Krypton Evening Post | It is reported that Nvidia has initially determined the configuration of the GB300 order; L'Oreal announces the acquisition of the South Korean skincare brand Dr.G; Economists have lowered the economic growth forecast for the Eurozone in 2025.
Big Companies:
Goldwind Technology Completes 20% Equity Transfer of Australia's Cattle Hill Wind Farm Project
36Kr learned that on December 23, Goldwind Technology announced that it has completed the transfer and delivery of a 20% equity stake in the Cattle Hill Wind Farm project in Australia, with a transaction amount of AUD 99.3 million. The buyer of this transaction is Atmos Renewables, a leading renewable energy enterprise in Australia. The Cattle Hill project is located 93 kilometers northwest of Hobart, Tasmania, with a total installed capacity of 148.4 megawatts and 48 GW140-3S units installed.
Zhiyuan FlagEval's Latest Evaluation: Tencent Hunyuan's Text-to-Image Generation Tops the List
36Kr learned that recently, the Zhiyuan Research Institute released the latest FlagEval large model evaluation ranking list. The results show that in the text-to-image generation model of the multimodal model evaluation list, Tencent Hunyuan's text-to-image generation ability ranks first. It is understood that FlagEval is a large model evaluation system and open platform launched by the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence (BAAI), used to evaluate the performance of basic models and training algorithms. The evaluation scope involves more than 100 domestic and foreign open source and commercial closed-source models. Tencent Hunyuan's text-to-image generation ability is currently fully open to the public. Ordinary users can use it for free through Tencent AI Assistant and Tencent Yuanbao, and enterprise users and developers can call this ability through Tencent Cloud API.
Streaming Service Stock Prices Soar, Spotify Executives Cash Out and Earn Handsomely
It is reported that according to the analysis of the documents submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Spotify's executives and board members sold $1.25 billion worth of the company's stock in 2024, taking advantage of the soaring stock price of this music streaming company to cash out and earn substantial profits. (Jiemian)
Nvidia Is Reportedly initially Finalizing the GB300 Order Configuration
It is reported that Nvidia is expected to unveil the next-generation GB300 AI server product line at the GTC conference in March next year. Foxconn and other suppliers have recently entered the GB300 research and development and design stage. It is understood that Nvidia has initially determined the GB300 order configuration. Foxconn is still the largest supplier, and the actual machine is expected to be launched and available in the first half of next year. Industry insiders revealed that Quanta and Inventec are also important partners of Nvidia for GB300. In terms of order share, Quanta is second only to Foxconn and is the second largest supplier. (Jiemian)
Aviva, a Leading UK Insurance Company, Acquires Direct Line for £3.7 Billion
Aviva, a UK insurance company, said on Monday that it has reached an agreement to acquire smaller rival Direct Line for £3.7 billion (approximately $4.65 billion) in cash and shares to create the UK's largest home and auto insurance company. Aviva and Direct Line reached a preliminary agreement in early December. According to the UK's acquisition regulations, Aviva must make a formal offer before Christmas or give up the acquisition. (Sina Finance)
36Kr learned that Zhonglan Environmental Protection announced that the consortium composed of the company, the Third Engineering Co., Ltd. of China Chemical Traffic Construction Group, Jinan Municipal Design and Research Institute (Group) Co., Ltd., and Tengzhou Zhongfa Municipal Engineering Co., Ltd. is the shortlisted candidate for the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) of the Tengzhou Municipal Solid Waste Resource Utilization Project (Phase I). The total bidding price of this project is approximately 280 million yuan, which belongs to the company's main business. It is expected to have a positive impact on the company's subsequent market expansion. Original Link
36Kr learned that China Energy Engineering Corporation announced that its subsidiary, East China Electric Power Design Institute Co., Ltd., and Jiangsu Electric Power Construction First Engineering Co., Ltd. formed a consortium and won the EPC general contracting bid for the 3×660MW Ultra-Supercritical Coal-Fired Generator Unit Replacement and Expansion Project of Jiangsu Changshu Power Generation Co., Ltd. The winning bid amount is approximately 6.929 billion yuan, and the total project duration is approximately 48 months.
Investment and Financing:
36Kr learned that DEXIN Technology announced that its holding subsidiary, Anhui Hanpus, and the Nanqiao Economic Development Zone Management Committee intend to sign an "Investment Agreement". Anhui Hanpus plans to invest 100 million yuan in the Nanqiao Economic Development Zone Management Committee, with a planned land area of approximately 7,000 square meters, to build a high-end precision reducer motor and driver R & D and production project. After the project reaches production capacity, it is expected to achieve an annual output value of approximately 150 million yuan and an actual annual tax payment of approximately 4 million yuan.
36Kr learned that recently, "Maxeon Energy" completed a several hundred million yuan D+ round of financing. This round of financing is led by the Beijing Green Energy and Low-Carbon Industry Investment Fund, with the Beijing Future Science City Advanced Energy and Intelligent Manufacturing Industry Equity Investment Fund following the investment. It is introduced that Maxeon Energy is a distributed green energy aggregation service provider for the new power system.
