8:00 am, the 1st Krypton News Roundup: Xibei responds to across-the-board salary increases for frontline store employees; Google releases Gemini 3; Apple responds to reports of color fading on the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Today's Hot Topics Guide
Lei Jun: Xiaomi will release a new version of its end-to-end assisted driving system at the Guangzhou Auto Show.
Real estate state-owned enterprise Joy City is about to be officially delisted.
Zong Fuli was absent from the Wahaha distributors' conference.
Apple's star designer Abidur Chowdhury is reported to have left the company and joined an AI startup.
The tax authorities are cracking down on tax evasion through "income splitting".
Top 3 Big News
Xibei Responds to Pay Raise for All Frontline Staff in Stores
Media reports claim that affected by the negative public opinion related to the "Xibei - Luo Yonghao incident", frontline employees at some Xibei stores have encountered "online violence". Some stores even receive a dozen abusive calls every day. Xibei has set up a "Hardship Award" to comfort the employees. In response, Xibei's public relations department stated: "After the incident, Xibei has given an average monthly pay raise of 500 yuan per person to frontline employees starting from September. Partners who suffered online violence and extreme abuse during the incident will receive subsidies from the Hardship Award, and psychological counselors have been invited to provide counseling and follow - up for partners at some stores." (21st Century Business Herald)
Google Launches Gemini 3, Intensifying Competition with OpenAI
As search engine giant Google steps up its efforts to keep pace with ChatGPT developer OpenAI, the company has officially introduced its latest artificial intelligence model, Gemini 3. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google's parent company Alphabet, said in multiple blog posts published by Google on Tuesday that this new AI model can provide users with better answers when solving more complex problems, "getting you the results you need without excessive prompts."
Google stated that Gemini 3 Pro has achieved "unprecedented depth and finesse" in reasoning and multimodal capabilities, and has comprehensively outperformed its predecessor, 2.5 Pro, on almost all major AI benchmarks. It topped the LMArena list with a breakthrough score of 1501 Elo (the Elo rating system, used to measure the relative strength of models in blind - test battles), achieved a 37.5% score (without tools) in the "Humanity’s Last Exam," and delivered a top - notch performance of 91.9% in the high - difficulty scientific reasoning test GPQA Diamond. (Sina Finance, Tencent News)
Apple Responds to iPhone 17 Pro Max Losing Color When Wiped with Wet Wipes: High-Concentration Alcohol May Cause Paint Loss
On November 17th, the topic "iPhone 17 Pro Max Losing Color When Wiped with Wet Wipes" trended on social media and sparked heated discussions. Some accounts reported that an Apple user posted that after wiping their Starry Orange iPhone 17 Pro Max with an ordinary wet wipe, the coating on the camera edge and the frame peeled off in large areas, revealing the silver aluminum alloy substrate.
A reporter called Apple's customer service hotline in mainland China. The staff told the reporter that wiping with ordinary wet wipes would not affect the color of the device. However, wet wipes containing high-concentration alcohol or other corrosive liquids might cause paint loss. In addition, the staff said that Apple has not provided any operational reminders to customers in this regard for the time being. The staff also said, "Using normal tap water will definitely not have any impact." As of the time of publication, Apple has not responded to this incident. (Qianjiang Video)
Large Companies/Big Events
State - owned real - estate enterprise Joy City is about to be officially delisted
On November 17, Joy City Property Limited (00207.HK) announced that at the court meeting held today, the scheme shareholders who attended the court meeting in person or by proxy and voted had approved the resolution for privatization. Upon the scheme becoming effective, the listing status of Joy City Property Limited on the Stock Exchange is expected to be officially revoked on November 27. (Yicai Global)
Zong Fuli Absent from Wahaha Dealers Conference
On November 18th, Wahaha Group held its 2025 sales meeting (also known as the dealers conference). Xu Simin, the general manager of Wahaha, delivered a speech on behalf of the group, while Zong Fuli was absent from the event. Xu Simin stated that in the past year, the market environment has been complex, the global economic recovery has faced pressure, the consumption market has been iterating at an accelerated pace, and industry competition has become increasingly fierce. However, the more challenging the situation, the more the power of unity is demonstrated. "Wahaha has firmly stood at the peak of its performance in the past decade and achieved steady growth." (Jiemian News)
Yu Donglai no longer serves as the general manager of Fat Donglai, but still holds the positions of chairman and manager
36Kr learned that according to the Aiqicha App, recently, industrial and commercial changes have taken place in Xuchang Fat Donglai Trading Group Co., Ltd. Yu Donglai no longer serves concurrently as the general manager, but still holds the two positions of chairman and manager. At the same time, many senior executives have changed. Five directors, Chang Yuqing, Wang Lizeng, Guo Juntao, Wang Dewei, and He Yu, have left, Fang Yajun has been added as the new director, Feng Yanjun has been appointed as the chairman of the supervisory board, Wang Hui has been appointed as the financial director, and Jian Kaige has been appointed as the supervisor.
