[Luo Yonghao announced live broadcast to sell cloud] Luo Yonghao will sell cloud for the first time on Taobao live broadcast on the evening of March 31, and the selection covers popular Alibaba Cloud products such as cloud servers, cloud storage and enterprise network disks. It is understood that Luo Yonghao will share his entrepreneurial past and experience in the live broadcast room, and join hands with Alibaba Cloud to give back to entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises at a super cost-effective "Lao Luo exclusive price", and carefully prepared mysterious benefits. One month ago, Alibaba Cloud announced a 20% price cut across the board, triggering a wave of small and medium-sized enterprises to go to the cloud. (Sina Technology)
On March 26, local time, Canada Goose announced on its official website that as part of the ongoing "transformation plan", the company will lay off about 17% of its corporate employees worldwide. The company expects this to result in immediate cost savings, streamlining the organizational structure, speeding up decision-making, and improving the efficiency of the entire operating platform. Dani Reiss, Chairman and CEO of Canada Goose, said, "The decision to lay off employees is a tough one, but it is also the right decision to put our business in the best position for the future. (Global Times)
[It is rumored on the Internet that Lei Jun has not yet made a decision on the price of Xiaomi SU7, and the company is waiting for its final decision] At present, Lei Jun has not yet made a decision on the price of Xiaomi SU7, and Xiaomi is also waiting for Lei Jun's final decision, so as to write the final price on PPT. Before the pricing was announced, the outside world had heard countless times from Lei Jun and other Xiaomi members that the pricing of Xiaomi SU7 would be a bit expensive.
On the evening of the 27th, Lei Jun, chairman of Xiaomi Group, posted a Weibo to introduce the performance of Xiaomi SU7 cars in terms of battery life. Lei Jun wrote: "Range is one of the most critical user experiences for electric vehicles. At the beginning of the project, I asked the R&D team: the whole system has a long battery life! The Xiaomi SU7 standard version starts at 700 kilometers! With the same 19-inch wheels, the Xiaomi SU7 standard version has a battery life that directly surpasses the Model 3 long range version! The Xiaomi SU7 Max has reached 800 kilometers, becoming the only tram in China that achieves both 2-second acceleration and 800 kilometers of range. (Sina Finance)
On March 27, news such as whether the 3.5 yuan charge for Gaode map is reasonable and the advent of the era of Gaode map charging spread on the Internet. After inquiry, AutoNavi's official customer service staff told reporters that the online content of "AutoNavi Map Charge" is false information. "AutoNavi has not had any plans to charge for map navigation services in the past, present, and future. The customer service staff said that the recently disseminated 3.5 yuan charging item is the business of changing the car logo launched by AutoNavi Map, and it will not affect the user's use of the navigation function if it is not purchased. (Straight Flush)
[News that Apple will announce artificial intelligence strategy at the developer conference on June 10] On March 27, it was reported that Apple plans to hold its annual worldwide developer conference on June 10, which will last until June 14. Although Apple did not reveal what products it plans to launch as usual, people familiar with the matter said that the conference will focus on artificial intelligence. Apple is expected to announce the next major software update for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro, and smartwatches, while its new AI strategy will be front and center of the iOS 18 upgrade. (Interface News)
[Evergrande Automobile: 2023 revenue of 1.34 billion yuan, net loss of 11.995 billion yuan] Evergrande Automobile released its annual report on the evening of March 27, the group's annual income in 2023 will be 1.340 billion yuan, the gross loss will be 51 million yuan, and the net loss will total 11.995 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 56.64%, of which: the loss of the terminated business (i.e., the divestment of real estate projects) is 1.061 billion yuan, and the asset disposal, The non-operating loss such as asset impairment was 6.384 billion yuan, and the operating loss was 4.550 billion yuan. Evergrande Auto said it expects to have enough funds to cover the next 12 months. (Sina Finance)
["Tencent layoffs rate of 10% to 30%" news is untrue] Some netizens posted news in the workplace content community that according to internal information of relevant employees, a large factory began to lay off employees, and the layoff rate was 10% to 30%. The PCG and CSIG business groups named in the news are all business groups under Tencent. According to a number of people familiar with Tencent, the news is fake. (Interface News)
