Krypton Evening News | Volkswagen's management considers closing some German factories from 2031; Sources say some processes of Samsung Foundry will raise prices; The core node of the National Supercomputing Internet is officially launched
Big Companies:
LG Innotek to Invest $1 Billion in New Semiconductor Substrate Plant in Hai Phong, Vietnam
According to a statement on June 8, LG Innotek, a subsidiary of LG Group and a South Korean electronic component manufacturer, has obtained an investment registration certificate issued by the Hai Phong Economic Zone Authority (HEZA) in Vietnam. It will invest $1 billion to build a new semiconductor substrate manufacturing base in the DEEP C Hai Phong 2 Industrial Park within the Hai Phong Free Trade Zone. The plant is expected to cover an area of about 33 hectares, with construction planned to start in the third quarter of this year and be completed in the fourth quarter of next year.
Waymo to Launch Robotaxi Services in Four New U.S. Cities in the Coming Weeks
Waymo announced on Wednesday that it will roll out its robotaxi services in four new U.S. cities in the coming weeks, further consolidating its leading position over Tesla and Zoox in the domestic market. The newly added service cities are San Diego, Las Vegas, Tampa in Florida, and Denver. Waymo stated that the service will first be open to Alphabet employees and then gradually extended to the general public. The company first publicly disclosed the expansion plans for the above-mentioned cities last year.
Volkswagen Management Considers Closing Some German Plants Starting in 2031
According to reports, the Volkswagen Executive Board plans to gradually cease production at two plants in Zwickau and Emden, Germany, over the next five years. The commercial vehicle plant in Hanover is scheduled to close in 2032, and the Audi plant in Neckarsulm is set to close in 2034. These four German plants employ approximately 40,000 people.
L'Oréal and Kering Sign a 50-Year Exclusive Beauty Licensing Agreement for the Gucci Brand
On local time July 7, following Kering's announcement today of the early repurchase of the Gucci beauty licensing agreement held by Coty, L'Oréal announced the signing of a 50-year exclusive beauty licensing agreement in accordance with the terms of the strategic alliance reached between Kering and L'Oréal on October 19, 2025, to be responsible for the R&D, production, and distribution of Gucci brand fragrances and beauty products. According to L'Oréal, the new licensing agreement will officially take effect on July 1, 2027, after obtaining relevant regulatory approvals. At that time, L'Oréal will fully take over the development, operation and management of Gucci Beauty's global business.
Reports Say Some Samsung Foundry Process Prices Are Rising
Samsung Electronics has increased the supply prices for new foundry customers by about 15%, mainly targeting high-demand advanced process nodes such as 4nm and 5nm, as well as some automotive 8nm process nodes. Prior to this, TSMC had notified major customers of its plan to raise supply prices by 5% to 10. Analysts pointed out that Samsung's approach is not a comprehensive price increase like TSMC's, but rather focuses on adjusting prices at specific nodes with concentrated demand.
New Products:
Microsoft Xbox to Restructure Obsidian Entertainment, Shift to Developing a New Fallout Title
On local time July 8, according to reports, Microsoft's Xbox is undergoing a broader round of restructuring. Sources revealed that Obsidian Entertainment under Xbox has canceled multiple projects, including the originally planned sequel to *Avowed*. The studio will shift to developing a new title in the popular *Fallout* series. In addition, sources said Obsidian has also laid off about a quarter of its staff.
OpenAI Launches GPT-Live Voice Model to Make ChatGPT's Conversations More Human-Like
OpenAI has officially launched the new-generation voice models GPT-Live-1 and GPT-Live-1 mini, comprehensively upgrading ChatGPT's voice functions. The new model adopts a "full-duplex" architecture that can listen and speak simultaneously, allowing users to interrupt the AI at any time while it is responding, making the interaction method closer to real conversations.
Investment & Financing:
"LogicBit Technology" Officially Announces Hundreds of Millions of Yuan Series A Financing
36Kr learned that LogicBit Technology has officially announced the completion of its previously closed Series A financing of hundreds of millions of yuan. This round of financing was jointly led by Kangjun Capital and Hundun Investment, with participation from China Development Bank Science & Technology Investment, Vision Capital, Shanghai Future Industry Fund, IDG Capital, SMIC (a semiconductor integrated circuit industry fund), Core Alliance Capital, Honghui Fund, TCL Venture Capital, and Houxue Capital. In addition, existing shareholders Matrix Partners, Oriental Richwell, Dachen Caizhi, Hua Control Fund, Shenzhen Venture Capital, Ou Fang Angel (ZJU Alumni Fund), and Huaxia Hengtian continued to increase their investments in this round. This round of financing will mainly be used for R&D and the construction of a new generation of high-performance superconducting quantum chips and automated production lines, accelerating the deployment of a globally leading quantum computing cloud platform, and recruiting high-level talents.
Multiple State-Owned Funds Invest in Moonshot AI
36Kr learned that according to data from Tianyancha App, Beijing Moonshot AI Technology Co., Ltd. recently underwent industrial and commercial changes, adding new shareholders such as the Social Security Fund Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Innovation Equity Investment Fund (Shanghai) Partnership (Limited Partnership) and Shenzhen Hexie Growth Phase III Technology Development Equity Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership). At the same time, the registered capital increased from 1 million RMB to approximately 1.524 million RMB.
Today's Perspectives:
Nagi Hamiyeh, Global Head of Investments at Temasek, stated that affected by the huge loss incident of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, the company is working to absorb that loss, and cryptocurrency investments are still "not under consideration" at present. He also shared Temasek's layout ideas in artificial intelligence, the European market, the Middle East region, and the defense track.
Other Noteworthy News:
36Kr learned that the State Council has issued the "15th Five-Year Plan" Carbon Peaking Action Plan. It will gradually clarify the minimum proportion targets for renewable energy consumption in key energy-consuming industries. By 2030, the installed capacity of pumped storage will reach about 160 million kilowatts, the installed capacity of new energy storage will strive to reach 300 million kilowatts, the maximum regulation capacity of national virtual power plants will reach more than 50 million kilowatts, and the power demand response capacity will reach more than 5% of the maximum electricity load.
According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in the first half of 2026, China's new energy vehicle production and sales reached 7.438 million units and 7.446 million units respectively, both achieving year-on-year growth. Among them, the sales proportion of pure electric vehicles rose to about 67%. In June, the production and sales of new energy vehicles reached 1.598 million units and 1.643 million units respectively, with both year-on-year increases of over 20%. The proportion of new energy vehicle sales in total new car sales further increased to 58.5%. In the first half of the year, China's total automobile exports reached 5.096 million units, of which new energy vehicle exports amounted to 2.355 million units. In June, monthly automobile exports exceeded 1 million units for the first time, a year-on-year increase of 75.1%, of which new energy vehicle exports were 523,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 1.6 times.
Core Node of the National Supercomputing Internet Is Officially Launched
On July 9, the 2026 Henan Provincial Artificial Intelligence Conference was held in Zhengzhou. The core node of the National Supercomputing Internet was officially put into operation on the same day. Reporters learned from the conference that the core node project of the National Supercomputing Internet aims to build a nationwide computing resource coordination and scheduling system, undertake core functions such as operation management and resource scheduling, and integrate comprehensive service functions including supply-demand matching and industrial incubation. This node can provide more than 100,000 cards of domestically produced AI computing power to the outside world, making it the largest single domestically produced AI computing power resource pool connected since the launch of the National Supercomputing Internet platform.