Lei Jun: Xiaomi will release a new version of end-to-end assisted driving at the Guangzhou Auto Show
36Kr learned that Lei Jun posted that a new version of Xiaomi's end-to-end assisted driving - HAD Enhanced Edition will be released at 9 a.m. on November 21st at the Guangzhou Auto Show. This version has made great progress.
Apple's star designer Abidur Chowdhury is reported to have left and joined an AI startup
It is reported that Abidur Chowdhury, a star designer at Apple, has recently left Apple and joined an artificial intelligence startup. Chowdhury was involved in the development of the iPhone Air and appeared in the promotional video for the new Air. People familiar with the matter said that given his increasingly important position in the design team, his departure has caused quite a stir within the company. (Jiemian News)
Tax Authorities Crack Down on Tax Evasion through "Income Splitting"
Tax evasion practices where some enterprises and self-employed individuals split their income to enjoy tax and fee incentives for small and micro enterprises are being severely cracked down on by tax authorities. On November 17, the website of the State Taxation Administration exposed three typical cases of tax evasion through income splitting to fraudulently obtain tax and fee incentives. According to statistics from Yicai, since the beginning of this year, the number of exposed typical cases of tax evasion using similar income-splitting methods has been no less than seven. Apparently, this tax evasion method has attracted high attention from tax authorities, and fraudulently obtaining tax and fee incentives through methods such as income splitting has become a target of strict tax crackdowns. (Yicai)
Company Responds to Doubts about the Authenticity of Mass - production Video of Robots
Recently, Ubtech released a video of the mass - production and delivery of its industrial humanoid robot Walker S2. After a frame - by - frame analysis, the founder of Figure claimed on the X platform that the video was most likely a computer special effect. In response, Ubtech told a reporter from Star Market Daily that the accusation was untrue. Ubtech's official social media subsequently released a one - take video at the original speed and with the original audio, showing that there were indeed a large number of humanoid robot products on site. (Cailian Press)
Meta's Chief Revenue Officer, Hegeman, Leaves to Found a Startup
John Hegeman, the Chief Revenue Officer of Meta, said on November 18 that he would leave the company to start his own startup, marking a key leadership change in the social media company's pursuit of superintelligence. According to a post Hegeman made on Facebook, his main responsibilities will be taken over by another Meta executive, Andrew Bocking, who currently leads Meta's advertising products and strategy team. (Sina Finance)
Meta Wins Antitrust Lawsuit Brought by the US FTC, Concerning Instagram and WhatsApp Deals
On November 18th local time, James Boasberg, a federal district judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that Meta's acquisitions of the photo - sharing app Instagram and the messaging service WhatsApp did not violate US antitrust laws. Boasberg stated that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) failed to prove that these deals allowed Meta to illegally monopolize the social networking market. (Jiemian News)
The three major U.S. stock indexes closed down collectively, and most large technology stocks fell
36Kr learned that at the close on November 18, the three major U.S. stock indexes fell collectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.07%, the S&P 500 Index declined 0.83%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 1.21%. Most large technology stocks fell. Amazon dropped more than 4%, Microsoft and NVIDIA declined more than 2%, Tesla decreased more than 1%, and Meta, Google, and Apple fell slightly. Netflix rose more than 3%. Most popular Chinese concept stocks rose. iQiyi rose more than 6%, Baidu and 36Kr increased more than 2%, Alibaba and NetEase climbed more than 1%, and XPeng Motors and Bilibili rose slightly. Pinduoduo dropped more than 7%, NIO decreased more than 1%, and Li Auto and Weibo fell slightly.