Amazon invests an additional $2.75 billion in AI startup Anthropic Amazon is making the largest external investment in its 30-year history in hopes of gaining an edge in the AI race. The tech giant said it would spend another $2.75 billion to support Anthropic, an AI startup whose Foundation model and chatbot Claude could compete with OpenAI and ChatGPT. The two companies announced an initial investment of $1.25 billion in September, when they said Amazon would invest up to $4 billion. Wednesday's news marked the second tranche of financing provided by Amazon. Anthropic previously unveiled its latest AI model, Claude 3, which the company says is the fastest and most powerful AI model to date. (Sina Finance)
Recently, Hangzhou Junjie Packaging Co., Ltd. underwent industrial and commercial changes, Zong Qinghou withdrew as a shareholder, and stepped down as the legal representative and chairman, and added Zong Fuli as a shareholder, and served as the legal representative, executive director and manager. At the same time, several of the company's senior executives have also changed. Hangzhou Junjie Packaging Co., Ltd. was established in March 1998 with a registered capital of 4 million US dollars, and its business scope is the production and sales of plastic packaging products. It is worth mentioning that not long ago, Zong Fuli also succeeded her father Zong Qinghou and became a shareholder of Hangzhou Xiaoshan Shunfa Food Packaging Co., Ltd., and served as the legal representative, executive director and manager. (The Paper)
[Douyin e-commerce "independent" new App downloads exceed 400 million] Douyin e-commerce has launched an App called "Douyin Mall Edition", focusing on "value-for-money and worry-free choice". This is the first comprehensive independent e-commerce platform launched by Douyin. According to Qimai data, as of March 26, the Douyin mall version of the App has been downloaded more than 100 million in the app stores of Huawei and OPPO, and the total number of Android system downloads has exceeded 400 million, which is amazing. As of press time, the reporter did not search for the Douyin store version of the App in the Apple Store. (Time Weekly)
[Meta still plans to work with Tencent to bring headsets to China] According to reports, Meta still plans to bring the upcoming low-cost version of the Quest 3 to the Chinese market through cooperation with Tencent. In March last year, a transcript of Meta's hardware roadmap revealed that the company plans to release another headset after the launch of the Quest 3 in 2024, "offering the most attractive price point in the VR consumer market." (Sina Finance)
[Musk: Humanoid robots will cost less than half of a car] On March 27, Musk said in response to a post by an X user: "The complexity of the unit mass of a humanoid robot is much higher, but I still think that it will ultimately cost less than half of a car." (National Business Daily)
Apple has reached a key agreement with Tencent to offer a number of popular apps in the Chinese market on the Vision Pro. The report also mentions that Apple is working on launching its own streaming service, Apple TV+, and other subscription services in China. (IT House)
[Musk: The chatbot Grok will be open to all premium accounts on the X platform this week] On March 26, local time, Elon Musk posted on the social platform X (formerly Twitter) that later this week, the xAI chatbot Grok will be open to all accounts subscribing to premium services on the X platform. (Finance Associated Press)
Nongfu Spring earned 12 billion yuan last year, responding to the recent impact of public opinion] Nongfu Spring, which has been deeply involved in public opinion turmoil in the past month, released its 2023 annual performance report, with the company's total revenue of RMB 42.667 billion, an increase of 28.4% year-on-year, and the net profit attributable to the parent company in 2023 was RMB 12.079 billion, an increase of 42.2% year-on-year. However, the public opinion turmoil in the past month has evaporated the market value of Nongfu Spring by more than HK $30 billion. Since February 28, Nongfu Spring's share price has fluctuated and fallen, and has fallen by 8% so far. Talking about the outlook for the future, Nongfu Spring said in its financial report that the global situation in 2024 is still complex and full of uncertainties. Recovery and development will continue to be a central proposition. The mainland consumer market is expected to continue its steady and positive recovery trend, and the food and beverage industry is facing many opportunities. Recently, the Group has also faced challenges due to the influence of public opinion. Nongfu Spring said that in the future, it will strengthen brand building, flexibly adapt to market changes, adhere to the concept of healthy and natural products, and continue to improve products and services to better meet consumer needs. (CBN)
