Krypton Evening Post | Starbucks Workers Union Plans to Go on Strike in Three U.S. Cities; Honor Signs a Deepened Strategic Cooperation Agreement with Tencent; Ping An Securities: AI-related Industrial Chains Will Usher in New Opportunities
Big Companies:
Starbucks Union Plans Strike in Three US Cities
The union representing more than 10,000 Starbucks baristas stated that its members will commence a five-day strike at stores in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Seattle starting from local time December 20, citing unresolved issues such as wages, staffing, and scheduling. The Workers United union, which represents employees at 525 Starbucks stores across the United States, said on the 19th that the strike is escalating daily and could reach "hundreds of stores" nationwide by Christmas Eve. Starbucks said the union representatives ended this week's negotiation meetings early and the company is prepared to continue negotiations. (Jiemian)
Xiaohongshu Establishes Shuyu Information Technology Company in Shanghai
36Kr learned that the Tianyancha App indicates that on December 20, Shuyu Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. was established, with Ren Shuang as the legal representative and a registered capital of 500,000 US dollars. The business scope includes information consulting services, enterprise management consulting, wholesale of computer software and hardware and auxiliary equipment, daily necessities sales, Internet sales, technology import and export, domestic trade agency, etc. Shareholder information shows that the company is wholly owned by Redbook Holdings Limited.
Didi Luxury Car Lands in 4 Cities: Chongqing, Changsha, Suzhou and Nanjing
Recently, Didi Chuxing's high-end travel service brand, Didi Luxury Car, has been launched in four cities: Chongqing, Changsha, Suzhou, and Nanjing. This is also after Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Xi'an, Chengdu, Tianjin, Wuhan, and Sanya, Didi Luxury Car has once again opened business in new cities. Didi Luxury Car is positioned in the high-end travel market and is committed to providing users with a first-class travel experience in all aspects, including exclusive vehicle models, comfortable cabins, selected drivers, and multi-scenario exclusive services. Currently, Didi Luxury Car is available in all 14 cities where it has been launched, and a limited-time promotion of a super value package of taxi coupon vouchers has been launched.
36Kr learned that on December 20, the first concert movie in the Chinese mainland, "Zhang Jie's Yao Beidou Tour Concert," was officially released, and the cinemas across the country were illuminated with a starry blue ocean. As a screen presentation of Zhang Jie's phenomenal concert scene, the film not only marks a significant leap in the convergence and integration of Chinese music performances and film art. At the same time, the comprehensive film and performance linkage exploration from content investment and production to publicity and distribution by Taopiaopiao, the co-producer and main publicity and distribution party, in collaboration with Damai, also provides another excellent model for the industry.
HONOR and Tencent Sign Deepened Strategic Cooperation Agreement
36Kr learned that recently, HONOR and Tencent officially signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Shenzhen. The two sides will deepen cooperation in multiple fields such as cloud computing, business ecology, and technical ecology, complementing HONOR's advantages in terminals, AI, and ecological construction with Tencent's advantages in cloud computing, content platforms, games, etc., to achieve a win-win situation and jointly enhance the user experience.
36Kr learned that Tianyang Technology announced that Tianyang Hongye Technology Co., Ltd. has signed an agreement with SS&C Technologies, Inc. Tianyang Technology plans to invest over 100 million yuan to purchase the exclusive and permanent license for the existing and latest versions and source code of SS&C's Algorithmics market risk and FRTB software products in the Chinese mainland. In addition, with the assistance of SS&C, Tianyang Technology will develop and launch a version that meets the requirements of China's information technology innovation based on the latest version of the Algo market risk software.
36Kr learned that the Tianyancha App shows that on December 16, Anhui Kexun Artificial Intelligence Venture Capital Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership) was established, with Hefei Kexun Innovation Information Technology Partnership (Limited Partnership) as the executive partner, with a contribution of 500 million yuan. The business scope includes engaging in equity investment, investment management, asset management, and other activities through private equity funds, engaging in investment activities with its own funds, enterprise management, social and economic consulting services, and financial consulting. Partner information shows that the fund is jointly funded by iFLYTEK (002230), Anhui Yanzhi Technology Co., Ltd., Hefei Venture Capital Guiding Fund Co., Ltd., Anhui Province Artificial Intelligence Theme Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership), etc.