Putin: Visa-free policy for Chinese citizens traveling to Russia will take effect in the near future
According to reports from RT and Sputnik, on November 18 local time, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the visa-free policy for Chinese citizens traveling to Russia will take effect in the near future. The reports said that currently, Russian citizens can travel to China without a visa. (Global Times)
NVIDIA and Microsoft to Invest Up to $15 Billion in Total in Anthropic
On November 18, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Anthropic announced a new strategic partnership. As part of the cooperation, NVIDIA and Microsoft have committed to investing up to $10 billion and $5 billion respectively in Anthropic. The statement said that Anthropic has committed to purchasing $30 billion worth of Azure computing power. (Jiemian News)
Insider at ByteDance: The engineering and technology teams for e-commerce, lifestyle services, and advertising in China within ByteDance have been integrated
36Kr learned that an insider at ByteDance confirmed that in order to strengthen the R & D of advertising and transaction businesses (i.e., e-commerce and lifestyle services) and further improve R & D efficiency, on November 17th, the engineering and technology teams for e-commerce, lifestyle services, and advertising in China were integrated into the "Product R & D and Engineering Architecture - China Transaction and Advertising".
The Huawei Mate 80 series is supplied with waterproof switches by Panasonic of Japan and Huichuangda
It is learned from industry chain insiders that Panasonic of Japan and Huichuangda have won the bid to become the mass - production suppliers of the side - key waterproof switches for the Huawei Mate 80 series. In addition, Huichuangda has also won the bid for the screen covers of the Huawei Mate 80 series. (Caixin Press)
The "Free-Fall" of Bitcoin Puts Traders in Extreme Fear, Betting It Could Drop to $80,000
Bitcoin is in a free-fall, and traders are bracing for even greater losses. The world's largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, fell below $91,500 on Monday, intensifying its decline and erasing all of its gains for the year. In the options market, traders are increasingly shorting, believing that this downward trend is far from over as deep-pocketed buyers retreat. The shift in market sentiment has been sudden and drastic. The demand for downside protection - especially at the price levels of $90,000, $85,000, and $80,000 - has skyrocketed. (Sina Finance)
A Gallery in the Louvre Closed to the Public Due to “Fragile” Architectural Structure
On November 17 local time, a gallery in the Louvre Museum in Paris was closed to the public starting from that day due to the “vulnerability” of the museum's architectural structure. According to an announcement issued by the Louvre, the closed area is the south wing of the Sully Wing. The museum management stated that this area has been under key monitoring for many consecutive years, and this closure is a preventive measure. (CCTV News)
Trump Announces Fast-Track Visa Appointment Service for Ticket Holders of the 2026 World Cup
US President Trump said on November 17 that the United States will prioritize visa appointments for foreign tourists holding tickets to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. US Secretary of State Rubio also echoed the call for early action, urging ticket holders to submit their visa applications "as soon as possible." (Sina Finance)
The Cutting-Edge of AI
Ant Group Launches All-modal General AI Assistant "Lingguang"
36Kr learned that on November 18th, Ant Group officially released the all-modal general AI assistant "Lingguang". According to the introduction, this product can generate small applications in natural language within 30 seconds on mobile devices, and they are editable, interactive, and shareable. Lingguang is also the industry's first AI assistant to generate multi-modal content with full code. Three major functions were launched in the first batch - "Lingguang Dialogue", "Lingguang Flash App", and "Lingguang Insight", supporting the output of all-modal information such as 3D, audio and video, charts, animations, and maps. Currently, Lingguang has been simultaneously launched on the Android and Apple App Stores.
Weibo's Self-developed VibeThinker Open-source Model with a Training Cost of Only $7,800
36Kr learned that recently, Weibo officially released its first self-developed open-source large model, VibeThinker. According to the introduction, the model has 1.5 billion parameters, and the cost of a single "post-training" is only $7,800. This model defeated the DeepSeek R1 model in the international mathematics competition benchmark test.
