9:01 AM | The design of a subway entrance in Guangzhou resembles a "coffin", and four people have been dealt with; Many domestic car companies respond to Tesla's slogan "Compare Anyway"; The US Supreme Court will decide whether TikTok will be shut down.

Going Public in Progress

Numans

36Kr learned that on January 10, Numans began trading after ringing the bell at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. According to the information in the prospectus, Numans plans to globally offer 250 million shares this time. It is understood that Numans is a well-known high-end maternal and infant nutrition brand in China, with professional agents in more than 30 cities across the country.

Top 3 Big News

The design of the entrance and exit of Guangzhou Huadiwan Metro resembles a "coffin". The company involved responded: Four people were dealt with

Recently, during the renovation process of the entrance and exit of Guangzhou Huadiwan Metro Station, its design shape and color resembled a "coffin", which caused widespread discussions online. Subsequently, the metro entrance with this shape was demolished overnight. The company involved quickly made a handling opinion on the "adverse impact" caused by this.

According to the news, the company decided to take measures such as "demotion", "deduction of quarterly performance bonuses", and "criticism in the company" against the relevant personnel. The specific handling situations are as follows: Zhu XX from the Planning, Design and Product Strategy Department, as the landscape designer of this project, bears direct responsibility for the incident. He is criticized in the company, demoted by one level, and his annual performance is unqualified. Li from the Planning, Design and Product Strategy Department, as the head of the department, bears direct responsibility for the incident. He is criticized in the company, demoted by one level, and his annual performance is unqualified. Yang from the Company's Business Management Team, as the vice general manager in charge of products, bears management responsibility for the incident. He is criticized in the company, demoted by one level, and his quarterly performance bonus is deducted. Wu XX from the Company's Business Management Team, as the co-general manager of the company, bears management responsibility for the incident. He is criticized in the company. (Jiupai News, Red Star News)

Many Domestic Automakers Respond to Tesla's Slogan "Just Compare"

On the morning of January 10th, Tesla's refreshed Model Y officially went live on the Chinese official website, and a promotional article titled "Refreshed Model Y, Just Compare" was released. Subsequently, major domestic new energy vehicle manufacturers also responded one after another. Among them, Lei Jun was the first to respond with a simple "Okay". Then, Zeekr, LeDao Auto, Avatr, Lynk & Co, and others stepped forward to respond, ready to take on the challenge for domestic electric vehicles.

It is understood that Xiaomi's second vehicle, YU7, has already been announced and is set to hit the market around June. This vehicle is precisely an SUV, and it has been compared with the Model Y ever since its announcement. In addition, Yu Chengdong also stated in his WeChat Moments that, based on the data from the materials, the Zhijie R7 still maintains a leading advantage, and he looks forward to conducting a detailed comparison after getting the actual vehicle. Yu Chengdong also mentioned that the Zhijie R7 has obvious leads in certain aspects, while Tesla may be making up for the problems and deficiencies of its past products. (Fast Technology)

The US Supreme Court Will Decide Whether TikTok Will Be Shut Down

At 10 a.m. on January 10, Eastern Time in the US, the US Supreme Court will hear the oral arguments on whether the "Ban if Not Sold" law violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution. The two sides of the oral arguments are TikTok and the US Department of Justice. Previously, TikTok sued the US Department of Justice, arguing that the "Ban if Not Sold" law violates the protection of freedom of speech in the US Constitution. Subsequently, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the "Ban if Not Sold" law in the US is in line with the US Constitution. Therefore, on December 16, 2024, TikTok and its parent company ByteDance submitted an emergency injunction application to the US Supreme Court, requesting a temporary suspension of the effectiveness of the "Ban if Not Sold" law. (CCTV News)

Big Companies/Big Events

12306 Responds to 3 Crashes in 4 Days: Suggests Re-logging In, Using Web Version or Buying Tickets Offline

According to Sina Finance, on January 10, many netizens posted that 12306 crashed again, with problems such as inability to log in, slow ticket purchasing, and even a blank screen. Before this, on January 6 and January 8, 12306 also experienced faults of varying degrees.

