Krypton Evening News | "MedicineBenefit Insurance - Biomedical Industry Ecological Integration Plan" Released; Domestic Video Large Model Vidu 2.0 Officially Launched; Morgan Stanley: The Prospects of the Communication and Network Equipment Industry in 2025 Are Positive.
Big Companies:
Nokia and Samsung Sign Multi-Year Patent License Agreement
Nokia stated on Wednesday that it has signed a multi-year patent license agreement with Samsung. Under this agreement, the latter utilizes Nokia's video technology in its TVs. The Finnish company said in a statement that Samsung will pay royalties to Nokia under the agreement. Nokia mentioned that the new agreement is independent of the existing 5G patent license agreement between Nokia and Samsung. (Sina Finance)
Tencent Meeting Supports Displaying Certified Identities to Enhance Trust in Online Communication
36Kr learned that Tencent Meeting has newly added support for personal identity authentication and enterprise authentication. It can be certified as professional identities such as CEO, Senior Customer Manager, Software Engineer, Broker, etc., as well as personalized identities such as experts in various fields. During business cooperation, this helps to determine the true background of the other party and prevent identity fraud; for entrepreneurs and freelancers, when providing services online, displaying the certified identity can effectively enhance the trust of customers.
36Kr learned that on January 15, Kuaishou launched the 2025 Spring Festival campaign, continuing the theme of "Kuaishou Has the Flavor of the Year", launching interactive gameplay such as shaking the fortune tree to grab gold and receive red envelopes, and launching a series of rich and diverse New Year-themed activities with platform characteristics. During this period, Kuaishou E-commerce, Local Life, and Commercialization will also launch activities such as "Spring Festival Does Not Close" and "New Year Group Buying Festival" to fully meet the needs of users, brands, and merchants, and boost the consumption boom during the Spring Festival.
Xiaomi Releases New Phones in South Korea, Says It Has No Plans to Launch Electric Vehicles for Now
The Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi officially launched its flagship phone products in South Korea on Wednesday, marking the company's official business launch in the country. Xiaomi held its first press conference in Seoul on the same day, showcasing its latest two smartphones, Xiaomi 14T and Redmi Note 14 Pro 5G. The company plans to successively launch other products such as smartphones, TVs, wearable devices, and robot vacuum cleaners in South Korea before February next year. At the same time, Xiaomi said that it has no plans to launch electric vehicles in the South Korean market in the near future and will fully enter the Chinese electric vehicle market in the next three years. (Sina Finance)
"Medicine Welfare Insurance · Biomedical Industry Ecological Integration Plan" Released
36Kr learned that on January 15, the "Medicine Welfare Insurance · Biomedical Industry Ecological Integration Plan" was released. Yishu Health, Shengdi Pharmaceutical, Ping An Property & Casualty Insurance, China Life Property & Casualty Insurance, Jintai Property & Casualty Insurance Zhou Wei, and Yiduoyun jointly signed the strategic agreement for the "Medicine Welfare Insurance · Biomedical Industry Ecological Integration Plan". Song Yiran, the founder and CEO of Shanghai Yishu Health Technology Co., Ltd., said that the release of "Medicine Welfare Insurance" will provide patients with medical and medication security throughout their life cycle, effectively reducing the economic burden on patients. At the same time, by forming an industrial agglomeration effect, it will promote the rapid development of the biomedical industry and enhance the vitality of the regional economy.
36Kr learned that on January 10, Yonghui Supermarket's first self-adjusted store in Tianjin learning from Pangdonglai - Tianjin Airport Economic Zone SM Plaza Store opened. As of January 14, the store's cumulative sales in the five days since its opening reached 12.36 million yuan, setting a new national record for performance in adjusted stores. It is understood that after the adjustment, Yonghui Supermarket deeply learned the business philosophy of Pangdonglai, comprehensively transforming to quality retail in terms of products, services, and environment. The monthly salary of employees has been increased from 4,000 yuan to more than 5,000 yuan. Next, Yonghui Supermarket will actively promote the national adjustment work to help the transformation and upgrading of the retail industry. It is expected that before the Spring Festival, the number of adjusted stores of Yonghui Supermarket nationwide will exceed 40.
