Krstar Evening News | Qianwen Launches AI Voice Input on PC; BMW's Q1 Profit Drops 25% to €2.3 Billion

Large companies:

Tencent and Others Invest in Critical Point, a Developer of Robotic Dexterous Hands

36Kr learned that Tianyancha App shows that recently, Shanghai Critical Point Innovation Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. has undergone industrial and commercial changes. New shareholders include Shanghai Qishan Investment Co., Ltd. under Tencent and Sanya Baichuan Zhixin Private Equity Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership) under Baidu. At the same time, the registered capital has increased from approximately 5.54 million RMB to approximately 5.97 million RMB. The company was established in January this year, with Wang Chuang as the legal representative. Its business scope includes the sales of artificial intelligence hardware, intelligent robots, and the R & D of intelligent robots. It is now jointly held by Zhiyuan Innovation (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai Lanchi Xinhao Venture Capital Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), and the above - mentioned new shareholders. Public information shows that the company was established by Zhiyuan Robotics through the spin - off of its dexterous hand business. It is a global technology company focusing on the R & D and production of robotic end - effectors, especially dexterous hands.

Unitree UniStore Official Shared Application Platform Officially Fully Open

36Kr learned that Unitree Technology issued a statement today saying that the Unitree UniStore official shared application platform is officially fully open. Unitree Technology said that this is the world's first application store for humanoid robot task actions.

Shell Launches $3 Billion Share Buyback Program

On May 7th, Shell announced that its adjusted profit in the first quarter of 2026 reached $6.915 billion, compared with $3.256 billion in the previous quarter. In addition, Shell announced the launch of a $3 billion share buyback program for the next three months and raised its dividend by 5% to $0.3906. (Jiemian)

Fliggy: The number of fulfilled hotel room nights by 88VIPs during the "May Day" holiday has doubled

36Kr learned that during the "May Day" holiday in 2026, the daily transaction volume of Fliggy's hotel room nights hit a new historical high again. Among them, the actual fulfilled hotel room nights contributed by 88VIPs increased by more than 100% year-on-year.

Honda Halts Plan to Build Plant in Canada Due to Weak U.S. Market

Japanese media reported on May 6, citing sources, that due to the current weak demand in the U.S. market, Japanese automaker Honda has decided to indefinitely freeze its plan to build an electric vehicle factory in Canada. The electric vehicle factory project was originally scheduled to start construction in 2028, but Honda announced last year that it would postpone the start date by two years. In addition to the electric vehicle factory, Honda also originally planned to build a battery factory in Canada, with a total investment of C$15 billion (approximately US$11 billion). (Xinhua News Agency)

Yahua Electronics Strategically Invests in Global Embodied Elderly Care Robot Company "Huaxi Technology"

36Kr learned that "Yahua Electronics", an enterprise in the domestic intelligent medical interaction field, has completed a strategic investment in "Huaxi Technology". After this round of investment, the two parties will rely on their respective core advantages in the application pipeline of medical and health care scenarios and the full-stack technology R & D of embodied elderly care robots to build a deep business cooperation system and jointly accelerate the R & D and large - scale application of embodied elderly care robots in all scenarios such as the C - end and B - end.

Huayou Cobalt Co., Ltd.: Plans to Acquire 100% Equity of Atlantic Lithium for $210 million

36Kr learned that Huayou Cobalt Co., Ltd. announced that the company plans to acquire 100% equity of Atlantic Lithium Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Atlantic Lithium") for $210 million (excluding capital gains tax). The final acquisition price will be determined based on the application for capital gains tax from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA). After the completion of this transaction, the company will obtain 100% equity of the target company, and Atlantic Lithium will be included in the company's consolidated financial statements. This transaction does not constitute a related - party transaction, nor does it constitute a major asset restructuring of a listed company as stipulated in the "Administrative Measures for Major Asset Restructurings of Listed Companies".

Midea Group: Plans to Issue HK$17.248 Billion Convertible Corporate Bonds into H-Shares

36Kr learned that Midea Group announced that after the closing time on May 6, 2026, the company plans to issue through its wholly-owned overseas subsidiary, Midea Investment and Development Co., Ltd., zero-coupon secured convertible corporate bonds into the company's H-shares in the overseas market. The bonds include HK$8.624 billion due in 2027 and HK$8.624 billion due in 2033. The company will provide a guarantee for Midea Investment and Development's issuance of the convertible bonds this time.

BMW's Q1 profit drops 25% to €2.3 billion

The BMW Group released its financial report for the first quarter of 2026. Affected by intensified competition in the Chinese market and tariff pressure, the pre - tax profit for the quarter declined by 25% year - on - year to €2.3 billion, slightly higher than the market expectation of €2.2 billion. The revenue was €31 billion, a year - on - year decrease of 8.1%. The financial report shows that the EBIT margin of BMW's core automotive business dropped from 6.9% in the same period last year to 5.0%, but it was still higher than the analysts' forecast of 4.7%. The group's global vehicle deliveries were 565,800 units, a year - on - year decrease of 3.5%. (Sina Finance)

Investment and financing:

Yingkan Zhiyi Completes Pre-A Round of Tens of Millions of Yuan in Financing

36Kr learned that recently, Yingkan Zhiyi, a company focusing on embodied intelligent bionic flapping-wing robots, announced that it has completed a Pre-A round of financing worth tens of millions of yuan. The investor in this round is Yuanhe Origin. Previously, Yingkan Zhiyi had successively completed two rounds of financing, with a cumulative financing amount of tens of millions of yuan. The funds from this round will be mainly used for core technology research and development, iteration of the fluid simulation engine, improvement of the consumer-grade and industrial-grade product matrix, and expansion of commercialization.

Wuwen Xinqiong Secures Over 700 Million Yuan in Additional Financing

36Kr learned that on May 7th, Wuwen Xinqiong announced that it had previously secured over 700 million yuan in additional financing. The co-lead investors are Hangzhou High-Tech Financial Investment Group and Huiyuan Capital. The follow-on investors include Guoxing Capital, Qinhuai Data, GF Qianhe, Lihe Qingtong, Zhongbao Investment, AEF NextGen, Tengrui Capital, Calet, CSC Capital, and Will (Kuangde Intelligent Learning Laboratory). Existing shareholders Legend Capital, Shanghai Guotou Futeng, and Yuanzhi Future have also increased their investments.

New Products:

Qianwen Launches AI Voice Input on PC

36Kr learned that on May 7th, Qianwen launched the AI voice input feature on the PC. Users can directly use it in various desktop applications via shortcut keys. Qianwen's voice input method supports removing filler words from spoken content, correcting errors, and formatting. It can provide intelligent responses based on the context and also accept direct commands for tasks such as creation, Q&A, and translation.

Today's Views:

Elon Musk: xAI, as an independent company, will be dissolved and merged into SpaceX

On May 6th local time, Elon Musk announced in a social media post that xAI, as an independent company, will be dissolved. Instead, it will become SpaceX AI and exist as the AI product line of SpaceX. (Jiemian)

Other news worthy of attention:

South Korea's foreign exchange reserves increased by $4.22 billion in April

The Bank of Korea said on Thursday that South Korea's foreign exchange reserves increased in April despite the authorities' exchange rate stabilization measures. Data from the Bank of Korea showed that as of the end of April, South Korea's foreign exchange reserves stood at $427.88 billion, an increase of $4.22 billion from the previous month. (Sina Finance)