In response, the 12306 customer service stated that the situation on today (January 10) cannot be determined temporarily, and the problem has been feedback and recorded. Recently is the peak ticket selling period, and the system pressure is indeed relatively high. It is suggested that operations can be carried out through other methods to avoid the inability to purchase tickets. For example, after logging out of the account, try to log in again. You can also use the web version or go directly to the station to buy tickets. (Sina Finance)

The JD App undergoes a major revamp and enters the gray testing stage

Exclusive to 36Kr, JD initiated the App revamp project in the second half of 2024. The internal testing started in mid-to-late October, and it is still in the gray testing stage. A person from JD stated that the priority and significance of the revamp project can rank among the top 3 in the second half of 2024. After its launch, a notification was sent to all employees to collect feedback. Currently, for some users who are included in the gray testing, after opening the JD app, there are a total of 4 main entrances in the upper left corner of the homepage, namely "Special Deals", "Homepage", "Instant Delivery", and "New Products". However, for some users, the interface shows only 3 main entrances - removing "Special Deals" from the above. In short, "Special Deals" and "New Products" have become the anchors for JD to enhance the vitality of its retail business, while "Instant Delivery" remains the hope for creating incremental growth.

The flagship store responds to the closure of Moutai Ice Cream: No notice of opening the store has been received yet

Recently, it has been reported that Moutai Ice Cream stores in many places have begun to close. The Moutai Ice Cream team in the Guangzhou market has been disbanded, and relevant personnel have been dismissed. Moutai Liquor may completely withdraw from the ice cream market in 2025. On January 9, the reporter verified the above news with Moutai, but no response was received by the time of publication. An authorized online ice cream distributor confirmed to the reporter the news of the production halt of Moutai Ice Cream.

According to the iMoutai APP, several Moutai Ice Cream products show "Out of stock in stores and being replenished". The Moutai Ice Cream flagship store previously located in Henglong Mall in Wuhan has also gone bankrupt. Its staff told the reporter that the store closed around December 21, 2024. Regarding the reason for the closure, the other party said it was "the consideration of the company" and that no notice of opening the store has been received for the time being. (Jiupai News)

Dong Yuhui gained nearly 19 million followers in one year, topping the list of Douyin's live-streaming sales influencers in 2024.

It is reported that on January 9, "With Hui Together" marked its first anniversary of going live. As of the submission of this article on January 10, the number of followers of "With Hui Together" has reached 26.978 million, and the number of followers of Dong Yuhui's personal account has also reached 26.847 million.

According to a third-party data platform, as of January 7, "With Hui Together" has conducted approximately 621 live-streaming sessions in one year, with a total sales volume of over 9.3 billion yuan for live-streaming sales (excluding data from the storefront and group buying). This data tops the list of Douyin's live-streaming sales influencers in 2024. It is worth noting that the average price of goods sold throughout the year by "With Hui Together" is only 61.64 yuan, which is much lower than that of other top live-streaming rooms. (Sina Finance, E-commerce Daily)

Artificial customer service is listed as an urgently needed talent, and experts suggest that artificial customer service and AI customer service should be complementary and collaborative.

In recent years, the application scenarios of AI customer service have become increasingly diverse, but in many places, the positions of artificial customer service have been included in the list of scarce skilled occupations. According to the interviews conducted by the reporter, most of the artificial customer service practitioners come from rural areas, and it is a common phenomenon that the job pressure is high, the intensity is great, and the staff turnover is frequent. Then, how to make up for the shortage of artificial customer service? In this regard, experts suggest that the collaboration and complementarity between artificial customer service and AI customer service should be realized, and at the same time, the psychological support for artificial customer service should be done well to ensure the physical and mental health of practitioners. (Workers' Daily)

Ministry of Finance: Will appropriately increase the basic pensions for retirees and raise the basic pensions for urban and rural residents

Vice Minister of Finance Liao Min stated at the press conference on "The Achievements of High-Quality Economic Development in China" held by the Information Office of the State Council that key expenditures will be guaranteed. The structure of fiscal expenditures will be vigorously optimized, and the guarantee for key areas will be strengthened, with more emphasis on benefiting the people's livelihood, promoting consumption, and enhancing the momentum for development. In terms of benefiting the people's livelihood, the basic pensions for retirees will be appropriately increased, the basic pensions for urban and rural residents will be raised, the financial subsidy standards for medical insurance for urban and rural residents will be increased, and efforts will be made to increase residents' income. In terms of promoting consumption, we will fully utilize fiscal and taxation tools to support the implementation of special actions to boost consumption, increase the intensity of trading in old consumer goods for new ones, and innovate diversified consumption scenarios to make consumption more warm and convenient. (China.org.cn)

"Black Myth: Wukong" Reaches Strategic Cooperation with AliFish and Tmall under Alibaba Pictures

36Kr has learned that "Black Myth: Wukong" officially announced a strategic cooperation with AliFish, an IP operation management and commercialization development platform under Alibaba Group, and the Tmall Trendy Toys Industry. It is about to settle in Tmall. In the future, "Black Myth: Wukong" will join hands with AliFish to strengthen its brand influence in the IP derivative field, continuously enhance the IP value, and jointly explore more new ways to play with the IP. Relevant data shows that as an important part of Alibaba Pictures' IP derivative business, AliFish has currently reached cooperation with hundreds of high-quality IPs at home and abroad and nearly 10,000 brands and channel merchants.

