At 8 o'clock, here are the latest news: Jia Guolong launched a new brand called "Tianbian Casserole Braised Noodles"; The new generation of Xiaomi SU7 has a starting price of 219,900 yuan, with a price increase of 4,000 yuan; McDonald's responded to the sale of egg tarts.

Today's Hotspot Guide

• ZARA, H&M, Ralph Lauren, etc. were named and notified by the General Administration of Customs.
• Reasons for Tencent's sharp stock price drop: Increasing AI investment or reducing share buybacks.
• The EU confirmed that Elon Musk's X paid a fine of 120 million euros.
• Services such as China Mobile's "Monternet" will be taken offline.
• The spot gold price fell below $4,700.
• Tencent responded to its game investments in the US.

Top 3 Big News

Jia Guolong's New Brand Launches Braised Noodles with an Average Per - Person Consumption of $40 to $50

The latest entrepreneurial project of Jia Guolong, the founder and chairman of Xibei Catering Group, named "Tianbian Casserole Braised Noodles", has quietly opened in the 798 Art District in Beijing. This new store opened on February 13th, with an average per - person consumption ranging from $40 to $50. Its main offering is the casserole braised noodles, a specialty from Jia Guolong's hometown, Bayannur in Inner Mongolia. Jia Guolong revealed to reporters that Xibei will close some of its stores. He hopes that a new brand can take over some of the stores and employees. "We will still operate the Xibei brand. In the future, we will close some stores, transfer some to the new brand, and retain some core stores," Jia Guolong said. (National Business Daily)

The new-generation Xiaomi SU7 starts at 219,900 yuan, with a price increase of 4,000 yuan

On the evening of March 19th, Xiaomi held a spring new product launch event and introduced the new-generation SU7. Lei Jun, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Xiaomi, announced that the starting price of the standard version of the new-generation Xiaomi SU7 is 219,900 yuan, the Pro version starts at 249,900 yuan, and the Max version starts at 303,900 yuan. The official pricing of the new-generation Xiaomi SU7 is lower than the pre-sale price but 4,000 yuan higher than that of the previous model. Previously, Xiaomi announced that the pre-sale price of the standard version of the new-generation Xiaomi SU7 was 229,900 yuan, the Pro version was 259,900 yuan, and the Max version was 309,900 yuan. The price range of the first-generation Xiaomi SU7 was between 215,900 and 299,900 yuan.

It is reported that the door handle safety design of the new-generation SU7 fully complies with the new national standard in 2027. There are a total of three levels of safety redundancy designs: an external mechanical door handle that allows for emergency opening from the outside after a collision as the door unlocks automatically; a redundant backup power supply for the door lock that enables normal unlocking after a collision; and an internal emergency mechanical door handle that allows for opening the door from inside without unlocking. The new-generation Xiaomi SU7 comes in 4 major color systems and 9 exterior colors. (Jiemian News, Hubei Daily)

McDonald's Responds to Egg Tart Sales: New products are available for a limited time in individual restaurants; the price of an egg tart is 8 yuan per piece, and 29.9 yuan for 6 pieces.

Recently, many consumers posted on online platforms that some McDonald's restaurants have started selling egg tarts. On March 19th, McDonald's China confirmed this news to Jiemian News. At the same time, it stated that "new products are available for a limited time in individual McDonald's restaurants. Please refer to the actual supply in the restaurants." However, the brand did not respond to whether the egg tarts are long - term products or whether they will be promoted in all stores.

Some netizens have summarized the "map" of McDonald's egg tart sales in various cities. Currently, individual McDonald's restaurants in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Tianjin, Shenyang, Nanjing, Chengdu, Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Changsha, and Xi'an have launched egg tarts. Only 1 - 2 restaurants in each city sell them. (Jiemian News)

Big Companies/Important Events

ZARA, H&M, Ralph Lauren, etc. were named and notified by the General Administration of Customs

Recently, the General Administration of Customs notified 100 typical cases of unqualified quality and safety of imported consumer goods discovered during inspections in 2025. ZARA, H&M, Ralph Lauren, etc. were named in the notification.

