plant for electric vehicle manufacturing in Southeast Asia will start operations in Thailand in the first quarter of next year. The 8.8 billion Thai Baht ($241.7 million) facility will have an initial capacity of 100,000 vehicles annually.
• Changan, a manufacturing partner of Ford and Japan’s Mazda in China, added it is considering setting up production facilities in Europe, as well as Central and South America, without revealing further details. Its vehicle exports grew 67.6% annually to 228,607 units from January to July.
• China’s fourth largest automaker by sales volume said (in Chinese) last March it planned to introduce five EV models in Europe in 2024, including the Avatr 11, a luxury sports utility vehicle, as well as the more affordable Deepal S7 crossover. Avatr and Deepal-branded cars feature Huawei’s in-car technology at home.

Context: In addition to the two-decade car production partnerships with Ford and Mazda in China since the beginning of this century, state-owned Changan has been working closely with Chinese tech giant Huawei for assisted driving and infotainment over the past few years. The two companies last month reached a RMB 11.5 billion deal for Changan to take a 10% stake in Huawei’s automotive business unit.

• More Chinese automakers are making forays into the European market. BYD said on August 30 that it expects to close the acquisition of its German distributor Hedin Electric Mobility in the fourth quarter of this year, according to Reuters. Land Rover’s partner Chery in April reached a joint venture deal with Spain’s EV Motors to produce cars at a former Nissan plant in Barcelona later this year, China Daily reported.

READ MORE: Chinese carmakers to become dominant globally despite tariffs – AlixPartners 

Chinese electric vehicle makers BYD, Leapmotor, and Geely-owned brand Galaxy delivered record-breaking numbers in August, as demand began to pick up partly due to government stimulus measures, according to company statements issued on Sunday. Meanwhile, sales of Huawei-backed EV brands dropped sharply.

Why it matters: The figures come after many Chinese automakers have launched new and redesigned models, greatly increasing their store traffic and boosting sales, despite summer being typically a low season for car demand in China.

• Beijing’s new subsidies for consumers to trade in their old, less eco-friendly cars for new and greener ones is another driving factor, said the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) in a post (in Chinese).
• The industry group expected sales of China’s new energy vehicles (NEVs), including all-electrics and plug-in hybrids, to improve by 36.6% year-on-year and 11.6% month-on-month to 980,000 units in August.

Details: Stellantis-backed Leapmotor in August surpassed the threshold of 30,000 units sold for the first time since its inception, as sales of its C16 sports utility vehicle continue to gain traction. More than 8,000 units of the affordable six-seater SUV, which went on sale on June 28 at a starting price of RMB 155,800 ($21,937), were handed over to customers last month.

• Geely’s mainstream EV lineup Galaxy also set a new delivery record, generating 26,510 unit sales in August, which represented a 58.7% increase from a month earlier. The strong growth was partly driven by the launch of the E5 all-electric compact crossover, featuring an in-car operating system called Flyme Auto, which is priced between RMB 109,800 and RMB 145,800 until the end of September.
• Meanwhile, sales of Huawei’s Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA) dropped sharply partly because Seres, a manufacturing partner of Huawei, was reportedly refining manufacturing lines before launching upcoming models. Seres, as well as Chery, together delivered 33,699 EVs featuring Huawei’s in-car technology in August, down 25% from a month earlier and far fewer than rival Li Auto.
• Notably, Volkswagen-backed Xpeng Motors recorded its highest monthly deliveries this year, signaling a likely recovery after nearly a year of lackluster sales. The company said it delivered 14,036 units last month and secured more than 30,000 reservations with non-refundable RMB 5,000 deposits for the MONA M03 sedan in the 48 hours after its unveiling on July 27.
• BYD clocked its highest-ever sales of 370,854 passenger EVs in August with 35.3% year-on-year growth. Last month, the EV giant rolled out several new and updated models to defend its dominant position, including a facelift of its Seagull small SUV, priced from RMB 69,800, and a RMB 339,800 luxury grand tourer, the Denza Z9 GT. It also unveiled the first multi-purpose vehicle under the Dynasty lineup, the Xia, on August 30.

Context: China’s central government announced on August 16 that subsidies for trade-ins of NEVs and internal combustion engine cars have doubled or more to RMB 20,000 and RMB 15,000, respectively, a significant ramp-up compared with the previous rules issued in April.

• More than 680,000 applicants have submitted their filings for the cash incentives as of August 22 with more than half filed over the past month, according to a spokesperson from the Ministry of Commerce (in Chinese).

READ MORE: BYD, Li Auto, Leapmotor post record monthly sales, putting pressure on rivals

Are you ready to jumpstart your morning with a jolt of innovation? TechNode is thrilled to introduce our brand-new event series: TechNode BUZZ!

What’s It All About?

Imagine immersing yourself in the latest tech trends, surrounded by a community of passionate individuals who live and breathe technology. Our first meetup is set for September 4, 2024 (Wednesday), from 8:00 to 9:00 AM. We will kick off this exciting journey at our new TechNode office, Room 401, Building T, 1618 Yishan Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai.

Why Should You Care?

This isn’t just another gathering. It’s a carefully curated space designed for meaningful conversations and knowledge exchange. We’re keeping the guest list intimate, with only 20 to 30 of the brightest minds, to ensure that every interaction is impactful and enriching.

What’s on the Agenda for the First TechNode BUZZ?

7:55-8:00 AM: Doors open. Arrive early to grab the best seat and connect with fellow tech enthusiasts.
8:00-8:10 AM: Welcome session led by our team.
8:10-8:25 AM: TechNode reporter Jill Shen will break down last month’s most significant tech stories in the EV sector—consider it your go-to guide for staying informed.
8:25-8:55 AM: Get ready for a deep dive into our theme discussion. We’re honored to have Bill Russo, Founder & CEO of Automobility Ltd., as our special guest. He’ll be sharing insights on “China’s Auto Industry: The Race to a Sustainable Future,” along with highlights from his new book, The Race to a Sustainable Future.
After 9:00 AM: The floor opens for networking. This is your chance to exchange ideas, share stories, and perhaps even a few business cards.

What’s the BUZZ About?

Our focus is on the Chinese tech landscape, delivering insights that truly matter. Whether you’re looking to stay ahead of the curve or simply enjoy a spirited tech debate, this is the community for you.

We believe that technology is an ever-evolving conversation. By hosting these meetups monthly, we aim to keep the dialogue fresh, relevant, and continually progressing.

How Do I Join the Fun?

Keep an eye on our website and social media channels for registration details, or simply click here or scan the QR code to secure your spot! Space is limited, so be sure to book early before all spots are filled.

Don’t just read about tech—experience it, discuss it, and be a part of it. We’ll see you there with a steaming cup of inspiration!

​US-listed shares of Xpeng Motors climbed 6.5% after the Chinese electric vehicle maker received more than 10,000 non-refundable orders for the first model under its new budget brand MONA in the first hour after it was unveiled on Tuesday. 

The company’s cheapest model, featuring an assisted driving system similar to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software at a price that’s half that of the popular Model 3, is expected to capture market share from top-selling offerings including the BYD Qin and Nissan’s Sylphy.

Camera-based vision: Xpeng eliminated laser sensor units from the MONA M03 in a move to accelerate the adoption of a camera-only approach to vehicle autonomy. Lidar is more often used to capture three-dimensional information for autonomous navigation on more luxurious Chinese EV models priced mostly from RMB 200,000 ($28,060) and above. 

• Instead, the entry-level M03, with a price tag of RMB 119,800 ($16,808), integrates 20 or so more affordable sensors, including a dozen ultrasonic sensors and seven exterior cameras, to enable safety-based driver assistance functions such as lane keeping assist, which enables the EV to follow the preceding vehicle. Xpeng’s Xpilot system would also maneuver the car in and out of challenging situations such as dead-end roads.
• The top-end version of the MONA M03, priced at RMB 155,800 ($21,859), will be able to function by itself on all Chinese roadways using the same hardware stack as well as more complex algorithms next spring when delivery is set to begin. This makes the car the only model available to the market that offers advanced driver assistance capabilities within the RMB 200,000 price range, said chief executive He Xiaopeng. 
• Xpeng also provided more details about its plan to make EVs with highly autonomous capabilities as part of the launch. The XNGP advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), an FSD-style technology, should require drivers to take over the wheel and steer manually less than once per 100 kilometers (62 miles) by the end of next year. The company added its cars could be completely driverless in low-speed traffic scenarios in 2026. 

READ MORE: Chinese companies take on Tesla’s Full Self-Driving with non-lidar approach, end-to-end AI 

Aiming for the youth market: Xpeng on Tuesday reported a better performance than some rivals’ offerings in terms of order intake for the MONA M03, saying the car racked up more than 10,000 pre-orders with non-refundable deposits of RMB 5,000 in roughly the first hour after it was released. 

• Positioned to be “the first car for China’s young generation,” the all-electric compact sedan boasts a large interior space, efficient energy consumption, and yet a relatively simple interior in order to attract the country’s tech-savvy but budget-conscious customers, such as fresh graduates.
• Measuring 4.8 meters in length and spanning a 2,815-millimeter-long wheelbase, the car was designed based on aerodynamic principles with sleek coupe-style body lines. This contributes to a drag coefficient of 0.194 and energy consumption of 11.5 kilowatt-hours per 100 kilometers (7.15 kWh per mile). 
• The single-motor M03 offers a decent range of up to 620 km (385 miles) on a single charge, powered by an affordable lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery pack from BYD, and can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 7.4 seconds. It also gives an additional 200 km of range after 15 minutes of charge. 
• Still, the car’s well-built but simple interior features may leave some drivers wanting more. An M03 buyer would have to pay an additional RMB 599 to equip their car with a conventional dashboard screen as an add-on component, for example. Xpeng stated that the car would function properly with a 15.6-inch centre screen. 

Context: Xpeng is expecting a strong sales recovery with the launch of the MONA M03 at a lower-than-expected price tag, as CEO He in April said he hoped that the car would sell better than the Xiaomi SU7 in the second half of this year, Reuters reported. The smartphone maker has been delivering more than 10,000 units per month of the $30,000 sports sedan since June. 

• He also anticipated annual sales of the car could reach 100,000 units when Xpeng revealed last year that it would acquire the EV business of ride-hailing giant Didi, including the MONA project, which stands for “Made of New AI.” He added on Tuesday that the two companies spent RMB 4 billion on the project over four years. 
• The gross margin of the M03 could be at a low single-digit level initially, however, as the Volkswagen-backed EV maker ramps up production and looks to keep its price as low as possible, Jefferies analysts wrote in a note on Aug. 20. 
• BYD’s Qin Plus was the top-selling model in the price segment of between RMB 120,000 and RMB 180,000 in China over the past six months with roughly 154,000 units sold, figures compiled by Chinese auto service platform Dongchedi showed.

Chinese action role-playing game (RPG) Black Myth: Wukong has sent shockwaves through the global gaming community and the impact is spreading to the automotive industry, as a Geely-linked firm is testing out new in-car gaming experience with the hit title, TechNode has learned.

Why it matters: Geely’s move shows how software-enabled advanced functionality, from watching video streams on the dashboard screen to letting the car change lanes autonomously, is becoming a decisive factor for vehicle buying in the world’s biggest auto market. Bringing China’s first AAA game to its cars could be a new way for Volvo’s parent to stimulate demand among younger drivers

Details: Ecarx, a Chinese auto tech startup backed by Geely’s chairman Li Shufu, has managed to deliver 2K resolution (2,560 x 1,440 pixels) at nearly 60 frames per second (FPS) when it tested the Black Myth: Wukong on its next-generation digital cockpit computing platform Makalu. That’s according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to 36Kr (in Chinese) on Tuesday.

• The instrument panel, the central information screen, as well as a head-up display (HUD) unit that projects traffic information onto the windshield, were functional while the game was streamed, according to the report. A company spokesperson confirmed to TechNode on Friday that the test is ongoing to improve the gaming performance further. 
• Ecarx announced last March that it had become the second auto firm worldwide to bring in-car entertainment experience with AMD’s laptop graphic chips. The Makalu computing platform consists of AMD’s Ryzen V2000 processors paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6000-series GPUs, providing up to 10.1 teraflops of computing power, more powerful than Qualcomm’s latest-generation Snapdragon 8295 chips.
• For comparison, Tesla has also pursued the offering of in-car games as chief executive Elon Musk reportedly claimed in 2020 that owners would be able to play the adventure title The Witcher 3 in its vehicles. AMD said in 2021 that its Ryzen computers and RDNA2 GPUs are powering the infotainment systems in the new Model S and Model X vehicles. Sony also integrates SoCs (System on Chip) from the US chipmaker into its PlayStation 5 consoles.
• The Makalu platform allows game developers to adapt their games to in-car systems by using Unreal Engine, a real-time, three-dimensional graphics creation software from game company Epic Games, which has been used by China’s Game Science for the production of Black Myth: Wukong. Vehicle occupants could therefore play triple-A high-definition video games via Ecarx’s system, the company said on its website. 
• Geely confirmed that the Lynk & Co Z10 large sedan will be the first model to feature a digital dashboard that integrates Ecarx’s latest computing platform. The first all-electric model under the Geely and Volvo Car joint brand will be launched on Sept. 5 following reservations opening on August 15 at a pre-sale price of RMB 215,800 ($30,234). 

READ MORE: Geely’s Lynk & Co 08 to use in-house car software from Meizu for the first time

Context: Global automakers such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz have been working on mobile technology and artificial intelligence to shape the future of immersive in-car experiences. Meanwhile, NIO and Ji Yue, a Chinese EV brand owned by tech giant Baidu, have enabled users to play the hit racing game Asphalt in their latest models equipped with a Qualcomm semiconductor. 

• Black Myth: Wukong is China’s most successful PC-end game to date after selling around 4.5 million copies across various gaming platforms by far. Inspired by the Chinese literary classic Journey to the West, the action game hosted more than 2.2 million users online concurrently just hours after it was launched on Tuesday, TechNode reported. 

Chinese tech giant Huawei’s automotive business unit has been valued at around RMB 115 billion ($16 billion), after it struck a deal to sell a 10% stake to Changan Automobile for RMB 11.5 billion, the two companies announced on Tuesday.

Why it matters: Changan shares fell by 4.3% on Tuesday as the deal will see it own a smaller than expected stake in Huawei’s car unit. Huawei will retain its control of the business and pursue a diversified ownership structure to deepen its links with multiple automakers.

Details: Changan issued a statement (in Chinese) on Monday evening saying that its subsidiary Avatr was set to sign a deal with Huawei the next day to take a 10% stake in Shenzhen Yinwang Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. (also called Newcool) for about RMB 11.5 billion. Avatr will nominate a director to sit on the company’s seven-person board.

• The signing ceremony, which also took place on Tuesday morning, was attended by Eric Xu, rotating chairman of Huawei, and Richard Yu, chairman of the board of directors of Huawei’s Intelligent Automotive Solution (IAS) business unit, as well as Changan’s president Zhu Huarong, according to an image posted by Avatr on microblogging platform Weibo.
• The size of the deal was significantly smaller than expected– Changan had revealed plans to acquire a stake of up to 40% stake in the joint venture in November. Meanwhile, Seres, another manufacturing partner of Huawei, said (in Chinese) on July 28 that it has been in talks with the smartphone maker to buy parts of the company.
• Huawei is also in early-stage talks with state-owned automaker FAW to sell a minor stake in its auto business, although no significant progress has yet been made. Peers Dongfeng Motor, BAIC, and JAC are among the potential investors in the business as well, with these firms all having developed or about to launch new electric vehicles that feature Huawei’s assisted driving technology.
• Huawei in 2020 co-established Avatr with Changan and Chinese battery maker CATL by providing technological know-how without direct investment in the luxury electric vehicle brand. Changan and CATL are the largest shareholders in Avatr with stakes of roughly 41% and 15%, respectively.

Context: Huawei expanded its consumer electronics business into the booming Chinese EV industry with the establishment of its IAS business unit in mid-2019, just as the US banned the supply of semiconductors and operating systems to the Chinese tech giant. It began selling EVs for partners via its retail network in early 2021 and has stressed repeatedly it has no intention to build vehicles itself, but instead aims to help automakers make better cars.

• Huawei has since faced pushback from some traditional Chinese automakers amid concerns that they could lose out on customers if the company makes its own cars. Some traditional automakers have also looked to retain more ownership of in-car technologies through partnerships with smaller suppliers.
• The situation improved last year when the redesigned Aito M7 crossover and premium M9 sports utility vehicle produced by Seres became hits. Legacy automakers have also been pressured by a ferocious price war and have struggled with their own autonomous vehicle efforts.
• Huawei estimated that around 500,000 cars equipped with its technology will be on the roads by year-end, Reuters reported in April, saying it expected its car business to break even this year compared with the RMB 6 billion losses it recorded in 2023. It is also partnering with global majors including Toyota and Audi.

READ MORE: Huawei creates separate car division, open to Changan and other outside investors

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Icebin and translated by Zinan Zhang.

Car design, a task that has always been done manually — whether sketching, molding clay, or digital rendering — is gradually feeling the impact of AI and is set to undergo a fundamental transformation. Machine learning models can not only predict the appeal of new aesthetics but also generate attractive designs of their own. After being trained with large models, AI programs can run on standard enterprise laptops. AI models not only help designers work more efficiently but also generate new creative designs.

In the summer of 2000, General Motors introduced the Aztek, a crossover SUV that, despite having multiple features desired by outdoor enthusiasts, was heavily criticized for its appearance and often mocked as one of the ugliest cars ever made. The Aztek’s sales were only half that of the Buick Rendezvous, which was built on the same platform but redesigned and relaunched as the Buick Enclave, achieving success.

To avoid releasing the next Aztek, automakers are investing heavily in using AI to predict and generate attractive models. 

Using AI to Predict and Generate Attractive Designs

Traditional theme clinics cost $100,000 a time, but with machine learning and deep neural networks, predictive models can significantly reduce the number of designs that need to be tested in these clinics. AI generative models create new car designs based on designers’ prompts, while predictive models can forecast consumer reactions to the designs.

As John R. Hauser, a professor of marketing at MIT Sloan School of Management, has said, the design of a car indeed has a significant impact on consumers’ purchasing decisions. With the advancement of AI technology, automakers can develop attractive models that meet market demand more efficiently and economically. By leveraging AI, automakers can maintain high design quality while significantly reducing design costs. For example, the design investment for a typical model may exceed $1 billion, and a major redesign could cost up to $3 billion. With AI assistance, these costs are expected to be greatly reduced.

AI has achieved a successful closed loop in automotive design

Data analysis and consumer preferences

AI can analyze vast consumer data, including purchase history, market trends, and social media feedback, to understand consumer preferences and needs. This data can help designers make more informed decisions when designing new models.

Generating design sketches

Deep learning-based image generation technologies (such as GANs) can produce numerous design sketches, helping designers explore different design options quickly. This allows the design team to gain more creativity and inspiration in the early stages.

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)

Combined with VR and AR technologies, AI can create virtual car models for designers and customers to view and interact with in a virtual environment. This saves the cost of manufacturing physical prototypes and accelerates the design review and modification process.

Optimizing the design process

AI can optimize various stages of the design process, from material selection to aerodynamic analysis. AI algorithms can quickly simulate and evaluate the performance of different design options, helping designers make more efficient and accurate decisions.

User personalization

AI can also be used for personalized customization services, providing tailored design solutions and configuration options based on users’ specific needs and preferences. This not only improves user satisfaction but also enhances the brand’s competitiveness.

Toyota applies generative AI technology to automotive design

The Toyota Research Institute (TRI) has introduced generative AI technology to enhance the capabilities of automotive designers. This technology combines Toyota’s engineering strengths with the advanced functionalities of modern generative AI, allowing designers to reduce the number of iterations based on initial design sketches and engineering constraints. This technology not only inspires designers but also integrates practical engineering and safety considerations into the design process.

1. Incorporating engineering constraints into the design process

TRI’s new technology incorporates precise engineering constraints into the design process, such as aerodynamic drag and chassis dimensions. Drag impacts fuel efficiency, while chassis dimensions (like ride height and cabin size) affect handling, ergonomics, and safety. These engineering constraints can now be implicitly included in the generative AI process, enabling designers to optimize performance metrics while considering stylistic attributes.

2. Enhancing designers’ creative capabilities

The new generative AI technology allows designers to request a set of designs based on initial prototype sketches through text prompts, with specific stylistic attributes such as “stylish,” “SUV-like,” and “modern,” while also optimizing quantitative performance metrics. By reducing the number of iterations needed to align design and engineering considerations, this technology helps designers complete designs faster and more efficiently.

3. Improving electric vehicle design efficiency

By directly incorporating engineering constraints into the design process, TRI’s new tools help Toyota design electric vehicles faster and more efficiently. Takero Kato, President of Toyota’s BEV Factory, stated, “Reducing drag is crucial for improving the aerodynamic performance of BEVs and maximizing their range.” This technology enhances the range and overall design efficiency of electric vehicles by optimizing aerodynamic performance.

GAC’s breakthroughs and innovations in AI automotive design

1. AI-driven design optimization

GAC Group has made significant breakthroughs in AI automotive design, particularly in design optimization. By utilizing artificial intelligence technology, GAC can quickly generate and evaluate multiple design options. This not only accelerates the design process but also ensures that each design achieves optimal aesthetics and functionality. AI models can analyze vast amounts of data to predict market trends and consumer preferences, helping designers make more informed decisions.

2. Intelligent design assistance system

GAC has developed an intelligent design assistance system that combines machine learning and computer vision technology. Designers need only input basic parameters and design requirements, and the system can generate multiple design sketches that meet these criteria. These sketches not only include exterior designs but also consider factors such as aerodynamics, material usage, and manufacturing costs. This intelligent assistance system greatly improves design efficiency and quality.

3. Application of virtual reality and augmented reality technologies

To further enhance the design experience, GAC has also integrated virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies into the design process. Designers can view and modify car designs in a virtual environment, and customers can preview customized models through AR technology. This immersive experience not only enhances the intuitiveness of the design but also speeds up the design review and modification process, giving GAC an advantage in a highly competitive market.

In conclusion, the integration of AI in car design is ushering in a new era of innovation and efficiency. By leveraging machine learning models, automakers can predict consumer preferences and generate aesthetically pleasing designs more quickly and cost-effectively than traditional methods. These advancements not only enhance creative capabilities but also optimize design efficiency, ensuring that new models meet both aesthetic and functional standards. As AI continues to evolve, its role in automotive design will likely expand, enabling automakers to produce cutting-edge vehicles that resonate with consumers and maintain a competitive edge in the market.

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Steven Lee and translated by Zinan Zhang.

Baidu recently launched an AI digital human social app called Wen Xiao Yan, which is based on the ERNIE Bot. It is an AI application service for “real-time communication, interaction, and establishing emotional connections” with AI virtual characters. According to the official statement, Wen Xiao Yan uses a simulated digital human as an “AI social object” with a vivid personality, making interactions “more realistic.” 

TechNode has trialed the app; the below is our review.

Interface and features

The interface of the app is straightforward, mainly divided into two sections: “Chat” and “Discover”. Users can swipe up and down in the “Discover” section to find their favorite digital human chat partners. Each digital human has its own avatar, nickname, and profile, and users can choose according to their interests and hobbies. You can enter the chat interface after clicking on the digital human’s avatar.

The app provides a variety of digital humans for users to interact with, and their nicknames are mostly named in the form of profession, personality or characteristics with names such as “an uncle who loves fishing,” “a psychological counselor,” “a love strategist,” “a fitness coach,” “a TV drama fan,” and so on. 

It is currently unclear whether new digital humans will be periodically added for users to experience.

In the chat interface, users can interact with the digital humans in three forms: text, voice, and pictures. The digital human will reply in the form of voice and text. The expressions and demeanor of these digital humans are a bit “unnatural” however, for example occasionally shaking their heads left and right, which is a bit scary.

User experience

We asked the series of questions in the app and the digital humans all gave relatively satisfactory answers. However, when uploading a picture and asking which channels the item can be purchased via, the digital human only replied with generic rhetoric and did not provide a purchase link or product example (in contrast, uploading a picture of an object on Taobao can directly open a product link with an item of the same or similar appearance). 

When the digital human reads its answers, their mouth shape does not correspond strictly to the words being spoken, and it feels very abrupt when you look closely.

The feeling of communicating with a digital human in the chat interface is still quite different from making a video call with a real person at this stage.

Similarly, the answers provided by the digital human are sometimes too mechanical, lack flexibility, and the voice sounds very “robotic.”

Summary

At present, Wen Xiao Yan is an AI digital human app worth experiencing for a few minutes. It can meet a small part of your social needs. The advantages include a fresh and fun experience, with the AI acting as a life assistant similar to a real person, providing helpful interactions. 

However, there are also disadvantages: it can become boring once the initial novelty wears off, the expressions and demeanor of the digital human can feel unnatural, and there is no support for creating a personalized digital human.

NIO on July 26 gave updates on some of its most important technological developments, including the world’s first five-nanometer chip for automated driving, its in-house developed operating system for vehicles, and a voice assistant powered by its large language model.

Why it matters: NIO’s fullest disclosure yet of its technological roadmap reflects how the Chinese electric vehicle maker spends its research and development money, and how it has made a strategic bet on artificial intelligence, hoping to redesign all aspects of its vehicles including self-driving and the so-called digital cockpit.

Details: Speaking at the firm’s annual Tech Day event in Shanghai, NIO founder and chief executive William Li unveiled new details of what he called the world’s first five-nanometer (5nm) processor for autonomous driving, said to offer cameras with top-notch image signal processing (ISP) functions.

• The Shenji NX9031 system on chip (SoC) delivers high pixel throughputs of 6.25 Gigapixels per second, which NIO said makes it capable of capturing pictures with higher quality resolution in minimally lit environments, compared with flagship offerings from leading chipmakers.
• Li confirmed that the company had completed the tape-out for its self-designed autonomous driving semiconductor, which marks the end of the design phase and the beginning of production, without revealing which company has been contracted to produce it. 
• Meanwhile, NIO is on track to release its advanced driver assistance system, the Navigate on Pilot Plus (NOP+) 2.0, in the second half of the year. The Shanghai-headquartered EV maker is one of the Chinese players looking to harness the power of AI to provide cars with point-to-point navigation on Chinese highways, city streets, and parking spaces in a race led by Tesla.
• NIO also announced the launch of its proprietary operating system, the Sky OS, with which the company said it would have central control of all vehicle domains, allowing it to provide more advanced user experiences. An alternative to the open-sourced Linux OS and Blackberry’s QNX, the Sky OS forms the basis of the entire car all the way from vehicle control through to intelligent driving and infotainment, NIO said.
• This will enable a NIO vehicle to have a used battery pack exchanged for a new one fully automatically at one of the company’s nationwide recharging facilities, allowing the user to leave the car to get a coffee, according to vice president Wang Qiyan.
• The Chinese EV maker will also release its Banyan 3.0 in-car user interface through over-the-air updates in late August, featuring an enhanced version of its NOMI conversational assistant, powered by generative AI large language models (LLMs), for more human-like voice interactions. NIO owners will be able to request a chauffeur to drive them via voice commands, the company said.

Context: Only a few global chip powerhouses, such as Qualcomm and Ambarella, have announced the production of their chips using a 5nm process node with manufacturing partners such as Samsung. Tesla reportedly plans to produce its next-generation full self-driving (FSD) computer on 4/5nm processes with TSMC.

• NIO previously implied that its sophisticated chip could handle more than 1,000 trillion operations per second (TOPS), comparable to the combined total of four NVIDIA DRIVE Orin chips on 7nm, and is scheduled for mass delivery with the company’s ET9 executive sedan in early 2025.
• NIO’s research and development expenditures grew 23.9% annually to RMB 13.4 billion ($1.89 billion) last year. CEO Li told the event that the company has more than 11,000 R&D personnel, adding that its years-long efforts on in-house chip development will be “of great significance” to the industry of self-driving cars (our translation).

READ MORE: Chinese EV makers Nio, Xpeng, and Li Auto expand bets on self-produced chips: report

China- and US-based self-driving car startups Pony.ai and WeRide are ready for initial public offerings in the US, multiple media outlets have reported. The IPOs, which the firms have been eyeing for over two years, could happen as early as within the next two months.

Why it matters: Autonomous vehicle (AV) startups are generally facing pressure to lower their valuation targets as public stock markets have rapidly decelerated their interest in the space over the past few years.

• A group of 14 self-driving tech companies have seen their combined valuation decline more than 80% since their public debuts, according to an analysis by Crunchbase in 2022. Chinese car tech firm iMotion and lidar maker Robosense have lost roughly 75% and 90% in stock market valuation in the six months since their listings in Hong Kong.
• The potential listings of PonyAV.ai and WeRide, two of the highest-valued AV startups in China, will set the tone for many other companies trying to go public with their future-shaping technology, even as it takes longer than expected to become widely available.

Details: Fremont- and Guangzhou-based Pony.ai will go public as early as September, as some institutional investors have committed to purchasing shares in the looming IPO, financial media outlet Jiemian reported on Tuesday, without giving further details (in Chinese). WeRide is planning to sell its shares publicly in the US by the end of August, according to IFR, a Reuters publication.

• WeRide, with its China headquarters in the southern city of Guangzhou, last August received approval for an overseas listing from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, which requires applicants to complete the share sale within 12 months of the date of filing. Pony.ai gained a similar regulatory greenlight in April, Bloomberg reported. Pony.ai and WeRide declined to comment when contacted by TechNode on Thursday.

Context: Pony.ai reportedly suspended a public listing plan in New York at a target valuation of $12 billion in mid-2021 due to regulatory uncertainties. The Toyota-backed company said early the next year that it was valued at $8.5 billion after closing its first round of Series D financing, TechCrunch reported.

• WeRide, backed by the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, filed confidentially for a US IPO aimed at raising as much as $500 million, Bloomberg reported last March. The company was valued at about $5.1 billion in a November 2022 fundraising round, according to its official website.
• Some other Chinese self-driving technology companies, including Horizon Robotics, Momenta, and Black Sesame, are rushing to sell shares publicly either in the US or Hong Kong as early investors are eager to earn money after incubating the companies for years, TechNode has learned.

Chinese electric vehicle maker Zeekr on July 19 introduced a new iteration of its 009 multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), including a new variant that significantly lowers the starting price of the luxury minivan and aims to capture a growing customer base of affluent Chinese families.

The refreshed 009 is the latest example of how Chinese automakers are attempting to build their luxury credentials and change the perception of premium cars both domestically and globally. The Geely-affiliated company expects to set “a new benchmark” for MPVs after the Toyota Alphard, it said. The revamped 009 boasts improved performance and range, as well as a number of intriguing features with Chinese characteristics, such as a series of in-car guided meditations.

“Chinese middle- to upper-class customers are replacing their large SUVs [sports utility vehicles] with MPVs that are becoming easier to maneuver and steer,” Jason Lin, a Zeekr vice president, said in an interview with TechNode (our translation). Like peers Xpeng Motors and Li Auto, New York-listed Zeekr sees big growth potential for the booming segment thanks to innovations in vehicle capabilities.

China’s MPV sales grew 16% to roughly 1.09 million last year and accounted for 5% of total passenger car sales, figures from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) showed. Jefferies forecast the segment to grow 20% year-on-year to 1.3 million units this year, of which 32% could be electric, up by 10% from last year. The Zeekr 009 competes with other all-electrics including the Xpeng X9 and Li Auto’s Mega, more popular plug-in hybrid models such as the Denza D9, and the gas-powered Toyota Alphard and General Motors’ GL8 Century.

An expanded lineup

The redesigned 009 comes to market with more variants in the hope of meeting a diverse range of customer needs, as both six- and seven-seat configurations are now available in different drivetrain and battery options with a price range of RMB 439,000-469,000 ($60,363-$64,488). The six-seat, dual-motor versions help to distance the revamped 009 from its predecessors, offering the fastest acceleration to 100km/h (62 mph) among MPVs – in 3.9 seconds – and a charging speed from 10% to 80% in as little as 11.5 minutes, making it suited for business travel.

And yet, Zeekr expects the new single-motor, seven-seat variants, with a center aisle to facilitate easy entry and exit from the van’s rear, to extend its reach to cover wealthy Chinese families, especially multi-generational households, at a more affordable price tag. Around 55% of existing 009 sales come from business clients, although private owners could ultimately provide a larger market, according to Lin.

While CATL’s Qilin battery enables the same charging speed as the higher-end variants, the new entry-level 009 has a longer driving range of 740 kilometers (460 miles) between charges. That range could be further improved to 900 km with a larger battery pack to ease consumer anxiety over charging infrastructure at an additional cost of RMB 50,000, although it takes 30 minutes for the battery to charge from 10% to 80%. It has a slower sprint time of 0 to 100 km/h in 7.9 seconds compared with its siblings, but is still comparable to the Toyota Alphard, which costs RMB 890,000 in China.

Chinese-oriented features

Although the remodeled Zeekr 009 claims to present a prestigious option for Chinese families using a range of high-quality interior materials and top-notch components, the company is also pushing hard to offer customized features with local characteristics to differentiate its vehicles from competitors. For instance, it offers a special chill mode with the car’s seats, lights, and music tailored to create an in-car environment for guided meditation, allowing owners to take a basic course with a series of video classes.

Other special modes include “Baby Sleeping”, for when younger family members take a nap, which automatically adjusts the air-conditioning and lights and turns down the volume of voice prompts. Some of the more traditional, upscale features that come standard with the car are air suspension that eliminates bumps for superior handling and ride quality, as well as Qualcomm’s latest-gen Snapdragon 8295 chips that enable the infotainment system with silky smooth transitions and fast responsiveness.

The all-new 009, set to be delivered on Monday, comes less than two years after the initial launch of Zeekr’s second model and follows an update in January, when two 2024 versions went on sale at a starting price of RMB 500,000. Zeekr is also selling the right-hand drive version of the luxury van in Hong Kong at HK$ 755,000 ($96,716) and aiming for delivery in the city in the fourth quarter of this year. The company launched a special Grand edition, targeting competition with the Rolls-Royce Cullinan in April.

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

In the dynamic AI era, venture capital is increasingly attuned to the transformative potential of this technology. As generative AI advances in creating text, images, and videos, a plethora of opportunities and challenges are emerging. This article explores the pivotal role of the Scaling Law, the emergence of super apps, and the promising future of AI-driven innovations. Highlighting insights from industry leaders, it underscores the potential for AI to revolutionize various sectors and entrepreneurial ventures, providing valuable directions for future venture capital investments.

The utility of the Scaling Law

The training and inference stages of large models demand substantial computational resources. The Scaling Law suggests that significant advancements in intelligence are achieved through consistent investment in vast amounts of data and powerful computing, provided the algorithmic architecture remains stable.

OpenAI, a strong proponent of the Scaling Law, has showcased the potential of generative AI across various fields by leveraging transformer architecture, extensive training data, and considerable computational resources.

Recently, Kevin Scott, Microsoft CTO, mentioned in an interview with Pat Grady and Bill Coughran of Sequoia Capital that they have yet to observe diminishing returns from scaling. He announced that the next generation of OpenAI models would soon be available, offering cheaper, more powerful solutions capable of tackling more complex problems. “This is the story with each generation of models as we scale up,” he remarked.

On May 18, Yang Zhilin, founder of Moonshot AI, discussed the computational aspects of the Scaling Law. He noted that initial improvements in model performance are driven by enhanced computational power and efficiency. However, further advancements require increased computational investment and ensuring that this investment effectively translates into intelligence. “This involves two issues: sustaining computational investment and maximizing the intelligence output of each computation unit,” he explained.

In an interview with TechNode, Wu Yunsheng, vice-president of Tencent Cloud, shared his perspective. “Currently, there are different viewpoints, including realistic and idealistic views. Some believe the Scaling Law has reached a plateau, where continued investment yields diminishing returns. Others argue it is still in a phase of rapid development.” He emphasized that the Scaling Law remains significant, citing rapid progress in multimodal research over the past year. “In this field, various capabilities improve significantly with added data or computing power. We will continue to explore and observe its development and changes across different scenarios and technologies,” he added.

The super app is on the way

As of March 28, 2024, there are 117 large models registered with the Cyberspace Administration of China, including Baidu’s ERNIE Bot, Alibaba’s Tongyi Qianwen, and the open-source ChatGLM. The rapid development of AI large models is becoming a key driver of innovation and breakthroughs in super applications. 

As these large model technologies mature and improve, they are gradually permeating various industries, sparking a range of entrepreneurial opportunities. From healthcare to fintech, from smart manufacturing to cultural creativity, the application potential of AI is limitless. 

Zhou Zhifeng, Managing Partner of Qiming Venture Partners, pointed out at the  World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai that compared to the timeline of application deployment during the internet wave, he predicts that the explosion of applications in the current AI wave will occur significantly earlier. Currently, generative AI is gaining substantial user favor in three “C fields” — Copilot, Creativity, and Companionship — showing a development trajectory similar to internet applications and transitioning from efficiency-enhancing applications to those aimed at providing enjoyment. He noted that the internet reduced the marginal cost of information distribution to almost zero, while the core of generative AI is to reduce the marginal cost of digital content creation to nearly zero, indicating that AI technology is bound to release enormous value.

When discussing the future of AI-driven super apps, Zhang Fan, COO of Zhipu AI, expressed optimism, arguing that although creating super apps is not easy, the AI era will see many unimaginable applications emerge. This process requires advancements in computing power, networks, hardware levels, and user habits, following the principle of gradual development from small-scale applications. Zhang emphasizes that by embracing and utilizing existing AI technologies to gradually transform current applications and products, the future will undoubtedly usher in super apps in the AI era.

Regarding the challenges of implementing generative AI applications, Zhou Zhifeng believes that reducing the cost of model usage necessary for the widespread adoption of generative AI, improving the effectiveness of large models, and enhancing user retention rates of generative AI applications are crucial. Since the growth period from zero to one for generative AI application companies is longer than in other fields, they need to overcome both TPF (Technology-Product Fit) and PMF (Product-Market Fit) challenges simultaneously. Therefore, the founding team needs greater patience, determination, and understanding of the technology, the product, and the world.

Embodied intelligence, infinite imagination

There were 45 intelligent robots, including 25 humanoid robots, showcased at WAIC this year. A video of a humanoid robot walking on the Great Wall was repeatedly played at the event. The humanoid robot L2 in the video has successfully conquered the steep slopes of the famous structure, achieving steady walking on it.

At the recent Huawei Developer Conference 2024, Zhang Ping’an, Executive Director and CEO of Huawei Cloud, unveiled the Pangu Model 5.0. During the introduction of the Pangu model for embodied AI, he showcased the broad potential of the KUAVO humanoid robot, equipped with the Pangu model, in both industrial and household scenarios, attracting widespread attention.

Chen Jianyu, an assistant professor at Tsinghua University and founder of the humanoid robot company Robot Era, believes that humanoid robots will be the ultimate form of general-purpose robots. This is not only because the pure humanoid form with two legs and two arms is more compatible with existing environments, but also because it’s easier to transfer training data from the human world. Technically, an end-to-end integration of the brain and cerebellum will be a crucial research direction in the future. Using human language as the interface between the brain and cerebellum is limited, and it is better to borrow from the end-to-end joint training process of autonomous driving, where physical layer data is directly fed back to the text and image models, significantly enhancing overall model performance.

Last week, Tencent, in collaboration with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, released the Top Ten Trends of Large Models 2024: Entering the Era of ‘Machine External Brain’ report, which pointed out that the combination of robot technology and large models provides a “body” for the machine’s external brain. In the future, humanoid robots will not only be able to perform physical tasks but also interact with humans more naturally and intuitively, endowing physical products with intelligent “brains”.

The report states that the development of humanoid robots relies on two major technical pillars: motion control and task training. The application of large models has greatly improved the robots’ learning efficiency and ability to execute complex tasks. The integration of these technologies not only drives technological innovation in humanoid robots but also opens possibilities for their widespread deployment in practical applications. This also heralds a future of human-machine symbiosis, where humanoid robots will play increasingly important roles in various industries, from household services to high-risk industrial operations, showcasing their efficiency and safety. Through continuous technological innovation and application expansion, humanoid robots will play a key role in improving the quality of life and work efficiency, further integrating into human daily life as indispensable assistants and the ultimate carriers of artificial intelligence.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the era of AI is not just a technological revolution but a transformative force that is redefining the landscape of innovation and investment. As we look to the future, the challenges of implementing generative AI applications remain significant.      The need to reduce costs, improve effectiveness, and enhance user retention rates is crucial for the widespread adoption of these technologies. However, the potential rewards are immense, offering a glimpse into a world where AI is not just a tool but an integral part of our daily lives, from household services to high-risk industrial operations.

In summary, the dynamic AI era presents a wealth of opportunities for venture capital and entrepreneurial ventures. As we continue to explore and invest in AI-driven innovations, the future holds huge promise for transforming industries, enhancing human-machine interactions, and ultimately, improving the quality of life for all.

In 2024, BEYOND Expo centered on the theme “Embracing the Uncertainties,” guiding attendees to explore unknown territories in technology and other areas. BEYOND Expo encouraged participants to take proactive actions, through continuous innovation, creative thinking, and exploration of new paths to face unknown challenges and turn potential risks into opportunities for progress and growth.

Building on this concept, the BEYOND Expo Organizing Committee is pleased to announce that BEYOND Expo 2025 will be held from May 21 to 24, 2025, at the Venetian Macao Cotai Expo in Macao, under the theme “Unveiling Possibilities”. The event aims to transform uncertainties into infinite possibilities and opportunities, offering participants an unprecedented experience:

• Three Major Independent Exhibition Areas: ConsumerTech, ClimateTech, and Healthcare
• Opening/Closing Ceremonies and Industry Summits: Key events include the ConsumerTech Summit, ClimateTech Summit, Healthcare Summit, and Global Investment Summit. Additionally, the event will expand its global perspective by providing opportunities for international market exploration, with forums such as the Asia-Latam Tech Forum, Asia-Euro Tech Forum, and Middle East Tech Forum, as well as specialized summits such as the BEYOND Wealth Summit, SheTech Summit, and Founder Forum.
• FUND AT FIRST PITCH: A platform for efficient connection between global capital and outstanding startups.
• BEYOND Awards: Prestigious technology awards across four categories, highlighting future-leading innovations.
• TFC (The Fun Continues) Series Activities: A blend of technology, culture, and sports for a celebratory experience.

BEYOND Expo will provide a venue for participants to exchange ideas, build connections, and discover new opportunities. BEYOND Expo 2025 anticipates attracting over 1,200 exhibiting companies, more than 30,000 technology innovation enthusiasts, 300 global top innovation leaders, 300 global media representatives, and numerous international innovators. BEYOND Expo encourages participants to go beyond tradition, explore the unknown, and use technological innovation to address global challenges, promoting sustainable social and economic development.

BEYOND Expo cordially invites all innovative companies, startups, and individuals to join BEYOND Expo 2025 to explore the limitless possibilities of technology and create a better future together.

• Reserve Early Bird booth for BEYOND Expo 2025 here
• To register Super Early Bird passes for BEYOND Expo 2025, click here
• For business collaboration, contact: BD@beyondexpo.com

Further Details about BEYOND Expo 2025:

Over the past four years, BEYOND Expo has focused on three sub-brands: ConsumerTech, ClimateTech, and Healthcare. BEYOND Expo 2024 set new records with over 820 participating companies, 40% of which were international exhibitors. The event saw more than 20,000 attendees, with over 35% being international visitors and over 30% being women. More than 160 forums were held, featuring over 250 speakers, half of whom were from overseas. Additionally, 200 media outlets from around the world participated, achieving comprehensive internationalization.

Three Core Exhibition Areas: Experiencing Cutting-Edge Technology and Innovation

BEYOND Expo 2025 will continue to focus on the three sub-brands. The event is expected to attract over 1,200 technology companies from around the globe, with international companies making up 40% of exhibitors. Participants will have the chance to experience the latest technological products up close, from smart wearables and medical health innovations to sustainable energy solutions. The exhibition areas at BEYOND Expo 2025 will serve as a springboard for companies to expand into global markets, seizing globalization opportunities and enhancing their brand influence worldwide.

Opening and Closing Ceremonies, on top of BEYOND’s legendary Summits

The opening ceremony, featuring distinguished guests and deep industry insights, is a major event in the tech world. BEYOND Expo 2025, themed “What’s Next,” will gather influential industry leaders to analyze how technology drives industry transformation and innovation. The closing ceremony, a grand event blending technology, culture, sports, and entertainment, will include the FUND AT FIRST PITCH finals, the BEYOND AWARDS ceremony, and keynote talks. The four major summits include the ConsumerTech Summit, ClimateTech Summit, Healthcare Summit, and Global Investment Summit, designed to provoke insightful discussions and catalyze groundbreaking innovations.

Series of Multidimensional Summit Forums Covering Different Regions and Themes

Within the wider series of forums, the Asia-Latam Tech Forum, Asia-Euro Tech Forum, and ORIGIN: Asia Tech Forum will spotlight regional tech ecosystems. BEYOND SheTech will showcase global female innovation power, while the BEYOND Wealth Summit will delve into cutting-edge trends in global wealth management. The Founder Forum will feature narratives from Asian tech entrepreneurs, offering participants opportunities to broaden their global perspectives and explore international markets.

FUND AT FIRST PITCH: Igniting Innovation Passion, Efficient Capital and Startup Matching

FUND AT FIRST PITCH is a professional platform designed for entrepreneurs and investors, providing an efficient and strategic communication bridge. Entrepreneurs can showcase their business plans, technological advantages, and market potential, while investors can discover emerging market investment opportunities. BEYOND Expo 2024’s FUND AT FIRST PITCH attracted over 150 companies and 100 investment institutions, resulting in over 50 successful matches. BEYOND Expo 2025 aims to expand this platform’s scale and influence, attracting more enterprises and investors.

BEYOND Awards: Pinnacle of Technological Innovation, Leading Future Forces

The BEYOND Awards feature four major honors: ConsumerTech Innovation Award, ClimateTech Innovation Award, Healthcare Innovation Award, and Impact Award. These awards, evaluated by the BEYOND Awards Committee, recognize global innovation technologies and companies across multiple dimensions. The award ceremony will take place at the closing ceremony, celebrating the achievements of the winners and showcasing the unlimited potential of technological innovation.

The Fun Continues: A Symphony of Technology, Culture, and Sports

BEYOND Expo 2025 is not just a tech feast but a celebration of the fusion of technology and culture. In BEYOND Expo 2024, participants enjoyed a variety of activities, including food market, yoga session, gala dinner, charity poker night, pool party, NBA 3V3 tournament, and more. BEYOND Expo 2025 will bring even more innovative parties and activities, allowing participants to experience the unique charm of Macao while enjoying an international carnival.

As a key hub for Asian technological innovation, BEYOND Expo 2025 aims to drive regional cooperation and mutual benefit. Leveraging Macao’s geographical advantages and cultural appeal, BEYOND Expo 2025 will connect innovative forces from different countries and regions, providing a platform to explore the unlimited potential of Asian technological innovation and achieve broader influence.

See you in Macao in May 2025!

For more information about BEYOND Expo 2025, please visit www.beyondexpo.com.

Autotech startup Nullmax said on Tuesday that its latest generation of autonomous driving hardware and software package, allowing cars to navigate complex urban environments autonomously with features such as lane changing, will cost users as little as “several thousand RMB.” 

Why it matters: Shanghai and Fremont-based Nullmax is among the few players in the self-driving vehicle space claiming that cars will be able to function by themselves in urban scenarios without maps and lidar. Instead, the company said artificial intelligence models can be used to enable cars to navigate from points A to B.

• This makes its system even more cost-competitive on the Chinese market compared with Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, chief executive Xu Lei told reporters in Shanghai. Tesla has reportedly partnered with Baidu to leverage the latter’s lane-level navigation and standard definition mapping services, as part of its push to localize its most advanced driver-assistance software (ADAS) in the country.

Details: Xu told a press conference that his company is advocating a “pure vision” and “end-to-end” approach, as Tesla has been doing and many are following its lead, which involves deep neural networks, using cameras only to perform autonomous driving functions (our translation).

