Krypton Evening News | Chow Tai Seng closed 560 stores in a year; BASF will integrate its Asian polytetrahydrofuran business and shut down its plant in Ulsan, South Korea; China successfully launched the Yaogan-46 satellite.
Large Companies:
Chow Tai Seng Closed 560 Stores in a Year
Despite the continuous climb of gold prices, the profitability of gold and jewelry enterprises has declined. Many leading brands have begun to reduce the scale of their stores. Chow Tai Seng's latest financial report shows that as of September 30, 2025, the number of the company's terminal stores was 4,675, a net decrease of 560 compared with the same period last year. Among them, the number of franchised stores decreased by 380, becoming the main force in store closures. In the third quarter of 2025 alone, Chow Tai Seng closed 43 stores net, and franchised stores accounted for more than 80%.
Reports Say Samsung Suspended DDR5 Contract Price Quotations, Followed by SK Hynix and Micron
According to reports, the supply chain said that Samsung Electronics took the lead in suspending the contract price quotations for DDR5 DRAM in October, which triggered other memory manufacturers such as SK Hynix and Micron to follow suit. This will lead to a "shortage of supplies" in the supply chain, and the time for resuming price quotations is expected to be postponed to mid - November. Although it has become a market consensus that the contract prices of memory will rise in the fourth quarter, it was previously expected that the contract prices for the fourth quarter could be finalized before the end of October. However, Samsung has been reluctant to provide contract price quotations, directly telling downstream customers that "there is no goods for sale", resulting in a 25% surge in the spot price of DDR5 in just one week.
A Subsidiary of CATL Established a New Energy Technology Company in Honghe, Yunnan
36Kr learned that the Aiqicha App shows that recently, Times Qiji New Energy Technology (Honghe) Co., Ltd. was established. The legal representative is Wang Menghuai, and the registered capital is 5 million yuan. Its business scope includes research and development of emerging energy technologies, sales of new energy vehicle battery - swapping facilities, and research and development of online energy metering technologies. Shareholder information shows that the company is wholly - owned by Times Qiji Green Energy Technology (Kunming) Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of CATL.
Tesla will hold a shareholder vote this week to vote on CEO Elon Musk's compensation plan worth $1 trillion. However, recently, several consulting firms that provide shareholder voting advice for institutional investors, such as Glass Lewis and ISS, have publicly opposed this huge compensation plan. This has also triggered a war of words between Musk and them. Musk said: "I've been working hard here to build a 'robot army', but I might be kicked out of the company because of the extremely stupid advice from ISS Consulting and Glass Lewis Consulting. They don't understand anything at all."
Industry insiders revealed that TSMC has notified customers that since September, it has launched a four - year consecutive price increase plan for advanced processes below 5 nanometers. The industry describes this as "the first long - term price increase action since the AI era". Chip designers pointed out that TSMC's price increase this time may mean a gradual reduction in the production capacity of mature processes above 7 nanometers, and AI, servers, and high - performance computing (HPC) applications will be the main beneficiaries. Outsiders observed that TSMC's rare launch of a four - year consecutive price increase coincides with MediaTek's statement in its earnings conference that "it will adjust chip prices to reflect costs", and it is expected to trigger the next wave of chip price increases. TSMC did not respond to the price increase rumors, but market research institutions pointed out that with the prevalence of global inflation and the increase in TSMC's overseas factory construction and production costs, in order to maintain a high gross profit margin, it is estimated that the prices of TSMC's advanced processes will increase by about 5 - 10% starting from 2026.
Tesla Plans to Purchase $2 Billion Worth of Energy Storage Batteries from Samsung SDI in Three Years
According to a report by the Korea Economic Daily on Monday, South Korea's Samsung SDI has reached an agreement with Tesla to supply energy storage system (ESS) batteries worth more than 3 trillion won (about $2.11 billion) to it in three years. The newspaper cited a battery industry source who requested anonymity. Samsung SDI said that the relevant matters have not been finalized yet. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
36Kr learned that some investors asked whether the company could consider building or acquiring polysilicon production lines to take the initiative into its own hands, as upstream polysilicon manufacturers have seriously speculated on prices in recent months. Canadian Solar said on the interactive platform that there is an excess supply of production capacity in the current polysilicon sector, and the company has no plan to build or acquire polysilicon production lines for now.
BASF Will Integrate Its Asian Polytetrahydrofuran Business and Close Its Ulsan Plant in South Korea
On November 3, global chemical giant BASF announced that it will integrate its Asian polytetrahydrofuran (PolyTHF) business into its Caojing base in China and stop the production of polytetrahydrofuran at its Ulsan chemical base in South Korea. BASF said that the closure plan is expected to be completed in 2026.
New Products:
Elon Musk Announced the Launch of a New Encrypted Communication Platform, X Chat
Elon Musk announced in a recently broadcast podcast that he will launch a new encrypted communication platform called "X Chat", which is expected to be launched in the next few months and will be simultaneously connected to the existing X social platform. He said that the team has "rewritten the entire message transmission architecture" with the goal of creating the "most unbreakable" communication method, using a peer - to - peer approach similar to Bitcoin for end - to - end encryption.
Doosan Robotics Launched the Home Intelligent Agent Robot Rover X1 at a Price of 7,499 Yuan
36Kr learned that according to Doosan Robotics, Doosan officially launched the world's first home intelligent agent robot, Rover X1, at a price of 7,499 yuan.
Investment and Financing:
Geely Acquired a 26.4% Stake in Renault Brazil
On November 3, Renault Group and Geely announced the signing of a final agreement. According to the agreement, Geely officially acquired a 26.4% stake in Renault Brazil. Renault Group remains the controlling shareholder and will continue to include it in its consolidated financial statements. As a minority shareholder, Geely can now share the industrial and commercial resources of Renault Brazil. Geely's EX5 electric SUV will enter the Brazilian market through exclusive brand dealerships operated by Renault's dealer network.
Today's Views:
Nobel Chemistry Prize Winner Michael Levitt: Uses DeepSeek and Kimi Every Day
36Kr learned that on November 2, at a science and technology innovation and development conference held in Changsha, Nobel Chemistry Prize winner Michael Levitt said in his speech that he uses AI software from China such as DeepSeek and Kimi every day, as well as products from the United States such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. Michael believes that AI is helpful for everything. He suggests freely trying artificial intelligence and maintaining the innocence of an 8 - year - old child, and learning to ask questions to artificial intelligence.
Other Noteworthy News:
At today's (November 3) regular press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, spokesperson Mao Ning said that China has decided to extend the visa - free policy for countries such as France until December 31, 2026. In addition, China will waive visas for Sweden from November 10, 2025, to December 31, 2026. For specific information, please follow the information released by the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chinese embassies and consulates abroad.
China Successfully Launched the Yaogan - 46 Satellite
At 11:47 on November 3, China used a Long March 7A carrier rocket at the Wenchang Space Launch Site to successfully launch the Yaogan - 46 satellite into space. The satellite successfully entered the preset orbit, and the launch mission was a complete success. The Yaogan - 46 satellite is mainly used in fields such as disaster prevention and mitigation, land resource surveys, and water conservancy and meteorology. This mission is the 605th flight of the Long March series of carrier rockets.
China's Largest - Capacity Thermal Power Plant Went into Operation Today
It was learned from the China Energy Group that after a 168 - hour full - load trial operation, Unit 9 of Beilun Power Plant in Ningbo, Zhejiang, was successfully put into operation. Since then, Beilun Power Plant has become China's largest - capacity thermal power plant, and its power - generation capacity ranks first among thermal power plants in the country.