Elon Musk's xAI Launches Grok 4.1
On Monday local time, xAI, under Elon Musk, officially launched the latest version of the chatbot Grok 4.1. Musk said that users should "notice a significant improvement in speed and quality compared to the previous generation of products." The xAI team stated, "The new version is more sensitive to subtle intentions, has more engaging conversations, and shows more consistent personality, while fully retaining the sharp intelligence and reliability of the previous generation of products." (Zhitong Finance)
Kimi K2 Thinking is integrated into Perplexity, the only domestic model to be integrated
36Kr learned that the Kimi K2 Thinking model recently released by Dark Side of the Moon has been integrated into the AI search application Perplexity, becoming the only domestic model to be integrated. OpenAI's newly released GPT-5.1 was also integrated in the same batch. According to the latest publicly available data, Perplexity has 30 million monthly active users and a valuation exceeding $20 billion, making it the AI search application with the highest valuation globally.
OceanBase Releases Its First AI Database, seekdb, and Opens All Source Code
36Kr learned that on November 18th, OceanBase released and open - sourced its first AI database, OceanBase seekdb (abbreviated as seekdb). Developers can quickly build AI applications such as knowledge bases and agents with just three lines of code, handle the retrieval of multi - modal data at the level of tens of billions, and achieve an "out - of - the - box" AI data foundation. This product supports unified hybrid search for vector, full - text, scalar, and spatial geographic data, deeply integrates AI inference and data processing, and is compatible with more than 30 mainstream AI frameworks such as HuggingFace and LangChain.
Quark Fully Integrates Qianwen Conversation Assistant and Will Launch a New AI Browser
On November 18th, on the second day of the public beta of Alibaba's Qianwen App, Quark App also fully integrated the Qianwen Conversation Assistant. Users can use the conversation capabilities of Qianwen App by swiping right on the Quark App. Insiders revealed that Quark is positioned as an AI browser and will form strategic synergy with Qianwen App. The PC version of Quark will also undergo a major version upgrade, launching a new AI browser that is deeply integrated with Qianwen.
Zebra Oral English Officially Launched, the World's First One-on-One AI Foreign Teacher Product
36Kr learned that on November 18th, Zebra launched the world's first one-on-one AI foreign teacher product - "Zebra Oral English". According to the introduction, this product is built on the Yuanli large model and features superhuman AI foreign teachers. Through real-time interactive pronunciation correction and scenario-based teaching design, it aims to solve the pain point of uneven levels of traditional foreign teachers.
BMW Deploys Self-developed AI Agent Platform on a Large Scale in China
On November 18th, BMW announced that its self-developed AI agent platform "GAIA" (Group Artificial Intelligence Assistant) was officially put into operation. (Jiemian News)
Investment and Financing
Amazon Issues Bonds for the First Time in Three Years, Raising $15 Billion to Drive AI Development
A filing submitted by Amazon to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on November 17 showed that Amazon will conduct its first U.S. dollar bond issuance in three years, raising $15 billion. Many large technology companies are turning to issuing bonds worth tens of billions of dollars to fund the expansion of AI infrastructure. Amazon applied on Monday to issue bonds consisting of six parts. The proceeds can be used for purposes ranging from acquisitions and capital expenditures to stock buybacks. (Sina Finance)
"Caikeyuantu" Secures Tens of Millions of Yuan in Angel Round Financing
36Kr learned that "Caikeyuantu" recently announced the completion of tens of millions of yuan in angel round financing. This round of financing was led by Zhongke Chuangxing, with Yuanhe Holdings and Yihe Capital participating jointly. The financing will be mainly used for core technology R & D, including database expansion, model development, high - throughput platform construction, and the commercialization of application scenarios.
Financial Reports of Large Companies
Weibo: Total revenue in the third quarter was 3.156 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5%
36Kr learned that Weibo released its financial report for the third quarter of 2025. The report shows that in the third quarter, Weibo's total revenue was 442.3 million US dollars, approximately equivalent to 3.156 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5%. Among them, the advertising revenue was 375.4 million US dollars, approximately equivalent to 2.677 billion yuan. The adjusted operating profit in the third quarter was 132 million US dollars, approximately equivalent to 937 million yuan. In terms of users, as of the end of the third quarter, Weibo's monthly active users reached 578 million, and the daily active users reached 257 million.
iQiyi: Total revenue in the third quarter was 6.68 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 8%
36Kr learned that iQiyi released its financial report for the third quarter of 2025. The financial report shows that in the third quarter, iQiyi's total revenue was 6.68 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 8%. Among them, the revenue from membership services was 4.21 billion yuan, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 3%. The revenue from online advertising services was 1.24 billion yuan, the revenue from content distribution was 0.64 billion yuan, and other revenue was 0.59 billion yuan.