• The car could complete the highway on-ramp to off-ramp maneuver and drive through a construction zone in Chinese urban areas with affordable hardware of 7-11 cameras and a computing platform that can handle roughly 100 trillion operations per second (or TOPS), according to Nullmax.
• Xu expects some car models equipped with the technology to come to market in 2025, without saying more. Nullmax, with roughly 300 scientists and engineers, has been developing more safety-based ADAS functions for domestic automakers SAIC, and Chery, among others, TechNode has learned.
• Cars powered by Nullmax’s tech have traveled a combined 10 million kilometers (6.2 million miles). Xu added more actual driving data is required to provide cars with point-to-point navigation on city streets, while the company is training the ADAS system via simulation with AI-generated data.

Context: Chinese EV startups led by NIO, Xpeng Motors, and Li Auto have been ramping up efforts to transition from “rule-based” designs to an “end-to-end” autonomous driving method. Meanwhile, traditional car manufacturers are tapping into the power of AI by working with tech giants such as Huawei and NVIDIA, as well as startup unicorns like Horizon Robotics and Momenta.

• “What we see in the future is that the (AI-defined) AV stack will become an end-to-end model and will be trained in the cloud with massive data. More importantly, it will be validated in the cloud with simulation capabilities as well,” said Wu Xinzhou, NVIDIA’s vice president of automotive at its annual developer conference GTC in March.
• The US chipmaker in late 2021 released a system called “Omniverse Replicator” to facilitate the training of autonomous vehicles in the virtual world, Reuters reported. Chinese major EV makers, including BYD and NIO, are building their ADAS upon its DRIVE Orin computers, each of which offers 254 TOPS of performance.
• Nullmax was co-founded in 2016 by Xu Lei and Justin Song, both of whom spent time at Tesla. Xu worked on Tesla’s Autopilot computer vision team in 2015 and 2016, after leaving a senior engineering role at Qualcomm, while Song was responsible for engineering the Tesla Autopilot and car infotainment system from 2012 to 2015, according to their LinkedIn profiles.

READ MORE: Former Tesla engineer shares thoughts on end-to-end autonomous driving at WAIC 2024

Editor’s note: ‘Landing AI’ is a series of special reports focusing on the field of Artificial Intelligence curated by TechNode. By investigating the development of AI landing in China and the behind-the-scenes stories of the industry, we’re going to dive deeper into everything that’s possible under the new wave of AI.

China’s Great Wall Motor is poised for its big entry into Southeast Asia, as the automaker said on Monday it would begin manufacturing its cars in Malaysia and Indonesia as early as July, in addition to its planned entry into Vietnam, local media reported.

Why it matters: The news comes as Malaysia surpassed Thailand to become the second biggest car market in the region after Indonesia in the first three months of this year, according to sales figures released by industry groups and compiled by Nikkei. This makes it another attractive market for Chinese car manufacturers given its growing economy and large population.

• Total vehicle sales increased 5% year-on-year to 202,245 units in Malaysia from January to March, in part driven by the government’s economic stimulus package, figures from the Malaysian Automotive Association show. Meanwhile, Thailand’s car sales, including internal combustion engine cars and EVs, fell 24.6% to 163,756 units from a year earlier, partly because of tightening rules around car loans, said the Federation of Thai Industries.

Details: Great Wall Motor will start operating a pure assembly plant with Malaysia’s EP Manufacturing in Malacca in July at the earliest, Cheng Jinkui, president of the company’s ASEAN operations, told the Business Times.

• The two companies said in January they would commence assembly of two of Great Wall Motor’s popular Haval models – the Haval H6, a five-seater sports utility vehicle, and the Haval Jolion, a compact crossover. The cars will be made from “completely-knocked-down (CKD)” kits comprising major parts with the goal of producing 20,000 units a year by 2028.
• Another CKD facility in Indonesia is also set to come into production in July or August, while the Chinese automaker is aiming for local assembly in Vietnam in 2025, according to Cheng. Great Wall Motor said last June that it was exporting the Haval H6 hybrid EVs to Vietnam from Thailand, where it operates a car plant it acquired from General Motors in September 2020.

Context: Chinese automakers are ramping up their investments in emerging EV markets overseas, especially in regions such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, at a time when competition remains intense at home and the US and Europe are imposing punitive tariffs on China-made EV imports.

• Geely and Malaysian automaker DRB Hicom last year reached a $10 billion deal that will transform the country’s Tanjung Malim area into an “automotive high-tech valley” with an annual production capacity of 500,000 vehicles by 2035, China Daily reported. Sales of Geely-backed local automaker Proton more than doubled to roughly 154,000 units last year, while Smart, a brand co-owned by Geely and Mercedes Benz, began exporting cars to Malaysia last year.
• Indonesia said four Chinese automakers, namely Chery, Neta, General Motors’ China joint venture Wuling, and Dongfeng’s Sokon, have agreed to expand their global manufacturing footprints to the country. The deals were announced when Indonesian Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita visited Beijing earlier this month, Caixin Global reported. Neta, also known as Hozon Auto, shipped 16,458 EVs overseas from January to May, more than a third of its total deliveries.
• China recorded exports of roughly 519,000 new energy vehicles, mainly all-electrics and plug-in hybrids, for the first five months of this year, representing a 13.7% growth from last year, according to figures from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). BYD and Tesla were the largest exporters, with shipments of more than 130,000 units. Great Wall Motor exported 9,646 units but said last month it would shut down its European headquarters in Munich, Germany.

For the first time, BEYOND EXPO organizers hosted the SheTech Summit this year to celebrate the dynamism of women in technology. The panel brought together women leaders, showcased groundbreaking tech innovations, and prompted conversations on gender diversity in the tech industry.

We highlight key takeaways from three panel discussions where successful female leaders shared their insights and experiences.

Panel 1: The advantages of women leadership in tech and innovative companies

Michelle Chen, co-founder and CEO of Biosyngen, leads the company’s operational oversight, strategic direction, process optimization, government interactions, financial strategy, and investment discussions. With extensive expertise in corporate management, finance, and biopharmaceutical negotiations, Chen has co-established two prominent biotech ventures and amassed 17 years of leadership in Fortune 500 enterprises.

“As for advantages of female traits in the workplace, it’s important to categorize different aspects of rationality,” Chen said. “For instance, when it comes to self-motivation and the desire to engage in meaningful pursuits, women may have a broader focus, especially in the context of running a company. They tend to be more empathetic and attuned to the feelings of their employees.” 

Chen said that showing empathy and sensitivity toward employees has contributed to minimal turnover in her tech-driven pharmaceutical company and fostered loyalty and long-term commitment. She added that a predominantly female executive team has allowed Biosyngen to enhance the collective ability to observe and interpret subtle cues involving employee well-being, ensuring sustained success, and organizational vitality. 

“Let’s not overly emphasize gender equality or favoritism — everyone deserves equal opportunities,” Chen said. “Whether in AI, technology, or life sciences, passion drives individuals to pursue meaningful endeavors. Women, like everyone else, aspire to contribute meaningfully. It’s about embracing opportunities in industries one is passionate about and applying learned skills. Simplify your approach, adapt to circumstances, and seize opportunities as they come.”

Panel 2: Gender Lens Investing: How Women Shape the Future of the World?

Lu Zhang, founder and managing partner of Fusion Fund, is a Silicon Valley investor and alumna of Stanford University School of Engineering. With expertise in AI in healthcare, enterprise AI/networks, edge computing, and data privacy, she has built a distinguished ecosystem. 

Before Fusion Fund, Zhang was a serial entrepreneur and materials science researcher. She has been bestowed with various recognitions, including Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, Silicon Valley Women of Influence, and Forbes 30 under 30 VC honoree.

Zhang said that Asian cultures usually stereotype girls as being “obedient and likable.” However, she said that leadership roles entail making tough decisions, inevitably leading to some disapproval.

“Women must embrace this reality: is it more crucial to be liked or respected? As an entrepreneur and leader, earning respect is paramount,” Zhang said. “Ultimately, admiration and even reverence will follow, creating a powerful force.” 

During the session, Zhang mentioned an intriguing perspective on the subconscious advantages of women. She said that a woman’s strong intuition “stems from potent subconscious information processing.”  

“Over 90% of decisions are subconscious, yet we struggle to rationalize how it captures and computes data,” she said. “Besides computational power, women’s heightened awareness, driven by deep-seated insecurities, leads to heightened data capture. For instance, when walking alone at 2 a.m., women are more alert, consciously collecting data on their surroundings. Conversely, men might overlook potential dangers due to a perceived sense of safety.” 

Tina Tao, president and partner at Sinovation Ventures, oversees daily operations and professional services, including fundraising, finance, and business development. With previous work experience at Microsoft, IBM, and Google, she manages the incubation function at the Al Institute of Sinovation Ventures. 

Founded in 2009 by Kai-Fu Lee, Sinovation Ventures manages over $2 billion in Assets Under Management across various technology sectors. 

“Thirty years ago, we started with only a few female students, and now we’ve reached a significant proportion,” Tao said. “Reflecting on the presence of female university students, which has existed for just over a century, it’s remarkable how women have become a dominant force in education. In the past hundred years, from the first female university student to today, women have nearly become half the student population. Compared to the thousands of years of human civilization history, this rate of progress is incredibly rapid, even remarkably fast.” 

Dialogue with Olympian DENG Yaping

Table tennis icon Deng Yaping has clinched 18 world championships, including four Olympic golds, in her stellar 14-year career. With a record for the longest reigning top-ranked female table tennis player in the world, spanning eight years from 1991, her dominance in the sport is unmatched. 

Post-retirement, Deng pursued academic excellence, earning undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral degrees from Tsinghua University, the University of Nottingham, and the University of Cambridge, respectively.

During the conversation, Deng reflected on the perception gap between her public and private persona. While renowned for her athletic prowess and post-career contributions to sports development, she said she is approachable and gentle, contrary to the fierce demeanor often perceived on the table tennis court. 

Deng attributes her success to early challenges and perseverance, highlighting the crucial role of her father’s encouragement amid initial setbacks. She said that failure — including losing a critical match — taught her invaluable lessons in preparation and resilience. 

Speaking on the investment in the sports industry, Deng emphasized China’s sports marketing landscape was evolving and she seeks to promote Chinese brands globally through events like the Beijing Olympics. 

Deng said one of the most common questions she receives is: “Why are Chinese female athletes so strong?”

“Traditional Chinese culture plays a significant role,” Deng said. “Despite centuries of restrictions and oppression, it instilled resilience in women. Through the teachings of grandmothers and mothers, Chinese women learn to endure hardship and persevere, both at home and in society. Talent aside, the key factor in athletic success is grit. Chinese female athletes exhibit remarkable training intensity and exceptional endurance, reflecting their formidable willpower.” 

Business leaders at the Middle East Oasis Forum of BEYOND EXPO 2024 shared valuable insights on combining creativity and strategic confidence, highlighting their experiences in accelerating sustainable development and robust economic progress in the region. 

The panelists at the “Confidence with Imagination” included host Andre Kwok, founder of Good City Foundation and chief of staff at Tsangs Group, along with Jackson Zhang, the assistant to the chairman and manager of International Affairs at DeepRock Group and Biosphere 3, and Yamin Xu, dean of Tomorrow.City Institute at the Smart City Expo World Congress.

Navigating Middle Eastern markets with confidence and humility

There has been a significant shift in mindset among Chinese entrepreneurs over the years, Xu said.

Historically, Chinese business leaders admired Western companies and focused primarily on American and European markets. However, with China’s rise and the success of its infrastructure development strategies like the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese entrepreneurs have found new confidence in doing business globally. 

Xu noted that while this confidence is beneficial, it sometimes borders on arrogance. He said entrepreneurs need to adopt a “more mature and balanced worldview, recognizing the importance of understanding local histories, cultures, and economic contexts when expanding into new markets.”

Xu also expressed optimism about the younger generation of Chinese entrepreneurs, adding that they are better equipped to navigate the complexities of the global business landscape due to their broader experiences and open-mindedness. 

However, he cautioned other entrepreneurs to be alert to global changes and avoid harboring outdated mindsets. Xu concluded that a successful global expansion not just requires confidence but also understanding and respecting diverse markets and cultures. 

“In the journey of Middle East expansion, humility and respect are our guiding lights,” Xu said. “With a balanced worldview and openness to diverse cultures, we forge connections that transcend borders, ensuring enduring success and mutual prosperity.” 

Embracing confidence for Middle Eastern ventures

Zhang said Chinese companies expanding globally should strategize integrating resources to form corporate communities for better handling challenges in foreign markets. He highlighted that DeepRock Group leverages its experience in green building and energy management to upgrade and transform local regions.

Zhang added that Chinese enterprises venturing into international markets must be confident in their global expansion, adding that companies should thoroughly prepare and understand their target market’s cultural nuances and business environment. 

To illustrate his point, Zhang shared examples, including DeepRock Group’s involvement in the Masdar City project in the United Arab Emirates. He said he has noticed the evolving mindset of Chinese entrepreneurs and the shift toward a more global outlook.

However, Zhang also urged investors to be wary of the socio-political events of countries in the region — while Egypt is currently under military rule and faces political challenges, Libya, endowed with abundant oil resources and high per capita income, flourished during the era of Gaddafi, and Iran, a densely populated country with a high level of education, has high unemployment rates. 

“Although my understanding of these three countries is limited, I believe Iran maintains a positive attitude toward investment from China,” he said.

Zhang reiterated that as investors embark on their Middle East ventures, they should “harness the power of confidence tempered with cultural sensitivity.”

“By understanding local nuances and embracing diversity, we pave the way for meaningful collaboration and sustainable growth in international markets,” Zhang said.

On Friday, BEYOND EXPO organizers invited a group of distinguished entrepreneurs for the Asia-Latam Tech Forum, aiming to explore opportunities for collaboration in business and technology, while promoting cultural exchange and understanding between Asia and Latin America.

The Asia-Latam Tech Forum featured discussions on trade, investment, innovation, and ideas, providing a platform for stakeholders from both continents to explore avenues for growth and prosperity. 

Below are key insights from the three discussion panels held during the forum. 

Panel 1: Latam: The next hotbed of venture capital investments

William Mimassi Pedroso is a partner at Monashees, an early-stage venture capital firm, where he has worked since 2020 and manages relations with the company’s limited partners globally. Pedroso has worked in various capacities, from law to CFO roles, in Brazil and China. He holds a law degree with honors from the University of São Paulo, with proficiency in multiple languages. 

Founded in 2005, Monashees is a renowned early-stage venture capital firm in Latin America. The company invests in innovative startups across various sectors, providing crucial support and resources for their growth and success. With a strong track record, Monashees is a leading player in the region’s vibrant startup ecosystem.

Pedroso expressed optimism about Latin America’s potential for growth in the venture capital sector, given the region’s favorable regulatory environment and increasing digitalization. He highlighted areas such as fintech and clean tech as particularly promising, noting the region’s natural resources and innovative potential. However, he acknowledged that the need for technical talent and English proficiency among developers remains a challenge. 

Pedroso said he sees Latin America as a burgeoning market with ample room for expansion, especially with the right investments and support.

Panel 2: Latam’s innovation ecosystem and collaboration opportunities with Asia

Ingrid Barth is a seasoned economist and entrepreneur with a background in finance, technology, and advocacy. Formerly with JPMorgan and Santander, she founded Linker, a pioneering digital bank for businesses, later acquired by Omie. Additionally, she holds influential roles in fintech regulation and startup development, including representing Brazil in G20 initiatives.

During the panel discussion, Barth spoke about effective communication methods in changing perceptions about Brazil’s business landscape. She advocated for highlighting Brazil’s strengths, such as its innovative potential and natural resources, to attract foreign investors and foster collaboration. 

Barth stressed the need for confidence in Brazil’s capabilities and encouraged entrepreneurs to seek the right local partners when entering the Brazilian market. She also underscored the significance of understanding cultural nuances and navigating regulatory frameworks. 

Barth admitted the role of public policies in shaping business environments and suggested learning from China’s dynamic ecosystem and strategic initiatives. Meanwhile, she called for a proactive approach to showcasing Brazil’s opportunities and fostering international partnerships for mutual growth.

Panel 3: Rising unicorns and IPOs in Latam

Eduardo L’Hotelier, a Brazilian computer engineering graduate, founded GetNinjas in 2011, growing it into Latin America’s largest service marketplace. He led multiple successful fundraising rounds with renowned firms like Monashees Capital and Tiger Global. In 2021, L’Hotelier took GetNinjas public on the Brazilian stock exchange (NINJ3) but sold his stake in the company in January 2023.

GetNinjas is a Brazilian online platform connecting clients with freelance professionals in various fields, including home services, events, classes, and more. The company has revolutionized how people find and hire services, simplifying the lives of millions of users in Brazil.

L’Hotelier attributed Latin America’s booming market to being fueled by its young demographic and tech adoption. He said Brazil’s robust social media usage offers ample opportunities for startups, adding businesses need to understand local laws and culture, while partnerships help to navigate the market. 

L’Hotelier also noted the growing interest from Asian investors in Latin American startups, particularly in Brazil. He said that Brazilian entrepreneurs demonstrate resilience despite bureaucratic hurdles, adding that there is a shift toward a global mindset with more startups eyeing international expansion.

L’Hotelier said the company wishes to help their global partners achieve similar results by leveraging their expertise and technological advancements.

Jason Ho, the Co-founder of BEYOND Expo, invited Jon Creyts, the CEO of Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), to discuss the urgent need for global cooperation, investment, and innovative technology to address climate change on Wednesday at the BEYOND Expo 2024 opening ceremony.

Please find below the transcript of the opening day speech from Jon Creyts. The following transcript has been edited for clarity:

1. Jason: Looking ahead, what key policy changes or initiatives do you believe are essential for driving technology and the adoption of different solutions globally?

Jon: When we think about climate change, it impacts more than just the environment. This is about health, livelihoods, and thriving communities. When we think about SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), they’re all interconnected. We have to address climate change in ways that enhance all aspects of society and tackle all the SDGs simultaneously.

We’ve talked a lot about EVs here. Certainly, when you look at a place like Delhi, the current health issues related to pollution are largely the result of vehicular traffic. Today, in Delhi, driving an EV costs only 1/4th of what it does to operate an internal combustion engine vehicle. However, the system isn’t set up to support that right now. You actually pay three times the interest rate on an electric vehicle compared to an internal combustion engine vehicle. However, if we make this transition, we can actually save significant amounts of money, minimizing local air pollution, and creating new economies and abilities to grow.

This is true not just in India but throughout the global South, like in Nigeria. If you switch to two- and three-wheeled electric vehicles, you wind up saving about $1,000 for one person over the eight-year lifetime of that vehicle. That’s a massive boost, almost half a year’s worth of pay in Nigeria that you’re saving, by shifting and embracing some of these new technologies.

2. Jason: How can we ensure climate tech innovations are accessible and affordable for people in need in these developing countries?

Jon: This is not just a challenge, this is an opportunity. When we think about it, the scale of the investment that is required here is approximately $100 trillion over the next 25 years. Right now, that investment is massively skewed when we look at the overall geography. For instance, the United States, as a country, invests about 60 times more than Africa as a continent. We have to rectify that, we have to shift and introduce some strategic interventions that effectively redirect capital flow within the system. 

That capital has to accomplish three major objectives. Firstly, there are carbon-intensive assets out there that cannot run to the end of their life cycle. We have to shut them down before they become economically viable as we can’t afford to release all that carbon into the atmosphere. We need to create mechanisms like carbon trading and other supportive measures to help support that transition. Initiatives like the Just Energy Transition partnerships in regions like Indonesia and Vietnam are currently helping to create some of the funds and financing mechanisms to support these countries in their transition efforts. 

We have to do two other things. We have to accelerate innovation, especially in hard-to-abate sectors such as steel, cement, aluminum, heavy freight, shipping, etc. These ideas are going to come from all over the world, and we need to ensure that there is alignment between venture capital, equity investment, and bank financing to support these innovations. 

Thirdly, we have to scale existing solutions. This is the area where significant reform needs to happen so that we can mitigate the risk associated with project pipelines, throughout the global south, where projects are necessary to enable leapfrogging, as Siddharth mentioned earlier, to achieve new economic paradigms. That has to be done through coordinated multilateral bank support to de-risk projects alongside private capital investment. This ensures initiatives like mini-grids, microgrids, solar energy, and electric vehicles are rapidly deployed in  the places that need them the most, which are the fastest-growing areas of the world requiring that support.

3. Jason: What role do you see for public and private partnerships in scaling up investment and developing climate tech solutions?

Jon: Public-private partnerships are at the core of how this whole energy transition needs to happen. When we think about scaling, I was here yesterday at the Southern China Hydrogen Energy Association, a group in Guangzhou, that is focused specifically on how to bring a hydrogen economy into being. For that to happen, you have to align research, you have to align capital, and you have to ultimately get whole sets of infrastructure to jump at the same time to a wholly different cost space. When you start doing that as a system, you end up actually creating the conditions for something new to thrive, grow, and compete.

That doesn’t happen on its own. It requires an independent nonprofit or a collaboration between the government, for-profit and civil society institutions to align all the different stakeholders. That’s true for hydrogen, that’s true if you want to realign the global aviation industry, and that’s true if you want to deal with global shipping. You need to get the industry, the customers, the financiers, and the policymakers together to build the ratchet mechanism that then allows everything to move just a little bit differently. And then, ultimately, you’re able to transform.

We’re seeing that happen in aviation and some of the leadership related to staffing. We’re seeing that happen in shipping and in some of the new work that the IMO is doing to move toward zero-carbon fuels. Going forward, we will be seeing that happen in steel. where you will see buyers aligning on different aspects of what exactly constitutes low carbon steel and how to certify it, track it, and trace it. These are all necessary impacts, but they are made easier when you actually have some coordination, and entities like the UN, and the South China Hydrogen Energy Association, are working to help bring about change in the whole system.

4. Jason: If you could have any superpower to combat climate change, what would it be?

Jon: Fossil fuels have gotten us to where we are today. But I wish I could just snap my fingers and have everybody forget and stop believing that they are the source of safety and security in the world. Because the truth is, when we look at where we are today, the conflicts, the concentration of wealth, the air pollution, the climate pollution that we’re seeing, fossil fuels are not serving us well anymore. In fact, when we look at renewable sources, wind and solar are the cheapest new forms of energy for 95% of the people on the planet.

When you start combining that with some of the innovations that are happening in batteries that we heard Robin (CATL CEO) talk about earlier, we can see our pathway to a much cleaner, more sustainable, and secure energy future. We can just let ourselves believe that it can happen and drive toward it, rather than believe that we have to constantly go back to  trusting that fossil fuels are more secure.

TNGlobal is excited to announce the ORIGIN: Asia Tech Conference, themed “Unleashing Potential, Reimagine Future” to be held on May 23, 2024, at The Venetian Macao Convention and Exhibition Center, Florence Meeting Room . This landmark event signifies a significant expansion into the dynamic landscape of Asia, forming an integral part of BEYOND Week’s prestigious lineup of events. 

ORIGIN: Asia Tech Conference serves as a pivotal gathering, bringing together industry luminaries, investors, and trailblazers to delve into the vibrant tech ecosystem of Asia. With a diverse array of keynote speeches, panel discussions, the conference promises to deliver invaluable insights into the region’s most promising industries and emerging opportunities. As the conference expands its focus into Asia, it aims to embrace the opportunity to engage with the vibrant tech ecosystem in the region, forging new connections and uncovering untapped potential. 

Notable participants set to grace the event include exemplary venture capital firms, multinational corporations, unicorns, and innovative companies such as ATM Capital, Gobi Partners, East Ventures, Sunway Group, Genting Ventures, Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bhd (MAVCAP), FuturePlay, Kairous Capital, RHL Ventures, Hyundai Cradle, iFlytek, Carsome, Carousell, among others.

Distinguished lineup of guest speakers includes:

• Tony Qu, Founder of ATM Capital
• Matt van Leeuwen, Chief Innovation Officer of Sunway Group
• Angela Toy, Partner and COO of Golden Gate Ventures
• Quek Siu Rui, Co-Founder of Carousell
• Matt van Leeuwen, Chief Innovation Officer of Sunway Group
• William Zhou, Vice President, President Overseas Business of iFLYTEK open platform
• Edwin Loh, Founder of Imagine AI
• Jung-hee Ryu, Partner & CEO of FuturePlay
• Kamarul A Muhamed, Founder and CEO of Aerodyne

The conference features an array of compelling topics including:

• Southeast Asia – The Bright Spot for VC Investing Amidst Global Uncertainties?
• Outsiders’ Insights: Capturing the Southeast Asian Tech Wave
• Beyond Unicorns: Building Sustainable Growth
• Corporate Venture Capital: Navigating Innovation and Strategic Partnerships in the Digital Era
• How AI Is Sparking Disruptions & Innovations in Asia’s Various Industries

Who Should Attend?

Entrepreneurs, investors, executives, and policymakers are cordially invited to join ORIGIN: Asia Tech Conference and unlock the full potential of Southeast Asia’s burgeoning tech landscape.

Join us and register now at https://www.beyondexpo.com/registration/ to secure your place at the forefront of Asia’s tech revolution: https://technode.global/

About Macau Greater Bay Area Technology Exchange Association

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The BEYOND International Technology Innovation Expo (BEYOND Expo) is Asia’s leading annual technology event. Serving as a dynamic platform since 2021, BEYOND Expo not only showcases global technological innovations but also provides a unique opportunity to foster innovation upgrades across diverse industries and regions. BEYOND Expo has attracted participation from Asia’s Fortune 500 companies, multinational corporations, unicorn companies, and emerging startups. Through a multifaceted approach involving expos, summits, and various activities, BEYOND Expo has successfully cultivated an innovative ecosystem, propelling collective development in the Asia-Pacific region and the global technology innovation industry.

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Penghui Li and translated by Zinan Zhang.

The global humanoid robot market is expected to reach a peak of $154 billion by 2035. Much like the emergence of generative AI, this rise of robots – not to mention the combination of these two fields – may well pose several questions and spark considerable debate beyond mere tech circles. 

Unitree Robotics, which started with quadruped robots and quickly became a global leader in the humanoid robot industry through its general humanoid robot H1, undoubtedly has plenty to say on this.

Here, Chen Li, co-founder of Unitree Robotics,  offers a range of insights into the rapidly developing robotics industry.

1. How has the explosive growth in generative AI impacted the robotics field?

Unitree’s development of humanoid robots can be seen as seizing the opportunity. General artificial intelligence (AGI) has made significant progress and breakthroughs. AGI now needs the most suitable carrier to take it forward, and general robots are bound to be one of the future development directions, with humanoid robots being the most straightforward candidate to become general robots. Therefore, we firmly believe that once general artificial intelligence and general humanoid robots are combined, robots can truly enter daily life in the future.

2. What are the biggest challenges in the development of quadruped and biped robots?

Hardware reliability, self-developed complete machines, motion control, sensors of quadruped or humanoid robots, and how to integrate the data obtained from sensors into motion control — such as combining perception and terrain to dynamically adjust leg height in real-time, and then swiftly and stably traversing unstructured terrain… these are all challenges.

As Unitree has a good relevant accumulation of knowledge in quadruped robots, our progress in humanoid robots is relatively faster than others. We started the project on February 23 [2023], and then on August 15, we developed and released the humanoid robot (H1), which took about half a year.

We can make humanoid robots at any time because the core components of Unitree’’s quadruped robots are self-developed. Transferring the relevant technology of quadruped robots to humanoid robots is relatively straightforward for Unitree.

The joint motors, electronic control technology, control algorithms, and other aspects of our humanoid robots are inherited from Unitree’s previous accumulated technology in quadruped robots. Then, in terms of control algorithms, we also draw from the control technology of quadruped robots, using model predictive control.

3. How is Unitree responding to the increasingly complex and dynamic external environment?

The biggest difference between Unitree now and before is the areas we are currently focusing on. Robotics has always been our focus, and it remains our most important direction. However, at the same time, we are also paying more attention to directions related to general artificial intelligence models, considering how to integrate these latest artificial intelligence technologies with robotics to take robot functionality to the next level more effectively. To face a more complex and dynamic external environment, what Unitree needs to do is to keep doing its current job first, and then, driven by research and development, to deliver excellent products and serve our customers well.

4. Some experts have suggested that with the gradual heating up of the robotics race in recent years, the year 2024 will be the “inaugural year” for the robotics industry, especially humanoid robots. How do you view this statement? 

If we look solely from the perspective of societal attention to the product, the year 2024  is indeed the inaugural year of the robotics industry. However, 20 or 30 years ago, humanoid robots had already appeared overseas — including in Japan and the United States. We need to look at it from two perspectives.

Of course, I prefer to say that 2024 could be the Year of Humanoid Robots. But this milestone is not policy-driven. In 2023, there were significant breakthroughs and developments in large-scale models and AGI. General artificial intelligence could be applied in various scenarios in the future. In such a scenario, general artificial intelligence would require a carrier. Based on this, humanoid robots have started to gain traction.

Then, what are the necessary conditions for the emergence of the Year of Quadruped and Humanoid Robots? I think, on the one hand, it is the empowerment of AI, and on the other hand, it is the stability, reliability, cost-effectiveness, consistency in production, and the maturity of software and hardware technologies of the products themselves. 

5. Unitree also has several quadruped robot products listed on e-commerce platforms such as Taobao, making futuristic products accessible. Could you discuss some observations you have on the domestic quadruped robot market?

Yes, we have listed some quadruped robots on e-commerce platforms, and people can find two consumer-grade quadruped robot products, Go2 AIR and Go2 Pro. Whether it’s in terms of product performance, cost-effectiveness, reliability, or playability, I believe the features and functionalities of Go2 are very relevant to daily life.

Currently, the consumer-grade quadruped robot market hasn’t fully opened up for several reasons. The first reason is the price, which is still relatively high. With leading companies like Unitree, our current market price for products is around RMB 10,000. However, there is hope to lower the price to a few thousand yuan in the future.

The second reason is interaction. When facing individual consumers, we need to consider how to make quadruped robots have more functions to increase user stickiness. This is something Unitree has been investing in for the long term. If it’s just a remote-controlled robot or robot dog, consumers may lose interest after playing with it for a few days. So we need to give the robot dog more features — such as interaction, interactive AI dialogue, etc. Only in this way can we turn the robot dog into a true electronic pet.

6. Apart from the price difference, what are the most obvious distinctions between Unitree’s consumer-grade and industry-grade robot products? 

The most obvious distinction between our consumer-grade and industry-grade robots lies in their performance or functionality. For example, the Go2 AIR and Pro versions of our quadruped robots are consumer-grade. In comparison to our industry-grade B2 robot, the difference lies in their functionality — such as payload capacity. The B2 can handle up to 50 kilograms, while the Go2 AIR is approximately five to eight kilograms, resulting in a significant gap.

The second difference lies in the protection level. The highest protection level for the B2 can reach IP68, which is the highest level of waterproof and dustproof protection, allowing it to be immersed in water for a long time. However, the Go2 is not waterproof. The third difference is in their mobility or obstacle traversal capabilities. Due to the smaller size of the Go2, compared to the B2, their leg lengths differ, affecting their obstacle traversal performance. For example, the B2 can climb up to 1.2 meters of stairs, while the Go2 can currently only climb 16 centimeters, which is a significant difference.

The fourth difference lies in their battery life. The Go2, with its long-life battery version, can walk continuously for about two hours. However, the B2 can walk continuously for over five hours. Of course, there are also other differences in software and hardware, so the distinction is quite significant.

In terms of application scenarios, consumer-grade robots mainly lean toward home use, including performances, interactive entertainment, and family companionship. The industry-grade B2 is geared towards work. For example, it can be used for inspections, patrols, emergencies, and rescues in industries such as energy, electricity, oil, chemicals, and coal, as well as for police, firefighting, and various arduous, labor-intensive, dangerous, and repetitive tasks that can be replaced by industry-grade robots.

7. What are some unexpected use cases that you’ve come across for these products?

Since many of our Unitree employees have backgrounds in robotics or artificial intelligence, users come from various industries and often propose application scenarios based on the characteristics of our robots, many of which we hadn’t previously considered. I think this is a very positive thing — it broadens Unitree’s product capabilities, and we also work closely with users to develop solutions for these scenarios.

For example, the application of robot dogs in firefighting emergencies is something we hadn’t thought of before. This scenario was suggested by firefighting and rescue personnel. They mentioned that these robot dogs are quite capable — they can climb stairs, traverse mountains, and handle rugged terrain without much difficulty. In their firefighting emergency scenarios, which often involve high-rise rescues — such as in many of China’s tall buildings — when a fire breaks out, elevators are typically shut down, leaving only staircases. However, entering from the staircase can be quite dangerous for firefighters. In such situations, they proposed the idea of sending in robot dogs first to gather relevant data using various sensors. After assessing the situation, firefighters could then proceed with the rescue operation, thereby reducing casualties.

8. Unitree has expanded its business into the fitness equipment field based on its robotics technology. What made you leap into that sector?

The idea of the fitness pump product was conceived in 2018, but at that time, most of our time and resources were dedicated to robotics, so we didn’t pursue it actively until recent years. We’ve always been contemplating whether we could utilize these related technologies to create new products that cater to a broader consumer base. This idea has always been there, so we decided to develop the fitness pump.

Unitree’s core competitiveness lies in the complete self-research and development of our products. The core components and motion control algorithms are all developed in-house. This is our most fundamental competitive advantage.

9. You initially launched the fitness pump on Amazon and Unitree’s overseas business accounts for about 50% of its total revenue. What factors contributed to your confidence in going global? 

Yes, around 50% of our business comes from overseas. I think there are several reasons. Firstly, before starting this venture, I worked in a hard-tech company handling overseas markets. So, I had some insights and perspectives on overseas markets. Secondly, products like robots or humanoid robot products, especially consumer-level robot dogs, have a broader customer base overseas. Especially in developed countries like the United States and Europe, purchasing power is stronger and profits are better. Thirdly, some of our research clients purchase our robots for secondary development. Many of these research clients are from universities, and many of these universities are in Europe and the United States. Of course, many excellent schools in China are also developing projects very well based on our robot dogs or humanoid robots.

As for the inspiration these successes brought to Unitree’s progress in the domestic market, I think firstly, on the market side, it is crucial to prioritize the market, to quickly prepare and promote the market. Then, the sales business should follow up quickly, distribute goods rapidly, and provide excellent customer service, allowing customers to receive our products as soon as possible. Thirdly, service must keep up — both pre-delivery and post-delivery technical support are crucial tasks, where they continuously provide pre-sale, during-sale, and after-sale training and support to customers. Once such a chain is formed, whether in the domestic or overseas market, companies will have a very solid development foundation.

10. What challenges did you face when going into foreign markets?

It is not easy to expand into overseas markets – there are marketing expenses and communication costs on the business end, and you have to deal with time zone differences and cultural aspects. As for the right choices made by Unitree, I believe the first one is the first-mover advantage. During the initial phase of establishing brand influence, it’s crucial to act swiftly with strategies tailored to robot dogs or humanoid robot products. For customers, it’s challenging to judge product functionalities without physically interacting with them. In such cases, it’s essential to rapidly launch the product and then establish brand or product awareness in the minds of consumers. Additionally, it’s not enough just to launch; there must be subsequent promotions. For example, our product was featured in the 2023 Super Bowl in the United States, and various influencers both domestically and internationally reviewed our robot dogs. These efforts greatly benefitted Unitree’s brand promotion.

The most challenging aspect, I believe lies in the gap that exists between marketing promotions and subsequent customer engagement during business transactions. There may be disparities in product performance, pricing, and applicable scenarios, which require continuous customer nurturing and communication to manage their expectations effectively.

Another challenge might be localization. Currently, Unitree doesn’t have a dedicated overseas team for localization; instead, it’s managed through business trips abroad. Additionally, in terms of team building, I believe that selecting suitable individuals is paramount. A suitable colleague can be more valuable than having 10 or even 20 employees with average abilities.

11. In a recent B2 round of financing totaling nearly 1 billion yuan completed by Unitree, you mentioned that in the coming years, the company will continue to break through technology barriers and promote the integration of AI with general-purpose robots. How should we understand the integration of “AI+ general-purpose robots”? 

At the beginning of our entrepreneurship journey, Unitree was a relatively traditional robotics company, but now we are gradually transforming into a company that integrates “AI+ general-purpose robots”. In between, we have done a lot of strategic thinking. Taking the household scenario as an example, it was quite challenging for robots to enter households, especially general-purpose ones. There are already some robots in households, such as vacuum robots. However, overall, their functionality is relatively limited, either serving specific purposes or performing single functions. In the future, we hope to create general-purpose household robots that can assist homeowners in various tasks such as washing dishes, cleaning floors, making beds, and cooking.

To accomplish these diverse tasks, single-function robots are insufficient; they must be empowered with general artificial intelligence. This empowerment can be done through end-to-end approaches, cloud-based methods, or training methods. The approach is not limited, but I believe the only viable path is to establish a “strong bond” between general artificial intelligence and robots so that robots can enter millions of households.

12. What can you tell us about Unitree’s future plans?

We firmly believe that innovation is the cornerstone of enterprise development. Unitree continuously enriches its product line, improves product performance, and continues to advance the construction and improvement of existing production lines. We deeply cultivated the quadruped robot track in both the B2B and B2C markets, and through a multidimensional growth journey, we have expanded from quadruped robots to the intelligent fitness track and then to the general humanoid robot track, making people’s work and life more convenient, comfortable, and efficient.

Unitree has always believed in becoming a leader in a segmented industry, driving the entire industry and high-quality development of the Chinese economy. We look forward to embarking on a new journey of “technology changing the world” together with everyone, using the power of the collective. 

Semicon is a series of exhibitions run by SEMI and focused on semiconductor manufacturing. It has everything, from materials to equipment to fabrication. I say series of events because virtually every region in the semiconductor ecosystem gets one – Semicon China, Semicon Europa, Semicon India, Semicon SEA, Semicon Japan, Semicon Korea, Semicon West (USA), and of course Semicon Taiwan, all throughout the year. 

The show this year

Chen Nanxiang, the Chairman of both Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp (YMTC) and the China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA) said in the opening keynote, “China’s semiconductor market belongs to the world, while the world’s semiconductor market also belongs to Chinese companies”. He and the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce’s Wang Ning also praised Nvidia’s progress, highlighting generative AI as a key growth driver for the industry, and were very bullish on the industry’s goals to become a $1 trillion market by 2030. Working together globally is key to reaching these goals, they said. This was a very positive and inclusive message, one that representatives of SEMI shared (albeit via video as none seemed to be present in person), but seemed at odds with the language coming from Beijing, which recently banned Intel and AMD chips from government computers, and from Washington, which continues to restrict semiconductor technology exports to China.

I have been attending Semicon China and Semicon Taiwan for several years. Semicon Taiwan last September felt like the largest show I’d ever been to, but Semicon China felt larger again, albeit simultaneously less international. It has grown every year I have attended and this time was no different. Over 35,000 visitors, 1,000-plus exhibitors, and still a number of foreign firms taking up some of the largest booths. Japanese firms were especially present, with the likes of Sumitomo, Canon, Tokyo Electron, Disco, and many more having the largest booths at the show. Korea, Taiwan, and Europe both had a large showing, with Korea and Taiwan having their own pavilions.

When speaking with exhibitors though, not everything was as rosy. Exhibitors at the Korean pavilion did admit the Chinese market was tough for them right now, but did not want to go into details. Surprisingly, despite this, they claimed Semicon China was the only Semicon where they planned on having a specific Korean pavilion this year. Such a decision can be interpreted in several ways, either negative or positive. Another Chinese exhibitor working for an outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) vendor admitted that the entire industry was witnessing involution. Like other industries in China, too many players had entered, no one had any clear differentiation, and decent margins were rare.

There was also a clear lack of US companies, just 22 in total, and no household names such as AMAT or LAM. This may not be surprising, but compared to other foreign countries it did feel strange. Cadence’s CEO did appear in person, however, and gave a very informative speech about how AI is driving Cadence’s product development and industry growth.

Power electronics and compound semiconductors were another key theme of the show, having a large area set out just for compound semiconductor companies and also a two-day conference. China now accounts for around 40% of the global power semiconductor market, driven in part by explosive EV sales growth over the past few years. In 2023, BYD Semi overtook Infineon in the Chinese market, and now five of the top ten companies in China are domestic. BorgWarner and Hitachi are no longer in the top ten within China.

Conclusions

The current state of affairs is somewhat contradictory. On one hand, Semicon China and Beijing seem to be welcoming foreign semiconductor companies with open arms. On the other they are pushing companies, especially SOEs, to buy made in China technologies and products. They complain about being blocked from foreign technology, but then proceed to block themselves even further. The conference remarks were very positive, but on the ground, many booths were still pushing the made in China message.

Despite all of this, China remains the largest semiconductor market in the world, and foreign firms, whether they like it or not, need to find ways to tackle it. Chinese firms themselves are facing intense competition domestically so are looking to expand into foreign markets where they hope to find better margins. My impression though is that many foreign semiconductor companies have significant technological advantages over their Chinese competitors and being present in China helps them not only keep an eye on competitor progress but also take away some revenue from these firms that could be spent on R&D to catch up from a technical perspective, or be spent on foreign market expansion.

China may not be the easiest market, but the size and scope of Semicon China, despite everything, shows that there are ways to deal with it.

Hundreds of people flocked to a Xiaomi store in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou in the late hours of Thursday evening to be among the first to take a look at what many deem to be the electronics brand’s more affordable alternative to a Porsche, as the brand announced a lower than expected starting price for its debut electric vehicle. That’s what TechNode observed during a livestream broadcast by a Chinese electric car blogger on social media app WeChat that attracted more than 200,000 viewers within an hour. 

Xiaomi has already enjoyed a debut win after securing a record 50,000 pre-orders in just a few minutes following its SU7 EV launch event. The official livestream racked up nearly 43 million views on microblogging platform Weibo, underscoring the overwhelming interest among tech-savvy Chinese consumers in the company’s first car. Those making a reservation were asked to pay a RMB 5,000 ($692) deposit as part of the process, with the tech giant expressing its thanks to customers who did so in a brief statement on the microblogging platform Weibo (in Chinese). 

The all-electric sports sedan is selling at a lower than expected starting price of RMB 215,900 ($29,881), roughly $4,100 cheaper than the popular Tesla Model 3, while touting better performance from driving range to acceleration. The dual-motor all-wheel drive version competes with the Porsche Taycan with a top speed of 265 kilometers (165 miles) per hour at a price tag of only RMB 299,900.

Xiaomi’s car launch contrasts markedly with Apple’s surprise retreat from the EV landscape, after the iPhone maker reportedly scrapped its decade-long effort to make a car recently. “We will provide every user, including those with Apple devices, a smart and connected life experience everywhere, creating seamless integration in their homes, cars, and beyond,” Xiaomi chief executive Lei Jun said during the press conference (our translation). 

“A trump card”

Lei, the 55-year-old serial entrepreneur dubbed “China’s Steve Jobs”, tried to lure users away from traditional carmakers during the two-hour event by showcasing how Xiaomi’s ecosystem would provide universal connection and integration between different devices, including phones, cars, and gadgets at home. 

Xiaomi essentially promised potential buyers that their devices would be all tied together with a click, swipe, or a simple voice command. The car’s air conditioning will cool the interior down on a hot summer’s day once the owner tells a home speaker what temperature they want before even leaving the house, according to one example given. In another, the car’s dashboard could become a centralized command station for home accessories which will be activated as the driver approaches home. 

Although rival Huawei has touted similar efforts with its EV partners, Xiaomi claimed last November that more than 655 million devices have been connected to its IoT (Internet of Things) platform, from televisions to fitness bands, making it the biggest network of its kind worldwide. “This is a trump card from Xiaomi,” said Lei when discussing the linking of the brand’s new EV with its IoT network. 

“Better than Tesla”

Meanwhile, Lei mentioned Xiaomi’s plans to be “among the top-tier players” in autonomous driving, a field where Tesla already stands out as a pioneer globally and Huawei is establishing its name at home. The company said its EVs are already capable of traveling more than 300 km on average autonomously on Chinese highways before human drivers take over and will be able to complete most trips by themselves on urban streets across China by August. 

Xiaomi is moving towards two distinct approaches by working on both a camera-based computer vision system and another advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) that relies on more sensors including lidar. The company said it will exclusively employ Nvidia’s cutting-edge chips for both systems and bring the software development completely in-house to ensure timely over-the-air updates across all its car variants. 

“In China, Tesla vehicles will not be as good as the SU7 when it comes to intelligent driving capabilities,” said Lei, adding that customers who placed their orders before the end of this year will get the software free of charge. Tesla currently charges Chinese buyers RMB 64,000 for future access to its full self-driving (FSD) package, despite it remaining unavailable in the country. Still, it is faced with competitors from BYD to Geely which also look to offer customers highly automated features with their premium EVs.

READ MORE: Key takeaways from Xiaomi’s EV pre-launch: A top offering facing a tough test

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

Attempting to summarize the current state of the international tech industry is a tricky business. On the one hand, venture capital is down and layoffs are considerably up; on the other, there is huge excitement within the industry at the potential of new technologies such as generative AI.

According to data from Crunchbase, during 2023, total global venture capital is expected to reach its lowest level in five years at $285 billion, a 38% decrease from the $462 billion seen in 2022. Meanwhile, layoffs are also occurring more widely. Statistics show that the number of redundancies at global tech companies increased by 59% in 2023 compared to the previous year, affecting 262,700 people.

Yet with the rise of artificial intelligence technology represented by ChatGPT, the industry is also awash with unbridled excitement in certain quarters. Data indicates that the total financing amount for global artificial intelligence startups reached nearly $50 billion in 2023, a 9% increase over the previous year. Among them, just three companies – OpenAI, Anthropic, and Inflection AI – raised $18 billion.

It’s not only artificial intelligence. In industries such as augmented reality, brain-machine integration, and quantum computing, the technology field is also showing significant progress. From this perspective, as a home to global cutting-edge industries and an important springboard for corporate globalization, London has become a key focal point for tech companies.

London: A new hotspot for technology and climate innovation

Despite a particularly challenging period for the tech sector, London is still full of bright spots, according to Zhao Bingbing, Chief Representative of Greater China at London & Partners.

Zhao points to the GenAI boom as an example of the UK capital’s status. In recent years, investment in generative artificial intelligence companies in London has exploded. In 2023, the total financing of GenAI startups headquartered in London reached $232 million, 20 times the total financing amount in 2020. Among them, AI video company Synthesia and AI decision-making company Quantexa have joined the unicorn camp.

At the same time, established companies in the artificial intelligence field are also turning their attention to London. In June of last year, OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, chose London as the location for its first overseas office. OpenAI emphasized that the British city has a “vibrant technology ecosystem” and “outstanding talent.” CEO of Open AI, Sam Altman, further highlighted, “We see this expansion as an opportunity to attract world-class talent and drive innovation in AGI development and policy.”

Beyond AI, climate technology has become another highlight of London’s technology industry. Zhao states that London has always been an advocate and leader in the sustainability field. The UK capital set a goal a few years ago to become a zero-carbon city by 2030 and a zero-waste city by 2050. With strong policy support, “London has become the ideal ‘experimental field’ for international scientific and technological innovation companies in the sustainable technology field,” Zhao says.

London’s climate technology companies raised a total of $3.5 billion in 2023, a significant increase from the $2.2 billion amassed in 2022. Zhao emphasized that last year, London & Partners helped 100 scientific and technological innovation companies from around the world land in London, of which 23% were in the climate technology field, doubling the number who they helped bed in 2022. These companies created nearly 1,000 job opportunities, a 200% increase compared to the previous year. The firms included BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, which also chose London as its UK headquarters.

From garnering attention to leading change

London’s attractiveness as a tech hub has seen funds pour into the city from around the world.

London startups raised over $12.9 billion in venture capital in 2023, the highest of any European city and almost equivalent to the total of the following three European cities (Paris, Stockholm, and Berlin). This was part of a trend that has seen London’s VC investors raise more than $24 billion in the past three years, accounting for over 30% of the total VC funds in Europe over that period. In addition, London continues to welcome the entry of many influential investment funds including A16z, Antler, BDA Partners, as well as Sustainable Ventures, Octopus Ventures, and 2150, while global venture capital companies such as Index Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sequoia have recently set up important institutions or new funds in the city.