China Railway Group: Railway 12306 Has Smoothly Passed the Peak of Pre-Festival Ticket Sales
China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. announced that as of 8:30 am on January 15, Railway 12306 has cumulatively sold 120 million tickets during the Spring Festival travel period, and the system has maintained safe and stable operation. (Xinhua News Agency)
Suzuki Motors Focuses on Producing Vehicle Biogas Fuel from Cow Dung in India
It is reported that the Japanese automaker Suzuki Motors is fully utilizing cow dung to produce biogas fuel for vehicles in India. The automaker is focusing on achieving carbon neutrality through means other than electric vehicles, or reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero. (Jiemian)
New Products:
Miniso Collaborates with "Black Myth: Wukong" to Release New Products
36Kr learned that on January 15, the Miniso × "Black Myth: Wukong" joint theme store opened, and the official derivatives of "Black Myth: Wukong", "Black Myth BLACKMYTH", were launched in the stores of Miniso in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Chengdu. Miniso officially announced that it has become the exclusive global offline sales channel for the official derivatives of "Black Myth: Wukong". This collaboration is a strong alliance between Miniso and "Black Myth: Wukong". It is understood that Miniso has collaborated with more than 150 globally renowned IP images.
Domestic Video Large Model Vidu 2.0 Officially Released
36Kr learned that recently, the domestic video large model Vidu 2.0 was officially released. It is understood that compared with the previous version, the generation speed of Vidu 2.0 has further improved, from 30 seconds to 10 seconds, an increase of three times. Ideally, it only takes 5 minutes to generate video materials sufficient for a 1-minute duration. According to statistics, since its global launch at the end of July 2024, Vidu's user number exceeded one million in just 20 days, and exceeded ten million in 100 days.
Tencent Meeting Upgrades to Launch AI Assistant Pro
36Kr learned that on January 15, Tencent Meeting announced a product upgrade covering several key functional points. In terms of intelligence, based on Tencent Hunyuan Large Model, Tencent Meeting AI Assistant Pro was launched; in terms of organizational collaboration, the organizational collaboration ability was enhanced, supporting adding to the address book, calling, and selecting people, and allowing all users to create an organization within Tencent Meeting; at the same time, it supports users to display the certified identity externally to help enhance the trust in online communication. It is understood that these upgrades are aimed at improving the efficiency of online collaboration and bringing users a more intelligent, efficient, and convenient meeting experience.
Investment and Financing:
"Hangjing Innovation" Completes Hundreds of Millions of Yuan in B++ Round Financing
36Kr learned that according to the official WeChat account of GSR United Capital, the heavy-duty drone enterprise "Hangjing Innovation" announced that it completed hundreds of millions of yuan in B++ round financing in December 2024. This round of financing was jointly invested by Beijing Commercial Aerospace and Low-altitude Economy Fund, Liangxi Science and Technology Innovation Industrial Mother Fund (managed by Bohua Capital), Hainan Hecheng Aerospace Industry Fund (Shandong Industrial Investment Capital), Hecheng Xinhang Shandong Low-altitude Fund, and Shoufa Development Relay Fund. Yuanhang Capital continued to increase its investment as an existing shareholder. After this round of financing, the company will increase its investment to expand the production plant, upgrade production and testing equipment, and upgrade the production line to continuously improve production capacity.
"qingna Technology" Obtains Over 100 Million Yuan in Pre-A Round Financing
36Kr learned that "qingna Technology" officially announced that it has recently obtained over 100 million yuan in Pre-A round financing. This round of financing is led by Yunhe Fangyuan, and Kaiyi Capital participates in the investment and serves as one of the main financial advisors for this round of financing. This round of funds will be mainly used to build a 2GWh large cylindrical sodium-ion battery mass production line in Guangde, Anhui, and for R & D and operational investment. It is understood that the core team of Qingna Technology entered the sodium-ion battery field in 2019 and successfully developed the industry's first fully tabbed steel shell large cylindrical fully automatic production line.
Today's Views:
36Kr learned that Morgan Stanley released a research report on the communication and network equipment industry. The communication spending environment will improve in 2025, and the broader IT budget will be healthier. The survey results show that the communication industry is expected to grow by 2.9% in 2025, higher than previously expected. In addition, the overall IT budget is expected to grow by 3.7% in 2025, also higher than previously expected. The network equipment segment will receive priority in the IT budget, and is expected to have the largest spending growth of 4% in 2025. In an environment with a supportive budget in 2025, Morgan Stanley believes that the network equipment remains an area where incremental funds are invested and maintains a positive bias.
The Information Office of the State Council held a series of press conferences on "The Achievements of China's High-Quality Economic Development". At the conference, Li Gang, Director of the Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce, said that new types of consumption should be cultivated and expanded to stimulate consumption vitality. All localities should be guided to develop the debut economy according to local conditions, vigorously develop digital consumption, green consumption, and healthy consumption, innovate diversified consumption scenarios, and actively cultivate new consumption growth points. (China.org.cn)