Krypton Evening News | Tencent's Liu Chiping: Tencent has no large-scale layoff plan; China and the US hold economic and trade consultations in South Korea; Musk says the 12th test flight of Starship will take place next week
Large Companies:
36Kr learned that Tencent released its financial report for the first quarter of 2026, and its AI development has accelerated across the board. Among them, Hunyuan was rebuilt in less than three months, and Hy3 preview has significantly improved its capabilities in context, Agent, and Coding. OpenRouter data shows that after the free trial period of Hy3 preview ended, its daily and weekly Token usage still ranked first. From April 27th to May 11th, it topped the OpenRouter weekly list for three consecutive weeks. Since the beginning of this year, Tencent has launched dozens of general and vertical scenario Agents.
Tencent's Liu Chiping: Tencent has no plan for large - scale layoffs
At the Tencent shareholders' meeting, in response to the question of whether Tencent will conduct large - scale layoffs, Tencent President Liu Chiping said that there is definitely no plan for large - scale layoffs, and Tencent is different from Silicon Valley companies.
South Korea's presidential office said on Wednesday that it plans to actively support the dialogue between Samsung Electronics and its union to resolve wage disputes and avoid the threat of strikes. Kang Youzhen, a senior spokesman for the South Korean presidential office, said at a press conference: "The government plans to actively support both labor and management to find a solution through dialogue. There is still some time before the strike." Earlier on Wednesday, Samsung Electronics and the union failed to reach an agreement after two - day mediation talks led by the government. These talks were seen as the last effort to avoid a strike originally scheduled for May 21st.
Indonesia plans to introduce electric vehicle subsidies to cope with high oil prices
Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said in Jakarta on the 12th that in view of the Middle East tensions pushing up international oil prices and increasing the burden of energy imports, Indonesia is accelerating the transformation of its energy consumption structure and plans to introduce a new round of electric vehicle subsidy policies starting from June 2026. Sri Mulyani Indrawati said that the Middle East tensions have lasted longer than expected, and global oil prices may remain high in the short term, driving up Indonesia's fuel and crude oil import costs. To reduce external risks, the government is studying incentives to encourage the public to use more electric vehicles and electric motorcycles and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
36Kr learned that the single - day VT (playback duration) of Bilibili's video podcast content has exceeded 100 million minutes, setting a new record for the single - day playback duration of this category of content on the platform.
36Kr learned that TikTok recently announced the official launch of its lifestyle service brand TikTok GO in the United States and Japan. It is understood that TikTok GO's food order volume in Indonesia increased by more than 20 times last year, and it provided 80,000 and 360,000 travel experience services in Japan and the United States respectively.
Elon Musk says the 12th test flight of Starship will take place next week
Elon Musk reposted a post from SpaceX's official account on the X platform, saying that the 12th test flight of Starship will take place next week. The SpaceX post said: "The 12th flight test of Starship will for the first time showcase a new generation of Starship and Super Heavy vehicles, which will be equipped with the latest generation of Raptor engines and will be launched from a newly built launch pad at the Starbase. This launch is tentatively scheduled for next Tuesday, May 19th at the earliest."
New Products:
Zhongke Shuguang launches high - end all - flash storage
36Kr learned that on May 13th, Zhongke Shuguang launched a new high - end all - flash storage, FlashNexus 9000. The overall performance of this product reaches 200 million IOPS, and the latency is as low as 0.09ms. The new product uses self - developed technologies such as the "Super Tunnel" and the NexusMatrix full - interconnection matrix, with a comprehensive performance upgrade, which can ensure system stability and data security in extreme situations. In addition, the new product has achieved 100% localization of core components, 100% full - stack self - development of core software, and is natively compatible with more than 20 mainstream operating systems, fully supporting mainstream domestic and foreign databases and architectures such as cloud - native and K8s.
Investment and Financing:
Blue Origin, owned by Jeff Bezos, is considering its first external financing
The media reported, citing unnamed sources, that Blue Origin is considering its first external financing to achieve its rocket launch goals. According to two sources, Dave Limp, the company's CEO, told employees at an all - hands meeting that if the company wants to significantly increase the launch frequency, it needs to introduce external investment. Limp told employees that Blue Origin must demonstrate strong profit fundamentals, and external financing is one of the options on the table. Blue Origin declined to comment.
The ChiNext Index breaks through 4037.96 points, hitting a record high
36Kr learned that the ChiNext Index rose 2.5% intraday, breaking through 4037.96 points, which means that the ChiNext Index has exceeded the highest point of the "bull market" in 2015 and hit a record high. The ChiNext Index has risen more than 25% this year, and if calculated from April 8th, 2025, the increase has exceeded 120%.
Today's Views:
Thai Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas said on Wednesday that he expects Thailand's economic growth rate to exceed 3% in the next one to two years, driven by new investments. Ekniti said that he believes that in the next one to two years, Thailand's GDP will grow by more than 3% due to the injection of new investments. He said that the investment volume in the first quarter of this year increased by 18% year - on - year to 260 billion Thai baht (about $805 million), and added that the investment application amount during the same period was 1 trillion Thai baht.
Other Noteworthy News:
The fuel surcharge for domestic flights will be raised again on May 16th. Coupled with the more than 40% drop in the average domestic air ticket price after the May Day holiday, domestic passengers are eager to seize the window period before the price increase and book tickets in advance. Data from online platforms shows that on May 12th, the number of tickets booked for flights taking off during the Dragon Boat Festival (June 19th - 21st) increased by 84% compared with the previous day. The booking volume for summer flights (July - August) increased by 58% compared with the previous day and 45% compared with the same period last year. The official direct - sales platform of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, Umetrip, shows that after the May Day holiday, there are one - hundred - yuan air tickets on many domestic routes, and there are tickets priced at around 300 yuan on routes from Beijing and Shanghai to Sanya, Qingdao, Changsha, etc.
China and the United States hold economic and trade consultations in South Korea
On May 13th local time, He Lifeng, the Chinese leader for China - US economic and trade consultations and Vice - Premier of the State Council, held economic and trade consultations with Janet Yellen, the US leader and US Treasury Secretary, in South Korea. Guided by the important consensus of the two heads of state and adhering to the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win - win cooperation, the two sides had a candid, in - depth, and constructive exchange on resolving economic and trade issues of mutual concern and further expanding practical cooperation.