36Kr Evening Briefing | The closing price of the South Korean won against the US dollar fell to its lowest in nearly 18 years; WTI crude oil broke above $100 per barrel; A tech company under Douyin established a new information technology company in Shenzhen.
Large Companies:
On the afternoon of March 16, the ChiNext Index rose more than 1%. The semiconductor and memory chip sectors continued to rise. Among them, the A-shares of Huahong Company, with a total market value of over 200 billion yuan, once soared more than 16%, and its H-shares once jumped more than 11%. The entire semiconductor sector was driven up, and the chip ETF soared straight in the afternoon, once rising more than 2%. Analysts believe that although there have been continuous positive rumors about Huahong, NVIDIA's upcoming GTC 2026 Conference may also be a major reason for the explosion of the semiconductor sector. In addition, there are reports that wafer foundries such as UMC, World Semiconductor Manufacturing, and Powerchip Semiconductor have raised prices, which has become another driving factor. (Securities China)
ByteDance's technology company establishes a new information technology company in Shenzhen
36Kr learned that according to the Aiqicha App, recently, Shenzhen Yunqi Zhihe Information Technology Co., Ltd. was established. The legal representative is Zhang Zhongyi, and the registered capital is 10 million yuan. Its business scope includes technology services, technology development, technology consulting, technology exchanges, technology transfer, technology promotion, engaging in information technology and process outsourcing services on behalf of financial institutions, advertising production, data processing and storage support services, etc. Shareholder information shows that the company is wholly owned by Shenzhen Xingluo Shiguang Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of ByteDance Group.
36Kr learned that Enhe Technology officially released SAION AI, the world's first Physical AI platform for the biomanufacturing field. It is reported that SAION AI is a Physical AI platform that includes cognitive, control, and closed-loop execution capabilities, and can achieve autonomous design and directly participate in and optimize biological discovery and production processes.
The closing price of the South Korean won against the US dollar hits a nearly 18-year low
On March 16, affected by the continuous rise of international oil prices, the exchange rate of the South Korean won against the US dollar closed at 1,497.5 won (equivalent to about 6.9 yuan), hitting a nearly 18-year low. On the same day in the Seoul foreign exchange market, the won opened at 1,501 won against the US dollar, down 7.3 won from the previous trading day's closing price (as of 3:30 p.m.). It once rebounded but soon returned to the downward trend, and finally closed at 1,497.5 won, down 3.8 won from the previous trading day. (Jiemian)
36Kr learned that Chow Sang Sang announced in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that for the year ended December 31, 2025 (fiscal year 2025), the group expects the profit attributable to the owners of the company from continuing operations to be between HK$1.6 billion and HK$1.7 billion, compared with HK$772 million for the year ended December 31, 2024.
Shanghai adds one more generative AI service that has completed the filing process
36Kr learned that on March 16, according to news from Shanghai Cyberspace Administration, as of March 16, Shanghai has added one more generative AI service that has completed the filing process, with a cumulative total of 150 generative AI services having completed the filing.
Investment and Financing:
"Dong You Ji" under Chunhui Tourism Group completes a $9 million angel round of financing
36Kr learned that recently, "Dong You Ji", an all-round cultural, tourism, and business ecological platform under Chunhui Tourism Group, announced the completion of a $9 million angel round of financing. This round of financing released 6% of the total equity, and the investors include the UK's BY block Foundation, an institution in Hong Kong, and an angel investor. It is understood that this round of financing will be used for platform technology iteration, supply chain system expansion, all-round ecological partner network construction, brand strategy promotion, AI development foundation, IP film and television foundation, and the infrastructure construction of web4.0 to accelerate the construction of an integrated ecosystem of "cross-border e-commerce + cultural tourism + film and television IP".
UniCredit plans to increase its stake in Commerzbank to over 30%
UniCredit announced plans to launch a tender offer to increase its stake in Commerzbank to over 30%, but said it has no intention of taking control of the German bank. The Italian bank said on Monday that the exchange ratio for the tender offer will be determined by the German financial regulator in the next few days, and it is expected that each share of Commerzbank will be exchanged for 0.485 shares of UniCredit, corresponding to a price of 30.80 euros per share, equivalent to about $35.17. (Sina Finance)
An AI life science company founded by Robin Li is reported to list in Hong Kong
BioMap, a life science artificial intelligence large model company supported by Baidu and founded by Robin Li, has secretly submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and is expected to raise hundreds of millions of dollars. As of press time, Baidu has not responded. In June last year, Liu Wei, the CEO of BioMap, said that the company plans to actively seek a public listing in Hong Kong within about a year and a half. (Yicai)
New Products:
36Kr learned that Tongyi Laboratory released and open-sourced Fun-CineForge, the first multimodal large model supporting film-level multi-scenario dubbing. In addition, it also opened up the construction method of a high-quality dataset. Through the integrated design of "data + model", Fun-CineForge is trying to solve the key problems that film-level AI dubbing has long faced.
