8:01 AM | The first-instance verdict of the case where a junior high school student in Handan, Hebei was killed has been announced; Another passenger plane of Jeju Air in South Korea has a landing gear malfunction; Huawei offers a reward of 3 million yuan to solve difficult problems.

Listing in Progress

Numans

36Kr learned that Numans announced that the company plans to offer 250 million shares in the Hong Kong IPO; the prospectus will be available from December 30, 2024 to January 7, 2025; the offering price will be HK$0.80 - HK$1.09 per share, the trading unit is 8,000 shares per lot, and CTS International Financing is the sole sponsor; it is expected that the shares will begin trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on January 10, 2025.

Brain Dynamics Aurora

36Kr learned that Brain Dynamics Aurora announced that the company plans to offer approximately 181 million shares in the Hong Kong IPO; the offering will be from December 30, 2024 to January 3, 2025; the offering price will be HK$3.22 per share, and the trading unit is 1,000 shares per lot. China International Capital Corporation and SPDB International are the joint sponsors; it is expected that the shares will begin trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on January 8, 2025.

Yibin Bank

36Kr learned that Yibin Bank announced that it plans to offer 688.4 million shares in the Hong Kong IPO. The offering period is from December 30, 2024 to January 8, 2025; the offering price will be HK$2.59 - 2.72 per share, and the trading unit is 1,000 shares per lot. CCB International and ICBC International are the joint sponsors; it is expected that the shares will begin trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on January 13, 2025.

TOP3 Big News

The First Instance Verdict of the Case of a Junior High School Student Killed in Handan, Hebei: One Person Sentenced to Life Imprisonment

On December 30, the Intermediate People's Court of Handan City, Hebei Province, publicly pronounced the first instance verdict in the case of the defendants Zhang XX, Li XX, and Ma XX for intentional homicide. The defendant Zhang XX was sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime of intentional homicide, with the deprivation of political rights for life; the defendant Li XX was sentenced to twelve years in prison for the crime of intentional homicide; the defendant Ma XX is not subject to criminal punishment according to law. The Intermediate People's Court of Handan City and the People's Procuratorate of Handan City put forward judicial suggestions and procuratorial suggestions. After being evaluated and approved by the Special Education Guidance Committee, the relevant public security organs and education departments decided to conduct special corrective education for Ma XX in accordance with the law. (China News Network)

Another Jeju Air Passenger Plane in South Korea Has Landing Gear Malfunction

It is reported that after a Boeing 737 passenger plane of Jeju Air in South Korea deviated from the runway and exploded when landing at Muan Airport on December 29, another Boeing passenger plane of the same model of Jeju Air had a landing gear malfunction and turned back shortly after takeoff on the morning of the 30th, and finally landed successfully. According to CCTV Finance and Economics, Jeju Air in South Korea disclosed on the 30th that about 68,000 tickets of Jeju Air were cancelled after the 7C2216 flight accident. The tourism industry in South Korea generally believes that this Jeju Air passenger plane accident will have a huge impact on the tourism industry. (CCTV News, CCTV Finance and Economics)

Huawei Offers 3 Million Yuan to Solve Challenging Problems

Recently, Huawei announced the global launch of the 2024 OlympusMons Awards problem solicitation with a reward. This is the fifth year that Huawei has held this global event. In 2024, the awards have set up 2 OlympusMons Awards (with a bonus of 1 million yuan each) and 5 Olympus Pioneer Awards (with a bonus of 200,000 yuan each). The winners/teams will establish technical communication channels with Huawei and receive scientific research support.

