Krypton Evening News | NVIDIA and xAI will join the AI infrastructure investment fund established by Microsoft, BlackRock, and MGX; Qunhe Technology has open-sourced a multi-modal spatial understanding model, which can be used in fields such as embodied intelligence training; A technology company in Xi'an has achieved AI-customized organs, making breakthrough progress in the fields of 3D bioprinting and bionic tissue engineering.
Large Companies:
36Kr learned that Tencent released its financial report for the fourth quarter and the full - year of 2024. The report shows that the combined monthly active accounts of WeChat and WeChat International increased to 1.385 billion. Driven by AI technology, the WeChat ecosystem has been comprehensively upgraded, and emerging businesses such as WeChat Search, WeChat Mini Stores, Video Accounts, Mini - games, and Mini - programs have shown promising performance. In 2024, the total user usage time of Video Accounts increased rapidly, benefiting from the improvement of the recommendation algorithm and more local content. The search volume of WeChat Search increased rapidly. By integrating large models such as Hunyuan and DeepSeek, the intelligence and accuracy of search have been significantly improved. Currently, search results driven by Tencent's self - developed models cover more than 90% of Q&A searches. In 2024, the annual GMV of WeChat Mini Stores reached 1.92 times that of 2023, and the number of orders increased by 125%.
On March 19th, BlackRock, its global infrastructure partner GIP, Microsoft, and UAE technology investment company MGX issued a statement saying that Nvidia and xAI will join the Global Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Investment Partnership (now named the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership AIP) to promote investment in data centers and infrastructure. The statement said that Nvidia will continue to serve as a technical advisor to AIP, using its expertise in accelerated computing and AI factories to provide information for the deployment of next - generation AI data center infrastructure. (Jiemian)
Citi Launches Philanthropy Advisory Service in Asia, with Singapore as the First Stop
Citi Private Bank issued a statement on March 19th saying that it is launching a Philanthropy Advisory program in Asia, with Singapore as the first stop. The program is managed by the bank's global family office team. Citi said that the above - mentioned initiative aims to supplement existing wealth management and philanthropy advisory products and services, which are currently popular in the United States and are mainly targeted at ultra - high - net - worth clients. (Jiemian)
Samsung Electronics Holds Shareholders' Meeting, Outlines Plan to Boost Stock Price
It is reported that Samsung Electronics held its 56th shareholders' meeting at the Suwon Convention Center on March 19th. Vice - Chairman Han Jong - hee said at the meeting that although the domestic and international business environment is difficult, the company will work hard to enhance shareholder value. Han Jong - hee apologized for the company's stock price not meeting shareholders' expectations, saying that the company failed to respond promptly to changes in the artificial intelligence semiconductor market last year and failed to gain the upper hand in the markets of major products such as smartphones, TVs, and home appliances. Han Jong - hee pointed out that considering the market's concerns caused by the undervaluation of the company's value, the company decided to repurchase shares worth 10 trillion won (approximately 50 billion yuan) in November last year. To enhance shareholder value, the company plans to pay dividends of 9.8 trillion won throughout this year. (Jiemian)
36Kr learned that at the GTC2025 Global Conference, Qunhe Technology announced the open - sourcing of its self - developed spatial understanding model, SpatialLM. This model can generate a physically correct 3D scene layout from just a single video. It is understood that SpatialLM breaks through the limitations of traditional large language models in understanding the geometric and spatial relationships of the physical world, enabling machines to have spatial cognition and reasoning abilities, and will provide a basic training framework for spatial understanding in related fields such as embodied intelligence. In addition, the model will also iterate on natural language and scene interaction functions in the future.
36Kr learned that according to Xi'an Daily, recently, in the Shaanxi Maxwell Medical Technology Laboratory, AI digital medical customized reconstruction of the "native" nose was achieved, thanks to the company's breakthrough in 3D bioprinting and bionic tissue engineering. With the continuous advancement of research and development, Maxwell has achieved intelligent "tailored" and "remote" customized production of artificial noses, prosthetics, etc. through the AI generation model. Maxwell said that in the future, robot skin is expected to integrate multiple sensing functions, such as touch, temperature, humidity, pressure, etc., and be able to perceive the external environment more comprehensively. With the continuous development and improvement of the accuracy of 3D printing technology and automated silicone printing and coloring technology, the manufacturing of silicone robot skin will also become more refined and personalized.