Baidu: Revenue Reached 31.2 Billion Yuan in Q3 2025, AI Business Revenue Increased by Over 50% Year-on-Year
36Kr learned that Baidu released its financial report for the third quarter of 2025. The report shows that the revenue in the third quarter was 31.2 billion yuan. For the first time, it disclosed that the revenue from the AI business was nearly 10 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of over 50%. Among them, the revenue from AI cloud increased by 33% year-on-year; the revenue from AI applications reached 2.6 billion yuan; the revenue from AI-native marketing services increased by 262% year-on-year to 2.8 billion yuan. In addition, the number of global ride-hailing services provided by Apollo Go in Q3 reached 3.1 million, a year-on-year increase of 212%, and the growth rate continued to accelerate compared with 148% in the second quarter. As of November, the cumulative number of global ride-hailing services provided by Apollo Go had exceeded 17 million.
Xiaomi: Revenue Reached 113.1 Billion Yuan in Q3 2025, a Year-on-Year Increase of 22.3%
36Kr learned that Xiaomi released its financial report for the third quarter of 2025. The report shows that the company's revenue in the third quarter was 113.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.3%. In terms of business segments, in the third quarter of 2025, the revenue of the "Smartphone × AIoT" segment was 84.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.6%; the revenue of the innovative business segments such as smart electric vehicles and AI was 29 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 199.2%. In this quarter, the group's adjusted net profit was 11.3 billion yuan, hitting a record high, a year-on-year increase of 80.9%. In addition, a total of 108,796 new vehicles were delivered in the third quarter of 2025, also setting a new record.
Going Public in Progress
Manner Coffee
It is reported that Manner Coffee may be considering an IPO in Hong Kong as early as 2026. (Cailian Press)
Novosense Microelectronics
36Kr learned that according to documents from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Suzhou Novosense Microelectronics Co., Ltd. has passed the listing hearing of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Lemo Technology Service Co., Ltd.
36Kr learned that according to documents from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Lemo Technology Service Co., Ltd. has passed the listing hearing of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Dashang Co., Ltd.
36Kr learned that Dashang Co., Ltd. announced that the company held a board meeting on November 18, 2025, and deliberated and approved a proposal authorizing the management to initiate the preparatory work related to the listing of H shares. The company intends to issue shares (H shares) overseas and be listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to enhance its international brand image, build a diversified capital operation platform, strengthen its overseas financing ability, and further enhance its core competitiveness. The specific plan for this H - share listing has not been finalized, and it needs to be submitted to the company's board of directors and shareholders' meeting for deliberation, and requires the filing, approval and/or verification of relevant government agencies and regulatory authorities. The company will continue to fulfill its information disclosure obligations and carry out the relevant decision - making process after the specific plan is determined.
Cool Products
New 3D Printing Process Creates Miniature Delta Robots
Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States have developed a new 3D printing process and successfully manufactured miniature delta robots called microDeltas. These robots are expected to play an important role in fields such as micromanipulation, microassembly, minimally invasive surgery, and wearable haptic devices. The relevant paper was published in the latest issue of the journal Science Robotics. (Science and Technology Daily)
Arm China Launches New Generation NPU IP "Zhouyi" X3
36Kr learned that recently, Arm China officially launched the new generation NPU IP "Zhouyi" X3. This product adopts the latest DSP+DSA architecture and can flexibly support multi - task scenarios on the edge side. It is understood that its supporting "Zhouyi" NPU Compass AI software platform optimizes the end - to - end performance of large models, adds native support for the Hugging Face model library, and supports over 160 operators and 270 models.
AI Landscape
Is the end of the FAIR era here? Did Zuckerberg lose the big while gaining the small?
YouMind: Create Boldly, Beyond Learning
At 19:00 on the evening of November 19th, have a chat with Yubo, the founder of YouMind, about content creation in the AI era and the thinking behind the YouMind tool.
Compiled | Chenxi