According to Huawei, the "OlympusMons Awards" were established by Huawei since 2019, aiming to guide the basic theoretical research direction in the global data storage field, break through key technical problems, accelerate the industrialization of scientific research results, and achieve a win-win situation of industry-university-research cooperation. (Securities Times)

Big Companies/Big Events

The person in charge of Jianying, Zhang Xiaoran, has resigned

36Kr has learned from multiple independent sources that Zhang Xiaoran, the person in charge of the Jianying product, has currently resigned. According to public information, Zhang Xiaoran graduated from Wuhan University of Science and Technology and The Chinese University of Hong Kong. It is understood that she was an early member of Faceu, the predecessor of Jianying, and joined ByteDance after Faceu was acquired by ByteDance. Since the end of 2021, she has been responsible for the overall products and businesses including Jianying, Xingtu, CapCut, etc., accompanying this business from the initial stage to the period of rapid development. At the beginning of 2024, Zhang Nan, the former CEO of Douyin, announced her departure from Douyin to lead the Jianying and CapCut businesses, and Zhang Xiaoran reported directly to Zhang Nan. When verifying the above news with ByteDance, there is no response for the time being.

The New Regulation on the Unified Charging Interface in the EU Comes into Effect, Requiring Mobile Phones to Use Type-C Charging Interface

On December 28 local time, the new regulation on the unified charging interface passed by the European Commission in 2022 officially came into effect. Electronic device manufacturers are obligated to equip the products sold in the 27 EU countries with a USB-C (that is, USB Type-C) interface, and the old devices that cannot be adapted will gradually be "delisted".

Before the new regulation came into effect, most electronic products in the EU market have already adopted the USB-C interface. Although Apple is "reluctant", it has to "surrender" to the EU. The company's new generation of mobile phone products launched in 2023 have begun to use USB-C. On December 28, the European Commission posted on the social platform X: "It's time to adopt this charger (USB-C)... This means better charging technology, less electronic waste, and less hassle when looking for a charger." (Global Times)

South Korea's New Acting President Choi Sang-moo is Under Police Investigation

According to the notification of the National Investigation Headquarters of the South Korean police on the 30th, due to the previous report by South Korean civic groups against South Korea's Acting President Choi Sang-moo and others, accusing them of being suspected of planning to participate in and assist in carrying out internal unrest, abuse of power, dereliction of duty, and violations of the "National Intelligence Service Act" and other acts. Currently, Choi Sang-moo and others have been placed under police investigation.

On the afternoon of December 27, after the South Korean National Assembly passed the impeachment motion against Han De-zhu, Choi Sang-moo, who was then the South Korean Vice Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Strategy and Finance, assumed the position of acting president. When the police initiated the investigation into Choi Sang-moo this time, only three days had passed since Choi Sang-moo took over as acting president. (CCTV News)

Haizhijidian: Suspected of manipulating the securities market, Chairman Tang Xiuqing fined 109 million yuan

36Kr learned that Haizhijidian announced that it was previously disclosed that the controlling shareholder, actual controller, Chairman Tang Xiuqing, and the company's director, board secretary, deputy general manager, and chief financial officer Xiao Yonglin were filed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission for suspected manipulation of the securities market. The company received a notice from Tang Xiuqing and Xiao Yonglin, and learned that they received the "Administrative Penalty Decision" from the China Securities Regulatory Commission. The China Securities Regulatory Commission decided to fine Tang Xiuqing 109 million yuan and Xiao Yonglin 2 million yuan.

The three major U.S. stock indexes closed lower collectively, and popular Chinese concept stocks generally declined

36Kr learned that as of the close on December 30, the three major U.S. stock indexes collectively declined. The Nasdaq fell by 1.19%, the S&P 500 index fell by 1.07%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.97%. Most large technology stocks declined. Tesla fell by more than 3%, Intel fell by more than 2%, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta fell by more than 1%, Google and Netflix declined slightly; Nvidia rose slightly.

Popular Chinese concept stocks generally declined. Kingsoft Cloud fell by more than 8%, XPeng Motors fell by more than 6%, Li Auto fell by more than 4%, Pinduoduo fell by more than 3%, Baidu, JD.com, Bilibili, and NIO fell by more than 2%, and Alibaba fell by more than 1%.

Biden Says He Regrets Withdrawing from Presidential Election

It is reported that US President Biden, who is 82 years old, privately expressed regret over his decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential election. He firmly believes that if it weren't for the pressure from within the Democratic Party, he would have been fully capable of defeating Trump twice.

