Krypton Evening News | ByteDance executives discuss AI direction again, canceling quarterly and semi - annual assessments for the AGI research team; The CEO of Air India warns that the global aircraft shortage will last for at least four years; Zhuozheng Medical submits a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Large companies:
The first drone food delivery service in a Wenzhou university officially launched
36Kr learned that on the afternoon of March 16th, a drone named "Leiying Q20" landed at Wenzhou-Kean University. The delivery time was only half of the time predicted by navigation software for ground delivery. It is understood that this is the first implementation of the instant drone delivery system for universities jointly built by United Aircraft and Ele.me on a university campus. It is also the first time that drones have joined hands with a food delivery platform to offer one-stop services at a Wenzhou university.
Xiaomi: Revenue from IoT and consumer lifestyle products business exceeded 100 billion yuan for the first time in 2024, up 30% year-on-year
36Kr learned that Xiaomi released its financial report for the fourth quarter and the full year of 2024. The report shows that in 2024, the revenue from Xiaomi's IoT and consumer lifestyle products business exceeded 100 billion yuan for the first time, reaching 104.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30.0%. The number of IoT devices connected to Xiaomi's AIoT platform (excluding smartphones, tablets, and laptops) exceeded 900 million, a year-on-year increase of 22.3%. In 2024, Xiaomi's R & D expenditure reached 24.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.9%, and the total number of R & D personnel reached 21,190.
Xiaomi: Annual Revenue in 2024 Reached 365.91 Billion Yuan, a Year-on-Year Increase of 35%
36Kr learned that Xiaomi released its financial report for the fourth quarter and the whole year of 2024. The report shows that Xiaomi's annual revenue in 2024 reached 365.91 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35%; the adjusted net profit was 27.23 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 41.3%. In 2024, the total revenue of Xiaomi's innovative businesses such as smart electric vehicles was 32.8 billion yuan. The annual delivery volume of the first car, the Xiaomi SU7 series, reached 136,854 units, exceeding the annual sales target.
Tencent Music: Total revenue of 28.4 billion yuan in 2024, adjusted net profit of 8.14 billion yuan
Tencent Music Entertainment Group announced its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and the full year ended December 31, 2024. In the fourth quarter and the full year of 2024, Tencent Music Entertainment Group's overall performance showed steady progress. The company's total revenue in the fourth quarter was 7.46 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.2%, and the adjusted net profit was 2.40 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 43.0%. The full-year total revenue was 28.40 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.3%, and the adjusted net profit was 8.14 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30.7%. Based on its firm confidence in future development, the company announced the distribution of an annual cash dividend of approximately $273 million (equivalent to approximately 1.993 billion yuan) and launched a new share repurchase program with a maximum amount of up to $1 billion (equivalent to approximately 7.3 billion yuan).
ByteDance's senior management discusses AI direction again, cancels quarterly and semi - annual evaluations for the AGI research team
On March 18th, the Doubao large - model department (Seed) of ByteDance held an all - staff meeting, jointly hosted by Wu Yonghui, who had just joined ByteDance to be in charge of AI basic research and exploration, and Zhu Wenjia, the person in charge of model application. The meeting once again emphasized the exploration of the upper limit of intelligence proposed by Liang Rubo, the CEO of ByteDance, as well as the cooperation of sufficient computing power. Wu Yonghui said that the quarterly OKR and semi - annual evaluations for the Seed Edge project (a long - term AGI research team established within the large - model team) were cancelled. An insider within ByteDance confirmed the above meeting content to reporters. (Yicai Global)
Huya: Total revenue in 2024 reached 6.08 billion yuan, and Non-GAAP net profit increased by 125.6% year-on-year to 270 million yuan
36Kr learned that Huya Inc. released its financial report for the fourth quarter and the full year of 2024. The financial report shows that in 2024, Huya's total revenue was 6.08 billion yuan. Among them, the revenue from game-related services, advertising, and other businesses increased by 145.4% year-on-year to 1.33 billion yuan. Under non-Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (Non-GAAP), the net profit attributable to Huya Inc. for the full year increased by 125.6% year-on-year to 270 million yuan. The cash flow from operating activities for the full year turned positive, with a net inflow of 94.3 million yuan. In the fourth quarter of 2024, Huya's total revenue was 1.5 billion yuan. Among them, the revenue from game-related services, advertising, and other businesses was 370 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 99.4%.
Yonghui Superstores: Firmly Adopt the High - Quality Retail Model of Fat Donglai and Self - Reform is Necessary for Development
36Kr learned that on March 17th, Yonghui Superstores held its first extraordinary general meeting of shareholders in 2025. According to the resolution announcement of the meeting, the board of directors of Yonghui completed its reshuffle, and Ye Guofu, the chairman and CEO of Miniso, was elected as a new director. Regarding the changes in Yonghui's management, Yonghui responded that it is currently in a period of transformation, and in order to develop, it must conduct in - depth self - reform. In the past three years, Yonghui has been in a loss state. Based on the firm determination to follow the high - quality retail model of Fat Donglai, the company has made corresponding adjustments to its organizational structure. Through in - depth organizational transformation, it aims to cope with more development challenges. Transformation will bring pain, but Yonghui will stay firm in its belief, go all out, complete its self - transformation, break out of the cocoon and be reborn, and present a "New Yonghui" to all consumers and investors.