Bloomberg reported that Tencent is creating two mobile games similar to "Phantom Beast Palu", developed by its TiMi Studio and Photon Studio, in order to seek to revive the company's core game business. At present, Tencent has not responded. (IT House)
[Zhou Hongyi complained about Nezha Automobile when Daniel Zhang faced, "from marketing to product planning, I always laughed at myself"] On March 26, Zhou Hongyi, founder of 360 Group and investor of Nezha Automobile, said bluntly in the live broadcast room of Nezha Automobile, "(Nezha) cars are all with letters (naming), UVXL, anyway, it is to make consumers feel awkward how to come, so that consumers can't remember how to come, I (think) the pronunciation is very weird." He also said to Nezha CEO Daniel Zhang on the side, "You are always self-congratulatory from marketing to product planning, this is not good, what's the use?" To this, Daniel Zhang responded, "There are many brands that are also named like this." (Straight Flush Finance)
On March 26, the Douyin Security Center issued an announcement on the governance of improper use of AI to generate virtual characters, pointing out that it will strictly punish the illegal use of AI-generated virtual characters to publish content that violates scientific common sense, falsifies, and spreads rumors. According to the announcement, Douyin will focus on the use of AI to generate fake foreigners, fake elites, and the use of AI to generate image deception interactions:
The first is to generate overseas false personas, consume patriotic psychology, and win attention. Using a false image of a foreigner to win attention with remarks such as wanting to marry China, thinking about living in China, and evaluating social events.
The second is to generate a false image of handsome men and beautiful women, deceive interactions, and make friends and divert traffic. Directly refer to users as "you", "mother", "mother", "husband", etc., publish content that expresses false emotions such as emotional inducement, singing love songs, and seeking benefits for you, directing users to private chat tools, and even committing fraud.
The third is to generate fake characters of elites, publish bad content such as Chicken Soup for the Soul, Financial Quotient, Pseudo Chinese Studies, Thick Black Studies, and Pseudo Success Studies, attract fans with low quality, and even attract traffic outside the station to make profits by selling classes and joining groups. (Oriental Fortune Network)
Volvo Car Company produced its last diesel-engine car this week, marking the end of an era. On Tuesday night local time, an XC90 SUV rolled off the assembly line at Volvo's plant in Toslanda, Sweden, the last diesel car the company produced, but will still produce gasoline-engined cars until 2030, when only electric vehicles will be produced. (Global Market Broadcast)
[Agency: 720,000 Nvidia accelerator cards are needed to deploy Sora, worth $21.6 billion] On March 27, it was reported that Factorial Funds, a market research agency, recently released a report that OpenAI needs 720,000 Nvidia H100 AI accelerator cards to deploy the text-to-video model Sora during the peak period. If the cost of each NVIDIA H100 AI accelerator card is calculated at 30,000 US dollars, 720,000 tablets will cost 21.6 billion US dollars. And that's just the cost of the H100 accelerator card. Factorial Funds estimates that 4,200 to 10,500 NVIDIA H100 AI accelerator cards will be used to train Sora for 1 month, and 12 minutes will be required to generate a 1-minute video if a single H100 accelerator card is used. (Finance Associated Press)
GDSI received $587 million in equity investment] GDSI announced on the evening of March 26 that DigitalLand Holdings Limited (GDSI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company responsible for the assets and operations of international data centers, signed a subscription agreement for $587 million of Series A convertible preferred equity with a number of institutional private equity investors. After the completion of the transaction, GDS will hold about 56.1% of the equity of GDSI, and investors such as Hillhouse Capital, Rava Partners, Boyu Capital, Princeville Capital, and Tekne Capital will hold the remaining 43.9% of the equity. Huang Wei, Chairman and CEO of GDS, will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors of GDSI. (Smartbeast analysis here to see more)
[Neolithic unmanned vehicle completes 600 million yuan Series C financing] Neolithic unmanned vehicle, a startup company focusing on L4 autonomous driving unmanned delivery, recently announced the completion of 600 million yuan in Series C financing, and this round of investors includes CICC Huirong, Qianhai Ark, CICC Qiyang, Yizhuang Guotou and Shell Capital. After the completion of this round of financing, Neolithic will continue to promote product technology research and development and delivery and deployment in the national market. (Smartbeast analysis here to see more)