Zhao says that London Tech Week, held annually in June, has played an important role in building the UK capital’s technology ecosystem. The event brings together leading companies, founders, investors, government agencies, and future talents from around the world to discuss the most urgent issues facing business and society.

Zhao’s firm, London & Partners, has long provided diverse community activities for companies registered in London, helping companies – especially small and medium-sized scientific and technological innovation companies – better integrate into the city’s mature business ecosystem and connect with broader resources. Zhao emphasizes that London is increasingly becoming a gathering center for major companies and institutions.

London & Partners have organized community activities like “Meet the Investor” and “Meet the Corporate” to connect scientific and technological innovation companies seeking financing with investment opportunities, or to provide platforms for companies to connect with institutions and large enterprises. Recently, the firm has organized an opportunity for financial technology companies to exchange ideas with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in London. Zhao notes that “In London, our community activities also emphasize internationalization. In addition to our Grow London Global program to support the internationalization of enterprises, the London Tech Week in 2023 attracted participants from 168 countries and regions, as well as many national pavilions — such as from the Netherlands, Germany, Dubai, Poland, and Pakistan — showcasing the development of their respective scientific and technological ecosystems.”

Since its founding in 2014, London Tech Week has helped the UK capital’s technology ecosystem develop into an important center for nurturing startups and growing companies. According to data from Dealroom, the value of London’s technology ecosystem has grown enormously over the past decade, from $70 billion in 2014 to $621.5 billion in 2023. At the same time, since the founding of London Tech Week, London’s technology companies have raised a total of $107 billion.

Helping Chinese companies continue to tell good stories on the international stage

From high-tech products such as robots, EVs, and drones to new overseas territories represented by Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa, from the sweeping presence of Shein in the global fashion retail landscape to the rise of MIXUE Ice Cream & Tea in Southeast Asia, there’s a new wave of companies looking to go overseas.

In this context, it is not hard to see the importance of London as a global springboard for companies that have already joined this journey or are considering including overseas markets in their future expansion plans.

Zhao states that in the past year, London & Partners has helped 20 science and technology enterprises of different scales from the Greater China region to settle in London. In addition to BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, the agency has provided assistance and support for PingPong Payments, a financial technology enterprise headquartered in Hangzhou, to expand its UK business. From an industrial perspective, these Chinese enterprises come from different industries. London & Partners have also worked with firms from the creative technology, industrial digitalization solutions, and biopharmaceutical industries.

“2023 was a fruitful year for the Greater China region,” says Zhao. “In 2024, we hope to continue to assist more Chinese enterprises planning to go global, enabling them to better integrate into the science and technology ecosystem of the UK and London, benefit from London’s mature and well-established international business ecosystem, smoothly settle in London for development, and expand internationally from London as a starting point. At the same time, we will continue to seek suitable platforms for Chinese enterprises, such as London Tech Week, the GROW Summit, and other technology or industry-related events, to help Chinese enterprises tell their stories on international platforms.”

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

The Apple store in Jing’an district is still designed by the renowned British architectural firm Foster+Partners, which previously designed Apple’s new headquarters in California and created many innovative stores for Apple, such as the floating sphere in Singapore (Apple Marina Bay Sands), the Italian flagship store with a water curtain, and the bamboo-surrounded flagship store in Macao.

As the eighth Apple retail store in Shanghai, the opening of this store signifies that there are 57 Apple Store retail stores in Greater China. The opening of Apple Jing’an district store undoubtedly injects new vitality into Apple’s retail business in China.

The inspiration for the logo of this new store comes from the city flower of Shanghai, the magnolia, symbolizing the city’s innovation and pioneering spirit. The opening of this new store further solidifies Shanghai’s position as an important market for Apple’s retail business. Since the opening of the Pudong distric store in Shanghai in 2010, Apple’s retail business has made significant progress in Shanghai. Over the past 14 years, the seven retail stores in Shanghai have served over 160 million customers, and the online store has also attracted a large number of visitors.

Apple has had a 31-year development journey in China, achieving significant success in the Chinese market and establishing deep connections with local communities. The Apple Jing’an district store is no exception. Previously, Apple has been inviting local artists, musicians, and creative individuals to participate in activities, showcasing and teaching their creative processes, further enriching the shopping experience for customers. The Apple store in Jing’an district will continue this tradition of engaging with the local community.

This new Apple store has over 150 well-trained employees, including hearing-impaired individuals, musical theater actors (part-time), retired university professors, and etc.  In addition to Mandarin Chinese, the team is proficient in English, Japanese, Korean, German, Spanish, and Malay for communicating with customers. Employees can also speak 25 dialects, providing personalized service to Chinese customers from all over the country. Additionally, nearly one-third of the team members are from Shanghai, providing them with a deep understanding of the city and its residents.

On March 12th, Apple announced on its official website that it would expand its application research laboratory in China to support product manufacturing.   Apple stated that it would enhance the capabilities of its research center in Shanghai to provide support for reliability, quality, and material analysis for all product lines. Later this year, Apple will also open a new application research laboratory in Shenzhen.

In fact, despite the increasingly competition in the Chinese market, Apple still believes that this market holds significant opportunities worth cultivating, which is also the signal conveyed by this new store.

Huawei and Chinese automaker BAIC are aiming for monthly sales of their first joint electric vehicle model under a new brand to exceed 10,000 units, as they also set their sights on markets in Asia and Europe, Chinese media has reported. 

Why it matters: The launch of the new car brand with BAIC, named Stelato and scheduled to be unveiled in April at this year’s Beijing Motor Show, would be another test for Huawei as the smartphone maker has been looking to grow its automotive business after being hit by US sanctions. 

• Huawei’s track record in EVs has so far been mixed. It has managed to bring the struggling Aito brand back to life with manufacturing partner Seres following the successful launch of the redesigned M7 plug-in hybrid crossover in September. However, the first Luxeed EV was a setback for the tech giant and its partner Chery, as buyers were confounded by delivery delays stretching for months. 

Details: Huawei and BAIC Bluepark, a mainland-listed subsidiary of the state-owned automaker, expect monthly sales of the first model under the new Stelato brand to achieve more than 10,000 units, according to an internal memo seen by Yicai (in Chinese). 

• According to the report, the executive sedan will be priced between RMB 300,000 and RMB 500,000 ($41,730-$69,550), and is scheduled to debut next month at this year’s Beijing Motor Show; it would then officially launch in June. 
• BAIC, a main partner of Daimler in China, is planning to create a capacity of around 300,000 EVs for the Stelato project, with more high-end EV models from sports sedans to SUVs in the pipeline, the report said. 
• The automaker last month told investors it is setting up a sales and service network for overseas markets, especially Europe and Asia. An existing partner to Huawei, BAIC sold fewer than 50,000 units of its Arcfox-branded EVs from 2021 to 2023. 
• Meanwhile, Huawei is set to launch its first model as part of a separate partnership with JAC Motor by the end of this year. The two companies plan to produce 35,000 units of the multi-purpose vehicle annually in a new plant scheduled for completion in 2025, according to an environmental filing published on March 1. 

Context: More Chinese automakers, such as state-owned Changan and Dongfeng, are joining Huawei’s expanding “Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance” in hopes of re-creating their brand images with Huawei’s smart cockpit and automated driving technologies, and leveraging its sales network.

• Aito for now remains the biggest success story of Huawei’s push into EVs, as vehicle deliveries grew 24% year-on-year to 94,380 units in 2023. Sales further increased to more than 54,000 units during the first two months of this year when most automakers reported flagging sales.

Chinese electric vehicle makers are taking a ferocious price war to a new level as BYD and its peers kicked off 2024 with dozens of redesigned models that boast improved specifications at lower price tags. 

For conventional carmakers, the situation is different from previous stages of the battle, as their Chinese counterparts claimed for the first time that “electric is cheaper than gas,” meaning their EVs now reach or even surpass price parity with similar combustion engine models. This milestone was supposed to take place as early as 2026, according to forecasts from BloombergNEF. Its ahead-of-schedule arrival is ushering a new phase for China’s car industry.

The world’s biggest EV market is being reshaped by a seemingly endless price war that has been going on for a year, and 2024 will likely be a defining moment for those faced with flagging sales, persistent losses, and cash flow pressure, analysts say. The following explainer looks at the causes and implications associated with the recent price cuts by automakers in China, as well as what we might expect in the future. 

The good: reduced costs, innovation

Among the key reasons for the price reductions is the plunging cost of raw materials for EV batteries, as the spot price of battery-grade lithium carbonate fell from more than RMB 500,000 ($69,450) per ton to just over RMB 100,000 throughout the last year. Jefferies analysts calculated that Chinese EV makers saw their gross profit margin recover by 2.3% in the third quarter of 2023 with average lithium prices falling by RMB 200,000. 

A vertically integrated supply chain stretching from batteries to chips has also granted EV leaders BYD and Tesla the ability to achieve economies of scale and innovate products rapidly. BYD, which has had strong “pricing power” especially in the price segment between RMB 100,000 and RMB 200,000, will embrace a proactive approach to competition, chairman Wang Chuanfu told investors during an earnings call last March (our translation). 

Analysts expect the downward trend in lithium prices to continue, as vast amounts of capital were poured into new mines in China following the price rise in 2022, resulting in a severely imbalanced market. Lithium prices could come in as low as RMB 90,000 a ton in the fourth quarter of this year, creating more room for most companies to make price adjustments, Jefferies strategists said in a Jan. 10 note. Meanwhile, EV makers such as Xpeng Motors are likely to improve vehicle margins “to some extent” thanks to innovations in fields such as automated driving. 

The bad: overcapacity, slowing growth

On the other hand, however, Chinese EV makers have been under pressure to boost sales volumes as they grapple with a clear capacity glut and slowing growth against the backdrop of weak momentum and insufficient demand. 

Only 20 out of 77 car manufacturers in China ran at more than 60% of their maximum operating capacity last year with numbers from the rest coming in under industry-competitive levels, according to public records. Tina Zhou, chief executive of auto parts trading platform Gasgoo, commented on social media on Dec. 17, citing this overcapacity as a major reason for the industry-wide price war over the past year. In January, the Chinese government said it would take “forceful measures to prevent superfluous projects” related to EV manufacturing, Reuters reported. 

Although China’s leadership in EV is seen as a bright spot in a faltering global economy and amid a domestic economic downturn, experts have painted a picture of a resilient but slowing market, flagging more price cuts to come as sluggish consumption abounds. Bernstein expects China’s EV sales growth to be “still impressive” but slower at 25% for 2024 compared to 35% last year, with a combined total of approximately 185 new EV models set to go on sale this year. 

“Consumers are getting spoiled by deep discounts and believe they will eventually negotiate a better price even for those new cars coming to the market,” Bernstein analysts wrote in a Jan. 10 note. 

Could it get ugly?

The unprecedented battle for the world’s biggest and most competitive EV market has pressured international auto majors from Ford to Toyota to scale back their operations since last year, with their market share (Tesla excluded) declining from 51.6% to 38.3% during 2021-2023. Citic Securities on Feb. 22 forecast (in Chinese) that number to drop to below 20% over the long term, with only German luxury carmakers able to maintain their presence. 

Meanwhile, a new wave of consolidation and some reshuffling is underway among Chinese EV makers as repeated price cuts allow the bigger ones to grab more market share and put their smaller rivals under financial pressure. The top 10 players could together claim a combined 85% of the market in 2024, driving smaller players out of business, Changan Automobile chairman Zhu Huarong, a delegate of the National People’s Congress, told Chinese reporters on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Two Sessions meetings in Beijing.

Not everyone agrees. NIO founder and chief executive William Li told TechNode during a media event in December that the company is preparing for a long drawn-out fight, while UBS 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. 

Either way, it could be an almighty battle – it will be thrilling to see who emerges victorious.

Note: The article was first published on TNGlobal written by Yimie Yong.

The 2nd China-Malaysia Science & Technology Innovation Summit kicked off in MRANTI Park, Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday (March 6) with the theme “Fostering Collaborative Innovation, Building the Future Together”.

The two-day summit is one of the key commemorative initiatives for the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia.

The summit focuses on showcasing and discussing technologies related to artificial intelligence (AI), agricultural technology, and biomedicine. The event also features a series of presentations, panel discussions, and TechInnoStar Pitching sessions.

The opening ceremony on Wednesday morning saw government officials, executives, and leaders from various technology industries and the corporate world gathering at MRANTI Park, where they discussed the role of technology in empowering various industries in the future.

Here are some key takeaways from the opening ceremony speakers:

1. Minister of Economy of Malaysia Rafizi Ramli

The shared future of Malaysia and China must lie in a third vertical: the flow of ideas through innovation and technological transfer, according to Rafizi.
“As we enter 2024, the year of the dragon, it marks 50 years since our second Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak, established diplomatic ties with Premier Zhou Enlai. Whilst Malaysia became the first of all ASEAN countries to do so in 1974, it would be myopic to ignore our relationship in the hundred years prior,” he said.

“Ours is a shared past. Historically, one that stretches back to the envoys of the Ming dynasty arriving at the ports of Malacca to establish their trade base. Little did those Chinese merchants know that our trading relationship would blossom to the extent of today.”

“For almost 15 years now, China has been Malaysia’s largest trading partner, one that is valued at over MYR487 billion ($102.92 billion). This is only one of many facets that underpin our partnership,” he said.

Investment-wise, in 2023, Malaysia has secured over MYR189 billion ($39.94 billion) in investments and memorandum of understanding from Chinese companies.

“Just as ours is a shared past, ours too is a community with a shared future. With already established flows of capital and people, the search for the next vertical to deepen our relations is of utmost priority. I argue that the third vertical must lie in the flow of ideas,” he said, adding that ideas are in the form of disruptive innovation and technological transfer.

“For example, Malaysia is an Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Testing (OSAT) powerhouse, with about 13 percent global market share,” he said.

With such a wide, backend base, Malaysia is the ideal test bed for high-end Chinese technology. It is an industry poised for commercial expansion in the form of advancements in integrated circuit design, Rafizi added.

“If Malaysia’s industries – from agriculture, manufacturing, and healthcare – can start playing in the realms of frontier science and tech, our economy will be able to move up the value chain and simultaneously break free from the chains of the middle-income trap. This can only have a positive cascading effect on Malaysia and China’s relationship,” he said.

2. Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Ouyang Yujing

Innovation prospers a country with inexhaustible drive, and ‘Science and technology is the primary productive force, according to Ouyang. Keenly aware of this, the Chinese government attaches great importance to the development of science, technology, and innovation (STI).

In his speech, Ouyang said China will continue to implement the Belt and Road STI Cooperation Action Plan, by setting up more joint laboratories with other parties, scheduled to reach 100 in the next five years, and supporting more young foreign scientists to work in China on short-term programs, Ouyang added.

According to him, China and Malaysia have agreed to hold the 3rd China-Malaysia Intergovernmental Joint Committee Meeting on STI this year, which will further expand people-to-people exchanges in science and technology and R&D cooperation of common interest.

“Friendship between China and Malaysia dates back to a long time ago, which has withstood tests and hardships. This year marks the 50th anniversary of China and Malaysia establishing diplomatic relations,” he said in his speech.

“President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Anwar (Ibrahim) have reached an important consensus on jointly building the China-Malaysia community with a shared future, opening a new chapter for our bilateral relations. China and Malaysia have made impressive achievements in jointly implementing the Belt and Road Initiative,” he added.

3. Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology & Innovation (MRANTI) CEO Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff

Rais announced the Science and Technology Park Twinning initiative between MRANTI Park and Zhongguancun Science Park in Beijing.

“Our recent initiatives have positioned MRANTI Park as a Global 4IR Hub, poised to unlock next-generation innovation,” he said.

“Inspired by my trip to China, where I had the privilege of exploring the Zhongguancun Science Park in Beijing, one of the world’s largest science parks, boasting over 200 research & development centers, 90 higher learning institutions, and 400 research institutes. Now, I am delighted to take this opportunity to share with you the fruitful outcome of my team’s recent visit to Z-Park,” he said.

“One of the key highlights of our visit was the initiation of the Science and Technology Park Twinning initiative,” Rais said.

“The initiative seeks to enhance collaboration between MRANTI and Z-Park, promoting the adoption of best practices, knowledge sharing, and institutional excellence. It includes program-level partnerships to facilitate the exchange of tech companies between the two countries that will significantly influence the future of technology and innovation in both nations,” he added.

4.TusStar Holdings President, TusStar Chairman Zhang Jinsheng

TusStar came to Malaysia in 2018, establishing its first overseas incubation base in Southeast Asia, Zhang said.

“With a focus on incubating tech enterprises, TusStar has successfully incubated over 300 companies in the past five years, 80 percent of which are Malaysian companies,” he noted.
TusStar is committed to promoting the exchange of ideas and collaborations in technology between China and Malaysia. Every year, it facilitates at least 1,000 companies between Malaysia and China.

In the past five years, TusStar (Malaysia) has organized over 400 mid to large-scale events, including the China-Malaysia Science & Technology Innovation Summit, among others. These events have extensively connected resources from higher institutions, corporations, investment institutions, and other sectors.

“Standing at the new historical starting point of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia, under the guidance of the Belt and Road Initiative, TusStar will continue to work hard and cultivate a thriving technology and innovation ecosystem in Malaysia,” he said.

TusStar will strive to nurture tech startups with innovative and internationally competitive capabilities, and explore the construction of “two countries, two parks” to inject new impetus into the development of tech enterprises in China and Malaysia and regional innovation, he said.

Co-hosted by TusStar and MRANTI, the 2nd China-Malaysia Science & Technology Innovation Summit is also integrated into the series of activities commemorating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Malaysia.

During the Web Summit in Doha, Dr. Gang Lu explores the factors driving China’s rapid tech industry growth in the past decade with Harry Man, Partner at Matrix Partners China, and Cindy Chow, Executive Director & CEO at Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Funding. Their thought-provoking discussion centered on “The Industries Driving China’s Growth”.  

This brief synopsis encapsulates the key insights and standout moments from their dialogue. The full video interview is readily accessible below. The conversation also delves into the trend of Chinese companies going overseas, the challenges for business models in China, and other tech-related questions. 

Panel Insights Summarize

Dr. Gang Lu: Can you share with us what you think of the past 10 to 15 years? What kind of key factor drove China’s tech industry so fast? 

Harry Man: First of all, people are getting richer to understand they have a lot of money that they can spend. Then, the internet penetration has been up to scale that everybody will get access to fast internet and the third thing is the creation and the penetration of smartphones. These three things create the golden 10 years that we’ve been experiencing from 2008 to 2018. China is very lucky to be in the market. We are rich enough. We have spare time. We can spend and then have the right engineers in the market to create all these apps that create the entire market booming.

Cindy Chow: We also see a similar trend. The takeoff is initially very slow but with the efforts from VC and also the efforts from the government inputting in a lot of money to kick start the ecosystem, we see the growth is gaining a lot of steam in the last few years. 

Dr. Gang Lu: If you look at the next 10 to 15 years, do you think there will be a lot of changes in China? 

Harry Man: I think one of the most important things is the economy is changing and growing and the needs for the government and the entrepreneurs at the same time for the users and users have been changing moving alone with the growth of the economy. I wouldn’t always say that geopolitical is putting a stop or a barrier sometimes it is encouraging and giving out new opportunities to entrepreneurs to start their businesses and to be a little bit more active. Now, the world has been changing. Chinese national strategy is mainly encouraging a lot of deep tech and AI because we want an ecosystem to be self-sufficient. 

Cindy Chow: The industries we see a shift and then geographically we also see a shift that used to be in Beijing, or Shanghai Yangtze River Region. But I’m pretty confident with the prospect of the Greater Bay Area which is close to Hong Kong. 

Dr. Gang Lu: We see more and more Chinese companies, especially tech companies, they are going out of China. Do you think that will be the new opportunities for investors?  

Harry Man: This could be the next wave of potential Chinese companies to go overseas. Nowadays, things have been changed. Many of these companies wanted to start fresh to be international from day one. There are a lot of deep tech companies going overseas as well. 

Cindy Chow: We have a term called sea turtle, Chinese some who study or live abroad and then return to China to start their own business. But right now we are seeing that sea turtle who used to have relocated back to China trying to go overseas. 

Dr. Gang Lu: We always see we invest in a Chinese company to help them to go overseas. But do you think that’s another trend we invest in overseas startups and then bring them to China? 

Cindy Chow: I guess that’s possible and perhaps the Greater Bay Area could be one of the opportunities. 

Dr. Gang Lu: Which particular sector of AI are you looking at and the most interested in right now? 
Harry Man: The business model of OpenAI does not work in China and enterprise services are tough. On the other hand, there is another angle that works in China which is using the fundamental foundation models to create use cases and applications in the Chinese market. 

Amidst the dynamic landscape of the Web Summit Qatar, Dr. Gang Lu engaged in a thought-provoking interview with Bill Deng, the Founder and CEO of XTransfer with the theme “AI at the helm: accelerate B2B growth in 2024”.  

In this summary, we encapsulate the key insights and highlights from their discussion. For those eager to delve deeper, watch the full video interview below to provide an immersive exploration into the future of AI-led business acceleration.

Panel Insights Summarize

Dr. Gang Lu: When we talk about cross-border B2B e-commerce, there should be lots of changes before the pandemic or after the pandemic. So can you show us what change you saw in the past? Tell us what’s changed right now. 

Bill Deng: In B2B, the trade tack is happening anywhere after the pandemic. The regulators are introducing technology platforms. So everybody is introducing the digital solution. But still, for B2B, it’s so scattered, that we don’t see a comprehensive digital platform that aggregates everything. Just like, everyone is talking about the platform the B2B version of Amazon will appear. But it is still missing right now. 

Dr. Gang Lu: On the payment side, what is the difference between B2B and B2C?

Bill Deng: B2C payment from all the platforms like Visa, master card, or Paypal, payment companies have been playing dominating roles in B2C payment but for B2B there are banks traditionally. Actually, like underground money services, they kind of became mainstream in some countries. So on top of banks, we don’t see payment companies or payment platforms playing a very important role, unlike B2C…So we create an AI-driven infrastructure to deal with all these AML challenges facing importers or exporters. 

By leveraging AI technology, we can not only help fight against the underground banking system, which enables banks to serve SMEs easily, but also offer streamlined processes and enhance compliance measures within our platform. It’s a triple-win situation.

Dr. Gang Lu: Talking about the adoption of AI. As you said, now XTransfer is using AI to help customers open the bank. How do you see extract for maybe the next five to ten years by AI technology? What’s the perfect solution for the customer?  

Bill Deng: We believe AI would change every corner of this business operation so we are monitoring the breaking point of AI. It could replace human beings, to replace manual work. We believe this could happen. So we are keeping sensitive about the change. We’re flexible and ready to introduce all these solutions that are ready to provide their value to our platform.  

Dr. Gang Lu: I’m sure now lots of customers come from China, you’re helping the Chinese to go overseas to sell products overseas. Do you have any plans to help global clients to sell stuff anywhere in the world? 

Bill Deng: XTransfer serves importers and exporters around the world and it makes the supply chain in global trade much easier. 

Dr. Gang Lu: How do you see as a founder to build an international company

Bill Deng: Regulation could be very complicated in cross-border trade. But we still believe this is the right strategy to go with. I think there are just two things to do: dare to do, dare to go globally. The second thing is we must adapt to cautiously implement everything. 

Dr. Gang Lu: How do you see the trends in the future like transporter e-commerce?

Bill Deng: E-commerce is happening in the B2C area but we believe that eventually it will be brought into B2B. All these technology-digitized solutions are so scattered but eventually, they will be linked together. 

Dr. Gang Lu: What’s your opinion of OpenAI for startups? Is it good to adopt OpenAI or deal with something on their own?  

Bill Deng: On the one hand, we are utilizing the large language model but we will not only use the OpenAI solution. On the other hand, we are trying our model. It’s a small language model that focuses on trade settlement-related topics.

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

As China’s domestic smart manufacturing industry enters a new stage of development, the demand for robots continues to rise. YOUIBOT, as a highly influential participant in the production of industrial mobile robots, is having a considerable impact on the normalization of the use of robots across the entire Chinese manufacturing industry. A pioneer in China, the company is also looking at international expansion, with the exploration of markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and the US. 

As part of our Next China series, TechNode conducted a special interview with Zhang Chaohui, the founder and CEO of YOUIBOT, to discuss his firm’s products, the challenges of international expansion, and the future of robotics. 

1. YOUIBOT is already a pioneer in the field of industrial robotics. Tell us a little about your company’s journey to date. 

YOUIBOT applies high-precision Slam navigation mobile robots and application software systems to provide advanced manufacturing with upgraded in-house logistics solutions and intelligent inspection and operation solutions for the energy industry.

In the industrial logistics sector, YOUIBOT focuses on in-house logistics for advanced manufacturing, achieving a closed-loop of material flow and data flow throughout the facility’s entire lifecycle. YOUIBOT has committed to the semiconductor industry, covering the entire production process from upstream wafer fabrication, chip packaging and testing, to downstream assembly. It is the largest mobile robot enterprise in terms of shipments in the semiconductor field. Additionally, YOUIBOT continues to explore the new energy sector with lithium battery production at its core and is a partner to many well-known semiconductor and lithium battery manufacturing companies both domestically and internationally.

YOUIBOT has dedicated itself to the energy industry’s inspection and maintenance field. By utilizing robot motion control technology, AI vision algorithm technology, multi-machine scheduling, and online monitoring technology, YOUIBOT provides customers with a comprehensive intelligent inspection solution and assists energy industry clients in creating smart power plants, intelligent power grids, and other new intelligent management systems, offering intensive, intelligent, and unmanned advanced inspection and maintenance capabilities.

YOUIBOT focuses on advanced manufacturing logistics in China, primarily targeting the semiconductor and lithium battery fields, as well as providing intelligent inspection and maintenance solutions in the fields of electricity, new energy, and petrochemicals. Since 2021, YOUIBOT has actively expanded into overseas markets, with products shipped to over 30 countries and regions, and the establishment of more than 60 network sales channels.

In the global wave of industrial intelligence upgrades, autonomous mobile robots, as an advanced and mature productivity tool, play a significant role across various industries. In the field of mobile robots, China’s robot technology is on par with international standards, with the broadest market potential. 

2. The new energy industry, semiconductor industry, and 3C industry are currently highly dynamic sectors, both domestically and overseas. How has YOUIBOT adapted to this opportunity? 

We have a systematic process for industry analysis and selection, focusing on ‘advanced manufacturing and advanced capacity.’ In these fields, there is a pressing need for expansion and efficiency improvement, making the introduction of mobile robots for logistics automation in factories both necessary and urgent.

With this logic, industries such as semiconductors and lithium batteries become our primary focus. We concentrate on the production and manufacturing processes of these scenarios, developing integrated solutions for mobile robots. This ensures automated logistics on the production line as well as seamless data connectivity and helps factories achieve a closed loop of material and data flows throughout the entire production cycle, contributing to the goal of improving quality and efficiency.

However, it is not easy to achieve depth in the industry. Taking semiconductors as an example, wafer production is the most precise and demanding area in the electronics manufacturing process, requiring high standards for mobile robot equipment. For instance, to achieve class 100 cleanliness, the slightest vibration during handling will affect the yield of the lobes. We spent nearly two years in the early stages understanding the industry, and constantly refining product performance through interactions with factories and research centers. In 2021, we launched a composite mobile robot specifically for wafer production, and market feedback indicates that our early technical efforts have yielded excellent results. In industry technical performance tests, we often top the rankings, earning customer recognition and trust.

Facing the overseas market, we introduced the ‘Integrated’ strategy in 2022, expecting overseas business to account for over 30% of our activity within three years. We deeply integrate our rich and scalable landing experience in the Chinese semiconductor and lithium battery industries, along with the efficient integration capabilities and long-term customer service experience of local partners. This creates friendly and comprehensive service support, forming an overseas business layout centered on customers and supported by local partners.

Since officially entering the Japanese market in 2022, YOUIBOT has completed a comprehensive channel roll-out and established strong cooperative relationships with powerful players. This year, we will also establish a subsidiary in Japan, providing 24/7 responsive sales, technical support, and after-sales service capabilities. Thanks to the rapid development of Chinese manufacturing, Chinese industrial mobile robot brands have accumulated extensive project experience in improving manufacturing efficiency, automating upgrades, and landing high-end capacity over the past few years.

The foundation of industrial automation in the European market stems more from the accumulation of the past 20-30 years. YOUIBOT has a more mature experience compared to local European brands in the rapid deployment and application experience of new technologies. In the process of landing projects in the Chinese market, our products have undergone more stringent requirements, are constantly refined, and have superior performance including navigation accuracy, battery life, and fixed integrated interfaces. Simultaneously, experience from multiple project landings allows YOUIBOT to have a more complete understanding of end-user applications, providing more comprehensive solutions to customers and addressing their on-site needs and issues quickly. In addition to product performance advantages and solution capabilities, YOUIBOT provides more cost-effective products compared to European and American brands.

3. What are some of the challenges that Chinese companies face when they go global?

We said that every step in the global roll-out is a new beginning. Economic, political, industrial, and cultural factors vary greatly across different countries and regions. We first need to clarify the underlying logic of product demand, then tailor solutions that adapt to the corresponding needs based on different application scenarios.

• Products: Upgrade standard products running domestically to meet overseas standards, and refine them according to the requirements of overseas customers.
• Services: Provide comprehensive training and support to the channel network, offer 24/7 online services for key regions, and gradually establish local teams to enhance service efficiency.
• Sales: Layout and coverage of the channel network.

4. Robots are becoming increasingly crucial in the era of intelligent manufacturing, with some big name players such as ByteDance and Tesla entering the sector. How does YOUIBOT view the competition brought to the industry by these tech giants? 

The unveiling of Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot in 2023 generated a lot of discussion among the public and led to sustained attention in the entire field of robotics. Robotics is an extensive field encompassing various types of service robots, special-purpose robots, and industrial robots like ours used in industrial settings. On a macro level, we hope more industry giants join the robotics market, introducing additional technology and resources to accelerate the iteration and evolution of the robotics industry. However, in the specific field of industrial mobile robots where we operate, unlike the consumer market, industrial scenarios are intricately segmented. Understanding customer points within these complex scenarios and providing professional solutions impose high demands on AMR (Autonomous Mobile Robot) vendors. One needs to comprehend both the scenarios and robot technology. Therefore, the entry barriers in this field are relatively high. 

Our technological foundation is quite solid, with over 50% of our team dedicated to research and development. We have established a modular and configurable product architecture tailored to diverse scenarios, enabling us to rapidly develop and deploy solutions to meet various market demands. Simultaneously, we collaborate with experts, educational institutions, and enterprises to create innovation labs, tackle research projects, and maintain exploration at the forefront of technology. In March 2023, we took the lead in a national key research and development project in semiconductors, aiming to fill the gap in industrial software for semiconductor production.

5. The rise of generative AI has led to some concerns over the technology in wider society. Are there similar issues regarding robotics? Where do you see the future of the sector?

We believe that mobile robots are a mature and advanced productivity tool. In the future, they will have various roles and positions similar to humans, participating in social production activities alongside humans. They will supplement human labor, free human hands, coexist harmoniously with humans, and contribute to creating a more harmonious world.

I don’t have much say on humanoid robots; I prefer to focus on the field of industrial mobile robots that I am engaged in. Currently, mobile robots, much like the early days of the internet, are gradually infiltrating various industries, bringing about a transformation in traditional production methods. It can be anticipated that as the scale of mobile robots grows, they will, in the future, develop their ecosystem, much like the automotive industry, with dedicated sales and service centers, charging stations, and cleaning facilities, forming their ecological industry.

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).

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.

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!

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.

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 carmaker Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC) is strengthening its alliance with ride-hailing platform Didi, investing up to $75 million into the latter’s autonomous driving unit. The move is expected to help GAC enhance its self-driving technological capabilities and sustain its sound growth momentum in the Chinese electric vehicle segment, according to an industry veteran. 

The deal, nearly clinched over three years ago, has recently been revived by the two companies as the impact from Beijing’s extended crackdown on Didi has waned, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told TechNode on Friday. It also comes against the backdrop of Didi’s renewed efforts to solidify its position as China’s biggest ride-hailing service with new incentives, putting smaller rivals under pressure. 

Self-driving push: Autonomous driving has proven to be among the most capital-intensive startup businesses on the current tech landscape, and the extended collaboration with Didi would allow GAC to share its costs and risks of making robocars, said Liu Guanghao, partner at Shanghai-based venture capital firm Befor Capital.

• The first robotaxi jointly developed by GAC and Didi is slated to join Didi’s ride-hailing network for commercial operation in 2025, the companies said earlier this year. GAC’s EV arm, Aion, announced a partnership with Didi back in May 2021 to develop a mass-produced car with Level 4 autonomous capabilities, indicating that the car can pilot itself without a human driver most of the time.
• Didi will also jointly test and operate autonomous vehicles for ride-hailing with OnTime, a mobility platform launched by GAC with partners in 2019, as disclosed by an anonymous source. OnTime, primarily active in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong where its parent company is headquartered, has been testing AVs with Toyota-backed Pony.ai, as well as Nissan-supported WeRide.

EV sales boost: The investment would also help GAC’s core carmaking business achieve sustained growth, especially in the Chinese commercial fleet segment, where its EV brand Aion has established a significant presence over the years, according to Liu. “Carmakers need more sales in order to survive in this highly competitive market,” he said. 

• Aion ranked second in sales among all-electric vehicles for ride-hailing, with approximately 49,000 units sold from January to October 2022, which accounted for 29% of its total sales, according to figures compiled by Shanghai-based consultancy LandRoads (in Chinese). BYD was the top-selling brand in the field, with sales of 35,000 more units during the same period, although this accounted for only 14% of its total volume. 
• GAC told investors last March that shipments of its Aion EVs for ride-hailing services only accounted for 12% of its total sales. The automaker, also a manufacturing partner for Toyota and Honda in China, reported sales of nearly 360,000 Aion EVs from January to September and is hoping to achieve 500,000 units for this year, which could almost double the number it sold in 2022. 

Context: GAC Capital, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the automaker, as well as state-owned Guangzhou Development District Investment Group, will invest the same amount of up to $149 million totally in Didi’s self-driving unit. GAC is set to inject no more than $75 million in the funding round, according to a Friday announcement (in Chinese). 

• OnTime is currently pursuing a public listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange, four years after it was launched by GAC along with a group of investors including Didi and Chinese gaming giant Tencent in mid-2019. It completed roughly 60 million rides last year and has operated in 21 domestic cities in the country’s Greater Bay area as of June. 
• GAC declined to comment when contacted by TechNode on Friday. Didi did not respond to TechNode’s request for comment. 

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

After the era of going global, China’s overseas expansion through mobile applications is entering a new period of development.

Take the gaming sector as an example. According to data previously released by Adjust, in 2022, the total overseas revenue of Chinese games reached $17.3 billion, which is equivalent to 60% of the country’s domestic gaming revenue, and saw Chinese firms capture a 15% share of the global mobile gaming market, which is valued at $110 billion. Furthermore, Adjust also points out that there is still significant room for growth in the overseas revenue of Chinese games, with the projection that this figure will increase to $26.5 billion by 2026. Correspondingly, nearly 80% of Chinese app developers have plans to go global.

It is not difficult to observe that although the growth rate of the mobile application market has begun to fall back to the pre-epidemic level gradually and domestic competition is increasing, both enterprises and individual developers are increasingly considering the overseas market as a necessary option.

Recently, at the 2023 Google Developers Conference, TNGlobal had the honor of having a conversation with Purnima Mehta, the Global Vice President of Partnerships at Google Play, about the recent changes in the overseas expansion of Chinese developers and the prospects of this new wave of Chinese developers going global.

Mehta was last in China four years ago. Based on her experiences in engaging with Chinese developers during this period, she noted a significant change at the developer level. Previously, Chinese developers focused on the Chinese market and gradually expanded globally. However, Chinese developers are now starting with a global perspective. She notes that Chinese developers are more ambitious, with many aiming to reach a global audience, even small companies. 

Google Play announces awards at the end of each year, selected based on different local markets. Notably, 48 Chinese applications received Best of Play awards from 23 markets and regions at the end of 2022. According to Mehta,  “This shows that Chinese developers truly understand the demands of different local markets.”

Mehta also pointed out several factors behind Chinese developers achieving such broad success in overseas markets. Firstly, the size of the Chinese domestic market is immense, so Chinese developers are accustomed to working in a market on a very large scale. Secondly, China has long emphasized overseas markets. Therefore, developers naturally have a global mindset. Thirdly, there are abundant resources. She mentioned that China has a vast talent pool, capable of building large teams.

“I’ve seen a statistic that there are 110 million developers in China with significant development capabilities. So it’s hard to imagine the scale of developer teams and talent, as well as their testing capabilities,” Mehta told us. “The export-oriented mindset and the enormous market size lead Chinese developers to consider that their applications should be adaptable to various devices from the design stage. Unlike other markets, where the audience may be smaller and limited to specific types of devices, Chinese developers do not face such constraints. Additionally, China has a strong developer community that helps each other. Many people have undergone significant training, and this community fosters a great development atmosphere.”

With the mobile app global expansion track becoming increasingly competitive, the challenges in this field are also getting tougher. Regarding this, Mehta offered several suggestions. Firstly, in any industry, you must learn from the best in that industry. All Google and Android tools are open. So, you should not attempt shortcuts or rush to market your app; instead, focus on quality. The competition in this market is fierce, so you must learn from the best.

Secondly, you must understand what users need and what kind of value proposition you can provide. If your app is just like the others on the market, it’s hard to be successful. Therefore, while you need to learn from the best, you must also have your unique qualities.

“Thirdly, always remember to prioritize user trust and security. Once trust is lost, users are lost. Also, every time someone asks ‘what is it,’ I like to emphasize ‘how it’s done.’ I think you should consider yourself a user and use all these apps. So, start by being a user yourself, download as many apps as possible, and try them out. This is the easiest and simplest way to judge what is good and what is not. In China, there is a fantastic developer community. We have a very active group called the Google Developer Community, so Chinese developers should participate in these communities to exchange and learn. There is a lot of content available, and all the tools are free. So, you must try, test, and experience.”

With the theme of “Technology for a Sustainable Future,” the INCLUSION Conference on the Bund was held in Shanghai from September 7 to 9, bringing together global experts, scholars, and entrepreneurs to explore technological developments in economic industries.

On September 8, one of the events organizing committee members, Ant Group invited three overseas guests from the 10×1000 Tech for Inclusion program to the C3 Forum to share their views on the theme, “Building an inclusive digital economy with the new generation of innovators”: Nuraizah Shamsul Baharin (managing director of MADcash in Malaysia), Anbar Nawar (product manager at bKash in Bangladesh), and Opeyemi Praise (senior product manager at Sterling Bank in Nigeria). 

Underserved communities often face unique challenges when accessing and harnessing digital technologies. However, opportunities can emerge from developing the digital economy in these communities. The three guests individually presented insights into their local markets and the varied challenges involved in developing the digital economy.

10×1000 Tech for Inclusion Program Initiated by Ant Group and IFC

Before the panel discussion, the host briefly introduced the 10×1000 Tech for Inclusion Program, an initiative aimed at promoting tech inclusion and bridging the digital divide in underserved communities. 

The program focuses on providing support and resources to empower individuals and communities to fully participate in the digital economy. Its mission is to nurture and inspire at least 1,000 emerging talents and tech leaders each year for the next ten years. Currently, the program connects more than 5,000 individual talents in the global digital community, representing 96 countries and regions. 

Empowering women to build their own businesses in Malaysia

Fintech, short for financial technology, refers to the use of technology and innovation to provide financial services and solutions. It encompasses a broad spectrum of digital tools, applications, and platforms designed to enhance and streamline various aspects of financial activities, including banking, payments, investments, lending, and insurance.

MADCash in Malaysia is a financial service provider that offers a range of cash loan options to individuals in Malaysia, with a particular focus on underprivileged groups including women with limited educational backgrounds. MADCash offers personal loans with flexible repayment options, aiming to provide a hassle-free loan application process with minimal documentation requirements and fast approval times. 

MADCash stands for “multiply, assist, donate cash”, Nuraizah Shamsul Baharin, the managing director of MADCash explained at the panel. “We provide small funds for female entrepreneurs in our country who do not have access to credit. They cannot get loans since they are high risks for traditional banks, but we can help them build their small business,” she said.

In many developed countries and regions, resources related to education and employment are not equally accessible to women. Therefore, women face more obstacles in building their own startups, as most traditional banks often decline their loans for investments, due to factors such as credit history, educational background, and employment experiences. MADCash looks to offer one model for bypassing these traditional barriers.

Fostering trust in the digital economy for local customers in Bangladesh

bKash is a mobile financial service in Bangladesh, offering a diverse range of financial services, including money transfers, bill payments, mobile top-ups, and more, through a mobile app or USSD code. bKash has played a significant role in promoting financial inclusion in Bangladesh, especially among the unbanked population. One of the key advantages of bKash is its convenience. Users can easily send and receive money, pay bills, and make purchases using their mobile phones, without the need for a traditional bank account. 

However, a key challenge lies in ensuring trust and security in digital technology. Like any digital financial service, there is always a risk of fraud and unauthorized access to personal information. It is crucial for both bKash and its users to prioritize security measures and educate customers about safe usage practices.

“First of all, what we really struggle with is the dependency on cash. There is a huge difference between cities and semi-urban or rural areas,” Anbar Nawar, product manager at bKash, explained “People don’t have access to a lot of technological knowledge, so they are more prone to using cash, even if we provide them with enough awareness about our apps, and our services. No matter how easy that is, they feel more comfortable with cash.”

In addition to trust issues, Anbar also elaborated on other challenges, including employment difficulties for technological talents in Bangladesh, huge differences between urban and rural areas, and the need for financial-related education for local people.

Emerging markets and opportunities in Nigeria

Sterling Bank is a leading financial institution in Nigeria, offering a wide range of financial services to individuals, businesses, and institutions. It provides various financial services, including personal banking, corporate banking, asset management, treasury services, and electronic banking solutions. 

Similar to many banks in Nigeria, Sterling Bank has embraced digital banking to provide its customers with convenient and efficient banking services. This consists of internet banking, mobile banking, and other digital channels for transactions and account management.

“Last year, the total electronic transactions reached $1.7 trillion in Nigeria. It is projected to grow by 30% this year, at least, Opeyemi Praise, senior product manager at Sterling Bank, told the conference. “The internet penetration is 95% in our country. The challenge is that we need to advocate for overseas investors to localize their digital products for the local market.” 

Another key challenge that Praise mentioned was the need for educational training in financial and technological fields for the younger generations in Nigeria. Young people under the age of 30 comprise more than 70 percent of Nigeria’s population, he added, indicating enormous potential in the digital economy for this African country.

This article was supported by Ant Group. We believe in transparency in our publishing and monetization model. Read more here.

In a world of widespread economic uncertainty throughout most of 2023, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are looking for new technological solutions to accelerate their businesses in a volatile period following the sudden impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A senior executive at China’s Ant Group expected digitalization driven by innovative technologies to become a key factor during the post-pandemic recovery, especially the prosperity of SMEs, while also reducing financial exclusion and enhancing data security. 

Speaking during a panel discussion at this year’s INCLUSION·Conference on the Bund in Shanghai, Yang Peng, President of the International Business Group at Ant Group, said that digital transformation could help deepen SME merchants’ ties to consumers, and drive commerce with more growth tools. He also called for more collaborations among organizations to unleash the full potential of the digital economy.

Fragmented payment landscape

As the pandemic fueled a surge in online shopping and digital payments worldwide, almost all economies of the world have adopted payment innovations, significantly accelerating the development of e-wallets, bank apps, and super apps with a pay button.

However, technologies and support systems behind payment methods are not coordinated. In some countries, there are dozens of payment logos covering up a tiny cashier space. Because of this fragmented landscape, businesses, especially SMEs, face an incredibly complicated payment management situation. 

“SMEs do need a helping hand on the payment side,” said Yang. “They should primarily focus on their businesses and services to serve their customers without spending too much resources on payment.

In 2016, Ant Group initiated efforts to develop Alipay+, a suite of cross-border digital payment and marketing solutions. According to Yang, today Alipay+ connects over 20 payment apps from Thailand to Italy, allowing consumers to use their familiar e-wallets wherever they go. This also allows merchants to focus on improving their products and fine-tuning their services, without the need to handle the maze of payment routes.

SMEs go digital

Payment is the end of a positive consumer journey but also could be the beginning of many new ones. According to Yang, digitalization solutions derived from digital payment can do more to help businesses and the economy, and “many SMEs are hungry for growth and want to harvest the benefit from digitalization”. 

Ant Group is expanding SMEs’ access to more digital technologies, which reduces the barriers to market entry and enables them to operate more efficiently, saving them both time and resources. In November 2022, the Chinese fintech giant further strengthened these efforts with the launch of its Alipay+ D-store solution, enabling SMEs to build their all-in-one store across platforms and connect with different payment channels in just a few minutes using a suite of toolkits.

In Southeast Asia, with a large infrastructure deficit, there is still very limited access to digital and financial services for SMEs. Still, the demand is booming. According to Timothy Utama, Information Technology Director at Bank Mandiri, Indonesia’s state-controlled lender, Indonesia is not as big as China, but there is a lot of water in between which becomes a demographic challenge for financial services.

“We have 3.6 million SMEs in Thailand, which accounts for roughly 44% of the country’s GDP. This can really be a contributing factor if you can make a change,” echoed Monsinee Nakapanant, Co-President of Thailand’s online payment provider Ascend Money.

Privacy computing is a key

The wider adoption of digital technologies brings an increasing demand for data collaborations, which is, however, hindered by concerns such as data security, privacy, and confidentiality.

“We believe privacy-preserving computing (PPC) is a very powerful solution to address that issue of trust and efficiency,” said Yang, “PPC processes privacy data by encryption processing, multi-party computing, and other techniques. With PPC, Company A can share insights generated from its big data with Company B, without the need to provide the raw data to Company B. In other words, data becomes available for use but not visible, which mitigates the data privacy concern and meets regulatory requirements.” 

Yang also sees the urgent need for increased collaboration among various stakeholders to promote the technology and build an ecosystem as it extends beyond the technology itself. He envisions a more connected digital economy in which each party can fully harness the potential of data in the next decade. 

“In this new technological era, collaboration is the new way to compete,” said Utama at Bank Mandiri. “People usually say data is the new ore, but I would say show me the way to extract the ore. This is difficult to monetize. We learn from our partners, work with them, and move forward together as a win-win.”

The comments come a year after Ant Group announced the open source of its privacy-preserving computing framework last July, a project that would enable data analysis for different use cases without the need for decryption of original individual data. The company released an updated version in July this year to further address the pain points in data collaborations among parties. 

Ensuring security with AI

The Asian tech and finance industry is also ramping up efforts to address some of the most pressing issues with new technologies, such as biometrics and artificial intelligence, as online fraud evolves in the region.

Ascend Money has been using biometrics and AI to detect suspicious transactions and prevent hackers’ invasions with the help of Ant Group. Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy posted losses of $1 billion from online fraud and digital attacks last year, according to Nakapanant of Ascend Money. 

Meanwhile, American Express enjoys the lowest fraud rates in the industry, as the world’s fourth largest credit card network rebuilt its platform entirely on an end-to-end, closed-loop, modern architecture. “That’s something you probably see as well on the Ant Group side,” Mohammed Badi, President of Global Network Services at American Express, said in the same panel discussion. 

Ant Group reported last December that it sends over 500,000 alerts to users on average each day via its transaction fraud detection system, which can identify potential fraud in seconds and has been deployed on its Alipay app and partners’ platforms. 

“You can’t have true innovation at scale if the platform is insecure and if you’re not compliant with the laws and regulations of the land,” Badi added.

This article was supported by Ant Group. We believe in transparency in our publishing and monetization model. Read more here.