Goose Goose Duck Announces Return to the Chinese Market, with Over 70% of Global Players from China
36Kr learned that on March 18, 2025, Sean, the CEO of Gaggle, announced through an official video that the game "Goose Goose Duck" is about to return to the Chinese market. The specific launch time and localization details will be announced later. In addition, Sean mentioned that the team is actively preparing for the connection with partners in the Chinese market, but did not disclose information about the specific agent or publisher. It is understood that in January 2023, the peak number of concurrent players of "Goose Goose Duck" on Steam exceeded 700,000, and over 70% of global players are from China.
Zhuozheng Healthcare Submits Listing Application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
36Kr learned that according to documents from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Zhuozheng Healthcare Holdings Co., Ltd. submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Haitong International and SPDB International are the joint sponsors.
Investment and Financing:
"Guoxun Robotics" Completes Hundreds of Millions of Yuan in Financing
36Kr learned that recently, "Guoxun Robotics" announced the completion of hundreds of millions of yuan in RMB financing. This round of financing was led by Zhonghai Capital, with follow - on investments from Shuimu Assets, Yunzhou Capital, Shanda Capital, and Daosheng Capital. Yilan Capital and Hongyan Investment served as financing advisors. Guoxun Robotics focuses on solving the problem of safe robotic inspections in complex and harsh scenarios.
New Products:
Tencent Hunyuan Launches Five 3D Generation Models, All Open-Source
36Kr learned that on March 18th, Tencent Hunyuan announced the launch of five brand - new 3D generation models. These models feature faster generation speed, richer details, and more realistic material expression, and all of them are open - source. Meanwhile, its self - developed 3D AI creation engine has also been upgraded, with new capabilities such as multi - view input, intelligent model face reduction, and full format compatibility, and it is fully open for C - end users. It is understood that all five open - source models are built on Hunyuan3D - 2.0. Among them, the Turbo series models have accelerated the geometric generation model by dozens of times while ensuring high precision and quality, ensuring that the entire generation process can be completed within 30 seconds.
DoBot Launches the World's First Full-Size Embodied Intelligent Humanoid Robot with Both Dexterous Manipulation and Straight-Knee Walking, Starting at 199,000 Yuan
DoBot, one of the "Seven Swordsmen" of Guangdong robots, launched the world's first full-size embodied intelligent humanoid robot product, Dobot Atom, on March 18th. Dobot Atom's announced price starts at 199,000 yuan, which marks that full-size humanoid robots have officially entered the price range of 199,000 yuan, and the mass production era may come earlier. Currently, DoBot has carried out scenario cooperation with leading domestic automobile manufacturers, electronic manufacturing factories, and coffee and milk tea shops, and will achieve trial production and batch production by the middle of this year. (21st Century Business Herald)
Today's Views:
The sugar mills' strong willingness to support prices props up the sugar price, and the domestic white sugar futures price fluctuates with a slight upward trend.
During the daytime session on March 18th, the main contracts of domestic commodity futures showed mixed performance, among which the main contract of white sugar stopped falling and rebounded. Zhongtai Futures believes that from the fundamental perspective, the spot sugar - making enterprises have sufficient phased inventory supply, but the expected volume of out - of - quota imports is relatively small. The increase in import costs has pushed the sugar price to the upper edge of the oscillation range. It is recommended to pay attention to the sustainability of the slightly upward oscillation market. Guoxin Futures said that due to the relatively good sales situation of sugar mills in the previous period, sugar mills are quite confident about the future market and have a strong willingness to support prices. In addition, the domestic control over syrup also provides strong support for the price. However, from the perspective of terminal consumption, it is still in the off - season, with a lack of willingness to stockpile and purchase. (Shanghai Securities News)
Air India CEO Warns: Global Aircraft Shortage Will Last at Least Four Years
Campbell Wilson, the CEO of Air India, said on Tuesday that due to the limited production capacity of the two major aircraft manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus, the current aircraft shortage crisis that is constraining the growth of the global aviation industry will last for four to five years. Wilson pointed out that the current bottlenecks in the supply chain are mainly concentrated in the supply of narrow - body aircraft engines, business - class and first - class seats, and some fuselage components. "We are facing an industry - wide structural dilemma," Wilson admitted. "Every link is interlocked like a domino." (Sina Finance)
Other Noteworthy News:
Beijing: The consumer market has recovered to some extent from January to February, with online retail sales increasing by 9.0%
36Kr learned that data released by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics showed that from January to February, the total retail sales of consumer goods in the city reached 241 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 0.1%, and the decline was 2.6 percentage points narrower than that of the whole previous year. By consumption form, retail sales of goods were 219.26 billion yuan, an increase of 0.3%; catering revenue was 21.74 billion yuan, a decrease of 4.1%. The online retail sales of enterprises above the designated size in wholesale and retail, accommodation and catering industries in the city reached 87.13 billion yuan, an increase of 9.0%, and the growth rate was 7.3 percentage points higher than that of the whole previous year. Among them, the retail sales of retail formats such as convenience stores, supermarkets and warehouse membership stores above the designated size achieved a double-digit year-on-year growth through the public network.