In addition to regretting withdrawing from the campaign, Biden also privately expressed dissatisfaction with Merrick Garland, the Attorney General he appointed. He believes that Garland was slow in prosecuting Trump, resulting in the charges being eventually dropped, while being overly aggressive in prosecuting his son Hunter Biden. (Chang'an Avenue Insight, Reference News)

Dong Yuhui's newly established company names have been trademarked

The QiChaCha APP shows that recently, Yuhuitongxing (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. has applied to register several trademarks such as "Zhongnan Yuantiao", "Changge Youhe", "Zisanxing", and "Lanzhichunxu", with the international classifications involving scientific instruments, leather goods, etc. Currently, the trademark statuses are all in the application for registration. It is worth noting that recently, Dong Yuhui has successively established Zhongnan Yuantiao (Xi'an) Technology Co., Ltd., Changge Youhe (Beijing) Technology Partnership (Limited Partnership), Zisanxing (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd., and Lanzhichunxu (Xi'an) Technology Co., Ltd. (Oriental Finance)

Huawei Suddenly Drops Prices: Huawei Pura 70 Ultra with a Maximum Discount of 2,000 Yuan

On December 29, a reporter from China Securities Journal conducted an on-site investigation at the Huawei flagship store and found that recently, several mobile phone models such as the Huawei Pura 70 series and Mate X5 have launched price reduction and promotion campaigns. Among them, the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra has a maximum discount of 2,000 yuan, and the Mate X5 has a discount of 2,500 yuan. The market research institution CINNO stated that in terms of market share, in the third quarter, Huawei's foldable phone sales were approximately 1.12 million units, with a year-on-year growth of 97%. Its market share in the domestic foldable phone market increased by 2.9 percentage points year-on-year, defending its position as the top seller in the domestic foldable phone market. In the high-end foldable phone market priced above 10,000 yuan, in the third quarter of this year, Huawei's market share was as high as 85%. (China Securities Journal)

Starting from January 1 next year, the provident fund loan interest rate for existing housing in Beijing will be lowered

It is learned from the Beijing Housing Provident Fund Management Center that starting from January 1, 2025, the provident fund loan interest rate for existing housing in Beijing will be lowered. The existing housing loan refers to the individual housing provident fund loan for housing issued before May 18, 2024. Starting from January 1, 2025, it will be adjusted according to the corresponding first and second set of interest rates. (Beijing Daily)

During the Spring Festival travel rush, Railway 12306 pilots the launch of the "System Automatically Submits Ticket Purchase Orders" function

36Kr has learned that according to China Railway, on December 30, Railway 12306 (including the website, mobile client, the same below) further optimizes the pre-filling service of ticket purchase information, and opens a "Pilot Zone for Optimizing Pre-filled Ticket Purchase Information". In the ticket sales of the long-distance sections of the trains departing from and arriving at various stations in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong provinces to and from various stations in Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality, on the basis of pre-filling the ticket purchase information, the "System Automatically Submits Ticket Purchase Orders" function is piloted. Passenger friends can pre-fill the ticket purchase information and pre-pay the ticket price, and Railway 12306 will automatically submit the order for them according to the passenger's settings, making the ticket purchase more convenient.

Meituan Will Launch Anti-Fatigue Mechanism Nationwide

36Kr learned from Meituan that the rider anti-fatigue mechanism has started to be launched in major cities across the country. According to the notice received by Meituan riders, they will receive a reminder after riding for more than 8 hours, and then be reminded every hour after that; riders will be forced to log out after riding for 12 hours. According to the data and research results of the rider "anti-fatigue pilot" previously disclosed by Meituan, 99.82% of riders who normally ride in the pilot area are not affected, and only 0.18% of riders who continuously ride and trigger the rest clause. This measure effectively guarantees the riders' right to rest and prevents a very small number of extreme cases. Meituan also actively invites experts and riders to participate in the discussions to balance the demands of all parties.

