The world's largest lithium miner, Albemarle, is reported to have laid off nearly 4% of its staff; Lei Jun forwarded a photo of Xiaomi's SU7 real car license plate; and Apple has applied for more than 40 headset patents

Large Companies:

Scattered Flower Feitian Moutai was first pre-sold online, with a subscription price of 2,699 yuan per bottle

According to i Moutai news on the evening of January 29, the online pre-sale activity of Feitian Cultural Series Scattered Flower Feitian Moutai is about to open the subscription of answering questions, with a subscription price of 2699 yuan per bottle and a limited edition of 9999 bottles.

Albemarle, the world's largest lithium miner, is reported to have laid off nearly 4% of its workforce

On the 29th, the American technology media The Information, citing people familiar with the matter, said that Albemarle, the world's largest lithium miner, has laid off more than 300 employees, accounting for 4% of its total employees. A spokesperson for Albemarle responded that "the percentage mentioned [in media reports] is too high". The company declined to provide specific figures for the layoffs, saying it would share more information when discussing quarterly results on Feb. 15.

Lei Jun forwarded the photo of the Xiaomi SU7 real car on the plate

36Kr learned that recently, a blogger released two photos of the real car after the Xiaomi SU7 was licensed, and said: The Xiaomi SU7 test car has been licensed. Subsequently, Lei Jun also reposted the Weibo.

The insurance price of Xiaomi cars was exposed for the first time, and the high-end version reached 360,000 yuan

The price of Xiaomi's first model, the SU7, has surfaced, which provides a strong reference for the final retail price. On January 30, a large insurance company confirmed that the insurance price of the high-end version of Xiaomi car was 361,400 yuan. The model uses CATL's ternary lithium battery and has a maximum speed of 265km/h. Based on this, the market speculates that the final price of Xiaomi cars may be between 250,000 and 370,000.

SpaceX will launch the Swan cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station on January 31

According to foreign media reports, the American space exploration technology company SpaceX will launch Northrop Grumman's "Cygnus" cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time on January 30 local time to carry out the NG-20 commercial replenishment mission. Cyrus Darrah, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman's tactical space systems, explained that the Swan cargo spacecraft will stay on the ISS for about six months. When the mission is completed, it will leave with garbage and other debris and incinerated when it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere.

Amazon abandons $1.4 billion acquisition, sweeping robot maker iRobot will lay off 31% of its workforce

On January 29, local time, Amazon abandoned its $1.4 billion acquisition of iRobot, a sweeping robot manufacturer, because EU regulators had previously threatened to block the deal, and Amazon was unable to bridge the differences. The recently troubled iRobot said CEO Colin Angle has left and that a restructuring plan launched by the company will result in layoffs of about 350 people, or 31% of the workforce. Amazon will pay iRobot $94 million for terminating the deal.

According to the news, Apple has pre-sold more than 200,000 Vision Pro headsets in the United States

Open WeChat "Scan", open the webpage and click the share button in the upper right corner of the screen

According to a source with knowledge of Apple's sales figures, the company has now sold more than 200,000 Vision Pro headsets in the United States. Referring to the $3,499 price of a Vision Pro, Apple has already received $699.8 million in pre-order revenue.

Apple has applied for more than 40 patents for its headsets

36Kr learned that the Aiqicha App shows that Apple has applied for more than 40 patents related to head-mounted displays, including "optical system for head-mounted displays", "head-mounted displays with tactile output", "head-mounted displays with low-light operation", "head-mounted displays, facial interfaces and display systems for head-mounted displays", etc., and some patents have been authorized. In addition, in June and August 2023, Apple applied for the registration of a number of "VISION PRO" trademarks, which are internationally classified as clothing, shoes and hats, fitness equipment, etc., and the current trademark status is mostly pending substantive examination.

Johanna Farris, former general manager of the Call of Duty franchise, has been appointed as Blizzard's new president

Microsoft announced on January 29 that Johanna Faries, the former general manager of the Call of Duty franchise, has become the new president of Blizzard Entertainment. Faris's appointment will take effect on 5 February. She joined Activision in 2018 and is responsible for esports for the Call of Duty League and Overwatch League, and in 2021 she became General Manager of the Call of Duty franchise. Prior to joining Activision Blizzard, she spent 12 years at the National Football League (NFL).