Global Banking Industry May Lay Off 200,000 People Due to AI in the Next Three to Five Years

It is reported that as artificial intelligence encroaches on the work currently done by humans, the global banking industry will lay off up to 200,000 people in the next three to five years. According to a report released on January 9, chief information and technology officers surveyed said they expect an average net staff reduction of 3%. Tomasz Noetzel, a senior BI analyst and the report's author, said that back-office, middle-office, and operational departments may be at the greatest risk. (Sina Finance)

SAIC Motor and CATL Sign Deepened Strategic Cooperation Agreement to Jointly Develop Power Battery Products

36Kr has learned that, according to SAIC Motor, SAIC Motor and CATL recently signed a deepened strategic cooperation agreement. The two sides will further promote cooperation in multiple fields such as technological co-creation, the after-market of vehicles and batteries, overseas business expansion, and vehicle-battery separation. According to the agreement, the two sides will jointly develop power battery products suitable for SAIC Motor. CATL's innovative technologies such as Kirin Battery and Shenxing Battery will be preferentially applied to SAIC vehicle models, and SAIC will take CATL as the preferred partner for automotive power batteries.

The First Batch of Imported Foreign Fruits from the Mainland Directly Supplied to Macao

At 5 a.m. on January 10, a batch of 1,355 kilograms of fruits from Chile, Ecuador, Vietnam and other countries, after being supervised by Xiangzhou Customs under Gongbei Customs, was exported to Macao through Gongbei Port. This is the first time that the mainland has realized the "re-export" of foreign imported fruits to Macao, indicating that from then on, the outbound fruit packaging factories registered in the Gongbei customs area can carry out the business of supplying foreign fruits imported from the mainland to Macao. It is understood that on January 9, Gongbei Customs and the Municipal Affairs Bureau of Macao signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on the Cooperation in Inspection, Quarantine and Supervision of Imported Foreign Fruits". "The direct supply of imported fruits from the mainland to Macao" is precisely the reform achievement of implementing the supervision cooperation. (CCTV News)

The competition in the Spring Festival film schedule is fierce, and enterprises are stepping up their preparations.

The Spring Festival film schedule is approaching, and many movie fans are eagerly awaiting it. As of the press time on January 9, seven films have been scheduled for the 2025 Spring Festival. A field visit to several cinemas in Shanghai found that some cinemas have begun to promote Spring Festival films. Many interviewees said that there are various types of films to choose from in the 2025 Spring Festival schedule, and they have high expectations for the box office performance. Industry insiders said that this Spring Festival schedule brings together several sequels of highly popular films that have received favorable reviews in previous years, and the themes are diverse. It is expected to meet the diverse needs of the audience with high-quality content, and the total box office of the Spring Festival schedule is expected to be strong. In the long term, with the continuous support from the policy side and the country's encouragement of cultural and entertainment consumption, the supply and demand sides of the film industry are expected to continue to improve, promoting the fundamental improvement of the industry. (China Securities Journal)

The Cyberspace Administration of China solicits opinions: MCN institutions engaged in performances, programs and other activities should obtain relevant professional qualifications or service qualifications.

36Kr learned that the Cyberspace Administration of China publicly solicits opinions on the "Regulations on the Management of Related Business Activities of Multi-channel Distribution Service Institutions for Network Information Content (Draft)". The draft points out that the multi-channel distribution service institutions for network information content (MCN institutions) referred to in this regulation are institutions that settle in the network information content service platform and provide planning, production, marketing, brokerage and other related services for network information content producers. MCN institutions engaged in performances, programs and other activities should obtain relevant professional qualifications or service qualifications in accordance with laws and regulations.

The number of tourists entering the 26th Harbin Ice and Snow World has exceeded one million

36Kr learned that according to the WeChat official account of "Harbin Ice and Snow World", since the opening of the 26th Harbin Ice and Snow World on December 21, 2024, its popularity has been continuously rising, and tourists from all over the world have come in a continuous stream. As of 22:00 on January 9, 2025, on the 20th day of the opening, the number of tourists received by this Harbin Ice and Snow World has reached 1.03 million, exceeding the one million mark and setting a record for all previous sessions. The 26th Harbin Ice and Snow World takes "Ice and Snow with the Same Dream, Asia with One Heart" as its theme, and the design and construction of the park fully integrate the elements of the 2025 Harbin Asian Winter Games.