New Products:
Firefly, NIO's third brand, announced that its first model will be launched on April 19th and delivered upon launch. Jin Ge, the president of Firefly, introduced that this year, Firefly will set up the first batch of demonstration operation stations in core cities. Subsequently, Firefly will connect to NIO's fifth - generation battery - swapping stations with the existing battery specifications and battery - swapping standards. (Yicai)
Volvo's All - New XC90 to Be Launched Soon
36Kr learned that on March 17th, the media communication meeting for Volvo's all - new XC90 was grandly held at the Volvo Car Brand Experience Center in Chengdu. At the event, Volvo Cars announced that it will launch the comprehensively upgraded all - new XC90 on April 15th. It is understood that the all - new XC90 has been comprehensively upgraded in terms of design, space, intelligence, and experience: it adopts the Thor's Hammer headlight design; a six - seat version is introduced, and it is the only model in its class that allows free selection of five, six, or seven seats; the interaction system has been comprehensively renovated, bringing a smoother and more convenient intelligent interaction experience; seven NVH quietness improvement measures have been implemented throughout the vehicle to further isolate external noise and enhance the experience.
Investment and Financing:
On March 18th local time, US AI humanoid robot company Apptronik announced the completion of an over - subscribed Series A financing of $403 million. Investors include Google, Mercedes - Benz, Japan Post Capital, and Ark Investment. The statement said that this round of financing will promote the production and deployment of the company's AI humanoid robot, Apollo. Mercedes - Benz announced in a separate statement that it will invest tens of millions of euros in Apptronik. The company said that it is using AI and humanoid robots in its digital factory park in Berlin, Germany, to accelerate the transformation of its production network. (Jiemian)
"Deep Principle" Completes Hundred - Million - Yuan - Level Pre - A Round Strategic Financing
36Kr learned that Deep Principle, an AI for Science (AI4S) enterprise, announced the completion of a hundred - million - yuan - level Pre - A round strategic financing. The investors in this round include Lenovo Capital & Incubation Group, Lenovo Star, Jinqiu Fund, BV Baidu Ventures, and Qigao Capital. The company's shareholders, Hillhouse Capital and Linear Capital, continued to increase their investments. Mingde Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor. This round of financing will accelerate the industrialization of the company's ReactiveAI technology platform in key fields such as new materials, energy, and medicine.
Today's Views:
Ding Shizhong: Sports Brands Are the Certainty in Uncertainty
36Kr learned that at Anta Group's earnings conference, Ding Shizhong, the chairman of Anta Group's board of directors and the chairman of Amer Sports' board of directors, said that from a global market perspective, the development of the Chinese market is still good. In the past five years, most of the consumer industry has been in a stock competition, but sports brands are still the certainty in uncertainty. Driven by the "dual - wheel drive" of Anta Group and Amer Sports, the total revenue of the two groups reached 100 billion yuan in 2024. "I also cherish the many good brands of the two groups very much. We will also continuously meet the increasingly segmented needs of consumers through good products based on differentiated positioning." According to him, Anta Group has invested more than 20 billion yuan in innovation and R & D in the past ten years and will invest another 20 billion yuan in the next five years. Different brands will also have different innovation paths.
Other Noteworthy News:
The General Offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council issued an opinion on further strengthening the full - chain supervision of food safety. The opinion mentioned strengthening the integrated online and offline supervision of online food ordering. The market supervision department should, together with the departments of industry and information technology, Internet information, etc., dispose of platforms with serious food safety violations according to law. Promote platforms and merchants to implement the "Internet + Transparent Kitchen" initiative, and strengthen the supervision and social oversight of non - dine - in takeaways. (Xinhua News Agency)
The Total Scale of Data Annotation in China Reaches 17,282 TB
The on - site meeting for the pilot implementation of data annotation bases was held in Chengdu. The data annotation scale of China's seven data annotation bases reached a new high. The seven data annotation bases are located in Chengdu, Sichuan; Shenyang, Liaoning; Hefei, Anhui; Changsha, Hunan; Haikou, Hainan; Baoding, Hebei; and Datong, Shanxi respectively. The total data annotation scale reached 17,282 TB, which is about six times the total digital resources of the National Library of China. Currently, 335 high - quality data sets in industries such as healthcare, industry, and education have been formed; 121 domestic artificial intelligence large models have been empowered in R & D; 223 annotation enterprises have been introduced and cultivated; the number of annotation practitioners has reached 58,000; and the relevant output value of the data annotation industry has exceeded 8.3 billion yuan. (CCTV News)