Investment & Financing:

Gilead Sciences will invest an additional $320 million in Arcus Biosciences

Gilead Sciences will invest an additional $320 million in biopharmaceutical company Arcus Biosciences, bringing its stake to 33%. Gilead Sciences will secure a third seat on the Arcus Board of Directors, to be held by Johanna Mercier, Gilead's Chief Commercial Officer.

Star Reading Holdings Limited submits a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

36Kr learned that on the 29th, Xingyue Holdings Co., Ltd. submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and the joint sponsors were Huatai International and Dongxing Securities

中国中免获The Capital Group增持74.67万股

36氪获悉，根据联交所最新权益披露资料显示，2024年1月25日，中国中免(01880.HK)获The Capital Group Companies, Inc.在场内以每股均价71.426港元增持74.67万股，涉资约5333.38万港元。 增持后，The Capital Group Companies, Inc.持股比例由5.62%上升至6.26%。

AR unicorn "XREAL" received $60 million in strategic financing

36Kr exclusively learned that "XREAL", a consumer-grade AR glasses design and manufacturer, has recently completed a strategic financing of $60 million, and the relevant investors will not be disclosed for the time being. After the completion of this round of financing, the total financing amount of XREAL has reached 300 million US dollars, and according to the assessment of industry analysts, XREAL is currently valued at more than 1 billion US dollars. This round of financing will be used for product research and development and the expansion of the optical engine production base, which means that XREAL can further increase the production capacity of AR glasses, which is expected to reach 2 million units in 2025.

New products:

iFLYTEK released the Spark voice model

36Kr learned that on January 30, iFLYTEK held the iFLYTEK Xinghuo cognitive large model V3.5 upgrade conference, and released the first national open large model Xunfei Xinghuo V3.5 based on the training of the national computing power platform, which has significantly improved its core capabilities such as logical reasoning, language understanding, text generation, mathematical answers, code, and multimodality. The Spark voice model and the Spark open source model "Spark Open Source-13B" will also be released simultaneously.

Elon Musk: The first product of brain-computer interface company Neuralink is called "telepathy"

Musk said that the first product of brain-computer interface company Neuralink is called "Telepathy"

Tesla will spend $500 million to build the Dojo supercomputer at the New York Gigafactory

According to foreign media reports, Tesla will invest more than $500 million to build a Dojo supercomputer at its Gigafactory in Buffalo, New York, aiming to advance its self-driving car program. New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently revealed the news and highlighted New York's favorable conditions, such as reliable power supply, a strong talent pipeline, and space available for projects. In addition, he said, Tesla's project will create hundreds of jobs and boost the region's innovation ecosystem.

Today's Perspective:

Elon Musk: The first human to receive a Neuralink implant and is currently recovering well

On January 30, Beijing time, Musk announced on the social platform X that the first human received an implant from the brain-computer interface company Neuralink yesterday and is currently recovering well. Preliminary results show good promise for neuron spike detection.

Elon Musk: AI competitions are like poker games, billions of dollars are invested every year

Tesla CEO Elon Musk likened the current AI race to a high-stakes poker game, saying companies need to spend billions of dollars each year on AI hardware to stay competitive. Musk also revealed that Tesla will spend more than $500 million on Nvidia AI chips alone this year. He also warned that Tesla would need "billions of dollars" worth of hardware in order to keep up with its biggest competitors.

Other noteworthy news:

Last year, the number of foreign tourists visiting South Korea exceeded 11 million, recovering to 63% of the pre-pandemic level

South Korea received 11.03 million foreign tourists in 2023, up 245% from 2022 and equivalent to 63% of 2019 before the pandemic, according to data released by the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) on Tuesday. Among the foreign tourists who visited South Korea last year, Japan had the largest number of tourists with 2.32 million, followed by Chinese mainland tourists (2.02 million). Last year, there were 22.72 million outbound tourists from South Korea, about 79% of the 2019 level. In 2023, South Korea's tourism revenue increased by 26.4% year-on-year to $13.52 billion, and outbound tourism spending soared by 47.8% to $22.4 billion.

Suzhou has completely canceled housing purchase restrictions: there is no qualification review for buying a house, and new houses are still restricted for two years

On January 30, it was reported on the Internet that Suzhou completely canceled the purchase restriction, and the area and number of units for buying a house were no longer limited. In this regard, the staff of the Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said that the purchase of new houses and second-hand houses does not require the qualification review of house purchases, and the policy of restricting the sale of new houses is still two years. The staff of the Suzhou Real Estate Trading Center also said, "From today onwards, the number of units will no longer be reviewed, nor will the qualifications for buying a house be considered." ”