Among them, 5 batches of imported clothing from ZARA were found to be unqualified, involving multiple violations such as excessive formaldehyde content, inconsistent fiber composition with the label, and sharp tips on accessories. For Ralph Lauren, unqualified pH values were detected in men's woven shirts, girls' knitted T-shirts, boys' woven shirts, baby knitted rompers, and baby knitted short rompers. Unqualified formaldehyde and pH values are the most common problems in the field of clothing safety, and long - term wearing of such clothing will lead to the continuous accumulation of harm to the human body. (21st Century Business Herald)

Hello responds to "the rear wheel of the bike suddenly locked, causing the passenger to be injured": If the user seeks medical treatment within 48 hours, the corresponding medical expenses can be compensated

On March 17, Mr. Zhao from Langfang, Hebei, reported that when he was riding a Hello bike on the 14th, the rear wheel of the bike suddenly locked, causing him to fall off the bike and get injured in multiple parts of his body. Mr. Zhao recalled that at the time of the incident, he had just scanned the code to unlock the bike and ridden for about two minutes, traveling about 100 meters. The location was about 200 meters east of the intersection of Jianshe Road and Xinyuan Road in Langfang City. After the accident, although the app still showed the billing status, the rear wheel could no longer rotate at all, and his bag and mobile phone that he carried with him also fell to the ground.

On March 17, Hello responded that the sudden inability of the vehicle to move might be due to a malfunction. The specific cause needs to be determined by the test results, and it is expected to reply within 24 hours after receiving the call. Hello also said that the order includes insurance. If the user seeks medical treatment within 48 hours after the incident, they can get compensation for the corresponding medical expenses. (Yangcheng Evening News)

BlackRock CEO Warns: U.S. New Graduates May Face the Highest Unemployment Rate Ever Due to AI Impact

Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, warned that U.S. new college graduates who hope to pursue white - collar jobs should not have overly high expectations because "artificial intelligence will disrupt many of these jobs." The graduation season in the United States is approaching, and millions of new college graduates are preparing to step onto the stage of their graduation ceremonies and become the youngest members of the workforce. However, for the class of 2026, this transition period may be more difficult than ever before. Fink warned that the promise of a four - year college degree as a path to a stable career is starting to waver. (Sina Finance)

Reasons for Tencent's Sharp Stock Price Drop: Increased AI Investment or Reduced Share Repurchases

According to Yicai, on March 19th, after Tencent Holdings (00700.HK) released its 2025 performance, its stock price tumbled. In the early trading session, it once plunged by more than 6%. At the mid - day close, it was down 5.9% at HK$518, and its market value fell below HK$5 trillion. In the afternoon, the decline further widened to 6.18%. Although the company's annual revenue reached 751.766 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 14%, and its net profit was 224.842 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 16%, meeting market expectations, the stock price still dropped significantly.

The core trigger for this sharp stock price drop was the signals of AI investment and repurchase adjustment released by Tencent at the performance meeting on March 18th. Industry analysts believe that Tencent's prioritization of AI layout is in line with the industry trend and is a necessary measure to compete with rivals such as ByteDance, Alibaba, and Baidu and seize the high - ground of next - generation technology. However, in the short term, the reduction in share repurchases will continue to suppress the stock price. The market expects that in the short term, the support level of HK$500 will be tested, and the medium - to - long - term trend will depend on whether the AI investment can be converted into actual performance growth. (Yicai)

HSBC Reportedly Considers Major Job Cuts in the Next Few Years Due to AI

36Kr has learned that HSBC Holdings is planning large - scale job cuts in the next few years. Chief Executive Officer Georges Elhedery is betting on using artificial intelligence to downsize its middle - and back - office operations. This is one of the first important signs of the technology reshaping the employment landscape on Wall Street. According to unnamed sources, non - customer - facing positions in the global service centers are expected to be most affected. Currently, the relevant assessment is still in the initial stage. One of the sources said that this adjustment could ultimately affect about 20,000 positions, accounting for about 10% of HSBC's total employees. (Sina Finance)

The price of lab-grown diamonds has plummeted. A 1-carat diamond ring only costs 4,000 yuan

Recently, some media reported that at the Shuibei Jewelry Wholesale Market in Shenzhen, the price tag for a 1-carat high-quality lab-grown diamond loose stone has changed to "1,800 - 3,500 yuan". In 2020, the price of the same product was still around 8,000 yuan. In just a few years, the retail price of lab-grown diamonds has dropped by more than 50% from its peak.