[Xingqi Technology completed the first round of financing of hundreds of millions of yuan] Xingxing Technology and a number of well-known investment institutions such as China's state-owned enterprise structural adjustment fund signed a total of hundreds of millions of yuan in the first round (A round) financing agreement, this round of financing led by the National Adjustment Fund, Wuxi New Energy Industry Fund, Huiheng Industry, Huishan Financial Services, Guolian New Venture Investment. During the same period, Xingqi Technology also signed a total of hundreds of millions of yuan (A+ round) financing agreements with Wuxi Innovation Investment Group, China Merchants Venture Capital, and Sino-US Green Fund. The financing will be used to broaden the business layout of Stardrive Technology, increase investment in product technology research and development, expand manufacturing scale and promote the construction of key projects. (Smartbeast analysis here to see more)
【X Square Continuously Completes Tens of Millions of Yuan Angel Round and Angel+ Round of Financing】X Square has recently completed tens of millions of yuan in angel round financing invested by Legend Star and tens of millions of yuan in angel + round of financing led by Jiuhe Venture Capital, with Yiwei Capital acting as the exclusive financial advisor to X Square. According to the official introduction, X Square was established in December 2023, focusing on the research and development of universal embodied large models, providing a universal large model base for robots. (Smartbeast analysis here to see more)
On March 26, the all-new Mercedes-Benz CLE coupe was officially launched, with a total of three models: CLE 260 coupe, CLE 300 4MATIC dynamic coupe and CLE 300 4MATIC luxury coupe, with a manufacturer's suggested price of 457,600 yuan to 552,300 yuan. The new model is positioned as a mid-size two-door coupe that will replace the previous C-segment and E-segment coupe models. (Red Star News)
[GAC Trumpchi E9 electric welfare version model launched: the first detachable welfare seat in China, the guide price is 409,800 yuan] GAC Trumpchi E9 electric welfare version model is equipped with a detachable electric welfare seat, which supports electric rotation/lifting, 2 forward and backward ESC, 2-way backrest ESC, and can drive 26km independently after separation, and can be charged on board. (IT House)
According to the list recently published by the United States Trademark and Patent Office (USPTO), Apple has obtained a patent for a smart ring, showing a variety of interactive gestures, not only supporting finger snapping, drawing circles, but also supporting playing the "rock-paper-scissors" game. The new patent, called "Skin-To-Skin Contact Detection," describes a variety of methods to achieve "contact or motion gestures between the first and second body parts." In the description of the patent, Apple said: "This patent relates to a device and method for detecting gestures. Users can wear a device such as a ring on one finger or multiple fingers to detect gestures between the fingers of one hand and other body parts (like the other fingers or thumb of one hand, or the thumb of the other hand). (IT House)
[TechInsights: Global smartwatch sales are expected to reach 91 million units in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 5%] On March 27, it was reported that the global smartwatch market experienced the first annual sales decline (-4%) in history in 2023, but it is expected to grow again this year. According to the TechInsights wearables research service, global smartwatch sales are expected to reach 91 million units in 2024, up 5% year-on-year, with growth rates rising further to nearly 8% in 2025 and remaining above 7% in 2026 before slowing down at the end of the forecast period. The global smartwatch market is growing at a CAGR of 5% from 2023-2029. (Finance Associated Press)
[Report: Global XR headset shipments will drop by 19% in 2023] On March 27, according to a report released by market research agency Counterpoint Research, global extended reality (XR) headset shipments in 2023 will decline by 19% year-on-year. The agency believes that the serious decline in XR headset shipments in 2023 is due to the lack of blockbuster XR headset products that are enough to attract consumers, and the lack of use cases such as games and applications that attract consumers on the other hand. (Oriental Fortune Network)
[Canalys: Chinese mainland PC market shipments in 2023 will be 41.2 million units, down 17% year-on-year] On March 26, market research institute Canalys released the latest data on the PC and tablet market in China in 2023. According to the data, the shipment volume of the PC market in Chinese mainland in 2023 will be 41.2 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 17%; among the top five manufacturers in terms of shipments, Huawei is the only one that has bucked the trend and achieved an annual growth rate of 11%. In 2023, China's total tablet shipments will be 28.3 million units, of which Huawei will ship 6.46 million units, with an annual growth rate of 65%. (Straight Flush Finance)