Apple is reported to strictly investigate internal corruption, and about 50 people have been fired

Tech media AppleInsider published a blog post on January 9, reporting that Apple has fired about 50 employees who abused the charity donation program to increase their personal income. Like other large companies, Apple has also launched a "Matching Gifts program", that is, after employees donate to non-profit organizations, Apple will make an equal matching donation.

The report said that some employees are suspected of collaborating with certain non-profit organizations to enrich themselves through this project. The non-profit organizations return the original donations to the employees, allowing the employees to actually obtain Apple's matching donations. The employees' false declarations may constitute tax fraud. This behavior not only violates the company's policies but may also violate the US tax law. Currently, the official report has not disclosed the specific amount of funds involved, but as the investigation deepens, more employees may be implicated. (IT Home)

Musk Says Tesla's Humanoid Robot Production May Increase 10-Fold by 2026

According to the news posted by Tesla Owners Silicon Valley on the social platform on January 8 local time, Musk said in a live interview that Tesla's humanoid robot Optimus will be the largest product ever. If everything goes smoothly, Tesla's humanoid robot production will increase 10-fold by 2026, with the goal of producing 50,000 - 100,000 humanoid robots in 2026, and then increase another 10-fold in the following year. (Xinyan Finance)

Inditex China Denies Zara's Exit from the Chinese Market

Recently, there were online rumors that the Spanish fast-fashion brand Zara has been closing stores intensively in the past year, with only about 20 stores remaining, thus predicting that Zara will withdraw from the Chinese market. The PR team of Inditex China, Zara's parent company, responded to this: "As of January 10, Zara operates more than 70 stores in the Chinese mainland market. Therefore, the online rumors that it has shrunk by more than 80 stores in the past year and plans to exit the Chinese market are untrue." (Jiemian News)

Elon Musk Calls for Mandatory Auction of OpenAI Shares in California and Delaware

According to media reports, a lawyer for Elon Musk has called on the attorneys general of California and Delaware to force OpenAI to auction a significant portion of its shares in the company, intensifying the fierce battle with the company's CEO, Sam Altman. Reports say that Musk's lawyer, Marc Toberoff, sent a letter on behalf of large artificial intelligence investors to the top legal officials in each state, expressing the hope to participate in an open and competitive bidding process for OpenAI's equity. According to a person familiar with OpenAI's thinking, OpenAI has no such auction plan. They added that the Musk camp is just "trying to create more chaos." (Yicai Global)

Macy's Announces It Will Close 66 Stores in the United States

On January 9 local time, Macy's announced on its official website that it will close 66 stores in the United States. This is part of the company's "Bold New Chapter" strategy. The strategy was announced in February 2024, and the company plans to close about 150 underperforming stores with the same name in the next three years. (Jiemian News)

Mercedes-Benz Claims That The New Car Adopts Geely Engine Is Untrue

On January 10, Oliver Britz, Senior Executive Vice President of Mercedes-Benz (China) Investment Co., Ltd. and responsible for Mercedes-Benz's R&D and procurement in China, stated that the engine of the new CLA model is 100% developed by Mercedes-Benz, and the rumor that it adopts the Geely engine is untrue. Another person from Mercedes-Benz China said that the CLA engine is produced in the Mercedes-Benz factory, but it will cooperate with Geely on engine parts. (China Business News)

LG Energy Solution to Exclusively Supply Cylindrical Batteries to Aptera Solar Electric Vehicle

On January 10, LG Energy Solution announced an exclusive partnership with the solar electric vehicle company Aptera Motors Corp. (Aptera) to supply it with cylindrical batteries. According to the previously signed memorandum of understanding, LG Energy Solution will exclusively supply 2170 cylindrical batteries from 2025 to 2031 to power Aptera's solar electric vehicle "Aptera", which is planned to be launched in the US market in 2025. (Jiemian News)

Ubisoft Expects Net Bookings to Decline, and the Release Date of "Assassin's Creed" to Be Delayed

Ubisoft Entertainment expects that due to its strategic evaluation still in progress, the company's net bookings for the third fiscal quarter will decrease, and the release time of its major title "Assassin's Creed" will also be postponed by more than one month. The French game manufacturer stated that under the pressure from investors to privatize it, the company has appointed major advisors for strategic evaluation and has postponed the release date of "Assassin's Creed" from February 14 to March 20. This is the second time the game's release has been postponed. (Sina Finance)

The Forefront of AI

Zhipu GLM Large Model Tops the Model Hallucination Ranking with a Fact Consistency of 98.7%

36Kr has learned that the Zhipu GLM-4-9B model ranks first in the large model hallucination ranking based on the hallucination evaluation model HHEM-2.1-Open, with a hallucination rate of 1.3%, surpassing the OpenAI GPT series and Google Gemini series, etc. Specifically, the Zhipu GLM-4-9B model has a fact consistency rate as high as 98.7%, an answer rate of 100%, and a hallucination rate of only 1.3%, ranking first among the 85 models evaluated.