Faraday Future Surges More Than 80% and Halts Trading

According to Sina Technology, on December 30, Faraday Future's stock price soared at the beginning of the US stock market. It is now up by more than 80% and has been suspended from trading. It has accumulated a gain of more than 51% last week. The company previously announced the completion of a new round of $30 million in financing, and a total of $60 million in financing has been obtained within three months. (Sina Technology)

McDonald's China: Will Increase Super Value Discounts in 2025

On December 29, McDonald's China officially announced at the "Fan Conference" that it will increase super value discounts in 2025. There are a total of four super value projects, including the Big Mac Combo with three items available throughout the year with quarterly new additions, the Custom Combo 1+1 available throughout the year with quarterly new additions, the Member Rewards Program will launch the "Monday McDonald's Savings" and "Saturday McDonald's Gold Delight" activities, and the McDonald's Gold Card will introduce the new benefit of "My 40% Off Freedom Combo". (Jiemian News)

De Beers Says: This Year Is the Worst Year for Diamond Sales

According to Sina Finance, De Beers' current diamond inventory is at its highest level since the financial crisis, as declining demand and intensified competition have put pressure on this industry giant. The company's CEO, Al Cook, said: "This year is a bad year for rough diamond sales." It is reported that for most of 2024, the value of the company's diamond inventory is approximately $2 billion. Cook once said at a press conference in 2023: "The reason we are hoarding these diamonds is that we believe that over time, diamond prices will rise, and we will be able to sell this supply to the growing demand that we believe will emerge." (Sina Finance)

BYD has launched a humanoid robot project with the code name "Yao Shun Yu"? The company responds: No comment

On December 30, it was reported that BYD's 15th Division has started a humanoid robot project with the internal code name "Yao Shun Yu", and the current team is in the recruitment stage. In response, a relevant person from BYD's Investor Relations Department said no comment. Everything is subject to the announcement, and the company has not yet involved in humanoid robot-related businesses. (21st Century Business Herald)

Will Tesla Cybertruck Start Selling in China in January Next Year? Official Denial

Recently, there are rumors in the market that Tesla Cybertruck will be officially launched in China, and it is planned to be officially on sale on January 1, 2025. On December 30, Tesla China said: "False news. There is no such plan on January 1." It is worth noting that the Tesla China official website has updated the product information of Cybertruck. There are a total of three configurations, namely Cyberbeast Beast Edition, All-Wheel Drive Edition, and Rear-Wheel Drive Edition. (Everyday Economic News Network)

Changan Automobile's Zhu Huarong: The European brand launch event will be held next year, officially entering the European market

On December 29, the 2025 Changan Automobile Global Partners Conference was held in Chongqing. Zhu Huarong, the chairman of Changan Automobile, pointed out that next year, the company will do five major things overseas: First, the Rayong factory in Southeast Asia will start production, and Changan's global strategy will officially enter the 2.0 stage; Second, the European brand launch event will be held to officially enter the European market; Third, the KD project in the CIS region (such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc.) will officially start production; Fourth, the establishment of the Brazilian subsidiary in Central and South America will be completed; Fifth, the comprehensive introduction of the three brands CHANGAN, DEEPAL, and AVATR in the Middle East and Africa will be completed. (Jiemian News)

Zhang Yongwei from the 100 People Forum on Electric Vehicles: All-solid-state batteries are expected to be used in small quantities in vehicles in the next 2-3 years

Zhang Yongwei, vice chairman and secretary-general of the 100 People Forum on Electric Vehicles in China, said on December 30 that currently, semi-solid battery technology is taking the lead in China. It is expected that the shipment volume of products with solid-state battery technology content (including in-vehicle and non-vehicle fields) will exceed 10 GWh by 2025. All-solid-state batteries are currently in the stage of core technology breakthrough and verification, and are expected to be used in small quantities in vehicles in the next 2-3 years. (Cailian Press)

UBTECH Responds to Executives Terminating Concerted Action: Respecting Shareholders' Different Plans for Share Disposal

