Krypton Evening News | Tesla's Optimus starts large-scale recruitment; South Korea's LG Energy exits the electric vehicle battery investment project in Indonesia; the National Press and Publication Administration announced the approval information of domestic online games in April, with a total of 118 games approved in April.
Large Companies:
Tesla's Optimus Starts Large-Scale Recruitment
Tesla's recruitment page shows that there are 78 positions related to the robot Optimus in the United States alone. Ashish Kumar, the head of Optimus AI, and Julian Ibarz, a senior manager of Optimus AI, also posted recruitment messages on the X platform. Ashish Kumar reposted a relevant video posted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and said, "We plan to expand reinforcement learning simulation training to operational tasks in the next few months. The initial results will give rise to dexterous robot experts. My team is also building general robot strategies using robot and general Internet video data. These two tasks are key steps towards general robot intelligence."
Xianyu Launches "Export to Domestic Market" Support Program
36Kr learned that on April 21, Xianyu launched a "Export to Domestic Market" support program, offering four measures to small and medium-sized foreign trade merchants and individual sellers, including "green-channel access to Xianyu's small shops, exclusive certification for 'foreign trade shops', a 'Preferred Foreign Trade' section on the Xianyu homepage, and the creation of a Xianyu Foreign Trade Festival" to help them digest inventory, open up new sales channels, and quickly shift from foreign to domestic markets. Currently, Xianyu has set up a fast-track access channel for small shops, which is reviewed by dedicated personnel. Both small and medium-sized foreign trade merchants and individual sellers can apply for access with relevant qualifications in one click, and the entire access process can be completed within 24 hours at the earliest.
Today, at the strategic cooperation press conference between Guohua and CloudMinds, Huang Xiaoqing, the founder and CEO of CloudMinds, responded to recent questions about the company's layoffs. Regarding the issue of overdue employee salaries, Huang Xiaoqing said that they are actively and effectively resolving these issues. Should we solve them immediately or gradually? Our opinion is to solve them gradually because the first thing to solve is the company's development and survival issues. Even our employees don't want to see the company in trouble. They can wait. We definitely need to develop and survive. This is something I didn't learn before, that is, to learn to survive first and then develop. Now I've learned this lesson.
South Korea's LG Energy Exits Indonesian Electric Vehicle Battery Investment Project
South Korea's LG Energy Solution said on Monday that it has officially withdrawn from a $14.2 trillion Indonesian rupiah electric vehicle battery manufacturing project in Indonesia. At the end of 2020, LG Energy Solution (LGES) signed an agreement with the Indonesian government for the so-called "Indonesia Grand Project Package," which covered multiple investments in the electric vehicle battery supply chain. LG Energy Solution said in a statement, "Considering various factors including market conditions and the investment environment, we have agreed to officially withdraw from the Indonesia Grand Project Package (GP) project." The company also added, "However, we will continue to explore various cooperation channels with the Indonesian government, centered around the Indonesian battery joint venture HLI Green Energy."
36Kr learned that on April 20, Li-Ning's limited-time pop-up store, Li-Ning Nature Space, landed at the Yinshi Plaza on Chunxi Road in Chengdu. It is understood that Li-Ning starts from four aspects: raw materials, processes, recycling and reuse, and ecological cycle, and is committed to building a "full-link" for environmental products. Relying on technological innovation, it gradually implements and deepens the environmental protection concept in these four aspects. It is reported that Li-Ning has promoted the reuse of over 190 million recycled plastic bottles. As a professional sports brand, Li-Ning also uses environmentally friendly yarns in professional competition uniforms for basketball, badminton, table tennis and other sports. Each set of professional competition uniforms means that at least 10 plastic bottles have been recycled.
Xiongmao Laile: The Number of Nationally Signed Stores Exceeds 400
36Kr learned that according to the data of the chain hot pot brand Xiongmao Laile, as of April 2025, the number of nationally signed stores has exceeded 400, and the number of members has exceeded 5 million. It is reported that Xiongmao Laile focuses on the northern shopping mall channel and has reached cooperation with large chain shopping malls such as Wanda and Wuyue, which further helps the brand reduce miscellaneous fees and rent. Currently, the rent of Xiongmao Laile's stores accounts for only about 6%.
