Xinzhao Technology丨Activision Blizzard faces antitrust lawsuits related to esports compensation; Italian antitrust authorities opened an investigation against Meta; Xiaomi refuted rumors that Yu Chengdong would go to Xiaomi Auto to serve rumors

21st Century Business Herald Digital Economy Research Group Comprehensive report

Good morning, the day begins again. What interesting things have happened in the tech industry in the last 24 hours? Let's take a look with 21tech.

【Giant weather vane】

1. Activision Blizzard faces an antitrust lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice over esports pay and seeks a settlement. The U.S. Department of Justice is evaluating its proposed settlement of the antitrust lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, which will be sought for public comment and reviewed by the court before being finalized. Previously, the U.S. Department of Justice accused the company of implementing rules that restrict competition and drive down players' wages in two professional esports leagues for its gaming products. The Justice Department said that in the two esports leagues owned by Activision Blizzard, the company and the independent teams in each league implemented a so-called competitive balance tax. (Interface)

2. The Italian anti-monopoly authority opened a case investigation against Meta Platform Company. On the 5th local time, the Italian antitrust agency Italian Competition and Market Authority announced that it opened an investigation into Meta Platform Ltd. to verify whether the company abused the association's economic dependence on its platform in the negotiation of music use rights with the Italian Authors and Publishers Association. (CCTV News)

3. Xiaomi: The information that Huawei Yu Chengdong will work for Xiaomi Auto is false. In response to media reports that Yu Chengdong, president of Huawei Terminal Company, will go to Xiaomi Automobile to work, the head of public relations of Xiaomi Group responded to 36Kr: These are all fabricated news.

4. Amazon's gaming division announced layoffs of more than 100 people. News on April 5, local time on Tuesday, Amazon gaming executives announced that they would lay off more than 100 employees. Christoph Hartmann, vice president of Amazon Games, wrote in a memo to employees that the layoffs involved the Game Growth team, part of Amazon's video game division, Amazon's San Diego game studios and the Prime Gaming team that specializes in gaming for Amazon members. Hartmann said some employees would be moved to other projects that "align with our strategic priorities."

5. CETC responds to employees' doubts and criticizes leaders to arrange overtime: it will reply uniformly after verification. On April 5, chat records suspected of "forced overtime on the Qingming Festival of CETC to anger leaders" were circulated on the Internet. According to screenshots of online chats, the cause of the incident was Chen, an employee of the software development division of CETC in Chengdu, who was angry because the leader arranged Qingming to work overtime, and sent out his grievances about overtime in the past period, which resonated with colleagues in the department and asked to resign. At present, the suspected party Chen has responded that he has resigned. The reporter called the headquarters of China Electronics Technology Group Co., Ltd., and a staff member on duty said that they paid attention to the matter from the news media, but the specific situation was not clear, and there would be a unified reply after the relevant staff verified it. (CaiLian News)

6) Disney appoints Joe Earley as president of its streaming business. The Walt Disney Company announced on April 5, local time, that it appointed Joe Earley as president of the direct-to-consumer and entertainment business, succeeding Michael Paull, who is in charge of the streaming business, effective immediately. Joe Earley, formerly president of Hulu, will lead Disney+ and Hulu when he takes over as president of the streaming business. (Interface)

7. Meituan plans to launch a new takeaway brand in Hong Kong in the first half of this year or sooner. Meituan's preparations for entering Hong Kong may be in the final stages, and the first express rider briefing was held on April 4. In response to the inquiry, Meituan said that it will develop in Hong Kong with a new takeaway brand independent of Meituan, and the new brand will tailor product design and service content for Hong Kong users; The new brand is expected to launch in the first half of this year or sooner. According to Meituan's local news, Meituan requires that the driving license cannot expire before May 15 for express chess players who deliver food, so the outside world speculates that Meituan may officially start operating in Hong Kong in mid-May. (Interface)

8. TikTok responds to the British multi-million pound penalty: it is happy to see that the fine is "significantly reduced from $33.73 million". The UK Information Commissioner's Office fined Chinese short video social media platform TikTok 12.7 million pounds on the 4th, claiming that TikTok violated data protection laws and used personal data of children under the age of 13 without parental consent. In response, a TikTok spokesperson responded on the same day that the company did not agree with the information commissioner's decision, but welcomed the fine "significantly reduced from the $33.73 million proposed by the office last year."