36Kr learned that on March 16, TAL Education Group released a "lobster" product for teachers - NineClaw, with the nickname "Jiulong". It is reported that this product is positioned as an out-of-the-box AI assistant, integrating commonly used skills for teachers' work, mainstream instant messaging tools (Feishu, QQ, WeCom, DingTalk), intelligent memory, and scheduled task capabilities.
36Kr learned that Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. announced that the improved attenuated live monkeypox vaccine based on Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA), independently developed by its wholly-owned subsidiary Zhejiang Hisun Biological Pharmacy Co., Ltd., has obtained the approval notice for clinical trials from the National Medical Products Administration, agreeing to conduct clinical trials on the prevention of monkeypox caused by the monkeypox virus in people aged 18 and above. As of the date of this announcement, after querying the official website of the National Medical Products Administration, there is no monkeypox vaccine approved for marketing and use in China yet.
Today's Views:
Lei Jun: If I could go back five years, I would still choose to build cars
36Kr learned that on March 16, Lei Jun, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Xiaomi, posted a video on Weibo saying that if he could go back five years, he would still choose to build cars. Lei Jun said that when he decided to build cars five years ago, everyone said it was very difficult. After conducting a lot of research, he found that it was indeed not easy. So he made full preparations. In the early stage, it was a little easier than expected, but as the progress of car building accelerated, he felt that it was getting more and more difficult and more and more challenging.
36Kr learned that some investors asked if the prices of the company's products had increased recently due to the chaotic situation in the Middle East. Jinneng Technology said on the interactive platform that currently, the prices of its propylene, polypropylene, and methanol have all increased, especially olefins, which have increased significantly due to raw material support.
Other Noteworthy News:
WTI crude oil breaks above $100 per barrel
36Kr learned that WTI crude oil broke above $100 per barrel, with an intraday increase of 0.86%.
36Kr learned that Li Bin, the deputy director and spokesperson of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, answered reporters' questions on the foreign exchange market situation in February 2026. Since February, the international geopolitical conflicts have intensified, and the international financial market has fluctuated more. China's foreign exchange market has generally operated stably. In terms of trading volume, in February, the trading volume in the foreign exchange market was $2.6 trillion, and the cross-border receipts and payments of non-bank sectors such as enterprises and individuals totaled $1.2 trillion. After excluding the impact of the Spring Festival holiday, the average daily volume increased by 2% and 12% respectively compared with the previous period. In terms of foreign exchange supply and demand, in February, the cross-border capital inflow of non-bank sectors such as enterprises and individuals was $35.6 billion, a month-on-month decrease of 57%. Among them, the cross-border capital inflow under goods trade was $67.8 billion, a month-on-month decrease of 26%. In February, the bank settlement and sales surplus was $42.8 billion, a month-on-month decrease of 46%. Judging from the situation since March, the cross-border capital inflow and outflow are basically balanced, and the supply and demand are relatively balanced. Generally speaking, China's foreign-related economy is developing steadily, the foreign exchange market transactions remain active, the willingness of enterprises and other entities to settle foreign exchange has decreased steadily, the demand for foreign exchange purchases is basically stable, and the market expectations are generally stable.
36Kr learned that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held a cadre meeting. The meeting emphasized that efforts should be made to promote the optimization and upgrading of the industrial system. Implement the action to revitalize traditional industries, deploy and implement major technological transformation and upgrading projects, do a good job in the pilot work of new technological transformation cities, and strengthen the guidance of standards, quality improvement, and brand building. Cultivate and expand emerging industries and future industries, build emerging pillar industries such as integrated circuits, aerospace, and biomedicine, and promote the establishment of an investment growth and risk-sharing mechanism for future industries. Vigorously develop intelligent manufacturing, green manufacturing, and service-oriented manufacturing. Promote the in-depth integration of informatization and industrialization. Make appropriate and forward-looking arrangements for the construction of new information infrastructure such as 5G and intelligent computing, and create an upgraded version of "5G + Industrial Internet". Carry out the action for the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry, deeply implement the "Artificial Intelligence + Manufacturing" action, and cultivate a number of characteristic intelligent agents. Accelerate the development of satellite Internet.