On December 19 local time, the German Merck Group announced that it will invest more than €70 million to build a new advanced materials development center in the Shizuoka plant area in Japan. This latest investment brings Merck's total investment in the Shizuoka factory since 2021 to more than €120 million. The new advanced materials development center is expected to be operational in 2026. (Jiemian)
L'Oreal Announces the Acquisition of the Korean Skin Care Brand Dr.G
The French cosmetics giant L'Oreal said on Monday that it has signed an agreement with the Swiss retailer Migros to acquire the latter's skin care business in South Korea, Gowoonsesang Cosmetics, which includes Dr.G, the number one facial care brand in the South Korean cosmetics market. (Sina Finance)
New Products:
36Kr learned that recently, WeChat has been conducting grayscale testing of the "Send Gift" feature in WeChat Store and released the relevant usage guide. Except for the jewelry and education and training categories, other categories of WeChat Stores, for goods with an original price of less than 10,000 yuan, will default to supporting this feature. It is understood that SF Intra-City is actively building a WeChat gift delivery scenario solution to meet the urgent delivery needs of intra-city gifts. For scenarios with high time-sensitive requirements such as fresh aquatic products, high security requirements such as valuable gifts, and users' expectations to receive gifts faster, SF Intra-City has built an immediate delivery solution for merchants and orders where the shipping address and the recipient's address are in the same city.
36Kr learned that on December 23, Baichuan Intelligence released the Baichuan4-Finance, an all-link domain-enhanced large model. According to the introduction, through the industry's first domain self-constrained training solution, Baichuan4-Finance achieves the effect of simultaneously improving financial capabilities and general capabilities, greatly improving the overall usability of the financial scenario.
36Kr learned that currently, Huabei users can increase their credit limit by uploading certificates. The platform supports nearly 20 types of certificates, including professional certificates such as Teacher Qualification Certificate and Primary Accountant, language certificates such as TOEFL, IELTS, and Duolingo English Test, as well as honorary certificates such as school-level and provincial-level scholarships. Lin Jianan, the Chief Risk Officer of Ant Consumer Finance, said that in the past 10 years, Huabei's credit limit was unilaterally granted to users by Huabei. In the next 10 years, Huabei's credit limit will be interactive. On top of the basic credit limit, users can increase or decrease the credit limit through interaction.
Today's Views:
According to the news from the State Administration for Market Regulation on December 23, according to the statistical data of the National Organization Unified Social Credit Code Data Service Center, as of November 30, 2024, the total number of enterprises in China's digital economy core industry has reached 4.5741 million, an increase of 17.99% compared with the end of 2023, showing a rapid growth trend. From the perspective of industrial classification, the number of enterprises in China's digital technology application industry is 2.1669 million, the number of enterprises in the digital factor-driven industry is 1.9625 million, the number of enterprises in the digital product service industry is 236,300, and the number of enterprises in the digital product manufacturing industry is 208,200. Compared with the end of 2023, they have increased by 17.60%, 19.64%, 16.70%, and 8.92%, respectively. (CCTV News)
Economists Downgrade Eurozone's Economic Growth Forecast for 2025
The survey shows that the eurozone economy's recovery momentum next year will be lower than previously expected, with an expansion rate only slightly better than this year. Analysts surveyed predict that the eurozone economy will grow by 1% in 2025. Although the growth rate is higher than this year's estimated value of 0.8%, it is lower than the earlier forecast of 1.2%. They also lowered the growth forecast for 2026 from 1.4% to 1.2%. (Sina Finance)
Other News Worth Noting:
36Kr learned that Guojin Securities research report stated that the neutral impact of US tariffs on copper and aluminum exports is approximately 162,000 tons and 10,000 tons, accounting for less than 0.4% and 0.1% of the consumption level, respectively. In 2025, the rigidity of the aluminum supply side is more obvious. The new energy demand offsets the decline in real estate aluminum use and the possible high tariffs in the United States. The low inventory and the growth in demand level are expected to enlarge the upward space of aluminum prices; the tight situation of copper mines continues to exist, and new energy contributes the main consumption increment. Copper prices have a good upward elasticity, and it is expected that profits will continue to tilt towards the resource end. It is recommended to pay attention to targets such as China Aluminum, Tianshan Aluminum, Shenhuo Co., Ltd., and Yunlv Co., Ltd., which have a full industrial chain layout and growth potential, as well as copper enterprises with mine-end guarantees.
New Passenger Aircraft Malfunctions Shortly After Takeoff, Malaysia Airlines Grounds Airbus A330neo
It is reported that shortly after the introduction of a new Airbus model A330neo passenger aircraft by Malaysia Airlines, it was grounded due to technical problems not long after its maiden flight. The Malaysian Reserve newspaper quoted Malaysia Airlines CEO Izham Ismail as saying on the 23rd that the aircraft has been grounded for 48 hours. Malaysia Airlines has identified three technical problems with it, due to problems with the factory's production quality and delivery level. "We need Airbus and Rolls-Royce to investigate the root causes of these problems with the new aircraft," he said. "It is unacceptable for these problems to occur with a brand new aircraft. For me, this is embarrassing." (Xinhua News Agency)