Krypton Evening News | Intel to cut jobs in data center division; Nissan recalls over 160,000 Armada and Infiniti SUVs in the US; China to build more than 3,000 charging and battery swapping stations for electric heavy-duty trucks
Big Companies:
Nissan Recalls Over 160,000 Armada and Infiniti SUVs in the U.S.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced on July 21 that Nissan North America is recalling certain 2020 to 2026 Armada models equipped with 22-inch wheels, 2011 to 2013 Infiniti QX56 models, and 2014 to 2027 Infiniti QX80 models, involving approximately 168,000 vehicles. Due to an incorrect Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR) marking on the vehicle certification label, the vehicles may be overloaded, which increases the risk of collisions.
Meta and NVIDIA Partner to Build AI Materials Supply Chain
Social media giant Meta and chipmaker NVIDIA announced on Monday that they are jointly participating in a materials discovery project of a UK-based AI startup, aiming to find new manufacturing materials for the semiconductor industry. The startup has previously received investment support from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the UK government. The startup, named CuspAI, completed a $450 million financing earlier this month with a valuation of $2.6 billion.
Intel to Lay Off Staff in Its Data Center Division
According to reports, Intel has notified employees in its data center division that the company plans to launch a new round of layoffs. An Intel spokesperson said in a statement: "To implement the overall strategy and build a more focused and operationally efficient enterprise, the company's Data Center Group is adjusting its organizational structure to align positions and talents with long-term business development and consolidate the foundation for long-term growth. We will respect all affected employees and provide relevant support resources to ensure a smooth transition during this personnel adjustment."
According to reports, recent market rumors indicate that Central Glass, a special gas supplier that provides gases to major semiconductor manufacturers including TSMC, will stop producing high-purity tungsten hexafluoride. In response, TSMC stated that it does not expect any impact on the company's operations. TSMC's PR department fully responded on July 20, stating: "The company's global procurement strategy is to continuously develop multi-source supply solutions and build a diversified global supplier base. We currently do not expect any impact on the company's operations." Both TSMC and its suppliers mentioned that there is no interruption in the supply of tungsten powder raw materials for gases at present, and there are still multiple alternative solutions, with the expected impact on the industry being limited.
Exodus to Lay Off 25% of Global Staff Amid Payments Business Transformation
Crypto wallet company Exodus Movement will cut approximately 25% of its global workforce as part of its business restructuring focused on stablecoin payments and card infrastructure. The Omaha, Nebraska-based company stated in a filing that the layoffs are part of broader cost reduction and efficiency improvement efforts while supporting its strategy to build a full-stack payment platform. This reorganization comes as Exodus continues to integrate e-money institution Monavate and crypto payments firm Baanx, two acquisitions that have significantly expanded its payment capabilities and international business footprint.
Samsung Electronics Reportedly Plans to Build 4 Wafer Fabs in South Korea Over the Next 5 Years
According to ZDNET Korea, Samsung Electronics recently solicited feedback from key partners on the feasibility of its medium- and long-term semiconductor capacity investment strategy, which includes plans to build 4 wafer fabs in South Korea over the next 5 years. Samsung Semiconductor's new wafer fab plans in South Korea include the P5 and P6 facilities in Pyeongtaek, the first wafer fab in Yongin, and the first wafer fab in Gwangju. Samsung Electronics previously announced plans to invest approximately 400 trillion won in Gwangju to build two new semiconductor wafer fabs; at the same time, the progress of the Yongin wafer fab cluster will also be accelerated.
Microsoft and AMD Expand Partnership to Deploy Next-Generation AI Chips on Azure
Advanced Micro Devices is expanding its strategic partnership with Microsoft. Under the agreement, the software company will deploy AMD's next-generation artificial intelligence chips and processors on its Azure cloud platform. The two companies stated on Monday that Microsoft will deploy AMD's Helios rack-scale AI platform to provide computing power support for its own AI services and cutting-edge model inference workloads for Azure customers. AMD said it expects to begin shipping the Helios platform to customers including Microsoft in the second half of 2026.
New Products:
Alibaba's Qwen Releases Qwen-Image-3.0
36Kr learned that Alibaba's Qwen large model has officially launched Qwen-Image-3.0, the third-generation image generation foundation model in the Qwen-Image series. The new model supports a maximum input of 4.5k tokens, precise rendering of 10px small text, and native rendering in 12 languages.
Tencent Hunyuan Launches the Agent Hyra-1.0
36Kr learned that on July 21, Tencent Hunyuan announced the launch of the first version of Hyra (Hunyuan Research Agent), Hyra-1.0. According to Tencent Hunyuan, this is a performance-oriented agent capable of recursive self-improvement for research and engineering tasks. In addition to model development and scientific discovery, Hyra can also enter open scenarios such as gaming, design, and content creation, and continuously iterate its strategy outputs based on self-play, self-evaluation, and user feedback.
Financing & Investments:
"RealAI" Completes Hundreds of Millions of Yuan Series B Financing
36Kr learned that recently, AI security technology company "RealAI" has successively completed Series B1 and B2 financings totaling hundreds of millions of yuan, with investors including Starlink Capital, the Digital Trade Fund under China Merchants Group, Zoyuan Asia, Zoyuan Capital, Fudi Venture Capital, and the Shuimu Tsinghua Alumni Seed Fund. This round of financing will be mainly used for the continuous R&D and industrial implementation of secure and trustworthy large model systems.
Today's Viewpoints:
Today, Huang Zhenxin, Head of B2B Enterprise Business at Moonshot AI, revealed that the company is about to launch the Kimi Hosted Agent platform, which will open sandbox and Harness capabilities to B2B customers, creating a standardized enterprise-level capability output interface. According to the introduction, the platform provides standardized APIs such as PPT generation and investment research system construction, supports customers to customize output styles, and can be directly embedded into enterprise internal office systems for use. He also stated that currently, API call business accounts for 70% of B2B revenue, the overall commercialization path is clear, and a sustainable positive cycle has been formed.
Other Notable News:
China to Build Over 3,000 Electric Heavy-Duty Truck Charging and Battery Swapping Stations
On July 21, Cai Tuanjie, Safety Director of the Ministry of Transport and Director-General of the Department of Transport Services, said at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office that focusing on busy freight sections of national expressways and ordinary national and provincial highways, urban agglomerations and metropolitan areas such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and Chengdu-Chongqing region, as well as important nodes such as freight hubs, ports, mining areas, factory areas, and industrial parks, more than 3,000 electric heavy-duty truck charging and battery swapping stations will be built to promote the "interconnection and networking" of energy replenishment facilities.
Chinese Airlines Operate Over 1,000 Regular Routes
On July 21, Han Jun, Vice Administrator of Civil Aviation Administration of China, said at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office that Chinese airlines operate more than 1,000 regular routes, with international passenger routes reaching 177 cities in 80 countries across five continents worldwide.