On March 18th, a reporter from 21st Century Business Herald found when comparing the official prices of mainstream brands that the price tag of a 1-carat natural diamond ring is still at a high level: the original price of a domestic brand is about 63,000 yuan, and the price after discount is about 53,000 yuan; while the price of a lab-grown diamond ring of the same carat from a certain brand is only a little over 4,000 yuan. That is to say, the current market price of a 1-carat lab-grown diamond has dropped to one-tenth or even less of that of a natural diamond of the same specification. (21st Century Business Herald)

EU Confirms: Elon Musk's X Pays €120 Million Fine

According to Cailian Press, on March 19, Thomas Renier, a spokesperson for the European Commission in charge of digital economy affairs, confirmed that the US social media platform X had paid the €120 million fine imposed by the EU in December last year before the deadline and submitted a rectification plan for its "Blue Tick Verification" feature. The spokesperson also said that although X had paid the relevant fine, it was still appealing the penalty.

In December last year, the European Commission filed three non - compliance charges against X, including those related to the "Blue Tick Verification", under the Digital Services Act and fined X €120 million. In addition to the "Blue Tick Verification", the X platform is also required to submit rectification measures for the other two charges of violating advertising and data transparency regulations by April 28. The European Commission said that if the problems are not effectively resolved, it does not rule out imposing further penalties on X. (Cailian Press)

Founder of Hema Talks about the Egg Issue Exposed on March 15: There is No Relevant National Standard, So It Can't Be Considered Exceeding the Limit

On March 18, Hou Yi, the founder of Hema, spoke out about the issue of canthaxanthin in eggs exposed on March 15. He said that there is currently no relevant national standard for canthaxanthin (carotene), so it can't be considered exceeding the limit. However, it is common in the industry to add it to cater to the consumer perception that "the redder the egg yolk, the better." This practice is neither harmful nor beneficial to the human body, and in essence, it is for the sake of false appearance.

Hou Yi also pointed out that the concept of "raw - edible eggs" is mostly a marketing gimmick, and it is unreasonable that their selling price is several times higher. He believes that the raw - edible standard is actually a common standard in the chicken - raising industry, and it is difficult to avoid secondary pollution of eggs during transportation, sales, and storage. In addition, many "free - range eggs" on the market are actually caged eggs. Only the chicken breed is a local native chicken, and there is no essential difference. (Blue Whale News)

The classic makeup brand KATE announced that it will close its stores on April 1st and start refunding customers.

Recently, KATE, a classic makeup brand under the Kao Group, successively issued store closure notices on its official Douyin and Tmall flagship stores, announcing that the stores will officially close on April 1st, 2026. According to the announcements issued by the stores, the brand has made clear arrangements for consumers' rights and interests:

Users who still have unused brand points and stored-value balances need to contact customer service to redeem points and get the balance refunded by the original payment method before March 31st, 2026. The online customer service of the store will continue to provide services until April 30th, 2026. During this period, valid orders can still enjoy after-sales guarantees such as a seven-day no-questions-asked return policy. Customers can still consult about relevant consumption questions as usual. (21st Century Business Herald)

Spot gold falls below $4,700

On March 19, spot gold fell below $4,700 per ounce, down 2.5% on the day. Previously, spot silver touched $71 per ounce, down 5.76% on the day. (Jiemian News)

China Mobile's Services such as "Monternet" to Be Taken Offline

China Mobile recently issued an announcement stating that due to product operation strategy adjustments, five products, namely He Life, Nongxintong, Mobile Market, 12590 (Voice Magazine), and the Monternet national short message and multimedia message service, will be officially taken offline and related services will be stopped at 24:00 on April 30, 2026.

Among them, the Monternet national short message and multimedia message service is the only remaining service of the current "Monternet". As a mobile data service brand launched by China Mobile during the transition from 2G to 2.5G in 2000, Monternet means "Mobile + Internet" and once included diverse services such as SMS, MMS, mobile Internet access (WAP), and mobile games. Monternet was an important gateway for mobile Internet access in the 2G era and also a typical model for the development of China Mobile's SP/CP value-added services. (Jiemian News)

Tencent Responds to Its Game Investments in the US

In response to market rumors that the US is considering whether to retain Tencent's game investments in the country, Liu Chiping, President of Tencent, stated that Tencent has been having constructive communication with US regulators for a long time. The overall situation is developing in a positive direction, and the overall risks are relatively controllable. One reason is that compared with social media, the so - called sensitivity of the game business is much lower. Meanwhile, the companies invested in by Tencent in the US are still managed and promoted by their founders and operate independently. Overseas, Tencent Games has some procedures to go through in the US, and other overseas regions also welcome Tencent to invest in local game companies. (Yicai Global)