Xiaomi has been in the pilot production phase of bringing out its first electric vehicles for less than a month, according to a September 6 report by Jiemian. The company is currently producing around 50 prototype vehicles per week, sources familiar with the matter told Jiemian. The trial production period aims to test production line equipment, process integration, worker proficiency, and product consistency, the report said. Previously, Reuters reported that Xiaomi had obtained approval to manufacture the cars from China’s state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). For full access to the industry, it still needs support from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). “Xiaomi will obtain MIIT approval in two months, at most by the end of the year. Once Xiaomi gets this, it can start the full-scale production of its vehicles,” said sources. The Xiaomi car factory in Beijing is actively recruiting approximately 100 workers, the report said. Average monthly salaries are said to be in the range of RMB 6,000 ($819) to RMB 7,000 ($956) for an 8-hour workday with weekends off, according to Jiemian. [Jiemian, in Chinese]

Note: This article was first published on TechNode China (in Chinese).

China has been making strides in vehicle electrification for some time, with an eye to digitizing its entire automotive industry. As a key part of this shift, Chinese EV makers are currently competing to produce the most comprehensive assisted driving systems, endeavoring to turn their offerings into key selling points as the market matures.

Here, TechNode takes a look at the assisted driving software of three leading players in the Chinese EV sector.

Xpeng’s NGP advanced driver assistance system

The Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) is the standout feature of Xpeng’s new model, the G6. The car has possibly the most advanced autonomous driving technology in China: with its 31 smart sensors, the G6 outperforms its competitors. Dual forward-facing LiDAR sensors, millimeter-wave radar, cameras, and ultrasonic radar throughout give the vehicle the tools to sense and see all around its body. 

In urban settings, the City NGP (Navigation Guided Pilot) smart navigation-assisted driving tool enables seamless travel along accessible city roads. Once a user inputs a destination and activates the tool, the vehicle maintains its position within its chosen lane, performs necessary lane changes or overtaking maneuvers, merges on and off roads, navigates around stationary vehicles or obstacles, recognizes and passes through traffic light intersections, circumvents loop roads, steers clear of construction zones, and evades pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles, on its way from inputted A to B.

The G6 comes with Lane Centering Control (LCC), a Lidar-based adaptive cruise and lane-centering feature that also enables the car to maintain optimal cruising speed. Linked to Xpeng’s advanced XNet neural network, the system processes 4D information on dynamic targets, including size, distance, position, and speed of vehicles and two-wheelers, as well as 3D information on static targets: lane lines and road edges from above.

Compared to Xpeng’s first-generation visual perception architecture, the XNet employs neural networks to replace manual post-processing, enabling end-to-end algorithm optimization. It boasts enhanced 360-degree perception, covering more than eight lateral lanes, demonstrating superior performance, and improving lane change success rates. Uniquely, this vehicle relies on vision-based recognition and display capabilities, becoming the first in the industry to not rely on mapping. It includes detailed rendering and visual representation of traffic participants and road infrastructure surrounding the vehicle. Drivers can see lane markings and nearby vehicles on the in-car map. XNet also recognizes and displays traversable areas, traffic lights and turn signals, setting a new industry standard. 

On highways, the system can efficiently execute autonomous lane changes, lane selection, and overtaking maneuvers by assessing the surrounding environment and required driving tasks, such as avoiding traffic restrictions and adhering to speed limits. It also provides seamless on and off-ramp transitions while switching between high-speed driving modes, ensuring improved straight-line stability and enhanced cornering.

Li Auto’s City NOA smart driving 

By putting strategic effort into smart software and electric power, Li Auto has made huge strides in smart space (SS) R&D, smart driving, and high-voltage fully electric platforms. With its own large model called Mind GPT, Li Auto will soon begin testing its City NOA smart driving system.

Li Auto’s smart driving system doesn’t depend on high-precision maps, as it utilizes a bird’s eye view (BEV) large model to perceive and comprehend road structure information in real time. The BEV large model has undergone extensive training, enabling it to generate stable road structure data on most roads and intersections in real time. Neural Prior Net (NPN) refers to a set of neural network parameters which are difficult for humans to directly interpret when dealing with complex intersection patterns. The large model effectively deciphers these patterns. Compared to high-precision maps, NPN replaces human rules with network models for better understanding and use of environmental information.

For complicated intersections, it’s essential to conduct advanced intersection NPN feature extraction. On a vehicle’s second approach to an intersection, the previously extracted NPN features are retrieved and combined with the BEV feature layer from the vehicle’s large-scale perception model, resulting in what the company says is an optimal perception outcome. In addition, the “AI driver” must comprehend the traffic light regulations at the intersection, posing another challenge on urban streets. The prevailing method involves devising a rule-based algorithm to interpret traffic lights and road use intentions. Li Auto prefers to rely on a large model to address this issue.

To navigate complex urban roads, Li Auto trained a Traffic Intention Net (TIN) to do away with the need for software to interpret pre-set human traffic regulations or even know the exact position of a traffic light. The system will input video footage into the TIN network model, and it will directly indicate the appropriate vehicle maneuver – turn left or right, go straight, or stop and wait. By analyzing the reactions of a large number of human drivers to signal changes at intersections, the performance of the TIN model is highly refined. To ensure the “AI driver” emulates human drivers’ judgment and driving patterns, Li Auto trained the AI with a huge amount of real driver behavior data, making NOA’s decision-making and planning more human-like, while maintaining safety and adherence to traffic regulations.

NOA is designed to accommodate more than 95% of commuting situations for car owners. While using NOA for commuting, each model will receive continual updates and training. In the latter half of the year, Li Auto plans to introduce the NOA commuting feature and expand urban NOA coverage, with the goal of allowing early adopters to commute using NOA’s navigation-assisted driving.

Huawei Aito’s second-generation autonomous driving system

The M5 smart drive edition released by Huawei’s automotive brand Aito sees the debut of the telecom giant’s second generation autonomous driving system ADS 2.0, which offers a comprehensive fusion perception system made up of various sensors working together to provide 360 degree coverage. This fusion perception system consists of 1 LiDAR, 3 millimeter-wave radars, 11 camera sets, and 12 ultrasonic radars, allowing for distance detection of up to 200 meters. The Aito M5 employs network technology based on fused BEV perception capabilities that can identify objects outside the standard obstacle whitelist. Paired with a road topology inference network, the Aito M5 is designed to drive efficiently with or without a map, equipped to see, understand, and navigate regardless.

The Aito M5 can handle changing light conditions in tunnels and minimize the impact of nighttime glare. It can accurately identify pedestrians, vehicles, and obstacles with ease. On urban roads, the car actively maneuvers around obstructions caused by other vehicles and the company claims it can deal with pedestrians carelessly opening car doors or unexpected cyclists emerging from a blind spot. Even in the most challenging conditions, such as intense glare at night, the Aito M5 can brake at speeds of up to 50 km/h.

With assisted driving capabilities, the M5 can merge onto and off highway ramps with a 98.86% success rate. The reliable long-distance piloting system has an average Miles Per Intervention (MPI) of up to 114 km, rivaling experienced drivers.

The Huawei ADS 2.0 package comes with 19 features as-standard, such as high-speed Lane Centering Control (LCC), urban LCC, and high-speed Navigation-based Cruise Assist (NCA). Additionally, the optional advanced package offers urban NCA, Automated Valet Parking Assist (AVP), and enhanced LCC for urban areas.

Huawei’s Aito is the first car brand to achieve high-speed urban smart driving capabilities without relying on high-precision maps, bringing the assisted driving experience significantly closer to the L3 level of autonomy. According to Huawei’s roadmap, its mapless functionality will be introduced in 15 cities, including Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, during the third quarter of 2023. By the fourth quarter, coverage will encompass 45 cities.

A sophisticated race to autonomy 

The race to launch assisted driving in the Chinese market is well underway. As time goes on, we can expect more car companies and self-driving solution providers to join. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) plans to introduce an updated standard system guide for smart, network-connected vehicles, which will accompany the competition as it intensifies further.

Apple’s orders for the iPhone 15 series’ 3nm chips may boost TMSC’s revenue in the third quarter of 2023 by 11%, with a company representative estimating that the firm’s second quarter revenue will reach approximately $17 billion, according to Economic Daily News. Apple is the largest customer for TSMC and the consumer tech giant’s chip orders accounted for 23% of TSMC’s revenue in 2022, according to its yearly financial report. This proportion may be even higher this year.

Why it matters: With Apple’s new iPhone 15 series set to be released in September, industry analysts are predicting that iPhone 15 series shipments may reach 85 million units, which is 9% higher than the 78 million units of the iPhone 14 series shipped last year. This marks a growth opportunity for TSMC, as the company is the exclusive manufacturer of Apple’s 3nm advanced processor.

Details: Apple is widely expected to switch to a 3nm process for its A17 Bionic chip in this year’s flagship iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. TSMC’s 3nm process is expected to lead to a combination of performance and efficiency improvements.

• In order to meet the mass production requirements of the new iPhone 15 series, Foxconn has been stepping up its recruitment in Zhengzhou, the central Chinese city home to its largest facility. Currently, the number of recruits per day has reached around 1,000, according to Economic Daily News. The report suggested that the peak production period will run from July to September, by which time recruitment may reach 10,000 new workers per day.
• Compared to the current 4nm process used in Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro chips, the ‌3nm‌ process brings both speed and efficiency improvements. The ‌3nm‌ technology is predicted to achieve a 35% power efficiency improvement and 15% faster performance compared to 4nm. Additionally, Apple’s M3 chip for new Macs and iPads is expected to use the ‌3nm‌ process, according to MacRumors. 
• Apple has booked nearly 90% of chip supplier TSMC’s first-generation 3nm process capacity this year for future iPhones, Macs, and iPads, according to industry sources cited by DigiTimes.
• Due to the strong demand for the 3nm process, TSMC’s 3nm production capacity is in short supply, although the company has not announced many details about its monthly production capacity. The industry estimates that TSMC’s 3nm production capacity needs to increase to 100,000 pieces per month if they want to fully meet customer demand this year.

Context: On June 23, the US Department of Commerce announced the expansion of subsidies for the Chip Act, according to the Wall Street Journal. Originally, the subsidies were only for companies building new fabs in the US, but they now include support for supply chain manufacturers such as those working in chemicals, materials, and semiconductor equipment.

• By the end of 2022, TSMC’s new production base in the US had attracted dozens of chip-related suppliers to follow suit by building factories in the area, including Dutch ASML, US Applied Materials, US Lam Research, Tokyo Electron, and Sunlit Fluto & Chemical.

Vivo released two new foldable flagship phones on Thursday, a large Vivo X Fold2 and a clamshell foldable Vivo X Flip, the first time the brand has released a smaller-style flip phone. The second generation of Vivo’s foldable line, the Vivo X Fold 2 is the first foldable smartphone powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The phone is now available for pre-order in the Chinese market and will start shipping on 28 April.

Why it matters: As the larger smartphone market sees a sustained period of slowing growth, brands are increasingly looking to foldable devices to boost flagging sales and diversify their offerings. In 2022, sales of foldable phones in the Chinese market reached 2.83 million units, up 144% year-on-year, according to research firm CINNO. Smartphone shipments in China in 2022 experienced a 22% drop from the year before, hitting 272 million. Despite strong growth, foldable still remains a niche sector however.

Details: With the inclusion of a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, the first time Qualcomm’s high-end processor has been used on a foldable phone, the X Fold 2 is being positioned as a major flagship smartphone by Vivo.

• The Vivo X Fold 2 comes with a 2K+E6 Samsung dual screen, including a 8.03-inch E6 AMOLED main screen, providing a resolution of 2,160 x 1,916 pixels, a 120Hz refresh rate, and a peak brightness of 1,800nits. The external screen measures about 6.53 inches, with 2,520 x 1,080 pixels resolution, up to 1600 nits brightness, and a 120Hz refresh rate. Both screens support 3D ultrasonic screen fingerprints.
• In terms of performance, the Vivo X Fold 2 is equipped with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and LPDDR5X + UFS 4.0 memory. It also comes with a self-developed V2 imaging chip, first used on the Vivo X90 series, for improved camera and gaming performance. It has a large battery of 4,800mAh and 120W dual-core flash charge, which can be charged to 100% in 26 minutes.
• The phone weighs 279.5 grams, 31.5 grams lighter than the first generation. Folded, the phone measures 161.29 x 73.42 x 13.2mm; expanded, it measures 161.29 x 143.43 x 5.95mm.
• The triple-camera system includes a 50MP main camera with OIS support and an f/1.75 aperture, a 12MP ultra-wide lens and a 12MP telephoto camera. The primary 50MP main camera with Sony IMCX 866 sensor has a Zeiss T* coating.
• Additionally, the company claims the X Fold 2’s new self-developed hinge can take up to 400,000 folds without breaking. 
• The X Fold 2 is priced at RMB 8,999 ($1,306) for 12GB/256GB storage and RMB 9,999 ($1,452) for 12GB/512GB storage. It comes in three colors: black, blue, and red.
• The Vivo X Flip is the company’s first clamshell foldable, featuring a three-inch external display. It has a 6.74-inch 120Hz OLED inner screen with 1,200 nits brightness. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, the new flip phone starts at RMB 5,999 (around $870) for the basic 12GB RAM + 256GB model.

Context: Vivo has a lot of catching up to do in the foldable sector, ranking fifth in China’s foldable market in 2022 and taking just a 5.8% share of a market dominated by Huawei and Samsung, according to CINNO. Huawei’s  share of the market last year was 51%, followed by Samsung at 22.8%, and Oppo at 7.7%. 

• Oppo is also seeing quick growth of its foldable phones this year, capturing a 30% market share in January 2023, overtaking market leader Huawei in that month. This growth is attributed to the strong performance of Oppo’s Find N2 and Find N2 Flip models.

On Thursday, Xiaomi released the upper-end version of its flagship phone, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra. Working with Leica, the Chinese smartphone maker is attempting to position the device as more like professional camera in a smartphone rather than a smartphone with powerful cameras. The 13 Ultra features a rear camera with four lenses, while the main camera uses a 50MP 1-inch Sony IMX989 sensor, offering a physical aperture that opens as wide as f/1.9. The phone is priced from RMB 5,999 to RMB 7,299 ($870 to $1,142). 

Why it matters: This update to the Ultra series, which has long been Xiaomi’s smartphone offering, indicates the firm’s continuing ambition to push smartphones more into the realm of professional camera devices, with photography seen as the main selling point over other functionalities.  

Details: To back up its pro-camera ambition, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra cameras use Leica’s newly designed Vario-Summicron lens, with the device also offering manual aperture and optical stabilization. Xiaomi has also added professional photography accessories, including a wireless handle with built-in buttons and dial to give the phone a more camera-like grip.  

• The main camera of the phone features a one-inch 50MP Sony IMX989 sensor with a variable aperture, optical image stabilization (OIS), and Leica’s Vario-Summicron lens. Users can manually change the physical aperture on the main camera from f/1.9 to f/4.0, allowing for greater depth of field or more light. Three supporting 50MP rear cameras include a 75mm telephoto camera, a 120mm super-telephoto camera, and a wide-angle 12mm camera with macro mode. 
• Summicron indicates a maximum lens aperture of f/2.0. The term was originally assigned to the most popular focal lengths in Leica’s M-System: 28 mm, 35 mm, 50 mm, 75 mm, and 90 mm, according to Leica. 
• Xiaomi is also offering professional photography kits to accompany the phone for an extra $116. These photography kits include a protective case made of nano-skin technology and a wireless photography handle, giving users a physical shutter button. The protective case also comes with a 67mm adapter ring for the camera, allowing users to attach other lenses, and comes with a lens cap and camera strap. 
• The 13 Ultra is equipped with a 6.73-inch dust and water-resistant 1440-pixel OLED screen and is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. The 5,000mAh battery can be fast-charged wirelessly.
• The 13 Ultra is released in China this month, ahead of its launch in international markets. The device comes with a vegan leather coating in green, black, or white and offers three storage options: 12GM RAM + 256GB, 16GM RAM + 512GB, 16GB RAM + 1TB.

Context: Xiaomi’s income slid significantly in 2022, totaling RMB 280 billion ($40.68 billion), a decrease of 14.7% year-on-year, according to its financial results. But the firm said it had still managed to increase investment in research and development. In 2022, Xiaomi invested about RMB 16 billion ($2.32 billion) in R&D, an increase of 21% year-on-year, CEO and founder Lei Jun announced at this week’s launch event. Lei reiterated that the brand’s focus on the high-end phone market will not change in the long term. Lei estimated that the firm’s investment will reach RMB 200 billion ($29 billion) this year.

• Xiaomi’s financial report for the fourth quarter of 2022 shows that the company’s high-end smartphone shipments increased by 6.8% year-on-year during the period.
• Xiaomi and Leica first announced their collaboration on advanced camera-centric smartphones last year. The 12S Ultra became the first Xiaomi smartphone to offer an entirely new imaging system developed by Leica when it was released in November.

CATL has signed an agreement with HGP Storage that will see the Chinese battery manufacturer supply the Dallas-based entity with around 450 megawatt-hours of lithium-ion batteries for a Texan energy storage operation, the company said on Monday.

Why it matters: The collaboration highlights CATL’s exploration of new avenues of growth in the energy storage sector. It is also the latest landmark for the Chinese electric vehicle battery giant as it expands overseas.

Details: Powered by CATL’s containerized liquid-cooling battery system, the facility will be able store up to 450 MWh of electricity in a single cycle and will begin operation in 2024.

• For comparison, UK clean energy developer Harmony Energy said it began running Europe’s largest battery energy storage system with an energy capacity of 196 MWh in Yorkshire, UK, last November.
• CATL and HGP Storage are forging a long-term partnership with plans to push for the deployment of another five gigawatt hours (GWh) of energy storage systems for public utilities.

Context: Energy storage is the second biggest revenue source for CATL, accounting for about 14% of its total revenue in 2022. The sector sustained strong growth momentum for CATL in 2022 as the company’s revenue from energy storage more than tripled to RMB 45 billion ($6.5 billion) from a year earlier.

• The world’s biggest battery maker, CATL had a 39% share of the global EV battery market in 2022 and accounted for more than 40% of the power battery usage segment, according to figures compiled by industry tracker SNE Research.
• The company has facilitated multiple grid-scale battery storage projects worldwide, including a 1.4 GWh solar power and battery storage facility near Las Vegas. It has also partnered with Ford to build a $3.5 billion battery plant in Michigan, scheduled to begin operations in 2026.
• In a policy proposal sent to Beijing earlier this year, CATL chairperson Zeng Yuqun called for more efforts to accelerate the adoption of lithium-ion batteries for energy storage. Zeng was a delegate of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top political advisory body.

CapCut, an all-in-one video editing app owned by TikTok parent company ByteDance, has surpassed 200 million monthly active users, according to a report from Chinese financial media outlet Baijing. 

Why it matters: CapCut’s success comes amid an increasingly hostile climate for China-developed apps in the US and European markets, with ByteDance’s TikTok facing restrictions and investigations on multiple fronts. 

• The figures make CapCut the second overseas-focused product from ByteDance to achieve more than 100 million MAUs.

Details: CapCut was originally developed by Shenzhen Lianmeng Technology, a startup which ByteDance acquired in 2018 for $300 million. Launched as Jianying in China and designed for both mobile and PC, it offers a range of video editing functions, filters, audio and visual effects, and video templates and is compatible for use with TikTok.

• ByteDance released an overseas version of Jianying in April 2020, rebranding it to CapCut in December 2020.
• According to data from Chinese app analysis platforms Diandian and Data.ai in Baijing’s report, CapCut had more than 200 million MAUs in January. That month also saw CapCut enter the top 30 non-game apps list for iOS and Android devices in China. Its global revenue in January was $800,000, with the US market accounting for more than half of this figure. Although CapCut still has a revenue gap to Meitu’s editing tool BeautyPlus, which tops the list with over $2 million in monthly revenue, it has seen impressive growth, managing to achieve significant monetization in just four months. 
• CapCut has largely gained users through in-app promotions on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and by making its services available for free for two years. Since September 2022, CapCut started charging for premium features, which users can access by monthly or annual subscription packages.
• CapCut Pro’s charges revolve around cloud storage and premium features. The monthly cost of cloud storage is $0.99 for 10GB, $1.99 for 100GB, and $5.99 for 1,000 GB. The premium features are priced at $9.99 for a single month, $7.99 for a continuous monthly subscription, and $74.99 for a full year.
• In October 2022, as part of an update, CapCut launched a PC version, which is compatible with most mainstream social media platforms overseas, making it more attractive to both private customers and enterprise businesses.
• The app also runs a creator recruitment program whereby video creators making popular templates can earn up to $1,000. 

Context: TikTok reportedly set a goal of topping 1 billion daily active users worldwide by the end of 2022, testament to the app’s continued growth even as it faces a number of investigations and restrictions around the world. 

• On Feb. 27, Canada announced that it was banning the use of TikTok on government-owned devices, following similar moves in the US. The ban came just days after the EU announced similar restrictions for its staff. 
• In September, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) warned that the ByteDance-owned video platform could face a $29 million fine for failing to protect child privacy.
• Earlier this year, ByteDance moved Douyin vice president Zhi Ying to TikTok to head up the latter’s products and content businesses, as the Beijing-based company looked to involve more of its successful executives in TikTok’s development.

Major Chinese consumer electronics brands have a strong presence at this year’s Mobile World Congress 2023 (MWC 2023) in Barcelona, as China reopens after three years of Covid-19 related restrictions.

The industry event brings together the world’s leading telecom operators and equipment manufacturers to showcase their latest products and technologies, including 6G, WiFi-7, satellite communication, and brand new consumer electronics devices. This year’s conference is expected to attract 80,000 attendees over the course of its four days, with more than 2,000 exhibitors from around the world, according to MWC.

Chinese gadget makers Honor, Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, and ZTE all showcased new products at the conference. Here’s a rundown of what they had to offer. 

1. HONOR

Honor launched its Magic Vs Foldable to the global market at the event. The foldable phone was first released in China three months ago. The Magic Vs Foldable is powered by a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, Android 13 Magic UI 7.1 system, and a 5000mAh battery and comes with 66W fast charging and dual symmetrical speakers. It supports a 1920Hz PWM high-frequency eye protection mode and has a 6.45-inch 120Hz external screen with up to 1200nit brightness, as well as a 7.9-inch 90Hz 800nit interior screen with 2K HD resolution. Its cameras include a rear 54-megapixel main camera, a 50-megapixel ultra-wide angle lens, and 3x optical zoom lens. The phone was launched with a price tag of 1,599 euros (RMB 11,753) for 12GB+512GB storage, and comes in two color options: cyan and black.

2. HUAWEI

Huawei released the industry’s first commercial 50G PON (Passive Optical Network) at this year’s MWC, which can process signals without power supply. The nodes within the PON are composed of delicate and compact optical fiber components. The Chinese telecom giant says that the 50G PON can meet the increasing bandwidth requirements of offices, campuses, industrial sites, enterprises, and households.

Huawei also released their FTTR F30 (Fiber to the Room), which it claims is the industry’s first all-optical home networking product based on C-WAN architecture. C-WAN stands for Classified Wide Area Network, which features five major updates:

• A design upgrade with four colors and three installation modes.
• A speed improvement with hardware acceleration and 2000Mbps for the whole house.
• A coverage upgrade with multi-beam smart antenna coverage increased by about 30%.
• Improved roaming with unique SRCN (Seamless Roaming Coordinated Network) for senseless roaming.
• A concurrency upgrade with multi-terminal collaboration technology, which allows a maximum of 128 devices to be connected simultaneously.
  

3. Xiaomi

Xiaomi displayed its new wireless AR glasses at the conference. The glasses feature two Micro-OLED screens supporting 1,200 nits of brightness and full HD FHD visuals. Three forward-facing cameras map the surroundings directly in front of the wearer. The AR glasses are lightweight, made of carbon fiber and magnesium alloy, and run on Xiaomi’s self-developed silicon-oxygen anode battery, which weighs less than conventional lithium-ion. 

The glasses are powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 chip and have no storage, so they must be connected to a device. The advertised latency is only 50ms. According to testers from the Chinese gadget review site ITHome, after 20 minutes of video watching, the latency is indeed very low with barely any lag and no degradation in picture quality.

In addition, Xiaomi also unveiled the BE7000, a high-performance WiFi 7 router. Equipped with Qualcomm Networking Pro 820, the quad-core A73 1.5GHz processor delivers 28,800 DMIPS of computing power, outperforming most flagship WiFi 6 routers on the market. It also comes with four 2.5G ports and one USB 3.0.

4. Oppo

Oppo brought its Find N2 series to MWC, as well as the self-developed Mariana MariSilicon Y chip, smart glasses Air Glass 2, home health detector OHealth H1, and its 45W liquid cooled radiator.

In addition, Oppo also showcased its first router product, the Wi-Fi 6 Router AX5400. The router uses Qualcomm’s 216 immersive home networking platform to support Wi-Fi 6 AX5400 standard and dual bands of 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Its high-gain antenna, combined with Oppo’s own anti-jamming algorithm and network directional acceleration technology, can boost Wi-Fi signal coverage and make connections more stable, the company says.

The Find N2 Flip series overseas version was initially launched in London on Feb. 28, at a starting price of 899 euros. But Oppo ensured it got plenty of attention at MWC as well by bringing in retired footballers Michael Owen and Luis Garcia to announce that the Oppo Find N2 Flip is now the official UEFA Champions League phone.

5. ZTE

ZTE launched the nubia Pad 3D tablet, in collaboration with Leia Inc., a company that develops naked-eye 3D technology. The Chinese firm says the tablet can support rich 3D application scenarios such as AI face tracking, real-time perspective matching, and real-time AI content processing, transforming 2D into 3D, thanks to Leia’s original 3D light field display technology and powerful AI computing engine.

It has a large 12.4-inch 2.5K screen and four panoramic speakers from Dolby. With a rich 3D content ecosystem, ZTE says that the nubia Pad 3D allows users to enjoy the industry’s first 3D enhanced video chat, private 3D cinema, and immersive 3D games. The tablet is powered by a Snapdragon 888 chip and a 9070mAh battery, and features a 33W quick-charge combination.

On Feb. 10, China’s National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) released its approval list of domestic online games for February 2023 on its official website, with titles by Tencent, ByteDance, and NetEase among those given the green light.

Why it matters: The new list is the ninth batch of games approved in China since the NPPA resumed its issuing of licenses in April 2022 following an eight month pause. As with January, the number of new licenses this month exceeded 80, higher than any month in 2022 and a sign that China’s gaming regulators may be returning to a more consistent approach to approvals after months of uncertainty. 

Details: Some 87 new domestic games have been granted licenses by the NPPA, including 79 mobile games, seven PC titles, and one game for Nintendo Switch. 

• Tencent’s high-profile new game King Chess, a strategy battle mobile game that is part of the company’s attempts to build an Honor of Kings “universe,” was among those gaining approval. The official WeChat account for the game claimed on Feb. 10 that it is still in development and will undergo beta testing in the near future. 
• NetEase, another Chinese gaming giant that has struggled for new title approvals in the past 18 months, saw the mobile version of its massively multiplayer online role-playing game Fantasy Westward Journey make the list of February approvals.
• ByteDance has three new titles on the list: The Leader of the Battle from its publisher Ohayoo; Matrix: Out of Control by wholly-owned subsidiary Nuverse; and Hyper Instant Connection by its newly acquired company C4Games (all titles our translations). 

Context: China’s gaming industry has been sluggish over the past year due to tightening regulations on the industry and strict limits on young gamers.

• The total revenue of the video games market in China slumped 10.33% to RMB 265.9 billion in 2022, while game users declined slightly, down 0.33% year-on-year to 664 million, according to a report by the country’s semi-official games industry association.
• In August 2021, Chinese authorities restricted the weekly gaming hours for minors under the age of 18 to one hour a day on Fridays, weekends, and public holidays.
• China’s eight-month gaming license freeze was lifted in April 2022, but new approvals remained limited throughout the year. Just 513 game licenses, including 468 domestic games and 45 imported games, were issued over the course of 2022, 38% fewer than in 2021 and only a third of those approved in 2020, according to Caixin’s calculations. Tencent, one of the biggest gaming companies in the world, didn’t receive its first major approval of the year until November.

On Monday, Chinese officials published a set of draft rules that will allow self-driving companies to offer rides and charge fees for fully autonomous vehicles (AVs). The move is part of the country’s ongoing efforts to become a global leader in artificial intelligence. The same day, Baidu announced it was to launch a fully driverless robotaxi service in two major Chinese cities.

Why it matters: The release of China’s first guidelines for commercial robotaxi services could establish a state framework for the rollout of self-driving technology and increase the number of AVs on Chinese roads.

Details: Published by the Ministry of Transport on Monday, the draft regulation said that authorities would “encourage the deployment of autonomous buses on limited access highways, as well as allow paid taxi-hailing services using self-driving cars for low-traffic, controllable scenarios” (our translation).

• The government did not outline detailed criteria for the environmental conditions under which an automated vehicle is designed to operate but said that driving routes must be selected to avoid highly populated sites such as schools and supermarkets.
• Also, the rules emphasized that robotaxi companies must deploy their automated vehicles with drivers based on different levels of vehicle automation. The rules stipulated L3 and L4 level cars need a human operator, while L5 (fully automated cars) cars need either a remote driver or an in-car safety driver. The rules also asked all cars to suspend operations in adverse weather conditions.
• In addition, the companies are obliged to record and share with the government the data logs generated by cars and drivers at least 90 seconds before and 30 seconds after any self-driving malfunctions. These logs must include in-car video footage and pictures of the surrounding environment.
• The draft will be open to public feedback until Sep. 7.

Context: China first began allowing autonomous driving road tests on designated streets in April 2018 and then expanded the testing scope to general highways in early 2021. 

• Several major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou have greenlighted self-driving car tests for passenger transport services over the past several years.
• Earlier this month, the city government of Shenzhen also passed new legislation that addresses the liability issues in accidents involving cars with self-driving capabilities.
• The central city of Wuhan and the southwestern municipality of Chongqing are the latest Chinese megacities to take a significant step towards the driverless car era, recently allowing Baidu to charge fees for rides using its driverless vehicles.

Ever since China abruptly cut off the bulk of income for most private education companies last summer, the businesses have had to make some difficult decisions. For New Oriental, once the leader of the sector, it meant letting go of most of its tutors for the K-9 grades and setting up a new livestreaming e-commerce unit to make up for some of the lost income. 

Until this month, New Oriental’s new live e-commerce initiative had been lackluster at best. Daily sales hovered around less than RMB 1 million ($150,000) in the past six months, according to data from livestreaming tracking platform Huitun. But suddenly, New Oriental’s fortunes are looking up. It all changed after the firm’s hosts, all former tutors, started to teach English while selling goods over their livestreams. 

On June 10, during a session selling bags of rice, the host pulled out a small whiteboard and asked the audience whether they thought the price of RMB 80 was fair. She then wrote three English phrases — “bargain,” “cost-effective,” and “unforgettable” — on the whiteboard and began teaching an unexpected course on how to use these phrases in real life. This unique style of selling has quickly made New Oriental’s livestreaming sessions a sensation on the Chinese internet. 

Why it matters: China’s blooming livestream e-commerce sector has become increasingly crowded as thousands of Chinese celebrities and online personalities flock to commercialize their followers or cash in on online fame. Only those with relatively unique selling points or characters are able to stand out and attract buyers’ attention.

• New Oriental is among several tutoring companies pivoting to new business ventures after China’s crackdown on the private tutoring industry last July. Edtech giant Zuoyebang has looked into developing a printer business, while tutoring unicorn Yuanfudao tried to invest in an outdoor down jacket business last year.

READ MORE: Edtech will survive China’s crackdown, but it won’t be the same

Details: Livestreaming session and video clips of Oriental Select, New Oriental’s livestream ecommerce arm, went viral across Chinese social platforms over the weekend after hosts started to offer short, free English teaching sessions during the live shopping sessions.

• Oriental Select’s account on Douyin, the platform where the brand livestreams, has gained more than 1.6 million followers in three days since June 10. An 18-hour-long livestream held on June 11 recorded RMB 19.9 million in sales, a jump from the RMB 4.5 million New Oriental’s founder Yu Minhong achieved on his December debut.
• Instead of the hard-sell advertising style used by most Chinese e-commerce livestreamers, hosts at Oriental Select, all former teachers at New Oriental, display a laidback attitude when selling through the livestreams. 
• When promoting a corn product on a livestream session held on Monday, former English teacher Dong Yuhui said he hoped the corn would remind the buyers of their “good-old days” as a child when they were “young and carefree.” He then took out a board and wrote down the expressions in English.
• On Monday, New Oriental’s share price increased by more than 16% in Hong Kong after the company’s livestreams began to take off over the weekend.  

Context: Battered by China’s private tutoring clampdown, the country’s edtech majors such as New Oriental, Gaotu, and TAL all stopped providing after-school tutoring services targeting students up to K-9, a major source of their revenue, in the mainland Chinese market in the second half of 2021. Shares of the three companies plunged roughly 100% since the regulatory measures were announced in July.

Dingdong Maicai plans to suspend operations in several lower-tier cities in China, joining a slew of grocery delivery platforms downsizing amid a cooling market.

Why it matters: Dingdong is pivoting from expanding by all means to prioritizing profitability, a trend that has been visible among many of the top players like Meituan and Alibaba.

• Dingdong’s cutback in lower-tier cities comes when China’s top-tier cities, Shanghai and Beijing, see surging demands for groceries, driven mainly by panic buying during lockdowns and uncertain times as the Covid-19 outbreak surged again in the country. 

Details: Dingdong will stop providing delivery services in two cities in the eastern province of Anhui — Xuancheng and Chuzhou — from 6 p.m. Tuesday, according to a May 29 report from Ahwang (in Chinese), a regional media outlet. The firm will also halt operations in the northern city of Tangshan in Hebei province and the southern city of Zhuhai in Guangdong province around the same time.

• Dingdong users’ group chats in these cities will be dissolved, and the company will refund any outstanding balance in users’ prepaid accounts, according to a statement from the company.
• Suspension of services in these cities is part of the “company’s normal business adjustment and optimization,” a Dingdong representative told TechNode on Tuesday.
• The Ahwang report added that the company’s business in Guangdong province’s Zhongshan and Zhuhai is also undergoing adjustments. Meanwhile, services within the Yangtze River Delta area, where the firm expects to achieve profitability soon, remain unaffected.
• TechNode found that Dingdong users in Shanghai still can’t order freely as of Tuesday morning. Instead, they have to compete for limited amounts of order slots, a measure that was introduced amid soaring demand and staffing shortage during the city’s Covid-related lockdown that began in late March. 

Context: Online grocery and food delivery teams at various Chinese tech giants were among the worst-hit units in the country’s ongoing mass tech layoff. Dingdong reportedly launched a series of job cuts in January this year.

• Along with around 150 US-listed Chinese companies, Dingdong has been added to US’s Securities and Exchange Commission’s provisional delisting list targeting foreign companies that have failed to comply with the country’s financial audit rules. 
• In its fourth-quarter earnings of last year, the grocery delivery company said that it achieved profitability in Shanghai for the quarter. 

Cloud services have become a rare growth point for Chinese tech majors Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent in this earning season. The tech majors have seen overall growth plateau and profit drop as they navigate an economic downturn made worse by the pandemic resurgence and geopolitical uncertainty.

Why it matters: Over the years, Chinese tech majors Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent have built up sizable operations in cloud solutions for businesses. Those cloud units have now grown strong enough to offer sustainable business returns. 

• Cloud services have become the bedrock of almost all tech firms, as it offers fundamental support for online services and the implementation of algorithms. 

Details: Cloud services have become a rare growth point in the lackluster earnings reports of Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent, as the majors’ businesses were hit by China’s strict Covid-19 control measures, slowing consumption, and external geopolitical challenges. 

• On Thursday, Alibaba reported the slowest quarterly growth rate since it went public in 2014. However, Alibaba Cloud reported a net profit in a financial year for the first time since its establishment in 2009, the company’s earnings report shows. The cloud business brought in RMB 100.2 billion ($15.8 billion) for the fiscal year ending in March, a 21% yearly increase and accounting for about 12% of the firm’s overall revenue. The company’s revenue increased 19% year-on-year to RMB 853 billion ($134.6 billion) in the same period. 
• Similarly, Baidu’s cloud services outperformed the company. In the first quarter, the cloud service unit saw revenue grow by 45% to RMB 3.9 billion from the same period last year, while the company’s revenue grew by only 1%. 
• Tencent’s FinTech and Business Services group, which includes its cloud services, reported a nearly 10% yearly growth for the first quarter. The company reported flat revenue growth of only 0.1% for the same period.
   

Context: According to Canalys, China’s cloud infrastructure services market grew by 45% to $27.4 billion in 2021.

• Alibaba, Huawei, Tencent, and Baidu are the top four cloud service providers in China, accounting for 80% of the market share in 2021, with Alibaba Cloud leading at 37%.

READ MORE: Why does China want to build a national data center system by 2025?

Alibaba’s workplace collaboration app DingTalk has been at the center of layoff discussions on Chinese social media this week. Some people indicated the platform faces a massive 30% job cut, while others suggested a standard organizational adjustment that affects less than 10% of the staff.

Why it matters: Chinese tech companies have seen rounds of layoffs over the past few months. The downsizing conversation of one of Alibaba’s major business lines is another sign of stress within the Chinese tech community. 

• Alibaba and Tencent currently lead the country’s workplace app market with DingTalk and WeCom.

Details: Talks of DingTalk’s layoff started circulating on Chinese social media on Thursday. The workplace app will reportedly cut less than 10% of its employees this year, according to a widely circulated comment posted on China’s LinkedIn-like platform Maimai. The user, who identified himself as an Alibaba employee, said on the platform that the cut will be 10% of the staff (in Chinese), rather than 30% previously circulated on the platform (in Chinese), which would have been the largest layoff for an individual Alibaba unit this year.

• A 10% cut is considered within the normal range of an organizational adjustment for DingTalk, according to Chinese media outlet 36Kr (in Chinese), citing unnamed DingTalk staff. The 36kr source said DingTalk removes around 4% to 10% of low-performing employees annually. This year’s headcount change is looking to be similar to previous years after DingTalk removed 6% of low-performing employees and some people left voluntarily in 2021, the source added.
• DingTalk announced a series of strategic changes in March as the company prioritizes its transition to a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) business. DingTalk will focus on developing key features in core collaboration and productivity functions, such as file-sharing, project management, and video call. Meanwhile, the platform will leave other tasks to third-party developers and partners, such as hardware and industry applications.
• The company didn’t respond to TechNode’s inquiries on the matter when contacted on Friday morning.

Context: Chinese productivity apps are hoping to commercialize their services after investing heavily into the market’s pandemic-driven boom since 2020.

• DingTalk launched paid versions in March, while ByteDance reportedly aims to accelerate the commercialization of its workplace communication app Lark, aiming for a global revenue goal of RMB 6 billion ($940 million) by 2026.

Major Chinese online grocery platforms are increasing their product supplies in Beijing as residents rush to stock up on food and daily supplies after the capital city announced a surge of local Covid cases. 

Beijing health authority said on April 24 that the city found a local Covid outbreak has spread for a week, with more than 40 local cases since April 22, prompting locals to worry about facing lockdowns and supply shortages like Shanghai. 

Why it matters: Having learned from what happened in Shanghai, China’s online grocers respond quickly to a surge in demand in Beijing. However, pressure on operation and supply chains remain as potential omicron outbreaks expand to other cities in the country. 

Details: Chinese online grocers like Meituan, Dingdong Maicai, and JD increased their stock and extended operation times as Beijing residents rushed to online platforms and offline supermarkets to stock up on daily supplies,  such as food and toilet paper.

• On Monday, Meituan’s grocery arm Meituan Maicai will increase product supplies three to five times and raise its sorting workforce by 70%. On top of that, the company said the service would begin receiving and delivering orders around the clock starting April 24.
• Alibaba’s Freshippo and JD’s 7Fresh plan to double or triple their stock, while Dingdong Maicai will increase its stock of staple goods by 150%, local media outlet GeekPark reported.
• On April 24, Dingdong Maicai saw a 50% growth in daily orders in Beijing. The platform said it plans to increase supplies to Beijing by 1.5 times and has set up a dedicated group to ensure deliveries in Beijing. 
• Offline supermarket chains Carrefour and Wumart expect to triple their usual stock.

Context: Beijing has reported a sudden spike in locally confirmed infections since April 22, with 42 Covid-19 cases reported over the past three days.

• Shanghai residents have had difficulties buying food supplies online since ongoing Covid-19 prevention measures immobilized more than 25 million people in the city over the past month.
• Online grocery platforms have served as a lifeline for residents in Shanghai since a city-wide lockdown began in late March. However, surging orders quickly overloaded the city’s online grocery operations.

READ MORE: The Big Sell | Will Shanghai lockdown change the game for community group buying?

Chinese game streaming platforms Huya and Douyu have begun slashing headcounts as China’s mass tech layoff continues, Chinese media outlet Tech Planet reported Friday.

Why it matters: The pair joined China’s large-scale layoffs among tech companies as the country tightens restrictions on the game livestreaming industry.

• Layoffs at Huya and Douyu are another blow for Chinese gaming giant Tencent, a major shareholder in both of the companies. The Chinese State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR) blocked a merger deal between Huya and Douyu in July 2021 to avoid “further strengthening Tencent’s dominance in the game streaming market.”
• In mid-April, China resumed issuing gaming licenses to Chinese game makers after an eight-month freeze. But the regulator has yet to resume issuing licenses to overseas games. 

READ MORE: INSIGHTS | Chinese tech giants are still slashing headcounts

Details: Huya’s layoff mainly affects its international business department, which has more than 200 employees, or around 10% of the company’s total headcount, according to the report. The company is planning a 70% cut in its international arm, while its domestic business will also face a 20% layoff. Douyu is reportedly planning for a 30% layoff, targeting teams for gaming business development and livestream agent services.

• The international teams at both of the companies will bear the brunt of the layoffs as they operate in a new business area that demands more investment, the report cites an unnamed employee of Huya as saying.  
• Douyu said the layoffs are just part of their “normal human resources optimization,” according to the report.
• Regulatory headwinds and decreasing user bases led to weak financial performances for the two companies during 2021. Huya recorded a net loss of RMB 312.7 million ($49.1 million) for the fourth quarter of 2021 after consistently posting profits since its IPO in 2018. Douyu posted a net loss of RMB 193.2 million for the same period.

Context: Huya and Douyu account for a combined 70% of China’s game livestreaming market, the SAMR said in July 2021. Huya owns a 40% market share and Douyu 30%.

• Earlier this month, Tencent said it will shutter its game streaming platform Egame by June due to a “change in business strategies.”
• China’s gaming industry has felt the layoff chills since the beginning of this year, with many of the key players trimming their headcounts.

Meituan is in the midst of job cuts that will affect nearly every business unit at the food delivery and life services giant, Chinese local media Caixin reported on April 9. Meanwhile, the company is hiring simultaneously for new positions created by “business adjustment,” the story said.

Why it matters: Meituan becomes the latest Chinese tech major to begin large-scale layoffs. Facing the twin headwinds of a cooling economy and regulatory pressures, Chinese tech giants are replacing higher-income veteran employees with cheaper and less-experienced new hands to lower operation costs.

Details: Meituan’s layoff will affect all sectors, including the company’s core food delivery and hotel booking businesses, the report says. Grocery delivery services Meituan Select and Meituan Maicai and enterprise-facing food distribution arm Kuailv face the deepest cuts of up to 20%, Caixin reported, citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter.

• Meituan’s current round of layoffs started on April 8. The company aimed to do it in “low-profile and quick,” Meituan’s employee told the Chinese media outlet. Laid-off workers’ lost access to the company’s internal communication tool within hours of their termination, the report cited an unnamed employee. The layoff is expected to last until the end of this month.
• Meanwhile, the company has posted nearly 700 job openings since April 8, mainly for positions in Meituan Select, Meituan Maicai, Instashopping, and its autonomous vehicle delivery department. Since March, the company has posted more than 2,000 positions, equal to the total number of new positions opened at the firm in the past three years.
• The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) recently talked to 12  major tech names, including Tencent, Alibaba, Meituan, Pinduoduo, and JD, about workforce levels in response to recent layoff news. Between July 2021 and mid-March this year, 216,800 workers left the 12 companies, while 295,900 new staff joined, representing a net increase of 79,100, the regulator said. Tech majors told the regulator that their staffing is “generally stable” considering the relatively high employee turnover in the tech sector. 
• Meituan has recorded a net increase of 17,000 employees since July last year and has pledged to recruit more fresh graduates this year, according to the CAC’s statement.

Context: Amid increasing tech layoffs, Chinese internet majors created a euphemism for firing workers. Companies such as JD and Bilibili now congratulate employees on losing their jobs by sharing cheery notes titled “graduation notice” from human resources departments, prompting widespread complaints on Chinese social media platforms. 

• Meituan’s expenditure on staffing increased 61.4% year-on-year to RMB 34.8 billion ($5.5 billion) in 2021, representing the company’s second-highest cost after delivery fleet expenses.

Struggling with a global shortage of semiconductors and a sharp increase in the cost of battery materials, an increasing number of Chinese automakers are raising prices for electric vehicles (EVs). Geely, BAIC, and Chery has become the latest companies to implement pricing changes, following BYD, Xpeng, Li Auto, and others.

Details: Chery Automobile, a manufacturing partner of Jaguar Land Rover, said Wednesday on its Weibo account that from April 7, price increases on its vehicles will range from RMB 2,900 to RMB 5,000 ($456 to $786), without giving a breakdown of the specific price increases for each of its models.

• This is the second time in less than a month that Chery has raised the prices of its vehicles. The previous markup on its entry-level EVs cost consumers as much as an extra RMB 7,100, according to figures released in a March 17 announcement (in Chinese).
• Huawei’s auto partner BAIC also announced Wednesday that it will raise prices across its entire line-up of Arcfox-branded EVs, including those equipped with Huawei’s advanced driver assistance systems, starting from May 1. The company stated that full details will be released later this month.
• Geely’s premium EV brand Zeekr has also followed suit with a price increase, according to an April 2 statement (in Chinese), citing a significant rise in the cost of raw materials.

Context: A surge in the cost of battery raw materials such as nickel, driven by an ongoing supply chain crunch and the Russia-Ukraine war, has triggered a series of price hikes throughout the Chinese auto industry over the past few weeks.

• Tesla lifted prices for its locally-made Model Y electric crossover twice in March, while more than 10 Chinese major car brands lifted their prices by between 1% and 15%, TechNode reported.
• Some EV makers could lower prices to maintain their sales targets if demand starts to weaken during the second half of this year, Credit Suisse analyst Wang Bin said during an online conference on March 22.

READ MORE: Drive I/O | Chinese EV makers face price hikes as nickel prices soar, Didi to enter EV market

Shares of Nio, Xpeng Motors, and Li Auto rose sharply on Friday after the three Chinese electric vehicle makers announced a solid set of delivery numbers for March.

Why it matters: The March deliveries reflect a strong recovery from the impact of the Lunar New Year holiday season on EV production and sales, which resulted in falling deliveries in February.

Details: Xpeng has remained the fastest-growing EV maker ahead of its two peers,  beating its first-quarter delivery expectation, with shares closing up 5.8% on Friday, followed by Li Auto’s 5.5% and Nio’s 4.2%.

• Xpeng delivered 15,414 vehicles in March, marking a 202% rise from the same period last year and a 148% increase from February. Its first-quarter deliveries hit 34,561 vehicles, slightly above the upper end of the original estimate of 34,000 vehicles released by the company in its fourth-quarter financial results on Monday.
• Li Auto delivered 11,034 new cars last month, up 125% from last year, while Nio came in last again among the trio of US-listed Chinese EV makers with deliveries of 9,985 vehicles in February, reporting a 37.6% increase year-on-year.

Context: During their fourth-quarter earnings calls in March, all three EV makers voiced concerns about the impact of supply chain issues on sales and production in the coming months.

• Nio and Li Auto forecast that their deliveries for the first three months of the year would reach 26,000 and 32,000, respectively, adding that parts shortages have impacted production.
• Second-tier Chinese EV companies are catching up quickly. Hozon and Leapmotor handed over 12,000 and 10,059 vehicles last month, respectively. Leapmotor filed an application on March 17 to sell its shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange, and Hozon is also weighing a Hong Kong initial public offering this year, Bloomberg reported in November.

Chinese e-commerce titan Alibaba is planning for a major layoff in which key business focuses like food and grocery delivery will bear the brunt of the cuts, Chinese media outlet 36Kr reported on Thursday night.