CATL's Chocolate Battery Swap Station Lands in Chongqing, Expected to Build 57 by 2025
On December 20, it was reported that CATL's Chocolate Battery Swap Station has landed in Chongqing. 16 battery swap stations will be put into operation before the end of this year, and it is expected that 57 will be built in the Chongqing area by 2025. On December 18, CATL announced that it plans to build 1,000 Chocolate Battery Swap Stations by itself in 2025, and at the same time, it will enter Hong Kong and Macao. In the medium term, it will jointly build 10,000 stations with various partners, and the final scale will reach 30,000. (Cailian Press)
Investment and Financing:
"Henghui Keyuan" Successfully Completes Tens of Millions of Angel Round Financing
36Kr learned that recently, "Henghui Keyuan" announced the completion of tens of millions of angel round financing, and this round of financing was exclusively invested by the well-known investment institution Jiangyuan Investment (LongRiver Investments).
"Shanghai Weixiang Shikong" Completes Tens of Millions of Yuan in Financing
36Kr learned that "Shanghai Weixiang Shikong" has completed tens of millions of yuan in financing. This round of financing was jointly participated by the Pudong Venture Capital's Pudong Science and Technology Investment Angel Mother Fund and will be mainly used to accelerate product research and development, and further accelerate the construction of the urban metaverse spatial computing platform and the AI spatial large model.
Today's Views:
36Kr learned that recently, Li Wei, the Vice Dean of the Asian and Oceanian Markets at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and an economics professor, and released the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business' "2024 Annual RCEP Business Research Report". Li Wei suggests that when Chinese enterprises use the RCEP agreement to formulate their own internationalization strategies, they can consider using "going global" instead of simply "exporting", fully utilizing the "time machine theory" to replicate the Chinese experience, building their own "nearshore" and "friendly shore", and promoting a more diversified and flexible global layout to avoid potential risks. The report also provides specific action guidelines.
36Kr learned that the General Office of the National Financial Regulatory Administration issued the "Internal Control Application Guidelines for Insurance Funds Utilization No. 6 - Financial Products". It is proposed that when insurance institutions carry out financial product investments, they should reasonably set the allocation ratio of financial product investments according to factors such as regulatory requirements, investment needs, liability characteristics, solvency, risk appetite, investment management ability, and risk management ability, and fulfill the corresponding internal approval procedures. For financial products that do not meet the exemption conditions for penetration in the solvency regulatory rules, insurance institutions should identify the underlying assets of financial products in accordance with the penetration principle and grasp the risk and return characteristics of financial products.
Moody's: Inflation in Japan May Gradually Slow Down in 2025
Moody's economist Stefan Angrick said after the latest data release that inflation in Japan will slow in 2025, but it will be gradual. He said that the data for November showed that inflation rose due to the government's reduced support for energy bills and rising food prices. Angrick pointed out that demand-driven price pressures are still rare, but the weakening of the yen and the delayed transmission of producer price increases to consumers will keep inflation stable in the short term. He said that due to the expected policies of the Trump administration that may lead to inflation, it may force the Federal Reserve to delay interest rate cuts, and the yen seems to be increasingly oversold. The dovish attitude of the Bank of Japan has exacerbated this situation. Currently, the yen is trading near 158 against the US dollar, compared to 153.5 before the Thursday meeting. (Cailian Press)
Ping An Securities: The AI-related Industrial Chain Will Usher in New Opportunities
36Kr learned that the research report of Ping An Securities pointed out that with the penetration of AI large model applications, more and more new scenarios are being unlocked. AI is gradually moving towards the B-end and the edge-end, and it will also continuously put forward updated and iterative requirements for hardware terminals and related chips. Under the trend of intelligence, the ByteDance large model is expected to accelerate the landing of AI on the edge-side, and the AI-related industrial chain will usher in new opportunities. It is recommended to pay attention to: 1) In terms of AI computing power, pay attention to Industrial Fulian, Inspur Information, etc.; 2) In terms of SOC, pay attention to Hengxuan Technology, Zhongke Lanxun, etc.; 3) In terms of memory chips, pay attention to GigaDevice, etc.; 4) In terms of AI applications, pay attention to iFLYTEK, etc.