9) Google claims that the AI supercomputer is faster and more environmentally friendly than the Nvidia A100. According to reports, on Tuesday, local time, Alphabet's Google disclosed the latest details of the supercomputer it uses to train artificial intelligence models. Google has its own customized TPU chips, and more than 90% of its artificial intelligence training tasks are completed through these chips. Google said in the paper that compared with the Nvidia A100 chip listed at the same time as the fourth-generation TPU, the company's chip speed is 1.7 times that of the A100, and the energy efficiency is 1.9 times that of the A100.

10. Apple will open its first official retail store in India, located in Mumbai, the country's financial center. Apple will soon open its first official retail store in India. The company released an overview of the store on Wednesday, but did not give an exact opening date. The store will be located in the upscale Bandra Kurla Complex, India's financial hub Mumbai. Apple will also reportedly open an official retail store in New Delhi, India.

11. Taobao merchant Qingming launched space burial service. On the eve of the Qingming Festival, Xingwang Aerospace announced at a press conference that it would officially launch a space burial service on Taobao, which can send the ashes of the deceased into space with satellites, with a minimum of 50,000 yuan. Wang Hao, the person in charge of the Taobao store Space Wish Space Mall, introduced that at present, Star Wish Space has completed the satellite launch and realized the launch of the cargo. Space burial supports the installation of photos, objects or relics of the deceased into the interior of the satellite without affecting the function of the satellite, and the launch of space through a launch vehicle.

【AI Trend】

1. Canada began investigating OpenAI: Collection and use of personal information without consent. On April 4, local time, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) announced an investigation into OpenAI, a chatbot ChatGPT development company, involving allegations that "OpenAI collects, uses and discloses personal information without consent". This is the second national regulator to "shoot" ChatGPT after Italy. Previously, on March 31, the Italian Personal Data Protection Agency announced that it would ban the use of chatbot ChatGPT from now on, restrict its development company OpenAI from processing Italian user information, and began to open an investigation. (The Paper)

2. ChatGPT discontinued the Plus service. On April 5, ChatGPT's official website stopped the purchase of Plus paid items. On the upgrade interface, OpenAI said that "the upgrade service was suspended due to too much demand". According to the official website, ChatGPT Plus costs $20 a month, and the service perks include normal access during peak hours, faster response times, and priority access to new features. (SSE Report)

3. Meta plans to commercialize generative AI for advertising images by the end of the year. Meta plans to commercialize its proprietary generative AI for generating ad images by the end of this year. During a visit to Japan, Andrew Bosworth, Meta's chief technology officer, said in an interview that the technology is expected to help Meta's customers reach audiences more effectively and reduce costs. (Interface)

【The most insightful】

1. The Japanese government plans to increase financial support for Rapidus to help achieve the production goal of 2nm chips. Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasuminoru Nishimura said that the Japanese chip company Rapidus has high hopes for the daily mass production of 2-nanometer chips, and the Japanese government is ready to continue and strengthen financial support for the company, because it needs trillions of yen to achieve this goal. Rapidus officially set sail late last year. In addition to the 70 billion yen support from the Japanese government, the company has received a total investment of 7.3 billion yen from eight companies in Japan, including Toyota and Sony. Rapidus' proposed goal is to manufacture state-of-the-art 2-nanometer chips in Japan by 2025. (Interface)

2. EU member states and the European Parliament may reach an agreement on the CHIP Act this month. EU member states and the European Parliament may reach an agreement on the EU's Chip Act on April 18, according to people familiar with the matter. According to Xinhua, according to the European Commission's Chip Act released in February last year, by 2030, the EU intends to use more than 43 billion euros of public and private funds to support chip production, pilot projects and start-ups, and vigorously build large-scale chip manufacturing plants. According to the bill, by 2030, the EU plans to increase the share of global chip production from the current 10% to 20%, meeting its own and world market needs. (Interface)

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