In response to the significant drop in UBTECH's stock price, the company stated that it respects shareholders' different plans for the disposal of Pre-IPO shares based on their long-term optimism about the company. Previously, UBTECH announced that on December 29, 2024, Zhou Jian, the Chairman of the Board, Executive Director, and Chief Executive Officer of UBTECH, respectively entered into termination agreements with Zhao Guoqun, Xia Yongjun, Ms. Wang Lin, Xiong Youjun, and Xia Zuoquan to terminate the Concerted Action Party Agreement, effective as of December 29, 2024. UBTECH's stock price dropped by nearly 30% at one point during the trading session on December 30. Zhou Jian voluntarily committed to the company to continue the lock-up for one more year. (Caixin Lianhe)

JD Technology Announces the Implementation of the 20-Salary Plan

36Kr has learned that JD Technology has announced the implementation of the 20-salary plan: By 2025, the average salary of all employees will reach 20 salaries. This is also another large-scale salary increase plan implemented by JD Group at the end of 2024 after announcing the year-end bonus distribution plan for 2024 and the salary increase notice for more than 20,000 JD customer service staff. JD Technology is a business subsidiary of JD Group that focuses on providing technical services to customers, offering fintech products and technical services to cities, enterprises, financial institutions, and individual users.

"Big Shakeup" in SDIC Securities' Executive Team: 3 Out of 7 Executives Resign

Two months after the new general manager Wang Suwang officially took office, the executive team of SDIC Securities experienced a "big shakeup", with 3 out of 7 executives resigning. Recently, three core executives of SDIC Securities "resigned" - Due to the group's job transfer, Yang Chengsheng resigned as the Chief Financial Officer; Liu Chunliang and Wei Feng submitted written resignations for personal reasons. Liu Chunliang resigned as the Deputy General Manager and Board Secretary, and Wei Feng resigned as the Deputy General Manager of the company. Currently, only 4 executives remain in the executive column on the official website of SDIC Securities, and the information of Yang Chengsheng, Liu Chunliang, and Wei Feng is no longer visible. (China Fund News)

The Forefront of AI

Alipay Launches a New Generation of AI Visual Search Product "Take a Look"

36Kr has learned that based on its self-developed multimodal large model technology, Alipay has launched a new generation of AI visual search product "Take a Look". When users encounter something of interest, they can allow the AI to use the camera to identify flowers, plants, pets, trendy toys, serve as a portable guide for travel, query details of goods and medicines, and also interestingly interpret cute pet photos, baby photos, etc. Currently, this product has been launched on Alipay, and it can also be quickly accessed in the Zhixiaobao App.

Black Sesame Intelligence Releases Huashan A2000 Family Chip Platform

36Kr has learned that Black Sesame Intelligence announced the launch of its high-computing power chip platform specifically designed for the next-generation AI models - the Huashan A2000 Family. It is introduced that the Huashan A2000 Family includes three products: A2000 Lite, A2000, and A2000 Pro, which are respectively targeted at different levels of autonomous driving needs. A2000 Lite focuses on urban intelligent driving, A2000 supports all-scenario general intelligent driving, and A2000 Pro is designed for high-level all-scenario general intelligent driving.

Lingchu Intelligence Releases the First End-to-End Embodied Model Psi R0

36Kr has learned that Lingchu Intelligence has released the first end-to-end embodied model Psi R0 based on Reinforcement Learning (RL). This model supports the coordinated operation of two dexterous hands to perform complex operations. It combines and mixes multiple skills for training to generate an intelligent agent with reasoning capabilities, thereby completing and closing the loop of long-range dexterous operation tasks. Moreover, Psi R0 can also achieve generalization across items and scene levels.

CITIC Securities: DeepSeek V3 Released, Accelerating the Implementation of AI Applications

36Kr has learned that a research report from CITIC Securities points out that recently, the official release of DeepSeek-V3 has attracted widespread and high attention in the AI industry. Under the premise of ensuring the model's capabilities, its training efficiency and inference speed have been significantly improved. We believe that the release of the new generation model of DeepSeek means that the application of AI large models will gradually become more inclusive, helping the wide implementation of AI applications; at the same time, the significant improvement in training efficiency will also help increase the demand for inference computing power. We continue to be optimistic about the accelerated implementation opportunities of the AI industry chain, and it is recommended to focus on the three main lines of AI applications, AI Infra, and AI computing power.