Lingbao CASBOT Joins NVIDIA Inception Program

36Kr learned that recently, Lingbao CASBOT announced its official participation in the "NVIDIA Inception Program", which is a global ecosystem project provided by NVIDIA to accelerate the development of startups. It is introduced that Lingbao CASBOT will further optimize the perception, decision-making, and execution capabilities of robots to enhance the intelligence level of the products. Utilizing the Cosmos World Foundation Model platform for building physical AI to improve the training efficiency and product performance of robots.

Big Company Financial Reports

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's revenue increased by 33.9% year-on-year in 2024

On January 10, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company released its revenue report for December 2024. The consolidated revenue in December 2024 was approximately NT$278.163 billion, an increase of 0.8% compared to the previous month and 57.8% compared to the same period last year. The cumulative revenue from January to December 2024 was approximately NT$2.89 trillion, an increase of 33.9% compared to the same period last year. (Jiemian News)

Investment and Financing

Vulcan Completes Strategic Financing of Hundreds of Millions of Yuan

Recently, Ningbo Vulcan has completed strategic financing of hundreds of millions of yuan. In this round of financing, Hongtai Fund actively participated. The funds are mainly used for the purchase of expansion equipment and R & D expenditures, as well as the continuous construction of the company's scale effect and technical barriers. Founded in 1998, Vulcan is a national-level specialized and new "little giant" enterprise and a "manufacturing individual champion enterprise" that focuses on silicon carbide ceramic materials and products. The company is committed to providing customers with high-purity, large-size, complex-structured and high-precision silicon carbide structural ceramic products, which are widely used in fluid control, aerospace and military, semiconductors, photovoltaic and other fields. (Hongtai Family)

West Lake Robot Completes Nearly 100 Million Yuan Angel Round Financing

Recently, West Lake Robot announced the completion of nearly 100 million yuan in angel round financing. This round of financing is led by CVC Jinneng Fund under Jinko Group and Benchi Capital, with participation from multiple institutions such as Guangzhou Chengxin Venture Capital for follow-on investment. Angel round shareholder Angel Bay Venture Capital continues to increase its investment. The funds will be used for the evolution of the company's end-to-end embodied intelligent large model and the iteration of humanoid robot products, to complete the delivery of customer products and achieve commercialization. West Lake Robot's business started in December 2023. It is an embodied intelligence startup and also the first independent high-quality achievement industrial transformation and landing project in the field of artificial intelligence and robotics at West Lake University. (West Lake Robot)

Cool Products

NetEase Youdao Presents Youdao Dictionary Pen X7 Series at CES 2025

From January 7th to 10th, CES 2025 is held in Las Vegas, USA. NetEase Youdao showcases the AI large model learning hardware, Youdao Dictionary Pen X7 Series. It is introduced that the Youdao Dictionary Pen X7 Series is equipped with the native application Hi Echo of the "Zi Yue" educational large model and Youdao Xiaop, enabling offline large model translation and other functions. (Hotspot Technology)

Lenovo Releases New Gaming Handheld with AMD Z2 Go Processor

36Kr has learned that on January 9, during CES 2025, which attracts global attention in the technology industry, Lenovo released two new Legion Go S gaming handheld products. It is understood that in terms of processor configuration, players have two options. One is the AMD Z2 Go processor customized by Lenovo specifically for it, which can meet the operational needs of regular games and ensure stability; the other is the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor, paired with up to 32GB 7500MHz LPDDR5X RAM and a 3-cell 55.5Whr battery, which can provide stronger computing support for running large-scale games and handling multitasking.

Fastwheel Technology Launches the World's First Amphibious Manned Flying Motorcycle Skyrider X1

36Kr has learned that at CES 2025, the International Consumer Electronics Show, Fastwheel Technology officially launched the world's first amphibious manned flying motorcycle Skyrider X1. It is introduced that Skyrider X1 is equipped with 4 axes and 8 propellers, with a maximum flight speed of 100 kilometers per hour and a battery life of up to 40 minutes. It supports automatic route planning, can intelligently generate the optimal flight route according to the user's set goals, and automatically adjust flight parameters according to real-time weather and environmental changes. It is understood that the price of Skyrider X1 is controlled at $50,000, and the current order volume has exceeded 200 units.

Sorting｜Wang Xinyie