Why it matters: Alibaba’s layoff comes after the company recorded its slowest revenue growth in 2021 since it went public on the New York exchange in 2014. The company’s financials partly reflect China’s weakened local consumption and intensified regulatory crackdown. 

• Alibaba and Tencent, two of the most powerful tech giants in China, are the latest to join China’s tech job cuts which has hit nearly every major firm.
• Like its peers, Alibaba’s primary target for the layoff is to scale back loss-making teams and downsize areas with high regulatory risks, such as online grocery and food delivery services.

Details: Alibaba is mainly shedding jobs in its location-based customer business unit, which consists of food delivery services such as Ele.me and coupon and deal service Koubei, 36Kr reported, citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter. Alibaba is planning layoffs that could cut more than 15% of its workforce, about 39,000 staff, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

• Core business teams, including e-commerce teams in Taobao and related businesses, Alibaba Cloud, and Cainiao Logistics, will not be affected by the cuts.
• Ele.me, which is facing fierce competition from Meituan, had started laying off people in January this year, the report said. The unit aims to cut between 15% to 20% of its workforce, mainly targeting positions in offline business development, regional marketing, and operation. 
• Downsizing efforts are also happening in other local consumer services. For example, since last year, Koubei has downsized its operation to focus on first-and second-tier cities. Mapping service Amap and online travel unit Fliggy also began small-scale layoffs this year, according to the report.
• Alibaba’s local customer service recorded an adjusted loss of RMB 5 billion ($783 million) on RMB 12 billion revenue in the quarter ended December 2021.
• Freshippo, an online and offline grocery business that demands heavy operation, recorded a layoff of around 20% in market operation positions and may consider further salary cuts; the report cited several Freshippo employees. 
• In addition, Alibaba’s grocery group-buy business Taocaicai is also shedding around 20% of headcount as the sector cools off.

Context: Taking notice of the gloomy economic outlook, China’s State Council sent a reassuring signal to the broader market in a Wednesday meeting, promising support for the platform economy, introducing market-friendly policies, and rolling out “predictable” regulations.

• The profitability prospects of food delivery businesses dimmed as Beijing called for major platforms like Meituan and Ele.me to reduce fees for small businesses suffering during the ongoing coronavirus outbreaks.

Chinese tech giant Tencent is reportedly laying off around 20% of its staff, joining a lengthy list of tech firms that have started to trim their workforces since last year.

Why it matters: Deep-pocketed tech titans such as Tencent and Alibaba, which are generally less vulnerable to small market fluctuations, have largely maintained their headcount until recently. The two giants have not been immune to China’s ongoing economic downturn, regulatory curbs, and international trade tensions.

• Tencent’s rival Alibaba is reportedly slashing around 30% of its employees amid a market downturn.

Details: Tencent began downsizing its team at the end of last year, Chinese media outlet 36kr reported on Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

• Tencent is laying off less than 20% of its staff based on business adjustments, according to the report. Other reports said the company plans to cut 30%, targeting employees older than 35-years-old.
• Sources told 36Kr that the firm’s Cloud & Smart Industries Business Group (CSIG) and Platform and Content Group (PCG) were taking the biggest hits. At the same time, the Interactive Entertainment Group (IEG) has a much lower layoff rate which only affects non-core businesses.
• The CSIG will shed more than 20% of its workforce by the end of 2022, a management figure in the group told 36Kr. The unit’s online education business division bore the brunt of the downsizing cuts due to the sweeping private education crackdown, which began last July. The edtech unit will merge with other businesses in the future, the report added.
• The remaining CSIG employees will face more pressure as the company aims for profitability for the Group this year.
• Job cuts in PCG are near 10% now and continue to grow, several PCG employees told the outlet.
• CSIG, PCG, and IEG are the three largest business groups within Tencent, each group employs around 20,000 people. The Corporate Development Group, Technology Engineering Group, and Weixin Group – smaller groups with less than 10,000 employees – remain relatively unscathed amid the workforce adjustment.

Context: Job prospects look grim in the Chinese tech sector as top tech firms ranging from ByteDance to Baidu, iQiyi and Kuaishou have slashed their headcounts since last year. Online education and fintech, two areas under harsh government scrutiny, are the worst-hit areas.

READ MORE: INSIGHTS | Chinese tech giants are still slashing headcounts

JD Logistics, a Hong Kong-listed logistics arm of the e-commerce giant JD, has entered an agreement to buy a 67% stake in courier rival Deppon Logistics Co., Ltd. for RMB 9 billion ($1.4 billion).

Why it matters: After a fierce price war, China’s express and logistics industry is undergoing a market consolidation whereby small players have begun merging with giant competitors. 

• The deal is the latest move by JD in building its logistics infrastructure network, a foundational service for China’s e-commerce market, through external acquisition and investment. The e-commerce titan has backed many other logistics and delivery companies such as China Logistics Property Holdings Co., Kuayue Express, and Dada Nexus.
• Through investments, JD is tapping into different verticals in the logistic and supply chain businesses. Deppon provides “differentiated services” and “the overlap is not much” to JD Logistics’ core business, according to Thomas Chong, analyst at investment bank Jefferies. Deppon focuses on large items, freight transportation, and manufacturing customers. JD Logistic’s other subsidiaries, Kuayue focuses on air freight and enterprise clients, while Dada Nexus focuses on-demand inter-city grocery and parcel delivery to individual consumers.

READ MORE: The Big Sell | Is China’s courier price war reaching a tipping point?

Details: JD Logistics’ investment in Deppon will be achieved through acquiring a 99.99% equity in Ningbo Meishan Baoshui Area Deppon Investment Holding Company Limited, an investment vehicle that holds a 66.5% stake in Shanghai-listed Deppon Logistics, JD Logistics announced in a March 13 filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

• Upon the completion of the deal, Deppon’s financial results will be consolidated into JD Logistics’ as a subsidiary business, according to the statement.
• Deppon’s brand will be maintained for independent operation, thus providing a favorable career path for the team, local media Lieyun reported, citing an internal speech made by Yu Rui, CEO of JD Logistics. The comment resolves previous rumors about JD’s plan to merge Deppon’s business and dissolve its team.
• Since Deppon is listed on the Shanghai stock exchange, JD Logistics will make a mandatory general offer for all Deppon shares at a price of RMB 13 per share. The transactions are subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.

Context: JD Logistics’s revenue increased 43% year-on-year to RMB 105 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, according to the company’s 2021 financial results, its first annual earnings released to the public since it went public last May.

• Though still loss-making, JD Logistics’ revenue from non-JD customers exceeded half of the total revenue for the first time in 2021, hitting 56.5%. The logistic company has long hoped to  rely less on business from its parent company.
• Deppon is a logistics company known for its large parcel deliveries. It provides a wide range of solutions, including small and large parcels deliveries, full truck load transportation, and warehousing management in China.

On March 2, Chinese regulators published a new draft of rules on notifications and pop-ups. The rules hope to stop Chinese apps’ excessive use of the tools and control what content gets shared in the notifications. 

Why it matters: Chinese tech companies widely use notifications and pop-ups to promote their services. New rules curtailing their use could hurt service providers such as Baidu, Tencent, and Meituan, which rely on such methods to promote their products and generate profit from advertisements.

• The new rules also indicate tighter controls on content. Article 5.3 of the draft proposal said that unauthorized platforms aren’t allowed to send news information in notifications.  

Details: The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the country’s internet regulator, has published the draft rules as part of a public consultation period until March 17.

• The draft rules require service providers to not “abuse” notifications and pop-ups to sensationalize trending social issues or entertainment topics. 
• They also dictate that notification and pop-up pushing service providers must publish content that adheres to the government’s “core values.”
• Advertising via pop-up windows would be required to show a visible close button and carry a clear notice to users about the paid nature of the content, according to the draft regulations.
• Service providers that don’t qualify for an internet news license (our translation) by CAC would be barred from pushing news notifications and pop-ups under the proposed rules.

Context: The draft regulations appear to be part of a coherent effort to “clean up” the Chinese internet content offerings after CAC’s new algorithm rules took effect at the start of March.

• Chinese tech companies have been accused of abusing notifications and pop-ups and using them to excessively push commercial promotions or sensational content. Chinese Android phone users receive 100 notifications every day on average, according to an industry group Universal Push Association.
• Such notifications and pop-ups can mislead people, according to Sina’s consumer complaints platform Heimao, especially the young and elderly who are susceptible to downloading unnecessary apps or committing to spending money on such platforms.

Chinese food delivery giant Meituan has reduced commission fees for merchants to help alleviate the operational pressures they face following the pandemic prevention measures enacted in the past two years.

Why it matters: Meituan, which counts on food delivery as its main source of revenue, made the move less than two weeks after Chinese regulators suggested in a guideline that food delivery platforms cut fees for restaurants suffering from the coronavirus outbreak.

• Meituan’s shares plunged 15% on Feb. 18 when the new guideline was issued. But a commentary from the state media Economic Daily said the market was “overreacting” (in Chinese). The guideline aimed to drive consumption and recovery after Covid rather than crack down on platforms, the commentary said. Investment bank Jefferies maintained its “buy” rating for Meituan after the release of the guidance.
• Meituan’s commission cut may well trigger similar moves from rivals such as Alibaba-backed platform Ele.me.

Details: Meituan rolled out six supportive measures both to lower the costs and increase revenue for merchants operating on its platform, according to a Tuesday statement.

• The company will cut half of its technological commissions, capping them at RMB 1 ($0.16) per order, for restaurant owners from pandemic-hit areas who suffer a daily sales drop of more than 30%. The policy will be effective as soon as a region is placed in full or partial lockdown and will end once the lockdowns are lifted.
• More than one million merchants facing operation difficulties will be eligible for a commission rate of less than 5% by the end of this year, lower than the average 12% commission usually charged. 
• The company added that it aimed to bring more transparency to its commission structure this year. Last May, it changed its previous flat fee policy to a flexible one that’s based on various factors such as order price and delivery distance. 
• In addition, Meituan is offering customized operational services to 100,000 merchants, helping them to improve storefront designs, develop food delivery menus, and launch marketing strategies. It will also provide free hardware, such as order printers and scanners, to merchants facing operational difficulties.

Context: Chinese food delivery platforms, such as Meituan and Ele.me, have been criticized for charging small merchants excessive rates over the past few years.

• Meituan still faces regulatory risks after receiving a $534 million antitrust fine last October.

READ MORE: There are no food delivery winners

China’s second largest e-commerce platform JD.com has entered the ride-hailing business.

Jiangsu Jingdong Information Technology, a subsidiary of JD.com, quietly updated its information on China’s National Enterprise Credit Information Public System in late August. The update added online taxi booking, used automobile sales and public transportation services.

JD.com didn’t respond to the inquiry made by local media Monday.

Jiangsu Jingdong Information Technology mainly focuses on JD.com’s delivery services. It obtained the delivery certificate from the State Post Bureau of China in 2010 and has 298 branches in provinces across China including Shandong, Shaanxi, Zhejiang and Sichuan. According to local media, experts were quoted that it’s possible that JD wanted to build a Didi for freight because of the company’s expertise in logistics. Statistics show the market value of freight is worth RMB 1.2 billion, ten times more than the online ride-hailing market.

JD can also take advantage of the network it has built on deliveryman to expand into the online personal ride service if it intends to.

China’s ride-hailing business is undergoing a new wave of shifts and regulations as the public was blaming Didi for the murder of a female passenger on August 25 while she was using Didi’s carpooling services. The public accused Didi of lacking safety measures. Governments agencies across the nation have also launched investigations against Didi.

Former founder of Kuaidi Dache, Chen Weixing, announced his coming-back Thursday with a new blockchain based ride-hailing app VV Go that seeks to improve passenger safety and increase the income of drivers.

猫眼在港递交IPO申请，背靠腾讯光线美团，连续两年营收增长超两倍 – 36Kr

What happened: Chinese online ticketing company Maoyan confirmed listing in Hong Kong, but has yet to disclose details about its upcoming IPO. Previous reporting from Bloomberg suggested that Maoyan could raise about $1 billion in the IPO.

Why it’s important: Maoyan is currently the largest movie ticketing platform by box office receipt in China, the world’s second-largest movie market. As of first half of 2018, the platform has amassed over 130 million monthly active users, holding over 60% market share. Last November, Maoyan raised RMB 1 billion from Tencent in a funding round that valued the company at RMB 20 billion. Other backers include Shenzhen-listed film producer Beijing Enlight Media as well as China’s largest food delivery and restaurant reviews service Meituan Dianping. Maoyan is among a slew of Chinese tech companies seeking to list in Hong Kong.

Chinese search engine giant Baidu registered a blockchain company Wednesday in China’s Hainan province. The company is mainly set to develop blockchain technology and online games.

The company is named Dulian Internet Technology, according to China’s National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, and Xiang Hailong, Baidu’s vice president, is Dulian’s legal representative.

Baidu first started exploring blockchain in 2015. In mid-2017, Baidu launched an open blockchain platform BaaS under its finance operations. The platform is used for credit services, securitization, and trading assets. According to Baidu’s official reports, BaaS had confirmed the authenticity of assets worth more than RMB 50 billion by January 2018. Baidu also launched a blockchain based digital dog Laici dog(莱茨狗), similar to CryptoKitties.

China has been cracking down on cryptocurrency, banning cryptocurrency trading platforms that provide service to Chinese residents even if their servers are overseas. Tencent also shut down blockchain related WeChat accounts which published information regarding trading cryptocurrency.

However, compared with the restrictive attitude towards cryptocurrency, Chinese authorities welcome the development and application of blockchain technology. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China issued the country’s first blockchain white paper in May, acknowledging the new tech’s innovation and the possible positive influence on China’s economy.

In response to the recent backlash over the “100% China developed” browser engine, Redcore has issued an official apology on WeChat, admitting that there, in fact, was “some degree of exaggeration” in its recent marketing and fundraising efforts. The Redcore team said they are deeply sorry for the claims they made that might have misguided the public.

“Redcore browser engine is the adaptation and innovation based on the globally-accepted open-source Chromium kernel architecture. We did not mention this clearly during our marketing campaign, which might have misled people into thinking that we built the browser engine from the ground up.”

Redcore said it should have focused more on the browser’s actual functionality and customer value, instead of insisting that it is made in China.

Redcore came into the public’s attention after reportedly raising RMB 250 million from “large public traded companies and government agencies.” The company also touted that the internet browser is used by the Chinese government and can break the US monopoly, according to CNBC. The company immediately faced criticism from Chinese netizens, after Chinese media found traces of Google’s Chrome in its software. By Thursday afternoon, all download links of the browser installer had been taken down from the company’s website.

Shanghai, Alibaba, and Ant Financial have signed a strategic cooperation agreement to boost the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta. According to local media reports (in Chinese), under the new partnership agreement, Alibaba will ramp up its new retail efforts in Shanghai.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma revealed at the signing ceremony that Alibaba has been putting a heavy focus on the development of the Yangtze River Delta regions. Multiple Alibaba-owned businesses are headquartered in Shanghai, including O2O supermarket chain Hema Xiansheng and food delivery platform Ele.me. Alibaba’s mobile payment platform Alipay is also connected with Shanghai’s public service departments and is now capable of handling over a hundred civil affairs.

The company announced that it aims to bring new businesses, technology, products, and business models to Shanghai. It has selected the city as the location for Tmall’s global product launch. Alibaba also plans to boost O2O retail development and will put special focus on traditional retail and preserving age-old brands.

Alibaba’s financial affiliate Ant Financial also will accelerate the deployment of mobile payment network in Shanghai and will continue to support the annual Shanghai Shopping Festival as an official strategic partner. The fintech company also plans to help the city build an innovative financial center leveraging its blockchain and mobile payment capabilities. Ant Financial entered a strategic cooperation agreement with Shanghai Pudong Development Bank in May to support the bank’s digital transformation.

In July, regions in China’s Yangtze delta—including China’s financial hub Shanghai and manufacturing-focused Zhejiang and Jiangsu, and the province of Anhui—kicked off a three-year action plan to integrate their economies. The government has launched an RMB 100 billion fund to support technology development and others development efforts in the region.

The city of Shanghai and Alibaba Group’s tie-up dates back to 2015, and the e-commerce giant has been investing heavily in the city’s e-commerce, finance, technology, logistics and among other areas.

After gaining attention for raising an RMB 250 million Series C from “large public traded companies and government agencies,” Chinese netizens have discovered that “100% China developed” Redcore (红芯) browser actually borrows extensively from Google’s open-source Chromium project.

Update: The company behind the browser has apologized for “some degree of exaggeration” in their claims.

The browser targets enterprise clients and, according to release on Redcore’s official WeChat account, the company has formed partnerships with quite a few big names. Its clients include state agencies such as the State Council of China and National Bureau of Statistics as well as large Chinese corporates like automobile company BYD and oil and gas company PetroChina. Chengxing capital (晨兴资本), Fortune Capital (达晨创投), and IDG Capital invested in Redcore in the series C funding.

Redcore is marketing the browser as having high levels of security baked in for domestic clients since most major browser engine on the market are all developed in the U.S.

A browser engine is the core of a web browser that renders web documents, usually HTML, and other resources and displays them on screen. The major browser engines are Internet Explorer’s Trident developed by Microsoft, Chrome’s Blink by Google, Safari’s WebKit by Apple, and Firefox’s Gecko by Mozilla. No Chinese browsers have developed their own browser engine, and therefore, it quickly drew attention from Chinese geek community when Redcore said it has developed its own.

A verified web developer on Weibo dissected Redcore’s installing package and application, and found quite a bit of evidence that shows “Redcore is just another Chromium browser with a different user interface design.”

Chen Benfeng, founder and CEO of Redcore, responded to local media and admitted that the Redcore browser is based on the browser engine of Google’s Chromium, but insisted they have adapted it to meet the demands of Chinese clients. Links to download the browser were taken down at the time of publishing the story.

The scandal reminds netizens of a similar incident in 2003 when the dean of School of Microelectronics at Shanghai Jiaotong University claimed to have developed China’s first digital signal processing microchip, which later was found out to be a chip developed by Motorola with the trademark sanded away.

Sun Yukun, a second-year student at the China Agricultural University and leader of the university’s student Science Trip team, left Beijing for Tibet on July 24 with 15 other members. The Tibet field trip project has been the university Science Trip’s tradition for 14 years. For the past few months, Sun has organized high-intensity physical training and special research seminars to prepare for this annual event. After 40 hours of sitting on a train, members then take local vans to some of the most remote areas in the region.

Sun’s team represents a trend in China’s basic science and tech landscape: by organizing student-led projects, Chinese undergraduate students are spontaneously approaching a career in science and technology amid a tough domestic research environment. Their efforts are gradually paving the way for commercialized research in China, but they still need systematic support to be powerful enough to produce tangible innovations and breakthroughs.

Tibet and quantum computation

“Our science club is for cross-disciplinary field trips and research. It’s about knowing the ecosystem and needs of everything there, including plants, animals, healthcare, cultural heritage, economy, and development. We now have a very diverse portfolio of members, with majors ranging from engineering to nutrition,” Sun told TechNode.

The team’s recent research projects include investigating corporate and government influences in ethnic groups’ agricultural endeavors, home appliances made by rare materials, e-commerce, plateau agriculture, economic crops’ management in valley areas, and wild animals’ health and protection in tourism zones.

Sun and her research group may not have realized that what they are doing is now part of the foundation of China’s startup and strategic tech landscape.

According to China’s National Scientific and Technical Achievements Database (NSTAD), Sun and her team’s work may provide the latest field findings to sectors including energy efficiency, ecosystem repair technology, agriculture, and new materials. Ethnographic material Sun and her team collect from residents could contribute to disciplines like anthropology, linguistics, art, and religious studies.

Besides Sun, students in STEM subjects have their own approaches. “The field of pure mathematics has hundreds of years of genius work already done by giants, and it’s highly abstract – it’s almost impossible for an undergraduate student to innovate,” Liu Renyu, a final-year mathematics student from Wuhan University, told TechNode. By the time of our interview, Liu had received a PhD offer from the University of Technology Sydney’s (UTS) quantum computation project.

Liu’s first bite of research-like practice is similar to self-taught literature review training: “I read articles and books and digest them. I then put them down as notes, and I submitted the notes to a professor I know every two weeks.” Since his second semester of his third undergraduate year, Liu has written 30 such notes. To produce 1 piece, Liu had to consult an average of nine scholarly resources.

The National Science Foundation (NSF)’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) in the United States specializes in research for undergraduate students outside their own institutions’ related opportunities. Here in China, no equivalent projects can be found. As a spontaneous solution, Liu and his fellows have to teach themselves. Their self-learning process is gradually building up a foundation for deep future research.

“I don’t use exactly what I previously learned as I’m now working on physical oceanography, but I did computational physics for my bachelor’s in China. The capability to think and build up physical models does not differ much between subjects,” said Zhang Tianyi, who just successfully defended his dissertation in the United States.

“Take the Regional Ocean Modelling System which is adopted by the physical oceanography community including NASA’s Jet Pulposion Lab (JPL) —one of NASA’s most famous and advanced labs—for example, the foundation for the study and application of the model lies in the knowledge of basic physical mechanics and information analysis, taught in 101 courses,” he said to us.

China’s basic science awareness and ambition

“Strong basic science research is the foundation of the construction of a world-leading country. We lack significant original research achievements, basic science input, proper research design structure, top talents and teams, reward frameworks, or a business awareness [of science]. The whole society’s support for basic science should be improved,” China’s National Congress’ new policy guidance (in Chinese), released on February 2, 2018, says. The guidance hopes to strengthen the country’s basic science research from all possible perspectives.

Ambitious as the policy may seem, a practical problem at the moment is a stable funding and the proper use of it.

“Private companies and ventures are not willing to do [basic research]. It takes too long to see any impact. It has to be funded by the government,” Dr. Lawrence Lau, the Ralph and Claire Landau Professor of Economics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said in a meeting in May.

According to Dr. Lau, in terms of basic research expenditure as a share of total R&D expenditure, US stands on top with the figure of over 10%, whereas China’s is below 5%.

Take Sun’s university as an example, in 2015, China Agricultural University received RMB 1 billion for science research (in Chinese), ranking 29th among surveyed universities. The amount is not small. But spare funding for students’ projects like Sun’s research in Tibet doesn’t amount to much, as major financing first goes to state-backed labs and national agricultural projects. Sun told TechNode that her team funds itself with members’ RMB 1,500 annual donations while hiking equipment and medical support is provided by commercial parties.

Zhang says that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the United States provided funding to undergraduate students who wished to observe ocean waves and ripples with drones. Such support, according to Zhang, is rare in China.

Apart from limited overall funding, what is also challenging for China’s higher education and research institutions is the uneven allocation of the money. The 2015 funding survey also shows the dominant position of Tsinghua University, which absorbed RMB 4.4 billion and was almost RMB 400 million ahead of the 2nd institution, Zhejiang University. Starting with the 5th institution, Peking University, all other funding was below RMB 2.5 billion.

The unevenness increased in 2016 when Tsinghua received over RMB 5 billion, and the second-ranking Peking University got RMB 2.7 billion. This situation is causing difficulty for non-top tier institutions to receive material support, let alone undergraduate students’ own projects. Additionally, the lack of human assets such as researchers and scientists who can lead science projects and guide young talents like Sun and Liu is also a problem China is facing.

In March, Premier Li Keqiang stressed Beijing’s “fast-tracking of bringing in overseas talent”. Meanwhile, the country is reportedly mining Silicon Valley for tech talents. With regards to basic science, China knows money cannot buy research the way it can buy buildings.

For young talents like Sun and Liu, the country’s shortage of human assets means that students can hardly expect close and consistent guidance from senior professionals to help them build a career in science.

Tech innovation and the power of young talents

The tech industry, meanwhile, is competing to grab projects with pioneering technologies. And leading global players have tasted the benefits basic research can bring. WI Harper, a leading global venture capital (VC) investment entity, revealed its latest portfolio projects including histopathology research and neural health application in May.

A VC participant of 2018 WI Harper’s shareholder meeting who wished to remain anonymous said he was very interested in Dr. Lou-Chuang Lee, a former researcher at the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and Dr. Alfred Wong, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at UCLA’s fusion physics empowered new energy concept.

“Uniqueness – this is what attracts me. No one can copy it. If you put your money in any tangible innovations in the future, you get the regional government’s endorsement. And meanwhile, you get a golden egg,” he says.

On June 30, computer instruction set architecture (ISA) RISC-V’s official tech promotion foundation RISC-V Foundation had its only 2018 conference for Mainland China at Fudan University, Shanghai. Exclusive for professionals and high-level investors, the foundation’s conference showed some of the latest ISA technologies including the world’s smallest drone developed by European scientists.

Not long after the conference, RISC-V technology received official government support. The Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Information released a government notice to formally announce the support of RISC-V related integrated circuit and digital information manufacturing parties.

The commercial cross-border VC WI Harper and tech promotion community RISC-V Foundation, meanwhile, are giving opportunities back to young talents, to sustain the supply of innovation. Dr. Lee said the majority of staff in the projects are from science labs, including a few students in the early stages of scientific research.

Organizers of the RISC-V event provided financial support to students who were interested in ISA topics. The event also featured undergraduate student Wan Ruigang who started designing CPU in high school to give a speech at the conference which was dominated by famous researchers.

Without a stable and sufficient supply of young scientists, China’s tech scene will remain a follower of global trends or rely on scientists who complete science training abroad. A spontaneous scientific effort may apply to students and geniuses, but not the education system.

Premier Li Keqiang said in June: “An unstable undergraduate education foundation in an education system has the damaging power to shake the earth and mountain (本科不牢，地动山摇).” But, what could be practically done still remains uncertain.

为电动汽车提供综合服务，「充电网」获数千万人民币Pre-B轮融资 – 36Kr

What happened: ChargerLink, a charging service provider based in China, announced its’ new RMB 10-million-level Pre-B Series. The company has landed services in around 200 cities in China and has penetrated into over 10,000 communities. ChargerLink also cooperated with Tesla on charging piles. Their contract, however, ended in 2016.

Why it’s important: ChargerLink’s new capital injection signals investors’ expectation of a growing new energy vehicle (NEV) market. The company’s entrance to the market, however, differs from common charging pile manufacturers. ChargerLink’s products including data management, smart NEV parking solution, and software development, serve those leading charging pile producers, car makers, and real estate owners, with few large fixed asset investments. This secures the company a place in the industry’s multi-solution provider sector and reduces operational risks in an emerging NEV market.

What happened: The world’s largest manufacturer of surveillance equipment Hikvision has lost $11 billion of market value since the start of China-US trade tensions in March. To fight the slowdown, Hikvision is investing in AI technology.

Why it’s important: The Bloomberg piece highlights that Hikvision is the largest player in surveillance hardware in the world: its next competitor China-based Dahua is less than a fifth its size. AI is likely to boost Hikvision earnings. Despite the trade tensions, the company doesn’t seem to be lacking clients, namely governments that want to spy on their citizens.

Tencent’s mega-hit mobile game Honour of Kings is no doubt one of most successful games of the Chinese gaming giant. It still is one of the cash cows of Tecent. But as the craze surrounding the three-year-old game fades off, Tencent is in need of more new popular games to maintain its domination in China’s gaming industry.

App Store marketing service provider AppBi revealed in a recent report that Honour of Kings reached its peak with a profit growth rate of 29 percent in 2016. But its popularity started to drop with policy restrictions and growing competition. The heat surrounds Honour of Kings and the purchase of users declined gradually.

China’s mobile gaming industry is dominated by Tencent and NetEase. Among all games listed on “Top 20 Paid Games” from 2014 to 2018 Q1, Tencent constitutes 50% of the total, while Netease was the second with an 18 percent share.

In Q1 this year, Net Ease is catching up with its new game“决战！平安京” topping the fastest growing category. The best performing game by Tencent is QQ Speed, which recorded a $170 million or 19 percent YOY profit growth in Q1 this year. Compared to previous years where Tencent and Netease carved up most of the profits, several gaming startups become the budding publishers in China’s game arena.

Mobile revenue still relies heavily on the game industry. According to the recent report released by China Culture and Entertainment Industry Association (CCEA), more than 70% of APP income was generated by game players.

Since 2014, China experienced an explosive growth in the gaming market. AppBi research shows the total revenue had jumped almost four times from 2014 to 2017. In 2018 Q1, China mobile game revenue reached $2.3 billion, equivalent to the total in 2014.

AppBi studied every year’s Top 20 Games in Revenue in IOS store and found that most of the top publishers are either invested by Baidu, Tencent, and Alibaba, or BAT itself. Small startups are suffering increasing difficulty to survive or go independent.

From 2016-2018Q1, most of the Top 20 profitable games are well-established IP or Chinese fantasy category, which proven to be very popular among Chinese consumers. There was a significant lacking in originality and innovation.

With more players generated by games like the Honour of Kings, China mobile users are expected to exceed 550 million, according to CCEA. However, the game market still requires more originality, talents, and better data-driven marketing strategy, the company pointed.

Image credits:AppBi

In ofo’s latest retreat from the international market, the company is scaling back its operations in the United States after laying off 70% of its staff in the country.

Additionally, three executives from ofo’s US business have resigned in the past two weeks, a source told TechNode. The layoffs were announced internally on July 18, with the company planning to halt operations in numerous US cities. However, exact areas were not specified.

The company has also shuttered its businesses in Germany, India, Australia, the Middle East, and parts of the United Kingdom.

The company was operating in 30 cities across the US, with plans to serve more than 100 by the end of 2018. In April, it announced that it had facilitated more than one million rides in the US during its first three months of operations.

The future of ofo’s e-scooter plans is also unknown, with sources saying it is uncertain whether they will be launched after everyone is gone.

However, a company spokesperson said the company is focussing on what it deems to be priority markets in order to move towards profitability. “We are communicating with our local markets about plans going forward,” ofo said, without specifying on which markets the company plans to focus.

Nonetheless, talk of ofo’s financial woes has been circulating for the past few months. In June, a source told TechNode that the company had laid off nearly half of its 60 employees at its Singapore office. Additionally, ofo co-founder Yu Xin denied claims that the company was retrenching 50% of its staff in China due to cash trouble. The company countered news of the layoffs by sending lawyers letters to media companies involved in writing what the company referred to as slanderous and defamatory articles.

After Australia, ofo exits Germany amid push into priority markets

Interestingly, Xu also denied that its international operations were being shut down following the departure of COO Zhang Yanqi. However, in early July ofo announced that co-founder and CEO Dai Wei would begin overseeing its global business.

In addition, ofo’s Chinese business began selling advertising on its bicycles and in its app in May. This, however, was short-lived as some cities moved to ban placed ads on bikes. This, along with a limitation on the number of bicycles allowed on city streets and an imposed lifespan on bicycles, has made the bike-rental industry a difficult one to make profitable.

China-based global ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing has launched Didi Mobility Japan, a joint venture with Japanese conglomerate SoftBank.

As ride-hailing is prohibited in Japan, Didi is focussing mainly on taxi operations. Its entrance into the local market will center on tech infrastructure support, which eyes technical and big data, and related driver and user experience optimization. A new ride-matching app for riders, drivers, and taxi operators will be available in major cities including Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka, and Tokyo. Didi says services will be launched within the next few months.

The joint-venture, though launched between two private enterprises, implies an expectation of national economic gains. In 2017, Japan hosted roughly 29 million foreign visitors, around 50% of whom were from Greater China (in Chinese).

Further, according to Didi, current users in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan will soon be able to use real-time in-app Chinese to Japanese instant message translation when hailing taxis in the country.

Didi, which absorbed Uber China in 2016, tends to cooperate with existing local ride-hailing and other transport service providers when entering a new region. In 2015, Didi invested in Southeast Asian ride-hailing platform Grab, US platform Lyft, and Indian platform Ola. Cooperation with local players reduces operational costs, including asset investment and recruitment expenses.

In April, Didi launched in Mexico with its own ride-hailing service. This was Didi’s first direct operation overseas. To grab market share and attract drivers, the company said it would not charge commission fees from drivers until June 17.

This time in Japan, Didi is neither cooperating with local ride-hailing enterprises nor operating alone. The company told TechNode that its strategy of partnership building continues. Didi is offering a commission-free plan which currently specifies no expiry date.

“In the early stage of our business, we plan to focus on market cultivation and user base building. We aim to create an inclusive platform to integrate taxi enterprises around Japan. Therefore, at the moment we are having no plan to charge Japanese partner taxi companies any service fee or commission fee,” a Didi spokesperson said when asked about its cooperation model in the country.

Additionally, what’s usually ignored is SoftBank’s role. The active investment giant is doing more than just bringing tech to its home country. As Ken Miyauchi, President & CEO of SoftBank, said, “Combining Didi’s outstanding innovation with SoftBank’s extensive business base including advanced network infrastructure, I believe the joint venture can provide new value to both the consumers and taxi companies in Japan.”

Considering Japan’s power in innovation, it would not be persuasive to say the leading tech power in Asia lacks the research and production capabilities to produce and operate any Didi-like platforms. Having invested $5 billion in Didi, SoftBank will have to form close ties with Didi.

Besides, SoftBank has also invested $750 million in Grab, $250 million in Ola, and $100 million in Brazilian ride-hailing platform 99. The giant investor cares more about its global ride-hailing landscape, not simply Japan and Didi.

Baidu Waimai, a takeaway service previously owned by Baidu and now under Alibaba’s Ele.me, is facing protests from its commercial agents. More than 50 agents employed by the company gathered in front of its headquarters on July 16th to voice their grievances and ask for a meeting with Baidu-founder Robin Li, local media is reporting.

The protest is just one in a series organized by Baidu Waimai agents and delivery staff. Baidu Waimai itself wrote a letter to Baidu in November accusing the company of making them lose thousands if not millions of RMB when promised subsidies for food delivery never came through as well as misleading them about future prospects of the service. Baidu Waimai stated in the letter that 90% of its contractors suffered serious losses.

Baidu Waimai has been strained by internal restructuring since the merger with its previous rival Ele.me in August last year. In the meantime, Ele.me was taken over by Alibaba which bought the remaining shares in the company in April this year.

At the beginning of this year, Baidu Waimai announced that the number of urban channel managers will be cut, retaining about 35 of them in total. At the same time, the market share of Baidu Waimai has been slipping affecting incomes of the distribution staff, according to a report by Lieyun Wang.

Rumors have also been circulating since May that the company is facing layoffs. Baidu Waimai also saw a large number of its executives leave since the takeover. Aside from its former chairman Gong Zhenbing who moved to ride-hailing company Yidao Yongche, CTO Geng Yankun left to join SF delivery service (顺丰), and COO Chen Qing joined Yum China. Some of the other high ranked staffers joined Didi’s new food delivery platform Didi Foodie, others Daojia Meishi.

Protesters published a letter including 10 questions to Robin Li. The letter accuses Ele.me of trying to destroy the company and Baidu of taking the money and refusing to recognize the role that over 400 commercial agents played in building Baidu Waimai. The first question of the letter states:

You said that since the creation of Baidu Waimai in 2014, more than 400 commercial agents enrolled in it across the country. Do you know the money, time, youth, and effort they spent on the local takeout industry? Do you admit it? Do you recognize the fact that young entrepreneurs all over China are selling their houses, selling cars, borrowing money and taking out loans to devote themselves to the Baidu takeaway business? Pressured by the KPIs demanded by our headquarters, we invested nearly RMB 1 billion of our hard-earned money. Do you admit it?

More than 95% of Baidu Waimai’s operations are contracted out to exclusive agents within cities, while Baidu runs a few of its own operators outside of the cities. The agents are responsible for handling city logistics and covering staff wages, welfare, clothing and equipment, and even traffic accident risks. Some agents pay up to 20% commission to use the Baidu Waimai platform.

Big data has exploded over the past few years. It is expected that by 2020 every human will create the equivalent of 1.7 megabytes of data every second. More than 90% of all the data that exists has been generated since 2015.

The data comes from numerous sources: social media, financial transactions, governments, and sensors. With the rise of the internet of things (IoT), the amount of data collected is expected to increase exponentially. It is believed that by 2030 there will be more than 125 billion IoT devices in service, representing a 360% increase from 2017.

However, problems arise when data is collected from multiple sources. It becomes unstructured, messy, and disparate.

“I think this is a categorically important problem or challenge to AI,” Min Wanli, chief machine intelligence scientist at Alibaba Cloud, said at TechCrunch Hangzhou.”Anytime, if you get a new data source, you have to reconcile or do a data ‘massage’ in real time or either offline.”

While this may be easy for offline data, it becomes much harder when dealing with data in real-time. Min says that a basic approach is needed when dealing with this data. “This is not from the technology’s side; rather it is from the application side. And first, you’ve got to identify your use case scenario, your vertical application.”

Unstructured data is expected to make up 80% of the world’s 163 zettabytes by 2025. This data, which is not stored in a fixed record length format, cannot be read by machines. Examples include documents, social media information, pictures, and video. Because of the vast amounts of it, it provides enormous potential for training AI and in machine learning applications.

Despite the challenges it poses for artificial intelligence, the technology has also been applied to solving the exact problem it is facing. According to IBM, Watson “takes huge amounts of unstructured data, understands it, and uses that data to lay out hypotheses.”

Apart from the difficulties created by unstructured data, Min said that too much data could also be troublesome. “Try to identify the minimum sufficient data input,” he said. “Providing minimum sufficient data is productive and is beneficial.” He said that from Alibaba’s perspective, not being overburdened with data can then speed up their practices. He also said it aids companies using their services

“Their entire implementation process to them is beneficial because they have less burden, less pressure on their side,” said Min.

Nine of the world’s twelve most shipped smartphone manufacturers are headquartered in China, according to semiconductor market research firm IC Insights.

The company recently updated its 2018 IC Market Drivers Report in which it documented the applications fueling demand for integrated circuits (ICs). According to the report, Apple and Samsung still dominate the market for high-end smartphones (over $200). The two companies combined shipped over 530 million smartphones in 2017, controlling 36% of the market share.

While these two companies controlled the high-end range, their shipments saw little growth. However, Huawei, OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi, coming in at third, fourth, fifth, and sixth on the list respectively, witnessed between a 10% and 73% increase in shipments.

The combined shipments by OPPO and Vivo, both owned by BKK Electronics, fell short of Apple’s shipments by just 2.7 million units.  Chinese companies on the list shipped a total of 626 million smartphones in 2017, an 11% increase compared to 2016. They also controlled 42% of global smartphone shipments.

Nonetheless, Lenovo, ZTE, TCL, Gionee, and LeEco/Coolpad saw their shipments drop by up to a quarter.

Growth in shipments from Chinese manufacturers is being driven by the international market, with total shipments increasing by 47% in 2017, according to market research firm Newzoo. The company claims that India is a significant driving force behind the increasing demand, with the usage of Chinese-made devices rising by 225% between 2016 and 2017, and accounting for 37% of all smartphones in the country at the end of 2017.

While global shipments of Chinese smartphones are on the rise, local shipments are down. According to Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) data, domestic shipments slumped by over 16% in the first-quarter of 2018 to 39 million handsets. Technology market research firm Canalys documented a similar trend, saying that eight of the county’s ten major manufacturers experienced declines in shipments. The firm attributed the decrease to rampant imitation resulting from competition in the market.

Chinese food delivery and life services platform Meituan Dianping filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong on June 25. The IPO is jointly sponsored by three Wall Street banks, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

The company is reportedly seeking over $4 billion in the IPO, although the figure wasn’t disclosed in its filing.

Meituan Dianping operates Meituan and Dianping. Meituan is one of China’s biggest online marketplace for daily-life services while Dianping publishes crowd-sourced reviews about local businesses and also sells coupons. The company also operates Meituan Waimai, which provides delivery services ranging from food delivery to running errands on customers’ demands.

Meituan Dianping bought bike sharing company Mobike for $2.7 billion in early April this year to draw more customers and “enhance the portfolio of services” the company offers to consumers, according to the filing.

According to Meituan Dianping, over 5.8 billion transactions were generated on its platform in 2017, totaling RMB 357 billion in gross transaction volume. The number of listed merchants of the platform increased to 5.5 million in 2017 from 3 million in 2015. The company’s revenues grew to RMB 33.9 billion in 2017 from RMB 13 billion two years ago. Despite rising revenues and an increasing customer base, the company reported a RMB 19 billion loss in 2017, and RMB 2.9 billion in adjusted net losses, in the filing.

Meituan Dianping is backed by Chinese tech giant Tencent. According to the filing, it is primarily competing with Alibaba Group and its portfolio companies for food delivery and in-store services, and with Ctrip.com, a Chinese traveling service provider.

Tencent has rebutted reports claiming it plans to increase its advertising revenue to up to 40% of its gross corporate revenue.

According to tech media outlet 36Kr (in Chinese), a high-level officer at Tencent said on June 21 that in one to two years the company plans to increase its advertising revenue’s contribution to corporate gross revenue to 30% to 40%. The anonymous source also stressed that Tencent would like to keep the rate below 50% to best protect user experience.

TechNode contacted Tencent to confirm the information. A spokesperson said the report is not true.

Tencent so far has released no statement to formally comment on the reports. Major websites in China including Sohu Tech and financial information platform Tonghuashun (同花顺) are still republishing and circulating the information.

According to Tencent’s fiscal report for the first quarter of 2018 (in Chinese), the company’s advertising revenue channels include internet advertising, social media advertising, and other advertising. TechNode reported in May that Tencent’s internet advertising revenue grew by 55% to RMB 10.68 compared to the same time last year. Additionally, social and other advertising revenue grew by 69% to RMB 7.39 billion, largely due to WeChat Moments’ advertising services. These revenues already account for 24.6% of the RMB 73.5 billion gross corporate revenue during the same period.

“Our social media and feed advertisements are significantly fewer than the industry’s general figures. We believe that our social media and other advertising sectors will maintain long-term growth,” Tencent said in the 2018 first quarter fiscal report (in Chinese), summarizing past performance and giving hints for future revenue strategies.

The company’s words are true: in 2017, Facebook alone made a staggering $39.9 billion in advertising revenue, around 98% of the social networking platform’s global revenue. Considering WeChat’s one billion-strong global user base and dominant position in China’s social media landscape, the figure of 30% to 40%, though denied by Tencent’s public relations office, is commercially reasonable.

Another member of  Tencent staff quoted by  36Kr said the company’s next stage of focus is the service capability of small and local merchants. Smart retail tools will improve operational efficiency in brick-and-mortar stores. At the moment, medium to small merchants’ contribution to Tencent’s social media advertising revenues is around 30%, whereas big brands contribute 70%. Tencent wishes to keep a balanced 50:50 ratio.

Tencent’s WeChat has been going through active system updates. New services including healthcare support, smart public transportation, global tax rebates, and new mini program functions are building channels and technological infrastructure for the company.

Though figures quoted in 36Kr’s report is said to be false, Tencent’s growing ambition for a larger profitable and sustainable commercial ecosystem is clear.

Taihe Group’s Baidu Music (百度音乐) has rebranded as Qianqian Music (千千音乐), launching a new logo and domain. However, functionality within the app and the on the website remains the same.

The move follows a 2015 merger between Baidu’s music service and Chinese music company Taihe Entertainment Group, in which the Chinese tech giant sought to spin off one of its brands for investment. The move also aimed to improve Baidu’s Music’s offerings by leveraging Taihe’s library of local and international content.

“Baidu Music has been upgraded to Qianqian Music, which is not only a simple brand upgrade but also an indispensable measure for us to fit in with the needs of emerging users.” Liu Xin, vice president of Taihe Music Group, is quoted as saying.

China’s music streaming industry is enormous. With a smartphone penetration rate of 92 devices for every 100 individuals, 86% of users listen to music on their mobile phones. This has created an increasingly competitive market for music streaming businesses, which is dominated by players including Kuguo Music and QQ Music.

The competition in the market has resulted in numerous license infringement lawsuits and counter-suits between QQ Music, NetEase Music, Alibaba’s Xiami Music, and Kuguo Music, and competitors in the market. The turbulence eventually led to the government enforcing music strict copyright regulations in 2015.

According to research firm iResearch, mobile music users made up 62.7% of total internet users at the end of 2017, with a vast majority of users reporting a preference for pop music.

In the fast-paced tech space, it is essential for startups to keep innovating and catching up with the latest trends. While the blockchain frenzy is still in full swing, it is inevitably becoming a new direction where entrepreneurs are turning their focus.

In addition to the general tendency to shift towards what’s popular in the market, the blockchain craze is fueled by its distributed nature, find opportunities where trust is a key factor. After years of technical innovation, developers are now looking to scale its application to power a range of different industries.

The idea that shared ledgers can incentivize users to secure digital relationships has triggered wild imagination from something as mundane as finance and rental economy to poultry breeding and dental care. Shanghai-based Chinaccelerator graduated its 13th Batch to offer its distinctive applications of the technology.

Dream – Freelancer Recruitment

With the globalization of talents, more and more startups rely on freelancers. Dream leverages blockchain-based verification of identity, work history and professional networks against real-time data of project outcomes to scope projects and connect the right talents with exciting teams. It learns from the outcomes of past projects to build freelance teams with the right skills and fit.

Company CEO Richard Foster is an entrepreneur who founded a financially regulated payments startup and successfully raised funding for it. He has 10 years’ experience consulting as a network architect in the finance and energy sectors in London and has been following and investing bitcoin, blockchain, and altcoins since 2014.

LiqEase– SME Liquidity

Globally, over 67% of small and medium-sized enterprises have indicated a need for liquidity. LiqEase digitizes assets using blockchain technology with the goal to reduce payment terms for SMEs in B2B trade and provide investors with the opportunity to profit from such a new asset class.

Sellers and buyers can manually or automatically upload their project-related information, such as invoice, contracts, and others. Both parties have to sign a transaction on a blockchain node with their individual private keys. After that, a token is automatically issued and listed on the marketplace. The sellers get the cash liquidity from the investor and transfer his account receivable as a token to the investors. The investor can trade or hold this claim to other investors against the buyer until the maturity date of the token. Upon the maturity date, the buyers are required to settle the payment.

LiqEase CEO and founder Tobias Pfutze worked as a business consultant at mediaman Shanghai. He holds a degree in Business Administration and has a strong expertise in Fintech.

Nusic– Digital Rights

While China’s demand for DJ music is rising, being an DJ requires costly training and sophisticated software that could demand tens of thousands of dollars. Nusic is an app that allows anyone to create original music content and share with friends. Nusic’s mashup technology processes multi-channel audio in real-time for the drum, the melody, etc., giving users the ability to create great-sounding mixes and mashups. The app is under internal testing and will be launched later this year.

“First and foremost, we use blockchain technology to secure the digital rights. I was a student studying media technology. When I first heard of blockchain, I thoughts that it’s a much more sophisticated way to ensure the digital rights could have a record. In addition, we have an in-game economy. We are looking to offer the credits and the currencies inside the game, where users could use and trade outside of the platform as well,” Nusic CEO Adam Place told TechNode.

Aam Place is a serial entrepreneur, musician and talent agent from the UK who has been working at the intersection of music and technology.

Jinri Toutiao, an information platform app of ByteDance, announced on June 14 that it has launched a new service “Jinri Games (今日游戏)”. The service is currently only available for Android users.

The service at the moment allows downloads, recommendations, and gift collection. Entry to the service is under Jinri Toutiao App’s My Wallet (我的钱包) section.

The launch signals Jinri Toutiao’s formal moves into games’ distribution and operation. As Jinri Toutiao put entry to games under the App’s My Wallet sector, it’s very likely few games would be free. The initiative behind was clear: generating revenues and cash rewards for both partner games and the platform itself.

This slightly differs from some mini program games on WeChat from Tencent, Chinese social network giant and ByteDance’s major rival at present, though both Jinri Toutiao and WeChat are leaders in China’s data traffic games. By encouraging players to share scores and performance ranking lists, free-entry WeChat games such as The Strongest Bomb (最强弹一弹) weigh social networking more.

Currently displayed at Jinri Toutiao’s game service include Chinese online game Chu Liuxiang (楚留香), a Chinese ancient legend IP empowered game, and Identity V (第五人格), an indie-game-like online multi-player strategy and psychology game. The two games are both developed by NetEase and are already popular in Chinese game market.