New Products:
CATL Releases Sodium-Ion Battery "Naxin" First Product, to Be Mass-Produced in June This Year
36Kr learned that CATL officially released a sodium-ion battery named "Naxin" and launched its first product, the CATL Naxin 24V Heavy Truck Start-Stop Integrated Battery, which will be officially mass-produced in June this year. It is revealed that CATL's sodium-ion battery can "neither catch fire nor explode" in experiments such as multi-sided extrusion, needle penetration, drill penetration, and battery sawing.
Thunderbird Releases 25 Models of 115-Inch TV, the Crane 7
36Kr learned that recently, Thunderbird officially released 25 models of 115-inch TV, the Crane 7. It is reported that the 25 models of 115-inch Thunderbird Crane 7 are equipped with a Huaxing HVA screen with a static contrast ratio of 7000:1, and the light control ability is 40% higher than that of traditional VA screens. Combined with MiniLED technology, it completely solves the problems of halo and light leakage. At the same time, Thunderbird is the first to standardize the 0.5% LR low-reflection film for ten-thousand-yuan-level TVs, which can achieve an overall reflectivity of 1.8%, effectively improving the picture performance and anti-reflection effect. The price is 39,999 yuan, making it the cheapest 115-inch TV on the market currently.
BYD Plans to Launch Light Electric Vehicles in Japan as Early as 2026
36Kr learned that according to reports, BYD plans to launch light electric vehicles in Japan as early as 2026.
Investment and Financing:
"Future Intelligence" Secures Tens of Millions of Yuan in Pre-A+ Round Financing
36Kr learned that on April 22, "Future Intelligence" announced the completion of a Pre-A+ round of financing worth tens of millions of yuan. This round of financing was jointly led by Qiming Venture Partners and Shanghai Guotou Futeng Capital. It is understood that this round of financing will be mainly used for overseas market expansion and innovative R & D of product forms.
Today's Views:
Yao Shangkun: China's AI Industry Forms a Complete Closed-Loop, Market Size May Exceed One Trillion in 2025
36Kr learned that Yao Shangkun, the chairman of Guoxiong Capital Co., Ltd., said externally that China's artificial intelligence industry has formed a complete closed-loop of "computing power - model - application," and the growth momentum has shifted to the drive of the scientific and technological internal cycle. He pointed out that since 2018, China has made breakthroughs in key technology fields such as computing, storage, and algorithms. The scale of intelligent computing power reached 725.3 EFLOPS in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 74.1%. It is expected to exceed 1037.3 EFLOPS in 2025, systematically supporting the industry's anti-risk ability. Other Noteworthy News:
ECB Governing Council Member Muller: Tariffs and German Spending May Push Up Inflation
Madis Muller, a member of the European Central Bank's Governing Council, warned that US trade tariffs and increased German public spending could trigger inflation. "Financial markets expect the ECB to cut interest rates further, but in my view, we need to carefully assess the inflation outlook," Muller told Estonian radio on Monday. "There is no consensus on what decision to make next." Muller said last week that monetary policy no longer constrains economic growth.
Other Noteworthy News:
36Kr learned that the National Press and Publication Administration released the approval information for domestic online games in April, and a total of 118 games were approved in April.
The First China-Europe Rail-Air Intermodal Train in the Country Arrives in Urumqi for Transfer
After a 4,500-kilometer railway journey, the first China-Europe rail-air intermodal train in the country arrived in Urumqi on the morning of April 21 and will be transferred from rail to air for transportation to Europe here. The train departed from Guangzhou International Port Station on April 18 and arrived at Sanping Station in Urumqi after 66 hours of operation. It will be quickly transferred to the air logistics port of Urumqi Tian Shan International Airport and then transported to Europe by air freight charter. Previously, cross-border e-commerce goods from South China to Europe were mostly first transported by car to Urumqi for assembly and then transferred to air for flight to Europe.