Tencent ima Upgrades Knowledge Base: Supports Sharing and Launches Mini Program

36Kr learned that on December 28, the AI intelligent workbench ima.copilot (hereinafter referred to as ima) under Tencent upgraded its knowledge base, adding the ability of "Shared Knowledge Base" and launching the "ima Knowledge Base" mini program. Users can create a knowledge base in ima and share it for multiple people to use. In addition to connecting the knowledge base on the computer side, the "ima Knowledge Base" mini program also supports directly importing files, sharing, or adding to the knowledge base in WeChat. Users can conduct AI Q&A based on the knowledge base or the entire network through the mini program.

Investment and Financing

"X-ORIGIN-AI" Completes Multi-Million Yuan Angel Round Financing

36Kr has learned that recently, "X-ORIGIN-AI" has completed an angel round financing of several million yuan. This round of financing is led by Alpha Startups, with several industrial investors participating, and Ren Chen Capital serving as the exclusive financial advisor. The financing funds will be mainly used for technology research and development, talent recruitment, and market expansion.

"Yi Xiaoyao" Secures 10 Million Yuan in Angel Round Financing

36Kr has learned that "Yi Xiaoyao" has announced the completion of a 10 million yuan angel round of financing, led by Shenzhen Dongfang Huayuan Investment (Group) Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Dongfang Huayuan"). This round of financing has Shenzhen Huazheng Century Holding Co., Ltd. as the FA consultant. Shanghai Yi Xiaoyao Glasses Co., Ltd. was established in 2021, and its main business scope includes various products such as sunglasses, reading glasses, optical lenses, and multi-point defocus lenses. The 10 million yuan obtained this time will mainly be used to promote the further research and development and innovation of the company's existing technologies.

"X-Era AI" Completes Nearly 100 Million Yuan Pre-A Round Financing

36Kr learned that "X-Era AI" recently announced the completion of the Pre-A round of financing, with a financing amount of nearly 100 million yuan. This round of financing is jointly invested by investment institutions such as Yueke Financial Group, Pengcheng Vision Fund, and Redbird Sailing Fund. The funds will be mainly used to accelerate the research and development and application of related technologies such as multimodal large models and embodied intelligence.

"Suqian Times Energy Storage" Completes Series A+ Financing of Hundreds of Millions of Yuan

36Kr has learned that "Suqian Times Energy Storage" has completed Series A+ financing of hundreds of millions of yuan. This round of financing is led by Beijing Green Energy Fund, with Changping Energy Intelligent Manufacturing Fund, Nanjing Bangsheng Capital, and Beijing Zhilai Investment participating. This round of financing will mainly be used for production line expansion, R & D investment, and the delivery of several billion yuan orders for the Suqian Times Energy Storage Water-based Organic Flow Battery Project.

"Chasing Light Technology" Secures Nearly 100 Million Yuan in Series A Financing

36Kr has learned that recently, "Chasing Light Technology" has obtained nearly 100 million yuan in Series A financing. The investors in this round are the Industrial Fund of SPIC, Yida Capital, Suikai Investment, Guangzhou Development District Fund Group, and Beihang Investment. The financing funds will be mainly used for the mass production line of 650*550 m㎡ organic photovoltaic modules that is scheduled to start construction this year.

"Lanze Energy" Completes Hundreds of Millions of Yuan in Series A Financing

36Kr has learned that "Lanze Energy", a domestic green and sustainable fuel enterprise, announced the completion of hundreds of millions of yuan in Series A financing. This round of financing is jointly led by the National Green Development Fund and Shanghai Alliance Investment, with many new shareholders such as CAS Star, China Science and Technology Venture Capital, Pianxuan Fund, and Beijing Juxin participating. This round of financing is mainly used for the construction of Lanze Energy's green methanol and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) projects.

Cool Products

Nintendo Switch 2 Is Reportedly Scheduled to Be Released in March 2025

According to the Italian game website UAGNA, sources revealed that Nintendo Switch 2 is expected to be released on March 28, 2025. (Jiemian News)

Organized by｜ Wang Xinyi