Jinri Toutiao’s data traffic advantage would be a natural catalyst for the games’ further potential growths. The market expects Jinri Toutiao’s total users to be around 100 million. Though still behind Tencent WeChat’s 1 billion monthly active global users, such a huge Chinese platform for game purchase is still attractive to developers, particularly for game studios’ “traffic buy” (买量) strategy.

Commercial and indie game studios in China are now investing in channels including communities, platforms, live-streaming, and other non-traditional media areas to boost exposure and players’ purchase willingness. A source with knowledge of the matter says, due to fierce competition and other related issues, platforms such as Steam, one of the biggest game distribution and players’ community in the world, are seeing the slowly declining influence in promoting Chinese games. As a result, game studios without sufficient capital and other resource back-ups are diversifying their distribution plans and cooperation strategies to hedge market fluctuations. Jinri Toutiao may be an appealing option.

Meanwhile, game business is another risk-hedger for Jinri Toutiao itself. The company has recently been the target of state-criticism since it allowed distribution of content that insulted national heroes. The high administrative risk and relatively low revenue business, compared to commercial games and other related projects, would be the last the company wants to maintain in the near future.

Amidst signs of a serious cash crunch, ofo claims that its B2B business has made over RMB 100 million in revenue.

In an interview with local media, Shao Yi, the head of ofo’s B2B business division, revealed that “ofo B2B business is going smoothly. As of now, its revenue has passed the RMB 100 million mark. At the same time, ofo’s B2B business in over 100 cities in China has managed to turn profits.”

Ofo’s B2B division was formed 2 months ago, its business ranges from include bike-body ads, in-app ads and the corporate green card (a scheme for companies who want to place their ads in the ofo app).

Shao stressed that people who use ofo are predominantly high-frequency users with inelastic demand. “Tens of thousands of ofo bikes are being ridden around cities, and so O2O ads get more exposure. In addition, ofo user traffic can be directly diverted to advertiser’s online or offline channels. Advertisers value ofo’s integrated O2O marketing resources and user conversion capabilities.”

As bike rentals cool, ofo chooses to stand alone

China’s cash-burning bike rental companies are increasingly looking to profit from advertisement as it is difficult to generate decent revenue purely from rides. ofo started selling ads on its bikes and apps in May with plans to launch custom-designed bikes and the bike-body ads on bike wheels, saddle, and baskets. Yet, monetizing from ads isn’t as smooth as ofo made it out to be. Several regional municipalities including Shanghai and Beijing have issued bans on putting ads on bikes.

CES Asia, one of the world’s largest trade shows, kicked off in Shanghai on June 13. Over 500 companies from around the world are taking part in the three-day show, generating buzzes in artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, electric vehicles, and more.

TechNode team is going to be live blogging from the event to bring the latest trends. Check back for regular updates!

This week, John and Matt take a look back at 1 year of podcasting and pull out the best part of the best episodes. This is part 1 of 2.

Links

• 04: Interview with Florian Bohnert
• 10: Influencers in China & the future of brands with Elijah Whaley
• 15: Baidu ain’t that bad with Kaiser Kuo
• 18: China’s gaming & e-sports industry with Daniel Ahmad
• 19: China’s $20 billion news app with Dannie Li
• 20: Alipay vs WeChat & why smile to pay matters

• John Artman, @knowsnothing, TechNode
• Matthew Brennan, @mbrennanchina ChinaChannel

• iTunes
• RSS feed
• China Tech Talk.com
• Music: “Theme from Penguins on Parade” by Lee Rosevere, Music for Podcasts 3

Download this episode

“If I have seen farther than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.”

Newton’s quote also rings true for developments in technological innovation. China tech has in recent years made great progress from being a follower to becoming a leader in global future trends. TechCrunch International Innovation Summit has always been dedicated to connecting the brightest talents from China with those around the world, and to advancing innovation and entrepreneurship. After 8 summits, the main stage and side stages have proven to be a favorite among attendees, bringing together more than 60 top industry leaders to share in-depth insights with true tech enthusiasts.

Main stage: Top innovations on the frontline

The main stage of TechCrunch Hangzhou will feature top entrepreneurs, investors, and industry pioneers who will discuss future trends and share insights surrounding AI, e-commerce, smart devices, hardware and IoT, biomedicine, gaming and entertainment, intelligent transportation, enterprise services, internet security and various other industry hot topics.

How far can the sharing economy go?

Pain points give rise to more opportunities for sharing, which can be applied in many industries across education, medicine, supply chain, and more. The sharing economy has experienced a boom in China over the recent years, with many more emerging businesses racing to discover the next “big thing”. Empowered by the advancement of mobile technology, the sharing economy has been replacing many traditional business models that no longer serve in the market’s best interest. However, as the battles in bike-sharing slowly come to an end, will we also see an end to the sharing economy’s spot on the frontline?

Who’s leading the future of autonomous driving?

Autonomous vehicles are the future of cars, creating a deep impact in both the auto industry as well as the entire transportation sector. For most, when speaking of autonomous vehicles, Google is often the first to come to mind, with its revolutionary fully automatic and intelligent concept of self-driving cars, said to be secure and reliable almost like a mobile home. However, there are already many other big players in both the internet and traditional auto industry that are also exploring this area, such as BMW, JingChi, and BYD. Toyota, Volkswagon, and Bosch, the three auto industry giants, are also pushing forward. So, who will come out as the future leader of autonomous vehicles? And who can ensure the reliability and security of the technology? Find out at the TechCrunch Hangzhou Main Stage

Blockchain, a bright future?

Before 2050, 10% of the worldwide GDP is going to be stored on the blockchain. This is a prediction from the 2016 World Economic Forum. Blockchain is seen as a very promising and creative digital innovation worldwide, with its many advantages like decentralization, security, and the elimination of the need for a trusted third party. It can be broadly applied in finance, healthcare, public administration, and many other areas. As blockchain technology continues to develop, it is expected to grow from 1) where the implementation of distributed ledger technology (DLT) leads to its application in cryptocurrency, 2) where Ethereum blockchain allows the implementation of smart contracts, and finally to 3) where decentralized applications (dapps) are made possible. In order to seize the opportunities in this revolutionary yet risky game-changing technology, what are some steps to take and traps to avoid?

AI for “change” or “replacement”?

With the acceleration in building a “digital China”, there will be broader applications of AI technology and products in finance, education, transportation, security, and entertainment, and more and more interesting ideas will emerge. TechCrunch Hangzhou will focus on AI in the data visualization, security, machine learning, robotics, and pharmaceutical areas.

How big is the market for artificial perception in the age of IoT?

The World Wide Web (WWW) is reaching a turning point, and one of the most significant signs of this is the age of IoT. IoT is so much bigger than the internet—it not only connects people but also intelligent things across borders and institutions using big data. Xiaomi seems to have built the most successful IoT ecosystem in China, as it has invested and incubated more than 70 companies and generated revenues of more than $200 billion from its intelligent hardware. According to Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun, Xiaomi IoT plans to launch its IoT developer plan to the next stage, and expand to more industries in 2018. Currently, IoT is still in its early stages of development, and its products and business models are still being explored. Will Xiaomi continue to dominate the market? What are some challenges as IoT continues to develop?

New framework in new retail, how to play it right?

In recent years, developments in e-commerce and supply chain have challenged traditional retail in considerable ways. As traditional retail becomes less popular, “new retail” is taking on the responsibility to empower city development and advance people’s lives. Alibaba was the first to advocate for new retail in an announcement of its plan to integrate online and offline shopping. Other players have followed soon after, with varying degrees of success; it has been widely known that Walmart lost its online market to Amazon. How does a company like that turn things around and reclaim its competitive advantages? We are inviting these players on stage at TechCrunch Hangzhou to share their perspective on the new framework for the future of retail.

These are the six hot topics of TechCrunch Hangzhou. We will have over 100 industry leaders joining us on the main stage to share their insights from the frontline. This is an exciting time to explore the direction of future tech innovations, and sometimes only a lucky few are able to truly seize the opportunity.

There’s so much more waiting to be discovered, so come join us at TechCrunch Hangzhou!

Editor’s note: This article was supported by GeekPwn. We believe in transparency in our publishing and monetization model. Read more here.

As devices get more powerful and increasingly complex, we need to put in place competent safeguards to protect what we value in the new digital world: our privacy, our data and our identities. Stealing something that we take for granted might sound like something out of a movie but rest assured that this future is not likely to be far off.

On a personal up to a national level, the need for strong cyber development is now greater than ever. Chinese-led technological advances are currently leading innovation in the areas of core technologies, big data, and artificial intelligence (AI), all of which are needed to support the development of stronger and more robust cyberspace enterprises.

AI is especially pertinent to this wave of change as newer technologies are increasingly more reliant on the processing and discerning power of algorithms to execute more complex operations. Many experts in the field such as Baidu President Zhang Yaqin have suggested that China will lead the world in AI in the near future and attributes it to having a very receptive and nurturing environment for AI development and experimentation. Every year, China sees increasing numbers of new unicorns, and the quickest moving companies, those that come out on top, are currently the ones that optimize the power of AI.

So how do we secure the new digital resources against hackers? The solution, in our opinion, is found in an old saying: “As iron sharpens iron, so does one person sharpen another”. In the world of people fueled by code and caffeine, there will always be a place for some friendly competition.

Through the 2018 GeekPwn Cybersecurity x AI Contest, Mr. Wang Qi, Founder of the GeekPwn Challenge, hopes to share a new approach to technology, using the term “frienemies” to describe the relationship between hackers and AI. Simply put, white-hat hacking and operating frameworks such as AI share a symbiotic relationship, and that improving one will inadvertently improve the other. However, if not managed well, AI can also have the capability to destroy our way of life. GeekPwn aims to foster trust and cooperation between the world’s leading hacker communities and to influence their abilities into a force for good.

At the upcoming GeekPwn 2018 edition, audiences will see first-hand how this relationship plays out, and how it can be used to improve our lives. Started in 2014 by the KEEN team, China’s most successful hacking collective, the GeekPwn contest is dedicated to encouraging global security experts to exploit the unknown vulnerabilities of the cyber world, and helping manufacturers improve their security systems.

As one of the world’s leading platforms for cybersecurity researchers, GeekPwn will enable security researchers and executives around the world to share their thoughts and findings on cutting-edge and future technology applications, including infrastructure, internet protocol, mobile payment, IoT, and AI.

GeekPwn will be returning to Las Vegas this 10th August 2018, along with a carnival session in Shanghai in October. Special Challenges include Competition on Adversarial Attacks and Defenses (CAAD), AI Data Tracking Challenge, Hacker Room Challenge, Robot Agent Challenge and PWN Everything Challenges, but in Las Vegas, the audience will be treated to three main challenges.

Competition on Adversarial Attacks and Defenses (CAAD)

CAAD (Competition on Adversarial Attacks and Defenses) is organized by the GeekPwn committee, Alexey Kurakin, Ian Goodfellow from Google Brain and Professor Dawn Song from UC Berkeley EECS.

CAAD focuses on image recognition, which consists of three sub-competitions. Participants can select any one to three of them to join. The 3 sub-competitions are: Non-targeted Adversarial Attack, Targeted Adversarial Attack, Defense Against Adversarial Attack.

Robot Agent Challenge

The Robot Agent Challenge will examine each team’s ability to build a robot agent that can successfully infiltrate a simulated lab environment. Contestants are challenged to control the robots to bypass an office’s laser intrusion detectors and surveillance cameras, leave a covert listening device, open a digital keypad safe, and boot target computers from USB devices.

Non-Vulnerability based PWN

The PWN Everything Challenge will see challengers use creative ways to identify vulnerabilities in our commercially available or widely used smart devices, AI products, libraries, frameworks or IoT products. The Non-Vulnerability based PWN calls for attackers to use new creative methods without exploiting target systems’ vulnerabilities.

These challenges have always been real crowd pleasers and have helped many international companies such as Tesla, Microsoft, and Sony find and secure vulnerabilities that might have otherwise been exploited.

Overcoming these challenges is what will enable a more secure and better future for all in this tech-dependent world. For more information, check out the rules and challenges at GeekPwn.org, or email the organizing team at cfp@geekpwn.org directly. See you in Las Vegas!

Editor’s note: This originally appeared on Analyse Asia, a weekly podcast hosted by Bernard Leong, dedicated to dissecting the pulse of business, technology, and media in Asia. The podcast features guests from Asia’s vibrant tech community.

John Artman, editor in chief from TechNode and host of China Tech Talk, joined us to discuss why blockchain is now hot again in China despite the ban on ICOs and cryptocurrency exchanges. We discussed the Chinese government’s recent enthusiasm in promoting the development of blockchain technologies, and the major applications that will emerge. Last but not least, we discuss how China’s development in blockchain might spur Chinese technology companies to go global.

Listen to the episode here or subscribe.

Here are the interesting show notes and links to the discussion (with time-stamps included):

• John Artman (@knowsnothing, LinkedIn), Editor in Chief from Technode and Host of China Tech Talk and NodeWorthy podcasts [0:38]
  • Since our last conversation, what have you been up to? [1:24]
  • TechCrunch Hangzhou event on 2-3 July 2018 [1:32]
• Why blockchain is hot again in China [3:37]
  • Given that the Chinese government has banned ICOs and cryptocurrency exchanges, why is the story of blockchain becoming relevant in China again? [3:50]
  • Why did the Chinese government banned the cryptocurrency exchanges given that bitcoin and ethereum are mainstream globally? [6:32]
  • Where is the stage of development for China’s major blockchain players such as Neo and Qtum?  [8:46]
  • What are the major applications of blockchain in China? Are they applied mainly in the utilities and energy space or watermarking of original content? [10:22]
  • Do you see the blockchain applications in China align with the Chinese government’s ‘made in China 2025’ initiative? [12:27]
  • Will the Chinese government eventually issue their own cryptocurrency? [15:47]
  • In the West, we are seeing blockchain applications that can dis-intermediate the current applications such as Google and Facebook, do you see the same happening in China? [18:06]
  • Do you see the Chinese technology companies will leverage blockchain as their means to expand globally? [20:04]
  • Will the development in blockchain technologies in China focused on private or public sector needs for the next 1-2 years? [22:51]
• Closing [24:36]
  • Can you recommend a book or movie or podcast or anything which recently made an impact to your work and personal life? [24:50]
    • John’s recommendation: Jordan Petersen “12 Rules for Life” and Steven Pinker “Enlightenment Now”.
    • BL’s recommendation: Wu Xiaobo “The History of Tencent: 1998-2016”
  • How should my audience find you?

TechNode does not necessarily endorse the commentary made in this program.

You’re staying in China, but there’s just one problem: you don’t speak any Chinese.

Don’t worry. China has become a lot more English-friendly in recent years and knowing Chinese is no longer crucial for getting around. Here are 5 apps that you can use to survive in China without knowing Chinese:

1) Communication: WeChat

In China, WeChat is used for everything – and we mean everything. Its a fantastic app for networking and communication, featuring easy-to-make group chats, custom chat stickers, and email integration. Its most useful feature, however, is WeChat Pay. This integrated wallet allows you to send money to your WeChat friends and can be used to pay for things with a simple QR code scan at pretty much every business you’ll find in China.

Get it from Apple’s App Store

Get it from the Google Play Store

Get it from Yingyongbao

2) Transportation: Mobike

China’s largest cities have been blessed with a convenience unlike any other: Mobike. These bright orange bikes with QR codes on their handlebars can be found on every curb in Chinese cities, and all that’s needed to rent one is the Mobike app. The app is available in English, but honestly, its interface is so simple you could get by using the Chinese version. You just scan the QR code on the bike, hop on, and start riding!

Just keep in mind some communities won’t let you bring your Mobike into their neighborhoods or parking lots. Once you’re done riding, just lock your bike at the nearest curb for someone else to use!

Get it from Apple’s App Store

Get it from the Google Play Store

Get it from Yingyongbao

3) Transportation: DiDi

While you can get a good workout biking everywhere, you may just want to catch a taxi instead. DiDi’s got your covered with a fully English app available alongside their Chinese one. Like Uber and Lyft, you can call a taxi through the app to pick you up anywhere. Just watch out for China’s traffic – the gridlocks that can form are legendary.

Get it from Apple’s App Store

Get it from the Google Play Store

Get it from Yingyongbao

4) Ordering Food: Jinshisong

While Chinese apps Ele.me and Baidu Waimai are popular apps for ordering food, they aren’t in English. Jinshisong, however, has an English client, so you can still order food delivered to you without any worry of a language barrier!

Get it from Apple’s App Store

Get it from the Google Play Store

Get it from Yingyongbao

5) Translation: Pleco

While you can survive in China knowing only English, there may come times you need to translate something. In emergencies like these, Pleco comes to the rescue! Pleco is one of the best Chinese-English dictionary apps you can find, but what makes it really stand out is its unique set of translation tools. Its Screen Reader, for example, allows you to translate text in any app you have open on your phone. It also has paid add-ons you can install into the app like the Optical Character Reader, which allows you to point your camera at any characters you see and Pleco will automatically translate them for you.

You can also use WeChat’s new feature for OCR translation.

Get it from Apple’s App Store

Get it from the Google Play Store

Get it from Yingyongbao

There you have it: five apps that are crucial for English speakers in China. If we missed your favorite app, let us know in the comments below!

Nvidia has unveiled a line of new products and announced a ten-year collaboration with the Taiwanese government at Computex 2018 pre-show press conference.

“AI is the most powerful technology force of our time,” Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia, said. “Its first phase will enable new levels of software automation that boost productivity in many industries. Next, AI, in combination with sensors and actuators, will be the brain of a new generation of autonomous machines.”

Among the most exciting news is the launch of Nvidia ISACC robotics platform, which Huang said will be used to power the new generation of autonomous machines, bringing AI capabilities to manufacturing, logistics, agriculture, construction and other industries.

Nvidia also introduced Jetson Xavier, which is said to be the world’s first intelligent machine processor designed for robotics. With the size not much bigger than the palm, Jetson Xavier will be priced at $1299. A workstation equipped with GPUs that has roughly the same processing power usually cost around $10,000. The Jetson Xavier Devkit will begin early access in this August.

Nvidia also announced today that it is deepening its collaboration with Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) to advance Taiwan’s AI capabilities. The company said the ten-year partnership aims is to build up local deep learning and AI-related technologies. The two will collaborate in multiple areas to advance AI application in local industries and accelerate research and development on the island. Huang said the collaboration “starts with building a supercomputing infrastructure in Taiwan,” adding that the two will also be working on self-driving cars as well as intelligent machines.

Last year, Nvidia unveiled the collaboration with the Taiwanese government to accelerate the development of AI in the island’s commercial sector in support of the “AI Grand Plan,” which aims to help foster domestic AI-related industries.

Computex, Asia’s largest tech expo that opens on June 5th in Taipei, is a springboard for some of the year’s most exciting tech launches and announcements. During the five-day expo, global tech leaders will take the opportunity to flaunt their new chips, gaming gear, VR, laptops and more.

Editor’s note: This originally appeared on the China Business Cast. China Business Cast is a podcast featuring experienced entrepreneurs and business people making things happen in China. If you want to learn from on the ground accounts of how business actually gets done in China, this is the program for you.

Kyle Ellicott is the Founder and Chief Labs Officer of ReadWrite / ReadWrite Labs (formerly known as Wearable IoT World, Inc.), a San Francisco-based Media and Ventures company dedicated to creating the social fabric for businesses around Wearables and the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem. The company is focused on connecting technological experts, thought-leaders, corporate/startup executives, and investors as they build these emerging technologies through fostering dynamic relationships between brands, businesses, and bright minds.

Originally from Michigan, Ellicott is a lifelong entrepreneur who started building computers for clients at the age of 15 and worked his way through college in a variety of IT roles, including networking, security, and forensics. His passion for innovation led to his founding of several startup companies, including a media company and prominent digital agency, and his leadership in the Wearables and IoT space led to his creation of ReadWrite Labs (formerly known as Wearable World Labs), a division of Wearable World, Inc., which is the world’s first accelerator/incubator blend solely focused on Wearables and IoT. Ellicott is a noted speaker, consultant, and published author with over 10 years of technical and product experience with such companies as Live Nation, Ticketmaster, Eventup, and TechZulu.

Listen to the episode here or subscribe.

TechNode does not necessarily endorse the commentary made in this program.

Editor’s note: This article was supported by Hujiang. We believe in transparency in our publishing and monetization model. Read more here.

CCtalk, a subsidiary company of Hujiang EdTech, has become a FIELD Global Immersion Partner for Harvard Business School.

Harvard’s FIELD (Field Immersion Experiences for Leadership Development) Method is a year-long course for Harvard students to travel among 157 Partners spread across 13 countries. Combined, they will host more than 930 first-year students over the course of a year. The program is meant to strengthen students’ leadership skills and give them experience operating effectively in different cultures and business contexts.

“We are extremely grateful to Hujiang EdTech and all the FIELD Global Partner organizations for all they do on behalf of our students,” said FIELD faculty head Professor Juan Alcacer. “The students benefit immeasurably from this experience and we hope the partner organizations do as well.”

After months of remote collaboration, CCtalk had the pleasure of hosting a six-student team in Shanghai for a week.

“We are pleased to be working with Harvard Business School to provide students with a real-world learning experience in China,” said Arnold Fu, Hujiang EdTech founder, chairman and CEO. “It is a fruitful and meaningful journey. We feel certain that the students were able to gather insights here that they would never be able to glean from a classroom discussion alone.”

Hujiang EdTech prides itself in being one of China’s leading education and technology companies. 170 million users enjoy its diverse set of interactive online products geared towards a high-quality learning experience.

The students they hosted were tasked with finding ways for CCtalk to provide better services for their newly-registered iTeachers, the independent teachers that work with Hujiang EdTech. They conducted field research with consumers, interviewed Shanghai locals, and pitched ideas to their leadership team. The week ended with the students presenting their final solutions to Hujiang EdTech representatives.

“I’m grateful that CCtalk is chosen to be part of this program,” shared Kong Wei, CCtalk’s president, “which shows online learning is now widely recognized by the public. It’s a new beginning for us that we are able to gain professional views and solutions from both inside and outside to make the platform more user-friendly and enhance our capability of incubation of new and young iTeachers.”

WeChat recently released a slew of updates, including a few major changes. China’s most popular social platform started its global expansion a long time ago and a new feature is giving us another hint of its ambition: AR-based real-time translation.

After updating to version 6.6.7, the new feature can be accessed from the scan feature in the upright corner, which previously was one of the important entrance for WeChat users to launch the QR code scanner. Now this entrance connects one more feature – translation, by capturing an image of almost anything with either Chinese or English texts in it.

This camera-based translation function currently only supports translations between two languages, Chinese and English. How it works is pretty similar to the Waygo app: simply point and translate. The Waygo app was invented to help non-Chinese translate food menus and signages. 

Here are two images to compare the original copy and the translated article in Chinese. The translation accuracy is so-so with a couple of sentences missing from the original image.

And an example from Chinese to English:

With this new feature available, it will help WeChat to better acquire users like international travelers to China or better assist Chinese travelers who visit the rest of the world. And given that WeChat made this feature accessible from one of its often used entrance, it leaves great room for imagining the potential this feature will bring.

Google Translate added the augmented reality into its app and now support 30 languages in its world-lens feature.

Drones are officially joining China’s food delivery service.

Chinese food delivery platform Ele.me has gotten approval for the country’s first batch of air routes for real-time delivery drones in Shanghai on May 29. There are 17 routes in total, all located in Jinshan Industrial Park in the Shanghai suburbs. With three to four flights on each route, these drones connect around 100 food vendors.

A delivery person picks up food from the vendor and sends it to a distribution center where drones are parked and equipped with insulated food boxes. Then the drones will forward it to another delivery person who will hand the food to the customer who has placed the order. So, customers won’t directly receive their food from the drones.

According to Ele.me, drone delivery costs less than human labor. Since drones will cover 70% of the entire delivery distance, each delivery person will only drive 15% of their previous routes. According to Kang Jia, Chief Operating Officer of Ele.me, this will shorten the current 30-minute delivery time to 20.

Before Ele.me, a subsidiary of SF Express, China’s largest package carrier, was granted the country’s first license to operate drones for package deliveries by Civil Aviation Administration of China in late March. The company aims to use drones for delivering goods in rural and remote regions in China. China’s e-commerce platform JD.com, another major player in China’s drone delivery market, was granted a license to experiment with drone delivery services in Shaanxi Province in February.

iDreamSky, the Shenzhen based mobile game developer notably responsible for the development of popular titles “Temple Run” and “Subway Surfers”, is planning to relist on Hong Kong stock exchange market in a deal that could raise around $300 million.

iDreamSky Technology is one of China’s largest independent mobile game publishing and developing platforms in China. Founded in 2009, company first prospered as a game publisher that helps well-known international mobile game developers to gain access to China market. The company distributes these games through both its proprietary distribution channels and third-party channels, such as app stores and device pre-installations. The company is also moving forward with in-house game development in recent years.

After getting listed on the Nesdaq market in 2014, the company joined the flock of US-listed mainland companies that have been re-listing on the A-share market, which has been recording a bull run since early 2015. After filling in the privatization offer in June 2015, the company got delisted from the US market on September 7^th, 2016.

The company has generated a revenue of RMB 1.76 billion ($275 million) with profit hitting RMB 151.9 million in 2017. It’s monthly active users surpassed 1.24 million in Q4 2017, up 20% YOY, according to the company prospectus.

As the largest shareholder in the company, Tencent holds a 20.65% stake through its wholly-owned company Tencent Mobility Limited. In addition, the company has attracted several celebrity investors such as Wang Sicong, the only son of China’s richest man Wang Jianlin, and Leong On-kei, Macau billionaire businesswoman and the fourth “wife” of Macau tycoon Stanley Ho.

Chaping (差评), literally Bad Reviews, a WeChat self-media account that’s been accused of plagiarism, announced today it is going to return the funding it recently received from Tencent (in Chinese). The two companies have reached a consensus on the matter and going to proceed with the process, local media is reporting.

“Given the recent debates surround Chaping, the team has made an in-depth self-examination and introspection. We believe that it’s inappropriate to receive investment from Tencent before straightening out our copyright practices. Chaping will continue our pursuit for independent development. Learning from the past, we will try to take greater responsibilities in copyright and original content protection,” according to a company statement.

The announcement comes days after the Hangzhou-based media outlet announced that it has received RMB 30 million ($4.7 million) investment from investors that include Tencent Topic Fund, a fund for supporting online content creators, Yunqi Partners and Zhonghuan Venture.

Although Tencent’s share of the deal is not clear, its participation in the investment was enough to anger Chinese online readers, bloggers, and media outlets. The funding was translated as a kind of support for Chaping’s product and value, which is in breach with it’s latest efforts to crack down on plagiarism on its own platforms.

Facing the online furor, Tencent admitted a blunder in due diligence and said it’s reviewing the investment and could cut links with Chaping pending the review, according to Zhang Jun, Tencent’s public relations director.

Tencent, whose early state products were widely seen as copycats, has been trying strenuously to shake off the copycat image over the past few years through investing or acquiring startups rather than just copying their products. Its founder Pony Ma called on legislation to tighten enforcement of China’s IP laws.

In addition, the internet giant is facing a tsunami of troubles last month. A WeChat story went viral early May, criticizing Tencent for “losing its dream”, spending its time seeking investment-worthy apps instead of working on its own products.

It’s no secret that Chinese tech leaders have a thing for stage props, but obviously, some Chinese tech conferences have little sense of what’s in good taste and what’s not.

The organizer of blockchain conference Boao Block Chain Forum for Asia stirred a countrywide outcry after inviting an actor playing Chairman Mao to congratulate and wish the event success at the opening remark, (in Chinese).

In his speech, the typecast actor addressed in Mao’s signature Hunan accent, saying that “I sincerely wish this conference great success… and I want to thank you in the name of Mao Zedong.”

With this move, the organizer may have violated Chinese laws which prohibit the use of the images, calligraphy and any other form of representation of former national leaders in the promotion of commercial products or promotional activities. In a previous crackdown, images of Winnie the Pooh were blocked in China for its likeness with Chairman Xi Jinping,

The consequence of this hype is instant. A widely circulated photo shows that the name of the conference’s VIP dinner was removed from a poster, which could be seen as an urgent move by the sponsor to eliminate negative impact for supporting the conference.

“We are sorry for the negative impact our conference had on the public, and we will continue to execute the conference with high standards,” says the organizer in an official apology.

This is only one in a series of silly incidents that made recent headlines, such as cross-dressing cheerleader marketing their product at blockchain conference held at a Macau casino and attendees meditating at a Buddhism blockchain forum.

Ella Supermarket (小象生鲜), the fresh grocery delivery affiliate of life convenience and food delivery platform Meituan, opened its first offline shop in Beijing.

According to Meituan, Ella Supermarket is a one-stop offline + online supermarket. Ella integrates fresh grocery, dinning, e-commerce, and quick delivery to serve fast-paced city lives.

In July 2017, Meituan opened a pilot fresh grocery delivery supermarket in Wangjing, Beijing, to test market response and business model. The opening of Ella market is Meituan’s formal debut in the field.

Similar to Hema – Alibaba’s fresh grocery delivery service – Ella Supermarket also offers 30 min delivery to residents whose locations are no farther than 3km to the offline store.

However, it’s too early to say who will win or who has good advantages.

The market is too big. The capability of the current players are far from eating up the whole cake. Hence there is space for up comers – as long as the new business demonstrate strong capital, resource allocation, and management capability in a complex business environment where profit margins can be squeezed.

Or emerging players may want to cut into a specific segment of the business. Logistics, packaging, payment, inventory, and more – it’s a huge commerce system where revenue calculation very often relies on details, and every elements matter.

Meanwhile, offline stores can hardly find new central city locations to start new business. Traditional stores and supermarkets have conquered the good places, particularly in 1-tier cities. This will mean cooperation amid competition.

The players are now leveraging existing advantages to grab as much market share as possible. But one thing is certain, with increasing competition, consumers will see more practical convenience and benefits.

This week, John and Matt talk with Wang Boyuan, editor of TechCrunch.cn, about media inside and outside China, some of the hazards as a reader, and some tips on where to get reliable information about the Middle Kingdom.

Links

• TechCrunch中文版
• China’s Social Credit System: An Evolving Practice of Control
• China’s Social Credit System: AI-driven panopticon or fragmented foundation for a sincerity culture?
• China launches new campaign to promote social credit system for youth

• Wang Boyuan – Twitter

• John Artman, @knowsnothing, TechNode
• Matthew Brennan, @mbrennanchina ChinaChannel

• iTunes
• RSS feed
• China Tech Talk.com
• Music: “Theme from Penguins on Parade” by Lee Rosevere, Music for Podcasts 3

Download this episode

One day after Beijing metro realized citywide support for QR-code payment, the city is looking to power its metro system with face recognition.

A representative from the Beijing Transportation Committee told local media that the capital is going to test out its face recognition system by the end of this year (in Chinese).

Fingerprints, faces and voice waves are the unique identifiers for biometric verification. Currently facial recognition is the most suitable technology for the metro, according to the director of Beijing Metro Network Control Center.

In addition to Beijing, Shanghai metro also revealed its plans to introduce facial recognition solutions.

In recent years, facial recognition is widely applied as a major verification method in China. Alibaba is among the earliest companies that are integrating the technology into payment process. In addition, it is being applied in several physical deployments from verifying visitor’s identities in Chinese tourist spot of Wuzhen, facilitating checking in and boarding processes for travelers, and even spotting fugitives.

This week, Chris and Nicole discuss their recent pieces about data privacy and how cryptocurrency is fuelling a boom in Taiwan’s semiconductor industry.

Links

• Victims of the market: The battle for data privacy in China
• Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is going through blockchain-powered boom

Podcast information

• iTunes
• RSS feed
• Music: “Taking the Day Off” by Lee Rosevere, Hold Music

Download this episode

Beginning with 2015, foreign technology media started questioning the blind worship of unicorns, but in China, the idea of “unicorn” still prevails. Add “unicorn” to anything and suddenly it’s the next big thing.

Last month, I held a roundtable discussion in Hong Kong with several unicorns from Hong Kong. I asked them what they think of the label. They were very modest—they did not feel the label means they were already successful. But for hundreds of Hong Kong entrepreneurs, becoming a unicorn is still their goal. It is a great achievement but it is also very hard to become a member of the unicorn club.

A unicorn, a company valued at $1 billion, does not fully reflect the long-term value of any company. Becoming a unicorn is just a new starting point. Its future development is worth deeper consideration, and there are innovations coming from “non-unicorn” deserving our attention and praise.

Beyond unicorns—this is the theme of our TechCrunch International Innovation Summit in Hangzhou. For the first time, we are also bringing the summit to Hangzhou, perhaps the fastest-growing city in China. It is not just the birthplace of Alibaba—it is now a leader in e-commerce, new retail, business services, and smart cities. Our aim is to bring the best companies and the whole ecosystem of Hangzhou to the international stage and join them with entrepreneurs and startups from around the world as well as other hot areas in China.

During the TechCrunch International Innovation Summit in Hangzhou, our main focus will be on artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, blockchain technology, new retail education, smart medicine, international investment, and other hot spots. We’ll also bring to Hangzhou the traditional innovation areas of the summit, new product launches, VC Meetup sessions, four major theme sessions, the Media Day, and pure Silicon Valley tech parties.

Innovation beyond unicorns, Hangzhou beyond e-commerce! See you in Hangzhou in July!

Dr. Gang Lu

TechNode, founder & CEO

TechCrunch China, Director

TechCrunch International Innovation Summit 2018 Hangzhou early bird tickets are now on sale. Originally, RMB 999, they are now only RMB 199. First come, first served!

BitoEX, a Taiwanese cryptocurrency platform that launched its ICO (Initial Coin Offering) on May 2, claimed to have raised $10 million in 5 hours and sold-out 175 million tokens (BITO) in 26 hours. The company told TechNode that they have raised approximately ETH 27000 in the ICO, which closed on May 3.

BitoEX, launched 4 years ago, touted to dominate over 80% market share in Taiwan. The company said the funds raised in the token offering will be dedicated to its international digital asset exchange, BitoPro, which was launched in March. BitoPro plans to rollout crypto-to-crypto, fiat-to-crypto, and margin trading services in the future to offer users more ways to manage their digital assets. The company plans to expand their operations across Asia, including in India, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Japan.

The company said it is working on building up the cryptocurrency ecosystem and connecting local financial services. “Wallets and exchanges are the infrastructures of the token economy. BitoPro is in the midst of building the token economy as we were one of the first companies to create a fiat-to-cryptocurrency trading platform, but it was not easy to fit the regulation,” Titan Cheng, CEO of BitoEX, said in the company press release.

The crypto market in Taiwan is still nascent. Blockchain transaction database Elementus’ data show that Taiwan so far has contributed approximately 0.06% to global ICO fundraising activity. However, signs show that the crypto fever is beginning to catch on. New crypto account openings surged in Taiwan in late 2017 when Bitcoin prices skyrocketed.

BitoEX is one of the two major digital asset exchange platforms in Taiwan. MaiCoin is another exchange platform, which provides Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin trading and payment services.

Douyin has added portals that lead to online shops of its popular video posters. People browsing Douyin can now tap through to the personal store of the accounts they follow and purchase products. Previously, users wanting to buy from a Douyin publisher would see the products tagged and be redirected straight through to Taobao.

Why is such a tiny change worth reporting on? User experience and scale. Any additional step in the customer journey will see users abandon their purchase. Scale this up to Douyin’s 66 million active daily users–the short video app recently became the most downloaded non-game app in the world–and reducing customer drop off has a massive impact.

The development suggests not that Douyin or Bytedance apps in general are becoming online retail platforms in their own right, but that they are tightening their grip on sending traffic to existing retailers such as JD and Alibaba’s Taobao and TMall.

JD has been signing deals with all the big players such as Jinri Toutiao (a sister app to Douyin under rapidly internationalizing ByteDance), Qihoo 360, NetEase, Tencent and Baidu. The various agreements help JD suck in more traffic to its product pages. 

Alibaba tried to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Jinri Toutiao in April, no doubt as part of plans to rejig the ways in which users are funneled through to retailers. Jinri Toutiao had 232 million active monthly users at the end of 2017.

However, looking at Jinri Toutiao’s shopping element, Tencent News reports (in Chinese) that there has been a reordering of shopping channels within the news app. Users have been migrated to having one-tap access to shopping within the app, but the ranking of shopping channels has been heading in Alibaba’s favor. The top three channels are now all Alibaba-owned, with JD in bottom position.

Douyin and rival Kuaishou have recently been accused of carrying videos of sellers pushing counterfeit goods. Sellers would show their WeChat account details for viewers to look up. Douyin promised to identify and stop such practices.

Editor’s note: This originally appeared on the China Business Cast. China Business Cast is a podcast featuring experienced entrepreneurs and business people making things happen in China. If you want to learn from on the ground accounts of how business actually gets done in China, this is the program for you.

Johan Nylander is a China correspondent based in Hong Kong. By looking beyond the daily news grind, he aims to find people and entrepreneurs, trends and social movements, that explain what’s really going on in the world’s second largest economy – and how it affects you. His stories are frequently published by media like the CNN, South China Morning Post, Nikkei Asian Review and Al Jazeera. He’s also a China stringer for Sweden’s leading business daily, Dagens Industri. He has an MBA from the University of Gothenburg in his native Sweden, and is author of an award-winning management book. Today, he spends his time traveling in China and neighboring countries, conducting interviews with presidents and peasants, entrepreneurs and migrant workers, triad members and government officials; all those who shape tomorrow’s China.

Listen to the episode here or subscribe.

Episode Content:

• Johan shares what made him write about his book, Shenzhen Superstars, in the first place and why Shenzhen
• His most impressive fascinations about Shenzhen while discovering it
• Some behind the scene stories while in the process of writing the book and why he touched on different aspects of the tech and innovation scene of Shenzhen (e.g. hardware accelerator, tech titans, maker culture, parts market, pirates etc.)
• What he didn’t write on the book that he wants to add now and his latest observations
• Feedback he received after writing the book
• Johan shares some stories from the book
• Johan tells a little about the second book he’s currently writing about the greater bay topic
• How to get in touch with Johan

Episode Mentions:

• Shenzhen Superstars

TechNode does not necessarily endorse the commentary made in this program.

Editor’s note: This originally appeared on Analyse Asia, a weekly podcast hosted by Bernard Leong, dedicated to dissecting the pulse of business, technology, and media in Asia. The podcast features guests from Asia’s vibrant tech community.

Jon Russell, from TechCrunch joined us in a two-episode arc to discuss the major acquisitions that are shaking the Asia landscape from Southeast Asia to China. In the second part of our conversation, we discussed the recent major acquisitions by China technology giants in China. From the acquisition of Mobike by Meituan-Dianping to Ele.me by Alibaba Group, we evaluate their impact to Southeast Asia and India and examine why Amazon is not likely to buy Flipkart in India.

Listen to the episode here or subscribe.

• Jon Russell (@jonrussell, LinkedIn, Newsletter, Personal Site), Reporter at TechCrunch [0:38]
• China’s major merger and acquisitions [0:46]
  • References Meituan Dianping acquiring Mobike for US$2.7B and Alibaba acquiring Ele.me for US$9.5B(Technode)
  • What are your thoughts on these major acquisitions happening in China and why Meituan-Dianping entering into the ride-hailing market? [2:00]
  • Does that mean that there will be consolidation for the ridesharing space, given that Didi and Alibaba are both investors and have fought for control in Ofo? [3:11]
  • What does that mean for the bike sharing space in general and even those in the US as we heard Uber is considering in acquiring Jump Bikes in the US? [5:40]
  • Is Uber copying what the Chinese are doing with acquisitions of bike-sharing services in China? [7:00]
  • Comments on whether bike sharing is a fad and feature and not a proper business. [7:34]
  • Alibaba is flexing their muscles on Ele.me and Grab, does that mean that there will be more acquisitions happening in China & outside in Southeast Asia and India as well? [8:12]
  • How Alibaba and Tencent’s investments in Southeast Asia and India have locked out the US companies (Google, Facebook, Amazon) which has not bothered to look at investing in the region. [12:05]
  • Why the Amazon-Flipkart deal can’t happen in India? [13:40]
• Closing [16:25]
  • How do my audience find you? [16:25]
    • Jon’s weekly newsletter: Asia Tech Review and Telegram Channel

TechNode does not necessarily endorse the commentary made in this program.

This week, John and Matt talk with Benjamin Joffe, General Partner at HAX, about why Shenzhen is so strong with hardware, the fate of ZTE and the role of national security, and IP protection in China.

Links

• ZTE and corporate cultural fever in China
• Core technology and startups: What can we expect in the post-ZTE era?
• Why China and the US are fighting over 5G
• How Shenzhen is challenging Silicon Valley

• Benjamin Joffe – LinkedIn

• John Artman, @knowsnothing, TechNode
• Matthew Brennan, @mbrennanchina ChinaChannel

• iTunes
• RSS feed
• China Tech Talk.com
• Music: “Theme from Penguins on Parade” by Lee Rosevere, Music for Podcasts 3

Download this episode

This week, Fiona and Masha talk about core technology, AI chips, and the role of the government in China’s innovation.

Links

• Core technology and startups: What can we expect in the post-ZTE era?
• ZTE and corporate cultural fever in China
• AI is a double-edged sword for cybersecurity: Tophant
• Google Duplex announcement highlights key differences between US and Chinese markets
• We went to Suzhou to find AI’s biggest breakthroughs and bottlenecks

Podcast information

• iTunes
• RSS feed
• Music: “Taking the Day Off” by Lee Rosevere, Hold Music

Download this episode

Didi Chuxing is suspending its Hitch service (顺风车) for a week for “rectification”, the company said in a statement shared with TechNode. Didi also released new details regarding the investigation progress:

“Our investigation found out that the driver account belongs to the suspect’s father who has passed the full verification process, criminal background screening, the facial recognition before taking the first order, and other security measures. The suspect borrowed his parent’s account to take orders in violation of terms of our services.”

The company admitted fault on their part saying, “The night safety mechanism was defective. The night mode face recognition was not triggered before the driver took the order.”

In addition, before the incident, the passenger filed a complaint of sexual harassment against the driver, but the customer service failed to reach the suspect after five attempts. “Due to the imperfection of the arbitration rules of the platform, the complaint was not handled properly in subsequent days.”

Didi said it is taking a series of actions in response to the tragedy:

1. The Hitch service will be suspended for a week nationwide.
2. The company will thoroughly inspect the drivers to exclude any cases involving mismatch of drivers and vehicles.
3. The company will thoroughly review and reform its operational and customer service systems.

Didi, China’s biggest ride-sharing company, publicly apologized on Thursday May 10 over the killing of a 21-year old flight attendant, apparently by her Didi Hitch driver. The company and said it was “deeply saddened by and sorry about the tragedy” and will work closely with law enforcement authority on capturing the suspect. The incident has triggered widespread safety fears and concerns in China and sparked a heated debate on China’s social media.

“I didn’t understand why Didi needed to show the photo and the voice of the person on the platform until I became a driver myself. The product manager clearly sees the Inter-City Hitch as a social media software,” one user wrote on Zhihu.

Didi Hitch app lets drivers view the detail information about the passenger, including the age, profession, profile photo, and gender of the person requesting the ride, and the number of passengers who will be riding along. Other than the profile, the driver can also see the passenger’s “review section”, which can often be spammed with inappropriate comments regarding the passenger’s body and looks.

Tencent’s WeChat has ordered the suspension of Xiao Xieyi (小协议) or “Mini Contract”, the first-ever blockchain mini-program on the messaging platform, local media is reporting.

Xiao Xieyi, launched this May 8, is a third-party blockchain mini-program that drafts contract agreements for app users. The app was reportedly suspended on Wednesday evening, and again shortly after it was made available on Thursday. The app released an official statement that reads: “Xiao Xieyi has been suspended due to a violation of the service. We apologize, the content of the program has been suspended due to the fact that the content is not authorized on the platform.”

Xiao Xieyi was touted as WeChat’s one and only mini program based on ID and blockchain technologies, capable of initiating tamper-proof contracts in under 3 minutes. How the mini-program worked was simple: WeChat user fills in the title and terms of the contract, choose whether to encrypt the agreement and pay the RMB 3 service fee. The app uses WeChat ID and session key to validate user’s identity, thereby eliminating the need for signatures.

In response to the rumored ban, founder of Xiao Xieyi’s app developer Wang Dengke told Securities Daily that the app was suspended, not removed, because “[WeChat] mini-programs are not allowed to have the encryption feature.” Wang added that “We need to modify the code, if everything goes as planned, the app should be back on within two days.” The mini program was still not available at the time of publishing. Wang said, however, that even though Xiao Xieyi’s services have been suspended, the existing contracts would still be valid and live permanently on the blockchain.

The phrase “Sluggish sales of…(滞销)” and a picture of an unfortunate old man making poor sales (滞销大爷) of its local produce have gone viral. The Beijing Youth Daily claims that a handful of online marketplace merchants are abusing his dramatic face expression that arouse people’s empathy in an attempt to increase sales.

Recently, a statement about improper marketing of “sluggish sales of apple from Linyi county (临猗苹果滞销)” issued by the Linfen County government in Shanxi Province, says that several e-commerce companies have abused “sluggish sales of apple from Linyi county” and “unfortunate old man making poor sales.” According to the notice, this has caused a serious impact on the local brand image of the fruit industry, and the marketing content has exaggerated many facts.

In the WeChat public account and e-commerce platform, there are still merchants who use “sluggish sales of…” phrase as marketing methods to sell bamboo shoots, pineapples or any other local produce in order to create sympathy, based on traditional Chinese Confucian culture of younger people respecting older generation and looking after them. Many of the posters used by merchants have a pictures of the same old man, infringing portrait rights. This old man is also known as the name of “sluggish sale old man (滞销大爷)” online.

When the reporter of Beijing Youth Daily contacted the Yucheng County government, where merchants promote that there are sluggish sales of apples, government officials said that there are no cases of unsalable agricultural products this year.

“This is a marketing method and has an exaggerated marketing component,” Dasha River Town government officials stated. They also said that there were unsalable agricultural products last year, but at the moment they should already have completed inventory processing. Even if there are still apples left, they do not recommend buying them.

A new photo editing feature that lets netizens create selfies looking like they’re in the last century has gone viral in China. Picture of My Past Life in Chinese (前世青年照) has collected over 80 million pictures over the past few days, boosting the app behind it, Tiantian P-Tu (天天P图), to the second most popular app on China’s app stores.

Despite its popularity, experts quickly warned that users who upload their pictures to the feature might encounter data security issues. Criticism of the company lies mainly on its failure to ask permission from users before accessing their camera and the possible risks in sharing their pictures.

Tiantian P-Tu, a picture editing app made by WeChat’s creator Tencent, responded quickly today saying that they will neither keep users’s personal data such as the time and place they uploaded the photos, nor store the edited picture.

Scanning a QR code and uploading a headshot photo, then a composite self-portrait dressed either in China’s traditional qipao, Sun Yat-Sen suit, or other clothing that mark the fashion at the beginning of last century, is ready for you to attract tens of “likes” from friends. The feature become an instant hit among China’s nostalgic selfie fans who want to “time travel” and meet their past lives from one hundred year ago. The feature was rolled out to celebrate May 4th, the country’s National Youth Day to honor the memory of the May Fourth Movement of 1919.

China’s selfie-obsessed netizens have started a weird tradition of celebrating special occasions with themed photos. In a similar move, WeChat users got excited when they receive a Santa Clause hat on WeChat profile photo and WeChat Moment was flooded with selfies of people dressed in People’s Liberation Army uniforms at the 90th anniversary of the PLA last year.

GGV Capital has raised close to RMB 1.5 billion in its first RMB fund, the venture capital firm announced in a press release. The new RMB fund will focus on early stage and growth stage startups in areas including internet services, consumption upgrade, cutting edge technology, smart hardware, corporate services, and digital services.

Founded in 2000, the venture capital firm has invested in over 200 companies in the US and China including Alibaba, Airbnb, Xiaomi, Didi Chuxing, and Square. GGV operates in both China and the US with offices in Silicon Valley, Shanghai, and Beijing. GGV was one of the first venture capital firms in Silicon Valley to invest in Chinese companies. The firm currently manages 8 USD funds and one RMB fund. With the new RMB fund, the company manages over USD 4 billion worth of assets.