Samsung's major strike to reach Lee Jae - yong's residence

According to reports from Yonhap News Agency and other media, on March 18, the "Joint Struggle Headquarters" composed of multiple Samsung Electronics unions announced that it had received overwhelming support in the strike vote that started on the 9th of this month, with an approval rate as high as 93.1%. The union plans to launch an 18 - day general strike in late May. On March 19, Samsung Electronics' stock price once fell by 4%. After the members voted to pass the general strike resolution, South Korean media reported that in the afternoon of the 19th, the National Samsung Electronics Union announced that it plans to hold a press conference near the residence of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae - yong in Seoul next Monday. The move of shifting the protest location from the factory area to the private residence of senior executives is regarded by the industry as the "ultimate pressure" exerted by the union on Samsung's top management before starting a full - scale major strike. The industry expects that if the general strike is launched, the comprehensive losses faced by Samsung Electronics could be as high as 5 trillion to 9 trillion won (approximately 23 billion to 41.4 billion yuan). (Yicai Global)

Coconut Palm Group Plans to Buy 50 Robots for Coconut Peeling, Requiring 360 Coconuts to be Peeled per Hour

Public information shows that recently, Hainan Coconut Palm Juice Beverage Co., Ltd. of Coconut Palm Group issued a "Tender Announcement for the Procurement of Humanoid Robot Coconut Shelling and Peeling Equipment". The announcement shows that the number of humanoid robots to be purchased this time is 50. Technically, it is required that the robots can peel 360 coconuts per hour (removing the outer skin and exposing the white coconut meat), and be equipped with an AI intelligent control system. The service life of vulnerable parts should be no less than 5,000 hours. The equipment needs to be able to simulate human movements, with features such as high efficiency, safety, and easy maintenance, and is suitable for humid environments and large - scale production scenarios. (Jimu News)

ST Quanwei: The company, its actual controller, and the chairman are under investigation by the CSRC for suspected violations of information disclosure regulations

36Kr learned that ST Quanwei announced that due to suspected violations of information disclosure regulations by the company, its actual controller, and the chairman, Chu Yifan, in accordance with relevant laws and regulations such as the "Securities Law of the People's Republic of China" and the "Administrative Penalty Law of the People's Republic of China", the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has decided to launch an investigation into the company, its actual controller, and the chairman, Chu Yifan. At present, the company's production and operation are normal, and the above - mentioned matters will not affect the company's daily production and business activities.

The three major U.S. stock indexes closed down collectively, and large technology stocks generally declined

36Kr learned that at the close on March 19, the three major U.S. stock indexes fell collectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.44%, the Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.28%, and the S&P 500 Index fell 0.28%. Large technology stocks generally declined. Tesla dropped more than 3%, while NVIDIA and Meta fell more than 1%. Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, and Google saw slight declines. Most popular Chinese concept stocks fell. Alibaba dropped more than 7%, Pinduoduo declined more than 3%, Baidu fell more than 2%, Bilibili dropped more than 1%, and JD.com and NetEase saw slight declines. XPeng Motors rose more than 2%, NIO and Weibo rose more than 1%, and Li Auto saw a slight increase.

The Cutting - Edge of AI

The first Seedance 2.0 short drama Agent is launched: It supports one - click production of a 100,000 - word script and offers 2D/3D/realistic human - style art

On March 19th, Xiaoyunque AI under ByteDance officially announced the launch of the short drama Agent function. It is reported that this is the world's first industry intelligent agent equipped with Seedance 2.0. It supports one - click production of a 100,000 - word script, can deeply understand the script, unify character images, and also offers 2D/3D/realistic human - style art. It supports custom editing, significantly lowering the threshold for short drama creation. The hit drama in the internal test, "Supreme Lord of All Beasts", exceeded 100 million views in 4 days. A team of 5 people completed the production of 60 episodes in 8 days, with efficiency far exceeding that of traditional tools. (Jingchu Network)