Fake news is not only plaguing Facebook and Twitter, it is also infiltrating Chinese American immigrants’ favorite social platform WeChat. A new report from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism has analyzed content on WeChat aimed at Chinese speakers in the US. The survey analyzed 25 WeChat official accounts.

The analysis found several worrying trends among WeChat outlets focusing on the Chinese population in the US. Unlike English media and mainstream Chinese media, WeChat publishers tended to favor controversial topics such as unauthorized immigration and race relations instead of topics like jobs, the economy, and healthcare. Researchers also found that news published on WeChat was rife with sensationalism and misinformation.

“Low barrier to entry on WeChat has generated a profusion of content publishers native to the platform and intense competition for attention,” the report states. “The abundance of revenue-driven content published, coupled with partisan forces, makes WeChat especially vulnerable to political misinformation. Emotionally stirring, sensational stories become amplified through the replication and embellishment of a long tail of WeChat outlets, which creates repetition and familiarity.”

The research echoed warnings about WeChat publishers from Chinese media and the government about the spread of sensationalism on the platform. In order to ramp up readership, certain WeChat publishers have been resorting to overconfident claims and even down-right conspiracy theories. In 2016, WeChat even launched the “Rumor Filter” official account which helps verify the authenticity of the content.

WeChat accounts focused on Chinese immigrants in the US usually found their audience by offering tips, guides, and events. However, what kept them coming back were article headlines such as these:

“George Soros backed the violent clash in Charlottesville.”

“Illegal immigrant started wildfire in Sonoma County.”

“You could be receiving HIV positive blood in California now!”

While many of these WeChat accounts provide a mix of gossip, information, and news, a few specialize in politics and support opposite political opinions, according to the report. Much like the US media scene, another notable trend in WeChat accounts geared towards Chinese Americans is political polarization.

However, one notable difference is the topics that gain traction. The two top issues were Islam, terrorism, and affirmative action and census data disaggregation. The latter refers to proposed bills in several US states to distinguish different Asian American Pacific Island (AAPI) sub-groups in demographic data collection.

Interestingly, almost a quarter of content on right-oriented WeChat accounts focused on Islam which reflects the rise of anti-Islamic sentiments on social media in Mainland China. The authors of the study found numerous examples of fake news regarding this topic.

One prominent example was an alleged DUI case in which a Lebanese motorist Haissam Massalkhy fatally struck a Chinese jogger in Walnut, a city west of Los Angeles. It was later found that Massalkhy was undocumented which prompted dozens of WeChat account to accuse him of intentionally hitting the Chinese in order to extend its stay in the US. One WeChat account broke the news with a headline: “Kill a Chinese, get a green card!” No English-language media suggested this claim.

The research also noted that ecosystems such as WeChat that rely on the spread of news through groups and close-knit networks are an ideal environment for misinformation spread and polarization. This is even more amplified when a social group feels overlooked and disempowered, the study concludes.

TechNode has been organizing the annual “China Bang Awards” since 2011. Over the past few years, TechNode has witnessed a large number of emerging startups grow into unicorns. For the upcoming ChinaBang Awards 2018, TechNode has started a special report to review the history of China Bang Awardees.

In 2017, a message from the art world sent a shockwave in the internet world: V&A, the world’s largest museum of art and design, listed WeChat as a permanent collection of exhibit 76, which consists of a mobile phone, a tablet, and three hand drawings.

V&A explained why this world-class museum wants to collect WeChat: the social app had a significant impact on Chinese culture and the daily lives of Chinese.

Although a social app needs to exchange data with a server, given the collection time span, V&A exhibited an early Android demo of WeChat — an offline version that doesn’t require a server to enable basic functionality.

As an exhibit, WeChat has to isolate itself from the internet. And in the real world, WeChat is also not a product known for open-mindedness. Each iteration of WeChat over the past seven years has been accompanied by restraint, says its creator Zhang Xiaolong

Chinese people seem to be accustomed to the isolated ecosystem WeChat has created. For example, WeChat has its publication platform (WeChat Official Accounts) for famous persons, government, media, and enterprises to develop and promote content. The content is all hosted in Tencent’s servers. Videos and advertisements on WeChat all come with Tencent services. Articles in WeChat cannot be shared to other apps. The official account of WeChat’s competitor may also be banned.

Forbidding hyperlinks to control the traffic and transforming the internet into a local area network (LAN) is not a novel trick on the Chinese internet. WeChat believes its priority is to prohibit harassment of users. Many want to use a variety of ways to deceive users, acquire traffic and clicks, but it will eventually drive users away. Zhang Xiaolong thinks this isolated ecosystem of WeChat lays the ground for better user experience.

Sometimes, tricking the network with such a domineering attitude is not a bad thing. Apple’s iOS is born with a closed and self-built ecosystem, which helps the business grow.

But in 2017, WeChat seemed to recognize its responsibility and mission of providing services for billions of users and began to explore a new ecosystem outside its local network, while not forgetting to set up rules to maintain its initiative.

For example, the twelve spaces on WeChat’s wallet page are now gradually filled up with services like food delivery, online shopping, and movie tickets provided by third-party companies, such as Meituan, and Mobike. Despite the fact that all these companies have established a good relationship with Tencent, WeChat has demonstrated a significant step in opening access to its platform

Recently, WeChat’s latest significant update signal that it can support the switch-account feature, and all programs on the discovery page, including mini-programs, can be turned off.

WeChat, as a representative of centralization, is thinking about decentralization. Decentralization is not so much a concept but more like an awareness. Each has independent thinking, which is far more robust than another system with only one brain. Even if most people are using WeChat, it is just a service provider instead of a centralized referral service, allowing more valuable services to emerge as much as possible.

At the same time, WeChat also has adhered to its set of principles. For example, the New World (a Chinese self-media) created a pay-for-the-knowledge activity that flooded screens last month, but it lasted only one morning due to the internal review mechanism of WeChat. The social app can control the extent of permissions that an application is wanting to ensure the system runs well.

No matter how mini-programs and H5 web pages are distributed within WeChat, user’s access is strictly controlled by WeChat. WeChat’s other rules are stricter than an open internet. For social apps that maintains one billion monthly active users, it takes care of everything. So the benefit of a WeChat-based internet is to purify its inner-app information and improve the user experience.

“More and more products are made through official account because it is cheaper to develop, access users and disseminate them. But the service accounts derived from these official accounts do not provide better service,” Zhang Xiaolong said at a recent developer conferece. “So WeChat wants to develop a new form so that in the future users can follow these service accounts just like installing an app on your phone. These service accounts will not release content once upon a time but only provide functional services.”

Mini programs officially launched on January 9, 2017. More than 200 mini-programs from large application developers, such as Ctrip, Meituan, Meidi, Qunar were ready at launch. Even the rival of Tencent News, Toutiao, also made a mini program to attract WeChat users. The fact that so many developers are doing mini programs shows that no matter what rules WeChat sets, Chinese internet companies will follow.

After several iterations in 2017, the mini-program has not made much progress for more than a year. WeChat decided to push the mini-program with games, a field at which Tencent is very good. Games are a particular category in mini-programs: it is well-fitted for social networking and can get income faster. However, games have high limits and uncertainty, which is not good for attracting developers.
If you sell props through small games, there’s a split problem on the iPhone. Apple only promised not to deduct a percentage of the reward, and still covered other digital products.

WeChat has recently adopted a few features in promoting and opening small programs, such as support for jumping to other apps and unlocking some advanced plug-in elements. WeChat is believed to have more opportunities to prosper in 2018, exploring its boundaries.

TechNode has been organizing the annual “China Bang Awards” since 2011. Over the past few years, TechNode has witnessed a large number of emerging startups grow into unicorns. For the upcoming ChinaBang Awards 2018, TechNode has started a special report to review the history of China Bang Awardees.

Momo is an app which you may never want to use, but which you can’t go around when talking about mobile social networking.

Because Momo, or all the user pain points it discovers, is always there, undiminished. The company was voted ChinaBang’s Company of the Year and one of the best gaming companies in 2014. It had already been China’s third-largest homegrown social messaging giant next only to Tencent. When interviewed backstage at ChinaBang that year, Momo’s COO told us that Momo derived its revenue from premium membership subscription, mobile gaming, and stickers. Now, the latest financial results show that nearly 80% of its revenue comes from live streaming. Along with it are perceptions of Momo having gradually been changed from the “magic hookup tool” to a live streaming platform.

The author, though not a core user of Momo, heard of the reputation of this hormone-filled app which, frankly, did not make a good impression on me. Yet, I felt a little surprised when news came out of Momo’s acquisition of smaller rival Tantan—is Momo still that “indecent” flirting app in our minds? Or has it morphed into a resourceful social empire?

Indeed, Momo has been striving to embody the yearning and curiosity of hundreds of millions of people for getting connected with strangers, as well as attracting and linking people who have similar interests and common values. 

Rome was not built in a day, and neither will Momo’s goals be met. Momo has been working hard on this and has never ceased its exploration—from live streaming to short videos to paid memberships. Today, we will piece together a timeline of Momo’s major events in recent years.

Momo debuted in August 2011 merely as a location-based social app for strangers. With the launch of version 1.0, the app enabled users to find people nearby, check out their profiles, as well as follow and connect with them. As the geo-location service makes it much easier for users to date strangers, Momo had considerable success in encroaching on the share in the instant messaging market dominated by QQ, which at that time, focused more on promoting users’ existing networks than offering options to find new friends. QQ was once the biggest social media network in China before the emergence of its younger sibling Wechat. Both QQ and Wechat are the brainchildren of Chinese internet giant Tencent.

Momo began to see a surge in user numbers since then. By catering to the basic desires of people at the outset of its creation, Momo has started its growth and gradually expanded its presence into broader domains of social networking services.

When its monthly active users (MAU) reached about 40 million in 2013, Momo started monetizing its user base. Learning from Tencent, it launched its first mobile game that year. Based on Momo’s original social networking system, players can see the rankings of their friends, those of people nearby and in other cities, and add friends. Momo announced in February 2014 that the number of its registered users surpassed 100 million.

In late 2013, Momo officially launched a new model to explore the commercialization of social gaming—the introduction of its value-added services just like the QQ membership system of that year. At the end of 2014, Momo was listed on NASDAQ, accompanied by a crowd of investors and CEO Tang Yan’s iconic gesture.

While Momo’s business model of membership subscription and valued-added services continued its strong momentum in 2015 and 2016, its stranger social networking began to lose traction. Momo had to pin hopes on new stimulus to re-ignite the passion of its old users. The social networking app, which saw its total registered users and MAU reach over 100 million and 55 million respectively, jumped on the bandwagon of the live streaming boom in 2016, a banner year for live video streaming. It launched its KOL live streaming service in December 2015, and rolled out major updates in April 2016, featuring live streaming as a separate tab.

Momo’s social networking attributes, coupled with a stable pyramid structure of its user base—at the top are internet celebrities skilled in singing and dancing, huge number of young females follow and multitudes of diaosi (a slang term that refers to young “loser” Chinese males) are at the bottom—have made the app a platform born for live streaming. This is clear in its cash flow: The financial report at the end of 2016 showed that live streaming business has become Momo’s primary growth driver.

It is worth mentioning that Momo added an anonymous like function called diandian (点点 ) in its 6.0 version, which recommends a number of users nearby based on the geographical location of a user. The user can swipe left if he’s not interested and swipe right to “like”. If both parties like each other, they can chat directly online. At that time, a similar feature on social app Tantan had won favor among youngsters as well, helping the Tinder-like app gain ground and secure a $70 million funding led by online social entertainment firm YY in 2017. In a scramble for more shares in the live streaming market, Tantan was also a formidable rival to Momo.

As live streaming services have become a strong growth engine for Momo, it released version 7.0 in August 2017, enriching its live streaming. By adding myriads of features including live group video broadcasting, one-to-one random video chat, talent contests, 3D video recording and AR selfie editor. All these gimmicks signal it’s ready to embrace the social video times and gearing up to grab more market shares.

During its repeated revamps, Momo, while switching from a mere LBS dating app to a pan-entertainment live streaming and social platform, quietly changed the color of its logo from a blue smacking of Facebook to colorful shades and replaced the old slogan of “There’s always something new around” with a new one—” Video social networking, always Momo”.

From this we can observe that Momo has taken the opportunity to upgrade its brand and bring a brand-new image to its users, displaying inclusiveness and infinite possibilities with the launch of diversified, youth-targeted and video streaming-focused product lineups. To put it more succinctly, by changing the slogan, Momo managed to deepen focus of the public to “interest”, “making friends”, “fellow townsmen” and “entertainment”, thus weakening the negative perception of “hookup.”

However, there’s no getting around “hookup”—people’s primal urge, no matter how Momo changed its logo or app style, or what features it introduced in building its social empire. As the live streaming boom may gradually recede, it seems that Momo’s social video networking road ahead is not easy. Momo, which derived nearly 80% of its revenue from live streaming in Q4 2016, is in need of new stimulus. What will happen this year? And what alternatives will Momo look for? One answer may be the big-ticket acquisition of Tantan. This may inject vitality into Momo’s stagnant stranger social networking business, the importance of which it has somehow played down in recent years.   

—Translated by Sheila Yu

After announcing its very own neural network chip, Alibaba has made another step towards strengthening its new AI chips business. The e-commerce giant announced on April 20th that it will fully acquire local chip designer C-SKY (中天微), according to QQ News.

“Acquiring C-SKY is an important step for Alibaba’s microchip layout,” said Alibaba’s CTO Jeff Zhang (Zhang Jianfeng). Zhang added that IP core is the heart of basic chip capability and that entering the field of IP core means realizing an “autonomous, controllable” foundation for China’s chips. In electronic design, an IP core refers to a chip layout design that is the intellectual property of one party.

Hangzhou C-SKY Microsystems is an integrated circuit design house. The company has developed 7 types of CPUs covering applications including IoT, digital audio and video, information security, network and communications, industrial control and automotive electronics.

This is Alibaba’s first takeover in the chip business although the e-commerce giant has so far invested in several chip companies. On April 19, the company announced its own Ali-NPU chip which will provide services for businesses through the Ali Cloud.

News of Alibaba’s foray into chip design comes at a particularly turbulent time after US Department of Commerce put a seven-year ban on US companies selling components to Chinese state-owned ZTE. Network communications equipment manufacturer ZTE heavily relies on imports of US-made chips.

China has been lagging behind US chipmakers: in 2016, the country imported $230 billion worth of chips. However, thanks to its AI development plan and the “Made in China 2025” industrial upgrade plan, China has been slowly increasing its self-sufficiency in chip manufacturing. In 2014, the government set up a subsidy program called China’s National Integrated Circuits Industry Investment Fund which is aiming to raise at least RMB 150 billion for its second fund vehicle, according to Bloomberg.

The US has been wary of China acquiring chip technology. In September last year, President Trump’s administration blocked the sale of US-based Lattice Semiconductor to Canyon Bridge Capital Partners, backed by China Venture Capital Fund over national security concerns.

Questions have also arisen over the future of Alibaba’s cloud service Ali Cloud in the US. Certain commentators believe that the US will retaliate against Beijing’s requirement that foreign cloud-computing firms, such as Amazon and Microsoft, form joint operations with Chinese companies and license their technology.

Alibaba is developing its own neural network chip, the Ali-NPU, which will be used in AI applications, such as image video analysis, machine learning, and other scenarios, Yicai is reporting. After the chip is mature, it will provide services for businesses through Ali Cloud.

But this isn’t the only news—Alibaba claims that the chip’s performance to price ratio will be 40 times that of current products on the market. According to the company, the Ali-NPU chip will have a special architecture with 10 times better performance than mainstream AI chips based on CPU or GPU architecture, while the manufacturing cost and power consumption are only half of that. Some commentators have questioned if this is a valid comparison since CPU and GPU chips have different architectures than NPUs.

The chip is being developed by Alibaba’s R&D institute, the DAMO Academy which stands for “Discovery, Adventure, Momentum, and Outlook.” The Academy was founded in October 2017 as part of Alibaba’s wider push into cutting-edge tech and it plans to attract talent by opening centers in seven cities around the world.

Last month during Alibaba’s inaugural tech summit called “New Technology, New Future”, the e-commerce company announced that it would be investing in technological infrastructure including machine learning, chips, the Internet of Things, operating systems, and biometric identification. The event was held at Hangzhou headquarters on March 9 and was attended by around 5,000 engineers.

“An economy that serves two billion people must be backed by solid technological capacity. To shoulder the future responsibility, we will build Alibaba’s own ‘NASA,’” Alibaba’s executive chairman Jack Ma said during the event.

AI chips are one of the main targets of China’s push for AI development. Currently, there are dozens of people working on chip development at the DAMO Academy in Shanghai and the US while that number is set to reach 100, Yicai reports. Alibaba has invested in several chip companies, including China-based Cambricon (寒武纪), Kneron (耐能), ASR (翱捷科技), C-Sky (中天微), and DeePhi (深鉴), as well as California-based Barefoot Networks.

Among Alibaba’s new technology focuses are also self-driving vehicles and quantum computing where it aims to compete with local rival Baidu.

Huawei’s 5G base station can now be sold within the EU region. According to a Xinhua News report, Huawei has passed the EU certification authority TÜV SÜD’s verification requirements and become the first company to obtain the CE type examination certificate (TEC) for 5G products—which means it is approved for commercial use in the EU.

Huawei initiated its 5G research project back in 2009 and since then has invested over $600 million in related research and has established eleven 5G research centers across the world. In February, the smartphone maker unveiled its first 5G chipset compatible with global standards, which is said to be part of its effort to reduce dependence on US semiconductor company Qualcomm.

Huawei is one step closer to realizing large-scale 5G commercial deployment despite the hurdles it faced while trying to make inroads in the US market. By contrast, Europe has proven to be a friendlier market for Chinese tech companies to expand into. The company said it is increasingly looking at the Europe to grow its international market share.

China is rushing to be the first country to roll out 5G, and has been aggressively testing out the technology. On the same day as Huawei getting this approval, Chinese regulators gave approval for the three state-run telecom operators to test 5G in 16 major cities across China.

Alibaba’s logistics unit Cainiao is speeding up the development of driverless delivery vehicles. On April 19, the company released photos from the road test of its self-developed driverless van. According to local media reports (in Chinese), the company said autonomous driving in logistics has matured, and they plan to start putting their commercial mass-produce driverless delivery vans on the road by this year.

On the same day, Cainiao’s president, Wan Lin, said on his Weibo account that Cainiao is optimistic about implementing driverless vehicles in logistics. Lin touted, “Cainiao ET lab is not setting a limit on the number of new recruits, we want all the big shots!” Established in 2015, Cainiao ET lab is the company’s R&D unit that focuses on the development of emerging technology and applications in logistics.

A Cainiao employee revealed that Zhang Chunhui, former president at Alibaba’s YunOS, was recently appointed to head Cainiao ET lab. YunOS’s operating system is used to connect cars to cloud services such as entertainment and navigation.

Alibaba  acquired a controlling stake in Cainiao last September and pledged to invest $15 billion to expand its network. Alibaba’s annual results show that 81% of all items sold through Alibaba-owned sites were delivered via Cainiao.

Professor Yu Xinjie teaches Principles of Electrical Circuits in a nondescript classroom at Tsinghua University, sometimes referred to as the MIT of China. This required course for electrical engineering freshmen looks completely ordinary until you see the large QR code projected on the white screen. To get the lecture slides, students scan the code with their phones to access Rain Classroom, a WeChat mini program created by MOOC-CN Education.

“I sent everyone pre-class reading,” says Professor Yu, addressing the auditorium-sized classroom. “Only 120 [of 150 ] students looked at it. So, there’s going to be a pop quiz. You have 2 minutes.”

Some students grumble but dutifully tap into the quiz when it appears on their phone. Afterward, the mini program shows that over 90% of the students had gotten the correct answer.

Formally incorporated in 2014, MOOC-CN Education is owned by Tsinghua Holdings, a subsidiary of Tsinghua University. The company operates XuetangX, China’s largest—and the world’s 3rd largest—platform for massive open online courses (MOOC). Rain Classroom, the interactive teaching app, was launched in 2016. MOOC-CN Education is one of the edtech (education technology) companies who is capitalizing on and providing innovative solutions for China’s massive education industry.

The challenges of China’s education

China has the world’s largest education system with 260 million students (in Chinese) from K12 to college, almost 20% of the total population. With such a large student population and obsessive focus on education, competition for quality resources is intense. From the moment a child is born, parents and grandparents fret over whether they can into the best kindergarten. And it doesn’t stop there: How the child does in school will be a much-debated topic right up to the university entrance exam, aka gaokao, which will determine where students will attend college and decide their careers, ideally a stable job in the government or an executive position at a big company.

Read more: Hujiang VP on Online Education Monetization in China: Users and Quality Content are Keys

As a result, teaching—much like other public services—has become almost industrialized with the sole goal being to ace the gaokao. Students in Chinese urban centers face an unimaginable amount of pressure to do well in schools. Cases of students committing suicides due to academic stress are not uncommon. At the same time, the distribution of educational resources is highly uneven across the country. In impoverished provinces, several villages can only be served by one school, staffed by a few teachers.

Yet, there are also opportunities. China’s education sector is growing rapidly and poised for disruption. A 2017 Deloitte report showed that the “total amount of M&As in China’s education industry exceeded RMB 12.6 billion in 2016, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of up to 78% over the past four years.” The Chinese Ministry of Education is also pushing forward education reform, changing the gaokao system and introducing guidelines to reduce stress for elementary school students.

“Teaching used to be more of an art, now it can be made more scientific,” Professor Yu told TechNode after class. Other than teaching electrical engineering, he is also part of the committee of professors that guide the development of Rain Classroom.

The app is named after a positive education cycle reinforced by edtech akin to earth’s precipitation cycles. Services (rain) made possible by big data analytics (the cloud) are utilized in classrooms or for self-learning (rain irrigating the soil). More data on teaching and learning is generated and collected then uploaded to the cloud again (evaporation), completing the cycle.

“Before, other than grades from assignments and exams, you don’t really know how students are doing. With Rain Classroom, you can see if students have gone through class readings and assess their understanding right away in class,” Professor Yu explained.

Ways to assess that understanding include live quizzes and danmu. Danmu is a feature first popularized through video streaming where the audience sends messages that fly across the video content. In class, Professor Yu asks his students about the electrical current in a circuit shown on the screen. Students answered on their phones, which then showed up on the class PowerPoint presentation.

But even with a high tech classroom, there is still room to misbehave. The danmu feature is only meant for students to send messages related to the class. However, when Professor Yu left the danmu feature on for too long, one student cheekily sent 火钳刘明 (huoqianliuming) or “leave your name before this goes viral!” This is an internet slang that Chinese netizens leave on posts or content they think will go viral so that they get some good luck by association.

Quantifying Interaction

For those who haven’t experienced a Chinese classroom, the necessity of such tech-based facilitation may not be obvious. Can’t the students just answer a question aloud?

“In China, there isn’t a culture of lively classroom interaction. Students here are shy or may be afraid that they have the wrong answer,” Wang Shuaiguo, the Curriculum Director at Tsinghua University’s Online Education Office, told TechNode. He works alongside MOOC-CN Education to develop Rain Classroom. Wang says Rain Classroom is an effective way to address the issue of timid students and, at the same time, gain meaningful data about teaching and learning.

The live quizzes, danmu and other data gathered in the classroom are made into reports for both teachers and students. Teachers can see statistics on how many students completed quizzes in class or have done the readings. In turn, students also receive a report on how well they did compared to the rest of the class.

So what do the students think of it? TechNode talked to Li Daiyan, an electrical engineering freshman that happened to sit next to us in Professor Yu’s class.

“[Principles of Electrical Circuits] is the only required class I have that uses Rain Classroom. It’s probably the more interesting of my classes this semester,” Li said. “But having Rain Classroom doesn’t necessarily make me more focused. If I’m sitting with my friends, then I’ll probably still get distracted in class.”

What’s Next

Rain Classroom is used in over 2,300 universities in China and there are plans to expand this to colleges overseas and also more high school classrooms at home. At the same time, the team continues to work on adding features to Rain Classroom.

“In the future, I’d like to see modeling and predictive functions added to Rain Classroom. If we can predict what students’ performance will likely be towards the end of the class, we can take tailored actions early on to help students improve,” Professor Yu told TechNode.

Tencent is reportedly advancing talks with Mumbai-based fantasy sports platform Dream 11 on an estimated 100 million investment, according to Economic Times reports.

A source familiar with the deal said transaction details provided by Tencent estimate Dream 11’s valuation at $400 to 450 million.

If successful, the deal could potentially change India’s growing gaming industry. The investment in Dream 11 would be the second major deal Tencent closed in India in the past two months. In February, the Chinese internet giant agreed to lead a $115 million investment in music streaming service Gaana.

China’s tech giants including the BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent) have been eyeing opportunities in the world’s third-largest economy. As China’s largest game publisher, Tencent, in particular, has expressed interest in investing in the gaming market and scouting for up-and-coming startups.

These resourceful Chinese tech firms have been pouring capital into the Indian market and their money is deciding who the top players in tech are going to be. Indian companies backed by the Chinese have access to extensive funds and resources that allow them to put smaller players out of business.

Chinese regulators have given the green light to Chinese telecom operators to test 5G in major cities local media is reporting (in Chinese). State-run operators, also the largest three in China—China Unicom (中国联通), China Mobile (中国移动), China Telecom (中国电信)—will begin setting up 5G networks in 16 cities for testing. It is unclear when the tests will actually start.

China Unicom will begin testing 5G network in 16 cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Qingdao, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Guiyang, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Fuzhou, Zhengzhou, and Shenyang.

China Mobile will conduct external field test and set up more than a hundred 5G base stations in each of the following five cities: Hangzhou, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Suzhou, and Wuhan. The service operator will also conduct 5G network application demonstration in 12 cities including Beijing, Chengdu, and Shenzhen.

China Telecom will start testing in six cities including Xiong’an, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Suzhou, Chengdu, Lanzhou. The government is said to be pushing China Telecom to extend their testing operations to six more cities.

5G is instrumental to the development of many emerging technologies such as AR/VR, smart IoT, smart car. The US and China are vying to be the first to roll out 5G. Since the beginning of the year, China has begun downscaling its 2G services as telecom operators turn to more advanced 3G, 4G, and 5G technologies. Earlier this month China Unicom announced plans to shut down their 2G network.

Nanjing is reported to become the first city in China to put temporary controls on the number of vehicles that can be hailed online, according to Jiemian (in Chinese), to regulate the sector, protect rights, curb illegal practices and reduce risks in the taxi industry. By stopping the issuance of new licenses, Nanjing will put the brakes on the turf war fought there between Didi and Meituan, and will have a mixed effect on traditional cab drivers.

Nanjing’s local government has issued a document titled “Opinions on Strengthening the Regulation of the Taxi Market”. It states that from April 20, 2018, there will be a temporary block on any new taxi capacity. The PSB’s traffic department will suspend the registration of taxis for online booking and the local branch of the Ministry of Transport will temporarily stop processing taxi licenses.

Traditional taxis will also be impacted as traditional cab drivers will not be able to apply for additional licenses for picking up fares from online hailing platforms, but may benefit from the blocking of new drivers registering as Didi and Meituan drivers.

The report states that Nanjing has 8,000 taxis in active operation and 3,000 inactive. However, there are 12,000 vehicles which are licensed for online ride-hailing (both the vehicle and driver), and a further 6,000 vehicles licensed for ride-hailing but still waiting for license plates. Car leasing companies have until April 20 to get as many cars approved as possible.

Ride-hailing is having a deep impact on China’s taxi drivers. Nanjing’s move follows a recent report about taxis in the city by The Paper (in Chinese). A reporter found fleets of abandoned taxis around Nanjing, including new vehicles still well within their 7-year lifespan. The Nanjing Taxi Association told The Paper that due to intense competition for passengers and drivers by ride-hailing platforms, the number of inactive taxis rose from 1,000 to 3,000 in the past year. Taxi drivers were getting around 40 fares per day before January 2017 which fell to around 20 a day by 2018 despite still working 12-13 hour shifts. The subsequent pressure on wages saw drivers’ previously monthly take-home pay falling from RMB 5-6,000 to RMB 3-4,000 per month, dropping below the minimum wage.

Chinese bike rental companies Mobike and ofo expanded to more than 30 countries last year. While attending the SeedStars Summit 2018 in Lausane, Switzerland, we asked people from 5 different countries what they think about Chinese bike rental startups’ expansion into their home countries.

Recent data from Cheetah shows that China’s active users of bike rental service increased six fold in 2017. In China, ofo ranked number 1, Mobike came second, dominating 90% of the Chinese market, and Hello Bike is in third place. Didi also just launched their rental bikes in Chengdu and Shenzhen.

Cheetah Mobile is optimistic about bike rental companies’ global expansion, predicting that the number of bike rental users in the world will increase to 306 million in 2019 and there will be 5 to 10 times more room for expansion in the overseas market in the next 2 years.

In Europe, many cities tried to roll out docked bike sharing, as “dockless bike-share companies” launched in Europe in 2017.

Last August, ofo said it planned to operate 6,000 shared bikes in Bangkok by the end of September. However, when we interviewed one investor from Thailand whether he had tried ofo in Bangkok, he said he has never seen ofo bikes in Bangkok.

“Bangkok doesn’t have bike lanes, so it’s not so safe for bicycles to pass. We mostly commute to work with cars, or maybe train,” he said.

Netherlands

Mobike officially announced its launch in Rotterdam, the country’s second-largest city, last November, after a successful trial period in the Netherlands. They couldn’t enter Amsterdam, the capital since the city decided in August to temporarily clear up all sharing bikes, as the bikes occupied the city’s scarce public space.

In January this year, Mobike and nine other dockless bike-share companies agreed to work together on API integration, excluding Ofo and oBike.

David Loriggiola

Everybody owns a bike in Amsterdam, even more than one. People would rather rent a car. So, the idea of renting bikes could work for tourists. I rented a car twice recently, and I think a car sharing model has a better market fit. I haven’t seen Mobikes in Amersterdam.

Germany

Mobike kicked off its operations in Berlin, Germany in November 2017, meeting its goal of expanding to 200 cities globally by the end of 2017. After other bike rental companies also launched in German cities, transport authorities in Munich and Frankfurt have limited the maximum number of bikes to be left at particular public locations, while Cologne has introduced designated parking zones for bikes.

Mobike’s arch rival Ofo is hiring people in Germany right now.

Julian Daum, editor at Business Punk

There’s a grey [Deezer] and a yellow [oBike] bike startup with bike stands, where you can put them. There’s a debate around these bike rental startups. Everybody’s hating them. Because they are standing around, thrown everywhere, but nobody’s picking them up. Berlin is a bike stealing hotspot. You cannot let it stand there for two minutes, so it makes sense to use bike rental startups. But I prefer racing bikes, especially from the 70s. Rental bikes are not very fast. Besides, everyone I know owns a bike. I don’t see any people driving around on rental bikes. But if there’s space in the local market, why not? Someone might be needing a bike or a car.

[Bike robbers] have specialized gear to break the locks, so some people use two locks with different lock systems since not many robbers carry gear to break two kinds. One of the reasons for robbing bikes is because there is a big second-hand bike market. They deconstruct the bike, put the parts together differently and resell. A lot of them go to Poland. In Germany, we use car-sharing companies. There are two moped–little electric scooter sharing companies–Emmy and Coup.

France

Paris has three bike rental players including, Singapore’s oBike, with about 1,800 grey-orange bikes, and two major Chinese firms: Ofo, with about 1,000 yellow bikes, and Mobike, with several thousand orange bikes.

Stefan Himmelstoss, head of scouting at tire company Continental

I have seen Mobike and ofo in Paris. The problem with it was the vandalism and it doesn’t make a good picture in the city. Expanding to Copenhagen and Netherlands would make more sense in general. Bike sharing models in Europe were adopted because of its traction gained in Asia.

BMW is running electric scooter business in Paris and Berlin has electronic scooters for inner city transport. So people there don’t need to own the transport.

Co-pace is the startup program of Continental. Our main purpose of launching co-pace is to help mature enough companies and to advance with them. In products, maybe we want the companies to generate more stream of revenues in various ways. Investment is only one part. Working together and understanding each other is much more important. Continental’s co-pace is looking for startups in mobility that is reducing the communication problem. We are looking for startups who are available in data analytics, has knowhow upfront and how that will work. For example, we can take away the cars and replace them with shuttles. This needs a mixture of intelligently and efficiently working transportation.

Italy

Italy was the second European city that Mobike expanded to, following the UK. The a fleet of orange bikes were launched in both Florence and Milan last July, followed by ofo’s yellow bikes. Mobike charges €0.30 cents for the first 30 minutes, then €0.50 for each additional 30-minute period. Ofo charges are lower — starting at €0.20 cents for the first half hour, €0.30 for the next and €5 for a full day pass.

Italy is also seeing bike theft and vandalism. The police in the Quarto Oggiaro district in Milan used Ofo bikes’ geolocation to find 20 bikes locked within a private residence.

Loris Lanzellotti, co-founder and CEO of BoostHeroes

BoostHeroes is a venture capital company with a portfolio of 55 companies with a sector-agnostic view. I invested in Hong Kong-based bike rental startup GoBee bike. GoBee bike was started by a French CEO in February 2017. GoBee bike expanded to Rome, Florence, Turin in Italy and Paris, Lille in France, since the founder of GoBee had major contacts in those cities. However, they encountered vandalism and theft, and the service didn’t work out. The rate of the bikes stolen or thrown away was higher than expected in their business plan. In February, they shut down the operation in Paris.

In some cities, they tested the model earlier than Mobike and ofo. GoBee bike didn’t launch in Milan as there were more ofo bikes.

Mobike and ofo are doing pretty well in Europe. Many are complaining about their service. I’m not sure if they’ve reached break-even point or not. Education of customers is necessary. You don’t want to be the first company to launch, because the bikes will be subject to vandalism and theft, and you don’t want to be the first one to make mistakes in the market.

Note: On April 13th, SCMP reported that ofo plans to take over the operations of Hong Kong-based GoBee Bike. 

Singapore

Singapore is one of the first countries that ofo and Mobike have expanded to, in early 2017. We previously reported that ofo and Mobike aren’t doing so well in Singapore due to its local player oBike.

Stanley Chia, co-founder and COO of Cialfo

I use Mobike in Singapore, and I like it. In Singapore, you can link your credit card to Mobike and pay. It’s helpful. But it’s more useful in China, because of the number and easy access to bikes. But in Singapore, there are much fewer bikes.

These bikes, however, make streets messy. In China, it’s acceptable to some extent. They are hiring people to tidy up the streets. In Singapore, the rules are much stricter. Users are expected to park the bikes in the parking zone. So it’s quite inconvenient because you can only pick up a bike from where it’s parked properly. From both perspectives, it’s less accessible, and not easy because there aren’t many bikes. On the other hand, it cost too much to keep it organized since we don’t have many parking places. So it’s hard to make it more organized in Singapore.

In Singapore, we normally use MRT and bus. Lazy people like me use a taxi. I reached certain income range to own a car, but it’s too expensive. So using taxi costs less for me. I use taxi-hailing apps like Grab taxi.

I think the idea of ofo and Mobike is not that innovative, there were such ideas before. Mobike and ofo could bring it to volume for the masses, and make wide use of it. Acceptance of such innovation in the community is impressive. So it’s more about the community who are open to change and innovation. When it comes to innovation, in a big city like Singapore there is an obvious difficulty of implementing it.

“Tonight Old Hu and Global Times staff are all ZTE people!” wrote Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of both the Chinese (环球时报) and English versions of the Global Times, on Sina Weibo via his iPhone 7. In light of the US Department of Commerce putting a seven year ban on US companies selling components to State-owned ZTE, China is questioning its dependence on the US and what will become of China’s progress in 5G.

ZTE makes equipment for China Mobile and Telefonica and is dependent on US suppliers such as chip maker Qualcomm. As the ban also includes licenses, there is the possibility that Google could no longer supply Android, the operating system used by all ZTE-made smartphones, according to Bloomberg.

April 16: US export ban

On April 16 (US time), the US Department of Commerce imposed a seven-year ban after it was found that ZTE had not kept to an agreement it reached with a US court. The US had determined that ZTE had gone against US sanctions by selling products to Iran. The agreement included ZTE firing four top executives and not paying bonuses to 35 others and that failure to do so would result in a seven-year ban. ZTE acknowledged in March that it had in fact paid the bonuses.

April 17: Beijing’s response, UK warning, leaked ZTE memo, trading suspension

Against a background of ongoing trade tensions between China and the US, China’s own Ministry of Commerce responded on April 17 by saying that it hopes the US can deal with this situations in a legal way, and that it will be prepared to take action in the interests of ZTE.

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) announced the same day its blacklisting of ZTE. The agency wrote to UK telecom companies warning them that using the Chinese firms’ equipment and services could pose a national security risk, according to the BBC. The decision appears to be based on the fact that the UK already has equipment from Huawei which has to be rigorously checked by UK security agencies and adding another supplier would present too much strain on resources. ZTE already has a research agreement with British Telecom (BT).

Trading of ZTE shares was suspended in Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

The export ban will hit ZTE hard. The South China Morning Post saw an internal memo from ZTE’s chairman Yin Yimin the same day to its 80,000 employees explaining how the company had set up a team with all division to come up with measures to deal with the “crisis”:

“We need the combined strength of ZTE’s 80,000-strong staff in this tough time. I would like to appeal to all employees to maintain a state of calm, to man one’s post and do one’s job well. The company is actively communicating and giving its all to resolve this crisis.”

Later on April 17 came Global Times editor Hu Xijin’s message that the move by an “afraid and desperate” US is an attempt to derail China’s 5G progress. “Chinese society must support ZTE and Huawei. The more oppressed it is, the more brave ZTE should be, the harder it should work [for the country], and it must not fall. We must pay tribute to the 80,000 employees of ZTE.” Hu also uploaded videos to the Chinese and English Global Times sites.

April 18: Calls for reflection, questions over Android

Chinese media are now calling upon ZTE and Chinese companies in general to reflect on their dependency on US suppliers for chips, components, operating systems and software. Industry experts said ZTE should be more self-sufficient, according to Xinhua (in Chinese), and that 20-30% of ZTE’s components are sourced from US suppliers. China imports $260 billion of semi conductors from the US per year.

The China International Capital Corporation (CICC), a leading State-owned investment bank, told Xinhua that if there isn’t an agreement in two months, the ban will affect ZTE’s manufacturing and sales, but will also affect China’s telecoms operators and their push with 5G.

ZTE lawyers have been meeting with Google to discuss the issue of the Android operating system being included in the ban. All ZTE-made smartphones currently use versions of Android.

TechNode has been organizing the annual “China Bang Awards” since 2011. Over the past few years, TechNode has witnessed a large number of emerging startups grow into unicorns. For the upcoming ChinaBang Awards 2018, TechNode has started a special report to review the history of China Bang Awardees.

In May 2003, Alibaba’s e-commerce platform Taobao went online. Alibaba received some calls on their hotline but had few transactions on Taobao. Most customers had never used an e-commerce platform before and weren’t willing to pay before they received the goods, nor ready to ship products before chitchat with customers. Founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma, was vexed by the mistrust on both sides of the deal.

Alipay was born in Davos. “When I was in Davos, I suddenly had an inspiration,” says Ma. He recalled that he was so excited and called one of his colleagues. “You go for it right now. If something goes wrong with the product that breaks the law, even leading to prison, then I will take the blame. ”

On October 18, 2003, Taobao launched Alipay, a third-party online payment platform. In the same way PayPal was being used with eBay in the West, Alipay solved the problem of e-commerce payments and ramped up the sales data exponentially. Five years later, with the rise of mobile devices, Alipay launched its mobile payment business.

In 2013, Technode gave the “ChinaBang’s Best Application Award of The Year” to Alipay. 2013 was a big year for the Alipay team. Alibaba’s payment platform also launched a money-market fund, namely Yu’e Bao. By the end of that year, Alipay’s mobile payment users exceeded 100 million, and meanwhile, Alipay’s wallet also announced that it would launch as an independent brand under Ant Financial, a newly-created subsidiary of Alibaba.

It has been another five years since ChinaBang gave the prize to Alipay. Over the past 15 years, Alipay has grown from a little spark to the world’s most valued payment platform. Hundreds of millions of Chinese use Alipay to manage money, pay bills, buy train tickets, order takeout, and transfer money. More and more people are showing off their year-end Alipay transaction records on social media. Hundreds of millions of people’s life, entertainment, public welfare, finance, consumption data are recorded by Alipay, forming the earliest credit records for Chinese people.

Alipay spokespeople said that mobile payment is not only a change of payment methods but also has a particular impact on the development of society. For example, Ant Financial provides mortgage, credit and other services to 795 poor counties. Mobile payments can lead to credit for users so that consumers can access credit, insurance, and other financial services. As of the end of 2017, Ant Financials’ Sesame Credit had accumulated 41.5 million “no-deposit” users—users who are trusted enough and have a high enough credit score to not pay deposits for offline services.

Search for wallets on e-commerce platforms declined for the first time in 2017, according to Alibaba data. Going out without cash is now becoming a habit of life.

On May 24, 2017, Alipay launched its first version of the app outside of mainland China. Alipay in Hong Kong (AlipayHK) officially started offering cashless services to Hong Kong residents. After AlipayHK went online, local residents can link their bank credit card or transfer money to their Alipay account, and make a direct payment with Hong Kong dollars.

In fact, Alipay launched its services in Hong Kong market as early as 2007, but it was not until August 2016 that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority issued a third-party payment license, making AlipayHK the first payment license holder to provide digital financial services to local users. After six months’ preparation, AlipayHK finally went online.

AlipayHK provides services including QR code payment and merchant offers. The QR code payment works precisely the same as the one on the mainland: show a payment QR code and let merchants scan the code to complete the payment. Beyond these functions,  Alipay HK will gradually add services such as phone bills, utilities, peer transfer, taxis, and insurance so that local Hong Kong residents can genuinely enjoy a cashless life.

Alipay spent 15 years evolving from a potentially dangerous idea to national pride. After being named one of China’s new four inventions by State media, the team took on more expectations and tasks of national significance. Last June, Monaco signed a strategic partnership agreement (MOU) with Alipay, giving merchants the access to the payment platform. It is the first time that Ant Financial, Alibaba’s financial spinoff, signed a strategic partnership agreement with a sovereign government. Monaco will be the 12th European country to access Alipay.

It is bound to be a long journey for Alipay to move its mobile payments to the rest of the world. On January 2, 2018, Alipay released its 2017 national data report. The data shows that mobile payment users accounted for 82 percent of the nationwide 520 million Alipay users last year. There are over 11 provinces with more than 90 percent users of mobile payments. Guizhou and Shanxi rank first with 92 percent.

“The increase in the proportion of mobile payments is closely related to the coverage of Alipay’s use in different scenarios and the wide implementation of QR code,” said an Alipay spokesperson. In 2017, buses and subways in more than 30 cities across the country began supporting Alipay and more than 200 million citizens used more than 100 services in 12 categories, including social security, transportation, and civil affairs. Small merchants use QR code stickers to digitize their cash registers. Meanwhile, Alipay has accumulated access to tens of thousands of merchants in 36 overseas countries and regions, and its total number of mobile payments increased by 306 percent compared to 2016.

—Translated by Carol Peng

On April 17, 2018, local media reported that China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism had inspected over 4,900 live-streaming apps and removed 370 from app stores for failing to comply with regulations. The ministry also blacklisted 14 companies for operating under fraudulent licenses and ordered the shutdown of 57 live-streaming apps produced by these companies.

Larger live-streaming platforms such as Huajiao, Douyu, Huya, 6.cn, Panda.tv are currently undergoing investigation for hosting content promulgating “violence, pornography, gambling, superstition, and other values harmful to public morality.” Regulators are also looking into these platforms for possible infringement of other industry codes, including the requirement for live-streaming hosts to register under their real names and identities. So far, the ministry has identified 190 cases of violation among the 30 audited live-streaming platforms.

In addition to live-streaming apps and platforms, 50 online games are also being inspected by the ministry as part of the government’s ongoing efforts to police China’s gaming industry and protect Chinese children from Internet addictions. Games that fail to implement procedures to curb juvenile addiction, neglect to enforce real-name registration among its users, or contain content that “celebrates violence, incites crime” and include “illicit advertising” will be severely punished, according to the ministry’s inspectors.

A similar probe into China’s mobile games was conducted last year when the Ministry of Culture announced it was ramping up control over China’s fast-growing video game market. Last November, a “full-on body search” of 50 randomly selected mobile games was conducted to ensure that the games were up to code with the administration’s regulations and that none contained content that was “violent, obscene, or detrimental to social values.” That round of inspections led to 41 mobile game operators being penalized for content violations.

Chinese government’s anxieties over the deleterious effects online content might have on its youngsters have led the country to declare internet addiction a clinical disorder in 2008. More extreme methods of tackling online addiction have included boot camps that employ electroshock therapy and draft laws banning minors from playing games online after midnight. While the draft law has yet to be officially enforced, companies like Tencent have been taking proactive measures in limiting the playtime of its most popular game, “King of Glory” (王者荣耀). Last July, Tencent announced that users under the age of 12 would only be allowed one hour of play each day and wouldn’t be allowed to log into the game after 9 pm. Users between the age of 12 and 18 would be allotted two hours of play time per day.

Much like the gaming industry, China’s live-streaming industry has faced increasing scrutiny from the administration in recent years. Most notably, in 2016, the Ministry of Culture prohibited hosts from suggestively eating bananas in their live streams. Shortly afterward, the government also passed new regulations that stipulated foreign streamers had to apply for a license before they were allowed to launch their live stream channels.

This latest crackdown comes on the heels of a series of actions from the State Administration of Radio and Television (SART) to “clean up the Internet.” In late March, the country’s media regulator released a notice banning videos from “distorting, mocking, and spoofing” classic movies and TV shows. And within the past few weeks, it has ordered the temporary removal of several news apps from Chinese app stores, the permanent shuttering of jokes app Neihan Duanzi(内涵段子), and put pressure on several video platforms, including Watermelon Video(西瓜视频), Huoshan(火山小视频), and Youku, to clean up “vulgar” or “inappropriate” content.

A new system of official digital ID has been integrated with Alipay for making ID-validated purchases such as train tickets and for checking into hotels in test areas in eastern China.

The “Resident ID Online Verification Certificate” (our translation: “居民身份证网上功能凭证”) uses the “Internet+ Trusted Identity Authentication Platform”, also known as CTID, (our translation: “互联网+可信身份认证平台”), according to Xinhua (in Chinese). The system has been developed by the Ministry for Public Security’s First Research Institute. CTID is the system behind the trials of digital ID within WeChat late last year.

The Alipay integration is now being trialed in Hangzhou and Quzhou in Zhejiang, plus Fuzhou. Registered users in the three cities can make transactions that are fully validated from within Alipay itself, without having to separately supply the details of or show their standard ID card. These include coach and train tickets as well as checking into hotels. The Alipay ID is also valid in local authority service halls.

According to the website of the First Research Institute, the “National Engineering Laboratory for Multidimensional Identification and Trustworthy Authentication Technologies” was approved by the powerful National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in November 2016 and is a collaboration with Tsinghua University and the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank.

The laboratory is researching the integration of identification methods, equipment, biometrics, and technical support as well as finding any weaknesses in the country’s identity networks.

China’s Ministry of Public Security issued the first batch of 50,000 smart chip cards in Gongqing City of Jiangxi Province in an attempt to promote safer and easier identity authentication for smartphone users. The technology is expected to have wide applications in areas such as e-commerce, social media, and administrative services.

Dubbed as SIMeID, the card can store users’ basic personal data such as names, phone numbers, ID card numbers, and other information. The chip is only 0.19 mm wide and can be attached to a SIM card easily.

During online transactions, the technology automatically provides the pre-stored information for identity authentication. This means users will not have to submit these data every time, lowering the risk of data leakage.

With more and more people preferring online transactions, personal information theft has been running rampant in China. Stealing private data online is not only technically simple, the cost is very low as well. A report by the Internet Society of China released last year show nearly 80% of web users had their personal information leaked.

Data leaks is so ubiquitous in China that some of the country’s top tech firms have started to take users’ privacy for granted. But a series of recent incidents brought data privacy issues to the surface. The state authorities cracked down on numerous members of a syndicate for allegedly buying and selling personal data over the internet. In an attempt to raise people’s awareness about data privacy, a Chinese artist bought personal data of 346,000 Wuhan residents and displayed them at a Wuhan art gallery.

Richard Liu, the legendary founder and CEO of Chinese online retailer JD Group, made his latest appearance at Madrid, the capital of Spain, on April 16th to introduce the firm’s expansion plans to the Spanish-speaking market which boasts a 400 million population, local media is reporting.

JD has just opened its Spanish website Joybuy.es for beta testing on April 12th to target Spain and Latin America. JD.com will enter the Spanish market through investments in logistics, goods, and services to integrate JD’s capabilities in China’s commodity supply chain and provide quality products to Spanish customers.

For starters, JD will enter the market with 100,000 popular items in partnership with one thousand partners including smartphone maker Nubia, electronics manufacturer Rappo, robotic vacuum cleaner maker iLife, and more. As in China, logistics is the main selling point for JD’s services. The company promises a 2-3 day delivery for premium packages and 7-20 day delivery for economic packages in Spain. The firm is also planning to set up local warehouses within this year.

The Chinese e-commerce giant is serious about taking its services global. The current move comes two months after its launch in Europe. France is the first stop in JD’s ambitious plan in the region, where the company plans to spend at least one billion euros over the next two years.

On the other hand, JD’s aggressive globalization plan reveals how crowded China’s e-commerce market really is. The cutthroat battle in the domestic market is forcing Chinese e-commerce platforms, including top players like JD, to look for new opportunities elsewhere. JD’s rival Alibaba has launched its own globalization plans much earlier than JD.

On-demand video streaming service Youku is the latest to announce a self-imposed cleanup of its platform, saying it found a number of the movies it provides to be problematic, local media is reporting.

The company said that it is conducting a review and clean up operation targeting movies that deal with the distortion of historical figures, contain gang members as central characters, run counter to approved values, and excessively display the “dark side of human nature.”

The move follows a crackdown by the country’s media regulator, the State Administration of Radio and Television (SARFT), to clean up the internet. The SARFT has been placing increased pressure on technology companies to police the content on the web.

On April 13, Toutiao-backed Huoshan Short Video (火山小视频)  temporarily shut one of its channels after being criticized by the regulator. On the same day, social networking platform Weibo announced plans to remove gay-themed content from its platform, later reversing its decision due to public outcry. It is interesting to note that Huoshan went back online with a new topic on the recommendation site called “Hello! New Age (你好！新时代)” focusing on “positive energy content.” Weibo introduced a similar section after it’s trending topics feature was temporarily shut down in February.

Huoshan and Weibo were not the only popular platforms hit by regulators last week. Watermelon Video (西瓜视频) barred mobile video uploads, live streams, and live comments, Tencent suspended short video playback within its messaging apps,  Toutiao was instructed to permanently shut its Neihan Duanzi (内涵段子 “implied jokes”) app, numerous news services were suspended from Chinese app stores, and Toutiao temporary disabled live streaming and comments in its Douyin (抖音) app.

In a case worth over RMB 800 million, numerous members of a syndicate have been arrested for allegedly buying and selling personal data over the internet, local media is reporting. 

The gang was able to obtain personal information by falsely identifying themselves and hacking targeted individuals. This information included mobile phone location and movement data, credit information, academic records, and phone call data.

According to the report, the group charged RMB 10 ($1.60) a month to track one mobile phone and RMB 1000 ($160) a month to track multiple targets.

The arrests form part of a bigger operation run by the Ministry of Public Security and the Public Security Department of Shandong Province. The investigation also focussed on individuals in Guangdong province, where the task force seized 90 mobile phones and arrested 41 people.

“I bought and sold delivery address and mobile phone owner information via the internet,” an arrestee surnamed Shi is quoted as saying.  “From December 2017 to the time I was arrested, I sold more than 300 pieces of information and earned $17,800.”

This is just the latest in a number of cases relating to the trade of personal information online. In December 2017, Beijing police announced they had busted a group of hackers who collected over one million pieces of personal information by taking advantage of network operators’ vulnerabilities.

In June of the same year, 22 people were arrested for allegedly stealing and selling iPhone user data.

The privacy of user data has become a hot topic in China. Its discussion was reignited after Baidu CEO Robin Li said Chinese internet users “are not that sensitive about privacy”. The resulting backlash caused a reporter from the Beijing News to conduct a privacy test on some of the country’s most popular apps, finding that they did not adequately protect users’ data.

Li’s comments came shortly after Baidu was accused of illegally obtaining user data by the Jiangsu Consumer Council. The company responded saying they have addressed the council’s concerns.

On April 4, an exhibition containing the purchased personal information of over 300,000 individuals opened in Hebei province. The artist bought the data and displayed it hoping to highlight the ease with which personal information can be obtained online. The exhibition was shut down shortly after opening.

Xiaoming, a product manager at an international gaming company, is very nervous on his first day. His manager briefs him on expectations and current projects. Xiaoming walks out of the meeting still a little confused but doesn’t want to ask any questions that may seem stupid.

Based on his previous experience, he thinks enhancing user experience is always the key and so he decides to ask his team to improve some in-app features. After working hard for a week or so, the features are done. When his business development colleagues are testing the features, they tell him that actually, these aren’t what customers are asking for. His manager says he doesn’t communicate well enough with the other departments.

Even though Xiaoming isn’t a real person, it’s likely many people have encountered a similar situation. Not only does China’s fast-paced tech industry have to deal with different cultural backgrounds but also high turnover rates.

On April 12th, at Day Day Up Sanlitun, Beijing, Beatrix Frisch, China General Manager at Mackevision, a German computer-generated imagery company, and Timothy Chen, head of international product at Mobike, shared their experience of how to best solve cross-discipline communication problems.

Ask questions

This helps people understand the current situation and drive clarity. Frisch stressed the importance of asking questions and emphasized that “there are no stupid questions but only stupid answers.”

“Sometimes what people want is actually what they don’t know they want, and they don’t know that,” said Chen. By always asking questions, both parties can have a clearer idea of what they both want.

Also, asking questions is an effective way for newcomers to familiarize themselves with the new environments. Starting her career in the auto industry and now as the manager at a CGI company, Frisch said this helped her to work in different fields.

Make sure everyone is  on the same page

The larger the team, the more necessary communication is. Even when doing the same project, people can have different expectations. One might think this is to drive user growth and the other might want to improve the experience for existing users. After deciding which goal the team should be after, it’ll be easier to set the priorities straight. Specific tips? Chen suggested a team newsletter.

As she specializes in business-to-business communications, Frisch said she would apply the “show-not-tell” tactics. When clients demand some fascinating effects beyond their budget, Frisch will directly show them what outcomes are possible within their existing budgets, and, according to her, this works.

Be patient

This is for whoever works in a cross-culture environment. The complexity of communicating increases with the number of cultures involved. For instance, talking to people in different times zones requires excellent time management skills. As to working with people from different cultural backgrounds, more important than speaking both languages is understanding the cultural differences.

“Just be patient,” Chen smiled and sighed at the same time, and the crowd understood.

First to survive and aesthetics later

There’s usually some “I can change the world” spirit when starting an enterprise, but at some point, team members should be aware that they are running a business and need to make a profit sooner or later.

Comradeship among colleagues is good, but setting up clear but flexible key performance indicators (KPIs) are more than necessary. This will remind the team of the goals of the business. However, it’s also essential to set flexible KPIs, because the business model for an early stage start-up hasn’t been settled yet.

“When people do beautiful things for the sake of doing beautiful things, it’s not a good thing,” Chen said, “because you are not Google.”

Kdan Mobile Software Ltd, a leading SaaS provider headquartered in Taiwan has raised $5 million in Series A funding, the company announced today in a press release. The investment was joined by WI Harper Group, Darwin Venture Management, and Accord Ventures. The company said the new investment will be used expand their businesses in the US and China markets and develop new features for enterprises and educational institutions.

Started as a mobile app developer, Kdan Mobile now offers content creation tools for designers to work across mobile devices and desktops. The company’s products were touted as an alternative to Adobe products and Evernote. The company said its product line now has over 120 million downloads and its cloud services, Kdan Cloud, has accumulated over 3.5 million members.

Last November, the company announced a partnership with LKKER, a leading online design sharing platform in China. The partnership allows their users to directly share their work on LKKER’s pitching platform with businesses who are seeking talented designers.

The company said they are expanding their services into other markets and is open to new partnerships. “We have been actively cooperating with many international partners such as GMobi, Adonit, and LKKER. These partners help us reach a larger audience and provide resources to help our users make even more efficient use of our products and services,” said Kenny Su, CEO of Kdan Mobile.

TechNode has been organizing the annual “China Bang Awards” since 2011. Over the past few years, TechNode has witnessed a large number of emerging startups grow into unicorns. For the upcoming ChinaBang Awards 2018, TechNode has started a special report to review the history of China Bang Awardees.

Startups abound in a broader context of innovation. But what is a successful startup? The startups of the year for ChinaBang must be those who have changed the world

Travel is one of the most fundamental human needs. However, this need, particularly for short trips within cities, has not been well met until the advent of bike-rental. The concept of bike-rental has made it simple for everyone in cities to travel in short distances with affordable prices, and significantly improved the problem of “the last kilometer” that vexed people for so long. Those bike-rental firms have adopted innovative ideas, integrated with internet technology, redesigned their bikes and locks, and made it much easier to travel with bicycles.

In March 2017, “ChinaBang Awards”, which aims at “discovering the power of innovation in China and has been actively seeking the most promising and valued innovative projects across the country, awarded the “Startup of the Year” to Mobike. In the whole burgeoning bike-rental industry of 2016, Mobike was the best.

Mobike in 2016: Come late, grow fast

Mobike officially launched its service in Shanghai on April 22, 2016. By then, bike-rental startup ofo had been operating its business for almost a year.

In December 2016, the number of monthly active users of Mobike reached 3.135 million. Mobike took a lot of thought and care about user experience in exchange for a good reputation among users.

In 2016, Mobike had three upgrades, launching two models—the Classic Edition and the Light-Bike edition—in 23 cities across the country. According to the data from the bike-rental report, “Insights on users and future of ofo and Mobike,” the percentage of ofo users’ reporting vehicle breakdowns was significantly higher than that of Mobike, with 39.3% and 26.2% percent. The quality issue of Ofo’s first edition of bikes along with the subsequent problems caused a lot of troubles for the users.

In three months, Mobike raised four rounds of financing:

1. In Aug 2016, tens of million dollars in a Series B funding joined by Panda Capital, Joy Capital, and Sinovation Ventures.
2. In Aug 2016, tens of million dollars in a Series B+ funding joined by Vertex Ventures and Sinovation Ventures
3. In Sep 2016, $100 million in a Series C funding joined by Warburg Pincus, Hillhouse Capital Group, and others
4. Oct 2016, Series C+, Hillhouse Capital Group, Tencent Holdings, Panda Capital

Mobike in 2017: A busy year

Mobike’s success in the market and secure financing capabilities indirectly attracted more bike-rental companies to jump on the bandwagon. In the first half of 2017, bike-rental became an attention-gobbling topic. As competitors increased, Mobike had to compete with ofo while held up its market share and stymied the challenge from other competitors.

To maintain its leading role, Mobike was quite busy in 2017. In 2016, the company put a lot of efforts in improving the user experience and took its strategy further in 2017. In addition to escalating user experience, Mobike also improved its brand content and explored its market opportunities.

Regarding content operations, Mobike in 2017 focused on building its soft power. In its sprawling advertising coverage, Mobike continued to emphasize ideas such as “Bring bikes back to the city” and “Ride to change the city”, reinforcing the brand’s image among users. Also, Mobike not only released the industry’s first “Parking to Civility” proposal but also helped users to create bright parking spots for their bicycles. The use of scientific and technological methods to assist users and also reward those who park correctly

The most apparent transformations were seen in both the overseas cities—12 in total by the end of the year—and domestic small counties. Mobike has made its existence in 130 cities at home and abroad. More recently, it has also made a foray into the Korean market.

Meanwhile, Mobike, which has put considerable effort into the market, continued to receive capital in 2017, when it completed several new rounds of financing, including two consecutive Tencent investments. The E-round investment, led by Tencent, was worth up to $600 million, making it the highest amount of financing in the industry at the time.

However, at the end of November 2017, both Mobike and Ofo were revealed to be “starved of funds and have begun to divert user deposits to fill the gap.” Both companies denied the news. But it is true that in 2017, Mobike and Ofo are both burning money. To seize the market, on June 29, 2017, Mobike announced that it would send out 10 million cards for one month.

Last July, Mobike launched an RMB 2 monthly card and an RMB 5 quarterly card. One month later, Ofo started an RMB 1 monthly package for users to ride for 30 days.

The future of Mobike

By the end of 2017, the dramatic competition in the bike-rental industry was winding down.
Earlier this year, Mobike and Ofo remained while other bike-rental companies ended up being acquired, with vanishing in the air for the worst. On the one hand, Ofo recently announced that it had received $866 million in E2-1 financing from Alibaba. On the other hand, Mobike was just purchased by Meituan for $3.7 billion.

Recently, the Alibaba-backed Hellobike announced a “national no-deposit strategy” that represents a challenge to Mobike and Ofo. In response, Mobike released car-sharing businesses, and its first version of shared cars are all new energy electric vehicles. What this means is Mobike is still moving fast, and it remains to be seen what kind of surprises it can give us in the future.

—Translated by Carol Peng

Pony Ma, chairman and founder of Tencent, said that the Tencent Blockchain (腾讯区块链, also called as TrustSQL) will be used in medical treatment so that prescription cannot be tampered with, Chinese media Tencent Technology is reporting. 

He also said that the internet behemoth has already partnered with Chinese city Liuzhou and Guangxi Province to enable the scheme at 2018 China “Internet +” digital economic summit held in Chongqing.

“Tencent has tested the first ‘out-of-hospital prescription circulation’ service to cities like Guangxi and Liuzhou based on the WeChat’s hospital reservation service and payment functions. They have prescribed prescriptions in hospitals, purchased drugs outside the hospital, and even sent medicines to their homes. They also connected planning committee, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies. Here we are using blockchain technology so that prescription cannot be tampered with, and we are also considering to promote the application of this technology,” Ma said.

Read more: How Tencent’s medical ecosystem is shaping the future of China’s healthcare

At the summit, Tencent also officially launched “Tencent blockchain + supply chain financial solutions” to improve the financing dilemma of small and medium-sized enterprises and help upgrade local industries using blockchain technology and operational resources. The company said that it will increase investment in supply chain finance in 2018.

At present, the Tencent blockchain has been implemented in areas like supply chain finance, medical care, digital assets, logistics information, legal deposit protection, and finding missing child.

Tencent’s blockchain product TrustSQL passed the authorization of China Information Technology Institute and rolled out BaaS service (in Chinese) in November 2017. One month later Baidu followed Tencent’s step by launching its own BaaS blockchain open platform. Other Chinese companies started crypto pet bandwagon, including Baidu’s cryptodoggies, Netease‘s “Lucky Cat(招财猫)”, Xiaomi’s “Cryptorabbit (加密兔)”, and crypto alpacas (加密羊驼).

We are moving into a new era where technology is radically changing transportation. People not only have more options when traveling from A to B, their journeys are becoming more intelligent and digital. Against this backdrop, traditional carmakers, once the bellwethers in mobility innovations, are busy catching up with new changes in the market.

Global automobile manufacturer Ford took the wraps off five new models this Tuesday in Chongqing, where its joint venture with local partner Changan is located. In addition to a brand new automobile lineup, the company has been laying out in several new initiatives that pave to the way to better days for Ford, including bigger plans for electric vehicles, connected cars and autonomous vehicles.

Why China, why electric vehicles?

It’s no secret that Ford is developing a special focus in China. This week’s event, what the company called its first global launch in China, is part of Ford’s plan to introduce over 50 new or redesigned Ford and Lincoln vehicles in the country by 2025. Of the total amount, 15 will be electric vehicles.

“China is already the largest market in the world for electrified vehicles, even though it’s very young. All the nameplates assembled at Chang’an Ford, for example, will be available for electrified options by 2015. That’s for both Ford and Lincoln brands and we are going to launch a third joint venture in China Zotye-Ford for exclusive engineering, assembly, and marketing of a new range of small electrified vehicles. They will be sold under a new local brand and won’t carry the Ford brand,” Peter Fleet, president of Ford Asia Pacific, told TechNode.

Compelling driving experience

China’s electrified vehicle market grew rapidly over the past decade. Sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China may jump as much as 50 percent to more than 1 million units in 2018, according to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Government support plays a significant role in propelling the development of this industry.

As the market evolves, however, the state is planning to raise the barriers for new-energy vehicle makers to access subsidies and will phase out financial support by 2020. This could further raise the price of new energy vehicles (NEV), which are already pricier than traditional cars.

But for Mr. Fleet, this won’t bring as significant an impact to the NEV market as predicted. “As the incentives progressively come off, the cost of technology comes down,” he pointed out.

What’s more important is that the premium driving experience of electrified cars will offer users more possibilities while driving. “The vast majority of customers have zero experience of what an electric vehicle is like to drive, although they may have formed some value about it. I really believe it has nothing to do with these incentives,” he said.

“When I spend a day driving these vehicles, the first thing that strike me is the silence of the vehicle. The customers at the moment are used to that a car would make noise. In the future, they can have a car that is virtually silent. It means that you can have a wonderful quality conversation in your car or listen to high-fidelity audio in you car. You want to have a crystal clear telephone conversation over the hand-free system, you can do that.” Peter added. “Secondly, customers don’t have experience, and have no idea about performance feels of electric cars. If you calibrate the motor and calibrate the regenerative braking in a certain way, you can get a very direct driving experience where you are virtually controlling the car.”

When you can’t do it all, find local partners

In a localization move, Ford has partnered with lots of Chinese tech companies. Some of the cooperation goes beyond the core aspects of a vehicle.

“These are some of the lessons we have learned in China. When Ford started in China maybe it was a little bit of a view that you can do everything by yourself  because we are a global corporate. We increasingly understood that success in China comes through multitude partnerships,” Fleet reflected.

In addition to joint ventures with Changan and Zotye, Ford has built a strategic partnership with Chinese tech giants such as Alibaba, Baidu’s Apolo Project for autonomous vehicles, and eDaijia for car maintenance.

Ford’s most recent test drive program in Guangzhou is a practical example of partnership with local companies. In the test-drive pilot launched in Guangzhou, Ford puts a thousand customers in three-day test drives in a kind of fun and innovative way. The interesting and dynamic part of the pilot is that they partnered with Alibaba’s big data to qualify the customers to make sure they have the ability and desire to buy cars, according to Fleet.

Building forces in a crowded market

Although Chinese electric vehicle market is quickly growing, it’s crowded with lots of competitors, be it Chinese automakers, or internet giants.

In order to build its strength in the sector, Ford said they are planning to provide a comprehensive range of clean energy solutions in China  – hybrids, plug-in hybrids and full battery powered EVs – this will cover 70 percent of all Ford nameplates sold, including the full range from Changan Ford.

With competition heating up, electric vehicle companies start to get in that game of who will have the biggest range. Lot of startups are talking about 400km, 500km or even more. Fleet believes users’ driving experiences should still be the top priority.

“We announced our first global hybrid electric vehicle, which will be assemble in China.We are talking about a range of 450km and look at driving patterns of Chinese customers, that’s more than enough. Our electric vehicle through Zotye Ford will have a significantly larger range because they are targeting younger urban city dwellers or maybe lower city drivers,” Fleet told us.

On the evening of April 12, there was a major revision to the WeChat public account backend. Content editors on the platform can optimize video, audio, photo publishing to improve their followers’ content reading efficiency, Chinese media Sohu is reporting. 

Currently, in the content management (素材管理) menu on the backend of WeChat public account, WeChat content editors can only add text content. With the revision, now when users click on “+” at the end of the list, they directly add five different formats of content: “graphics and text (图文消息)”. “video (视频消息),” “audio (音频消息),” “picture (图片消息),” or “reproduced (转载).”

“This is the first time that the official account platform (公众平台) has transformed message types. It has changed from native to H5 to facilitate interaction and better disseminate content. We want everybody to experience it first, and can give us feedback any time,” a Tencent spokesperson told TechNode.

The new version supports the insertion of video, audio, or graphic content independently. The titles of individual audio, video, and pictures must be consistent with the material and is limited to 140 words.

After the revision, followers on WeChat public account can better distinguish the video, audio or picture content, which could improve the user experience on content consumption.

It is worth noting that short video platforms such as Kuaishou, Douyin, and Weishi (微视) which have grown rapidly these years and video platforms such as iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent video are all supported for video publishing.

Shenma, the mobile search unit of Alibaba has filed a lawsuit against Sogou for traffic hijacking, local media has reported (in Chinese).

In the filing, the mobile search company accused Sougou of misleading and reeling in potential Shenma users through Sogou Input Method. Shenma is seeking RMB 100 million ($16 million) in compensation.

The lawsuit marks a collision between two of China’s most popular mobile search services. Shenma and Sogou took the second and third spot in China’s mobile search sector (in Chinese), representing 18.5% and 15.2% of the market respectively. Baidu still topped the list with 64.3%, according to data from third part research institute Big Data Search.

Actually, this is not the first time that Sogou was sued for unfair competition. In 2014, Baidu sued Sogou for similar issues, claiming Sogou’s integration of search functionality in its Chinese character input method editor was effectively hijacking Baidu’s search engine traffic. The court ruled in favor of Baidu and Sogou has paid an damage or RMB 500k.

On another hand, this case reveals the proxy war between China’s internet titans Alibaba and Tencent in yet another vertical. Shenma started in 2014 as a joint venture between Alibaba and mobile internet software service UCWeb, which Alibaba fully acquired later in the same year. Tencent is Sogou’s biggest stakeholder with 43.7% after initially investing $448 million for 40% in 2013. The Chinese search engine went public in the US last year.

Chinese entertainment app Watermelon Video (西瓜视频) has barred new mobile video uploads, live streams, and live comments, saying it is cleaning up the platform to meet legal standards, local media is reporting.

The move comes amid a crackdown on online content lead by China’s media regulator, the State Administration of Radio and Television (SARFT). It puts increased pressure on technology companies to police content on their platforms.

Watermelon Video said that it had scrutinized the content on its platform and had found 500,000 videos it deems inappropriate, resulting in the ban of 38,000 user accounts. It noted that in the future measures would be put in place to improve auditing standards through manual checks and the use of artificial intelligence.

The SARFT-led effort has already resulted in the suspension of video playback in Tencent’s messaging apps, the permanent closure of Toutiao’s Neihan Duanzi (内涵段子 “implied jokes”) app, the suspension of numerous news services from Chinese app stores, an apology from Toutiao’s CEO, and the temporary disabling of live streaming and comments in Toutiao’s Douyin (抖音).

When it comes to removing apps, Apple’s China App Store seems more resistant to state criticism than Android stores, but this might be just for now as more compliance with local rules is expected.

In China’s recent move to “clean the internet”, apps ordered to be taken down from app stores disappeared quickly from domestic Android stores. Their iOS versions, however, stayed up past the deadline and some still remain.

Authorities ordered online app stores to take down four news apps by 3 p.m. Monday, including Jinri Toutiao (今日头条), the flagship product of the unicorn startup ByteDance Inc., and Tiantian Kuaibao (天天快报) owned by Tencent Holdings, China’s most valuable tech giant. The apps disappeared in different Android stores by the deadline but were still available in Apple’s App Store until Tuesday.

The domestic Android platforms respond faster because they are under stricter scrutiny and hold greater responsibility for the apps to authorities than Apple, according to Songlin Li, an analyst at iiMedia Research, a consulting firm focusing on the new economy.

Similar things had happened a week ago when China’s media regulator, the State Administration of Radio and Television and China Central Television criticized two short videos apps, Huoshan Short Video (火山小视频) and Kuaishou (快手), for displaying vulgar content. These apps disappeared in Android stores the following day but remain accessible in the Apple App Store even now.

“Local third-party Android stores comply with government regulation changes quickly and more thoroughly, as Android competition is fierce and compliance potentially can help an app store gain an advantage over their rivals,” says Antony Chang, marketing manager at AppInChina, a mobile service company that helps foreign apps enter China.

“Even though Kuaishou and Huoshan are still available on the App Store, expect them to be removed in the near future or similar cases to be resolved differently in the near future,” Chang said.

The Chinese Android app market is divided by multiple players, most of whom are backed by local tech giants. Qihoo360 took up 26 percent in 2017, Tencent 21 percent, Huawei Technologies 12 percent, and Baidu 12 percent, according to ZesMob, a local app marketing agency.

Apple’s App Store, on the other hand, doesn’t have any direct competitors and faced less pressure from local authorities and “has been very strategic and more reluctant to act in certain cases”, said Chang.

However, the resistant Apple has been changing. Last July, their China App Store removed a group of VPNs. ExpressVPN, one of the service providers, had received a notice from Apple that the application was to be removed due to a violation of local laws. In late March, Apple “improved and complied with Chinese regulations” by handing the country’s iCloud services to Guizhou on the Cloud Big Data Industrial Development Co., a local internet services company.

The change came with Apple’s declining sales amid market share gains from local brands such as Huawei and Oppo. Before the launch of iPhone 8 last year, Apple’s sales in China had been declining for 18 months, and even with the spikes from the new iPhones, analysts remained suspicious about whether growth could continue.

In the fourth quarter of 2017, Huawei took the biggest 19 percent of China’s smartphone market share, followed by Oppo’s 17 percent, Vivo’s 15 percent, and Apple’s 15 percent, according to Counterpoint Research.

Despite intensifying local competition, an analyst who closely follows Apple warned that China’s Oppo has been keeping up with the augmented reality technology that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook once referred to as “profound.”

Naked Hub has confirmed to its staff that they are being bought by WeWork China.

In a recording of naked Hub’s staff meeting obtained by TechNode, naked Group founder Grant Horsfield said, “It is not an acquisition, we are not going anywhere,” instead choosing to refer to the move as a merger when talking to employees.

Naked Hub and WeWork confirmed the sale in an official statement, saying the two companies hope to make businesses in the region more successful.

Reports initially indicated that the sale would go through for $400 million. Naked Hub, founded in 2005, has 46 working spaces in Asia, with 20 of those located in Shanghai and Beijing.

Dominic Penaloza, CIO of naked Hub, said at the meeting that the acquisition was not one of convenience.

“This merger is not a case of ‘let’s merge to cut costs, to be more efficient,’” said Penaloza.

He reassured the employees that they would not be losing their jobs and that the aim was to hire even more people. “This rocket ship is the biggest, fastest rocket ship in the galaxy,” Penaloza said referring to the two companies joining forces.

In the recording, Horsfield welcomed WeWork co-founder Adam Neuman on stage, who then addressed naked Hub employees.

The reason we are here today is because there are companies around this world who think WeWork and naked Hub are co-working companies, well that’s funny because I started WeWork and I didn’t start a co-working company. What we started is a company that helps the world, that helps people make a life, not just a living. When I met Grant two and half years ago, I didn’t pay attention but before I knew it, you had built a company not just of design and technology, but of excellence of service, lifetstyle and connection. [We did this] because naked Hub is the only company in the world that is not a co-working space and because its not, we want to be a part of that. —Adam Neumann

Neumann went on to say this is the biggest commitment WeWork has ever made.

“In naked Hub, we have found an equal who shares our thinking about the importance of space, community, design, culture, and technology,” Neumann said in a statement. 

Local media reports said that naked Hub had not received the money from a round of funding in January. Additionally, reports say a planned merger with JustCo in Hong Kong fell through.

Update 12 April 16:20: Included confirmation of the sale from naked Hub and WeWork

Telecommunications operator China Unicom (中国联通) has begun closing down its 2G network and requested that services using the technology cease development, our sister site is reporting.

The company has already started the process of frequency reduction and has shut down over 100 low-traffic base stations, a move that it says will help further develop its 4G network.

According to the report, China Unicom’s 2G users make up 2% of its 280 million-strong customer base. Once the 2G services have been halted entirely over 5 million customers who made use of the company’s 2G services will no longer have access to the network.

The company said removing 2G infrastructure could be realized in a short time.

In total, there are over 1.57 million 2G base stations and 290 million 2G users in China. Additionally, vast numbers of internet of things (IoT) devices are reliant on these networks to communicate.

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology last year began allowing operators to deploy narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) technology, which enables devices that use small amounts of data to communicate almost anywhere, over the GSM band.

There were over 888 million people using China’s 4G networks last year, representing 65% network penetration. Users making use of 3G and 4G services accounted for over 1 billion of the country’s population.

While China Unicom is rolling back its 2G services in favor of 4G, China is hoping to be at the forefront of 5G rollout and development. The country is host to a growing number of 5G pilot projects, with a presence in numerous cities around the country.

In December, China Telecom set up 5G base stations in Lanzhou. Other cities hosting pilot projects include Shenzhen, Chengdu, Xiong’an, Suzhou, and Shanghai.

Tencent has suspended the ability to play short videos in its WeChat and QQ messaging apps, requiring users to copy the link and paste it in their browser to the view the videos, local media is reporting.

The suspension will prevent users from viewing videos from the company’s own Weishi platform, along with content from Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xigua Video.

The move comes amidst a broader crackdown on online content. Bytedance’s apps have received a great deal of attention from China’s media regulator, The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television (SAPPRFT). Last week, it was told to better control the “inappropriate” content on its Jinri Toutiao platform.  Issuing the same order to Kuaishou, SAPPRFT said that dealing with vulgar content was of “high importance.”

Shortly after the order, Jinri Toutiao, along with Phoenix News and NetEase news had their apps suspended from various app stores in the country.

Toutiao was again targeted this week after it was ordered to permanently close its Neihan Duanzi (内涵段子 “implied jokes”) app for its inappropriate content. The platform offered a selection of short videos, jokes, photos, and memes.  The company’s CEO and founder Zhang Yiming later apologized, saying the that the company took full responsibility for the app being shut down.

“The content that appears [on Neihan Duanzi] goes against core socialist values, and we did not do a thorough job in guiding public opinion,” he said in an open letter.

The company also temporarily disabled live streaming and comments in its short video app Douyin (抖音), saying the platform is currently undergoing a “system upgrade” and that the features would return following the enhancements.

Update: The sale has been confirmed, but the specifics have not been released.

WeWork will acquire Naked Hub for $400 million, according to a source close to the deal, local media is reporting. The acquisition will be in settled in the combination of cash and equity. It is said that more details will follow as the two companies’ make their official announcement tomorrow. TechNode has reached out to WeWork and Naked Hub for comment but did not receive a reply before publishing.

The New York-based WeWork entered China and launched its first location in Asia back in 2016. The acquisition of naked Hub would be WeWork’s first major move in China, which shows the company’s ambition to dominate China’s booming and increasingly competitive co-working market.

Founded in 2015, the Shanghai-based naked Hub has opened 20 co-working spaces in Shanghai and Beijing, and 46 locations throughout Asia. In January, naked Hub acquired a 70% stake in Gravity, a co-working space in Australia, as part of a grand plan to open more than 200 locations across five Asian countries by 2020.

What went wrong?

According to local media reports, naked Hub’s operation didn’t go well last year. And on top of talent loss, the company announced a series C round of fundraising for at least $125 million this January but has yet to receive the funds. On top of that, their announced merger with JustCo appears to have fallen through.

In China, the co-working market is entering a mature stage. Local players like naked Hub and UCOMMUNE, China’s largest co-working space, go head-to-head in the crowded space. The expansion of global players like WeWork is only adding fuel to the fire.

Chinese social e-commerce startup Pinduoduo (PDD) is said to have raised close to $3 billion in a new funding round led by Tencent Holdings, with the participation of Sequoia Capital, according to 36Kr report (in Chinese). The new investment puts PDD’s valuation at approximately $15 billion. According to the 36Kr article, an investor familiar with the deal said the investment may be less than the rumored $3 billion. Technode has reached out to PDD for comment but did not receive a reply before publishing.

Founded in 2015, PDD has quickly become one of the fastest growing e-commerce unicorns in China and has accumulated around 300 million users on its app since its release. In 2017, the three-year-old e-commerce startup’s gross merchandise volume (GMV) exceeded RMB 100 billion – a milestone that took Taobao five years and JD 10 years to reach.

Tencent Holdings was among the investors for PDD’s B funding round back in 2016. PDD holds a strategic importance for Tencent, who has been expressing interest in expanding into online retail. PDD  has been able to expand in China’s fiercely competitive online retail sector because it has successfully targeted the low-income segment from smaller cities and towns.

Every weekend, the parents of Shanghai’s unmarried population gather to find potential partners for their adult children. Lining the walkways of Shanghai’s People’s Square, they post their offspring’s details on open umbrellas —height, weight, education, and occupation— hoping to attract the parents of other singles. Once a potential match has been found, the marriage negotiations begin. 

Chinese matchmaking traditions go back generations. Prior to the 1950s, parents would choose prospective partners for their children based on matching by socioeconomic class. This practice, known as “matching windows and doors” (门当户对 méndānghùduì), still exists to this day, albeit in a much-diminished form.

Online dating is changing this, and with it, Chinese society. From Tinder-like Tantan (探探) to Momo (陌陌), to marriage-focussed Baihe (百合网), tech companies are taking advantage of increasingly independent young adults. And the country’s demographics.

“Traditionally, parents would have been able to exert considerable influence over both who their adult children dated, as well as the form of dating, itself,” Dr. Sampson Blair, family sociologist at The State University of New York and former visiting professor at East China Normal University, told TechNode.

“This has, quite obviously, changed greatly over recent decades, as young adults have become increasingly more autonomous in this regard,” he said.

Moving online

Just under half of China’s 1.4 billion people fall between the ages of 25 and 54 years old. Most are men. Within this total, 200 million are unmarried, according to government records.  One study shows that 54 million people made use of online dating services in 2016, a number that is expected to increase by 24 million, or 45%, by 2022. Online dating companies have even more optimistic usage statistics, with each firm asserting they have 100 million or more users.

The generation born between 1982 and 1997 is driving this growth. Making up 20% of China’s population, this group is just reaching (or about to) the legal marriage age—22 years old for men and 20 years old for women.

The ubiquity of smartphones and rapid migration to the online world has also played a significant role. Whether on the metro, in a coffee shop, or walking the streets of China’s many metropoles, the prevalence of smartphones is hard to miss.

“Such usage [of smartphone technology] has become the norm among young adults, so it is hardly surprising that they are now using it to start and maintain intimate relationships,” says Blair.

Today’s youth feel the same societal pressures that weighed on their parents. They are expected to get married and have children just like their parents. However, unlike their guardians—whose choices were restricted by geography and social class—the pool of potential mates has swelled with the rise of the internet dating.

Appealing to tradition

According to Dr. Wang Pan, author of Love and Marriage in Globalizing China, new digital matchmaking tools are not so much an innovation, as “a reinvention of the old model.” They provide some liberation, but “continue to carry on the core Chinese marriage values,” she told TechNode.

One such example is Baihe. While other online services take a more “casual“ approach, the company provides a platform for finding a potential spouse. Baihe collects user data that panders to the more traditional aspects of courtship in China. Users are expected to supply their real names, information relating to property and car ownership, educational qualifications, employment details, household registration (户口 hùkǒu) information and Sesame Credit scores (芝麻信用 zhīmaxìnyòng).

The service, founded in 2005, claims to have over 100 million users. It also operates an online-to-offline (O2O) service in which its users can make use of its many physical stores for matchmaking purposes and links customers to businesses in the marriage industry.

“A primary part of Baihe’s business is covering the comprehensive process from matching to marriage, providing a one-stop-shop for love and marriage,” says Baihe founder and CEO Tian Fanjiang. “In the future, the Baihe website will not only be a matching service provider, but also extend to all business areas related to love and marriage, including consulting, consumer services, financial services, and media offerings.”

Baihe-owned Jiayuan.com (世纪佳缘) also focuses on marriage-related services. It claims to have over 170 million users and operates offline stores in 71 cities, making it the biggest online dating site in the country. The website was founded in 2003 by Fudan University student Gong Haiyan after she failed to find a partner through already existing dating sites. One year after launching, Gong found a husband on the website she created.

The data collected by the sites show how unique the China market is. Confucian ideals and parental influence continue to play an important role when selecting a partner and, in the eyes of China’s young adults, love is intertwined with social mobility, physical and mental compatibility, as well as family background.

“Age, educational level, overseas background, dating experience, and family background are important for Chinese clients looking for love,” says Wang, commenting on critical data points for online dating and matchmaking companies.

“Why so serious?”

While platforms like Baihe and Jiayuan provide opportunities for those who have their hearts set on finding a potential life partner, Tantan and Momo are designed for more casual dating.

“The biggest difference between Tantan and Baihe is the goal,” a 24-year-old male Tantan user surnamed Liu told Technode. “People who use Tantan only want to have a boyfriend or girlfriend, but people who use Baihe want to get married.”

In his opinion, people use services like Baihe and Jiayuan because of parental pressure to start a family. “Maybe I don’t want to get married yet,” he says when asked if he has used the marriage-focused services before.

Another user of both Momo and Tantan surnamed Li, agrees. “People use them because they are single and with the app, they can meet pretty girls,” he says. “I’ve never seen my friends use Baihe.”

Liu says that although he would like to meet people at a bar or coffee shop, using an app allows access away from social events. “Real places would be better, but apps are more convenient. You can use it everywhere and anytime,” he says.

More matches, more money

The increase in active users has quickly filled bank accounts. In 2013, the total revenue for the sector was RMB 1.93 billion. This more than doubled to RMB 4 billion at the end of 2017 and is expected to reach over RMB 5 billion by 2020.

“[The] newly-born population during 1982-1997 shows that demand for marriage will remain high in the next 5-10 years. The large population with demand for dating and marriage is the potential for market growth,” market research firm iResearch detailed in its 2018 China’s Online Dating & Matchmaking Sector Report.

Additionally, the average revenue per user (ARPU) has increased steadily over the past two years, rising from $1.77 in 2016 to $1.93 in 2018.

According to Momo’s financial results, the company saw their user base increase from 81.1 million at the end of 2016 to 99.1 million a year later. Tantan, which was acquired by Momo earlier this year, reported similar results. According to the company, over 100 million people have signed up, and their monthly active users exceed 10 million. The app has enabled between three and four billion matches, in which two users express interest in each other, in the three years since it launched. This compares to the eight billion matches US-based Tinder has facilitated since 2012.

Dating with Chinese characteristics

In 2000, it was estimated that 5% of Chinese men in their late thirties would never get married. By 2030, that number is expected to rise to 25%. These statistics may be even higher in the countryside where poverty is rife, and men are expected to accumulate enough money to attract a prospective wife.

Additionally, the rate of separation has soared while the marriage rate has dwindled. The crude divorce rate, indicated by the number of splits for every 1000 people, has increased from 1.5 to 3 in the past ten years, according to government data.

“People are not obliged to get married, they can stay single, postpone their marriages, not have kids or just cohabit without getting married,” says Wang. She explains that the increase in the divorce rate is caused in part by rising gender equality and decreasing stigma associated with separations. Also, simplified divorce laws are helping people leave loveless marriages.

“You can see marriage is deinstitutionalized as an increasing number of people choose not to get married or have children. The social pressure of having to marry and give birth to children is not as strong as prior,” she says.

Despite this, Mu Guangzong, a professor at the Population Research Institute at Peking University, insists that young people should avoid the growing trend of staying single.

“Staying single may be gaining acceptance among some people in China, but it will have a negative impact on the birth rate and sustainable social development, and therefore should not be encouraged,” he said in an editorial.

Platforms like Momo, Tantan, Jiayuan, and Baihe are, in their own ways, seeking to address these concerns. Wang Yu, CEO of Tantan believes that young people in China have very few opportunities to make new friends, resulting in social isolation.

“College students basically have no parties and rarely go clubbing. They are too busy, so almost don’t have ways to meet people offline,” he said at TechCrunch Shanghai last year. He says his company offers users a way for more introverted users to meet new people, and in doing so, tackle the concerns of there being too many singles.

Baihe also started to help individuals with little time meet a prospective life partner. The company claims to achieve this by introducing psychology into the field of matchmaking. Like Jiayuan, it was created out of necessity. Founder Wang Lifan noticed the difficulty her single friends had finding partners and decided to start an online matchmaking service. Unlike Jiayuan’s founder, who spent 20 days designing the platform’s first homepage, Wang had graduated from Tsinghua University’s computer studies department.

According to researchers, online dating can also have a profound effect on marriage diversity within an online community. Previously, potential partners would be introduced by family members or friends, sourcing them from their social circles. With the rise of internet dating, people are meeting complete strangers. This significantly increases the chances of pairing with someone from an entirely different background.

This finding is becoming more and more salient in China. According to the Center for China and Globalization, the number of foreigners increased by 50% between 2000 and 2013. Additionally, over 1500 foreigners were granted green cards in 2016, a 160% year-on-year increase. In the same year, the number of cross-cultural marriages swelled by 2.5% in Shanghai.

A tough market

Despite its meteoric rise, online dating has experienced its share of confidence issues. “Maybe I’m just traditional, so I don’t trust those apps,” an individual who requested not to be named told TechNode. The idea of trust is a big issue when using services that gather so much personal information.

In August last year, police arrested 600 people and shut dating apps associated with 21 companies involved in creating bots to interact with male users. The platform encouraged users to buy digital gifts for “girls” with the promise that they would receive special privileges in the form of explicit videos from their non-existent online dates.  

Jiayuan was also at the center of controversy last year when WePhone developer Su Xiangmao leaped to his death after marrying a 29-year-old woman who he met on the platform. Reports later revealed the woman had blackmailed him for RMB 10 million. Netizens expressed outrage that fraudsters were still able to access sensitive online services like dating sites.

Even with the negative press, data shows the usage of these online platforms remained constant, while the use of traditional matchmaking services waned. “Technology has largely displaced the services of matchmakers, as it is much easier, and much less embarrassing, for young people to use dating apps and online services to find a partner,” explains Blair.

“In coming years, I fully anticipate the further expansion of dating apps and social media, as this has clearly become a preferred form of social interaction by today’s young adults,” he says.

Bytedance’s short video app Douyin (抖音) has temporarily removed its live-stream and comment feature, local media is reporting (in Chinese). The company said that Douyin will undergo a “system upgrade” and both features will be back on after the upgrade.

Douyin’s sister app, Toutiao is also undergoing a significant shake-up. Zhang Yiming CEO of Toutiao released an open letter earlier today after the State Administration of Radio and Television’s (SAPPRFT) decision to remove the Neihan Duanzi app.

Douyin’s system upgrade seems to be a part of Toutiao’s “rectification” process. The company said it will raise the threshold on screening content on its platform and will focus on optimizing the auditing process.

Yesterday (Apr 10), Douyin pushed out its new “anti-addiction system”, which added two new functions: a reminder that pops up after 90 minutes of continuous usage and a feature that automatically locks the app after daily usage exceeds two hours. To unlock the app, users will be required to enter a password. Wang Xiaowei, the person-in-charge of Douyin products, said the anti-addiction system is still in early phase of development and may be subject to change in the future.

Gionee, once one of China largest smartphone manufacturers, said it has begun laying off employees at its headquarter, according to NetEase reports (in Chinese). The Shenzhen-based company is reportedly cutting as much as 50% of jobs at its headquarter.

The job cut is merely a continuation of bad news from Gionee. Just last week, Gionee released a statement on its official Weibo account that it has begun laying off almost half of its workers at its main manufacturing plant in Dongguan.

A Gionee employee quoted by NetEase said that “this situation has been dragging on for too long without a clear explanation from the company. Some employees lost their patience and have decided to quit, others are still waiting for the severance plan to come out.”

A company response claimed that yesterday (April 10), the headquarters has started conducting exit interviews with employees and has proposed compensation plans.

There were blatant signs of what was coming for Gionee. Amid other rumors that the smartphone manufacturer was having difficulty in paying some of its suppliers and advertising partners, in January, a court in Dongguan issued an order to freeze 41.4% shares held by Gionee’s chairman Liu Li Rong for two years after Liu’s gambling debts rumors.

Founded in 2002, Gionee was the sixth best-selling smartphone brand in China. But China’s increasingly competitive and overcrowded smartphone sector is filled with deep-pocketed rivals like Huawei and Xiaomi, which have left many second and third-tier brands including Gionee embroiled in financial troubles. And what’s more, Chinese smartphone sales are showing signs of slowing down for the first time since 2009, making it more challenging for top-selling brands in the country, let alone smaller brands.

Jinri Toutiao founder and CEO, Zhang Yiming, released an open letter of apology today, after the removal of Neihan Duanzi from app stores, our sister site TechNode Chinese is reporting.

Yesterday, the State Administration of Radio and Television (SAPPRFT) ordered Toutiao to permanently close down Toutiao’s joke app Neihan Duanzi (内涵段子) for vulgar content. The announcement followed only a day after SAPPRFT ordered the suspension of Toutiao app and three other popular news apps.

In the open letter, Zhang said:

“Jinri Toutiao will permanently shut down the Neihan Duanzi and the app’s official account. The product took the wrong turn. The content that appears [on Neihan Duanzi] go against core socialist values and we did not do a thorough job in guiding public opinion. Therefore, we accept the penalty and I take full responsibility for it.”

Zhang added that Toutiao had been emphasizing their recommendation algorithms too much and neglected the fact that technology should be guided by core socialist values.

Zhang said that Toutiao’s “rectification” process will be based on two key foci. First, Toutiao will implement the “right values” into its technology and products. Second, it will focus on reinstating order within the Toutiao community.

The company will be expanding its team responsible reviewing and auditing the content from the current 6000 to 10,000 staff members. Toutiao will also set up a “blacklist system” and establish a measure to protect underage users. Zhang announced that April will be the month of rectification and the company will install a rectification council to thoroughly investigate existing issues in Toutiao products.

The Chinese government is serious about clamping down “inappropriate content” on the internet and has been making big moves to clean up some of China’s most popular sites and apps.

Editor’s note: A version of this article by Tingyi Chen first appeared on WalktheChat. WalktheChat specializes in helping foreign organizations access the Chinese market through WeChat, the largest social network on the mainland.

Meituan, a company focused on providing lifestyle O2O services, is planning on its IPO aiming to value $60-80 billion.  The company was valued at $30 billion during its last funding round in October 2017, ranking Meituan behind Xiaomi and above Airbnb.

Lately, Meituan has made some bold moves:

• Going head-to-head against Didi on ride-hailing
• Acquiring Mobike for US$2.7 billion

Meituan, a lifestyle service provider

Meituan started out as a Groupon copycat providing group-buying deals. In 2015, it merged with Dianping, the biggest restaurant review app, forming the biggest group-buying company.

And it keeps expanding the scope of services to anything related to O2O. Meituan currently provides food delivery, ride-hailing, travel booking, movie reviews, restaurant reviews, and other lifestyle services.

As such, Meituan is now competing with the largest players in China (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) for domination in several O2O markets.

Meituan’s main service is food delivery. According to iResearch’s report, as of the first half of 2017, Meituan was head-to-head with Ele.me taking 41% of the Chinese food delivery market. According to Huxiu News, Meituan’s food delivery service accounts for 2/3 of the whole company’s valuation.

Besides food delivery, Meituan founded Maoyan, a movie ticketing App. Maoyan merged with its competitor Weiying in September 2017. Tencent became one of the major investors after the merger and gave Maoyan a seat in the WeChat Wallet. Bloomberg mentioned in Jan 2018 that Maoyan is planning its IPO in Hong Kong to raise around $1 billion.

With the combination of Meituan, Dianping, Meituan Waimai, and Maoyan, the group had 280 million annual users by October 2017 according to TechCrunch. Highlighted below are services belonging to Meituan in comparison to other lifestyle Apps.

The ride-hailing war against Didi

Meituan had a very late start in the ride-hailing business. It started in Feb 2017 in Nanjing and claimed to gain 1/3 of Nanjing’s market share.

Meituan’s ride-hailing services have just launched in Shanghai this March, and it announced an impressive number of orders:

• Day 1: 150k orders
• Day 2: 250k orders
• Day 3: 300k orders