Space AI Chips May See a Breakthrough

The Ministry of Science and ICT of South Korea said on March 19 that a South Korean research team has confirmed that a key component called "synaptic transistor" (used in next-generation artificial intelligence chips) has potential application value in high-radiation space environments. It is reported that the above project has made a breakthrough in the experiment: the researchers used indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) to manufacture the synaptic transistor and tested it through a proton accelerator. The transistor withstood the irradiation treatment of a 33 MeV high-energy proton beam, and the applied radiation dose was equivalent to the radiation intensity of staying in space for 20 years, exceeding the typical service life (5 to 15 years) of low-orbit satellites. In response, the South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT said that these results confirm the possibility of applying this technology to space-grade artificial intelligence semiconductors. (Caixin)

Feishu Launches Native "Lobster", Enabling Users to Create Exclusive Agents with One Click

36Kr learned that on March 19th, Feishu released multiple enterprise-level Agent products. Through the newly upgraded intelligent agent platform Feishu aily, users can simply create and have an Agent partner that understands their context. By simply describing tasks in natural language, Feishu Miaoda can generate complex business systems. In Feishu Multi-dimensional Table, users can also complete multiple tasks such as building data tables, dashboards, workflows, and configuring permissions just by collaborating with the Agent.

Xiaomi Unveils Three Self-developed Large Models, Lei Jun Says Over 16 Billion Yuan to Be Invested in AI This Year

On March 19th, Xiaomi announced the launch of three self-developed large models, Xiaomi MiMo-V2-Pro, Xiaomi MiMo-V2-Omni, and Xiaomi MiMo-V2-TTS. It is reported that the API services of MiMo-V2-Pro and MiMo-V2-Omni have been officially opened.

According to Xiaomi's official introduction, among the three models, MiMo-V2-Pro is the flagship text foundation model, designed for high-intensity Agent work scenarios, focusing on reasoning, planning, and tool invocation. MiMo-V2-Omni is the full-modal Agent foundation model, natively integrating text, visual, and audio perception, and connecting the complete link from understanding to execution. MiMo-V2-TTS is a large speech synthesis model, aiming to endow Agents with warm and emotional voice expression ability, forming the last link of the full stack. (Jiemian News)

DeskClaw for Windows Officially Launched

36Kr learned that on March 19th, DeskClaw, a desktop pet AI assistant, announced the official launch of its Windows version and simultaneously released its self-developed "NoBot Kernel". The new kernel has only 1% of the code volume of the old version, with a significantly streamlined architecture, a notable reduction in Token consumption, and the introduction of a sandbox security execution mechanism to effectively isolate task risks. The new version has been optimized and improved in terms of startup speed, memory usage, and context focus, and has been integrated into the MCP tool ecosystem. It is understood that the adaptation of the self-developed kernel for the Mac version is expected to be launched next week.

Financial Reports of Large Companies

Alibaba: Revenue in the third fiscal quarter reached 284.843 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2%

According to Jiemian News, Alibaba announced in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that its revenue in the third fiscal quarter was RMB 284.843 billion (US$40.732 billion), a year-on-year increase of 2%. The net profit attributable to common shareholders was RMB 1.6322 billion (US$233.4 million). The net profit was RMB 1.5631 billion (US$223.5 million), a year-on-year decrease of 66%, mainly due to the reduction in operating profit. For the quarter ended December 31, 2025, the non-GAAP net profit was RMB 1.671 billion (US$238.9 million), a 67% decrease compared to RMB 51.066 billion in the same period of 2024. (Jiemian News)

China Unicom (Hong Kong): The net profit for the whole year of 2025 was 20.82 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.0%.

36Kr learned from the performance report released by China Unicom (Hong Kong). The report shows that the company's annual operating income in 2025 reached 392.22 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.7%; the service revenue reached 347.74 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.5%. The profit attributable to the equity holders of the company was 20.82 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.0%. The board of directors proposed to pay a final dividend of 0.1329 yuan per share (including tax). Together with the interim dividend of 0.2841 yuan per share (including tax) already paid, the total annual dividend was 0.417 yuan per share (including tax), a year-on-year increase of 3.1%, and the dividend payout ratio increased to 61.3%.

Li Ning: Revenue Reached 29.598 Billion Yuan in 2025, a Year-on-Year Increase of 3.2%

36Kr learned that Li Ning announced that in 2025, Li Ning's revenue reached 29.598 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.2%. The gross profit was 14.489 billion yuan, the net profit attributable to equity holders was 2.936 billion yuan, and the net profit margin was 9.9%.

Xinquan Co., Ltd.: The net profit attributable to the parent company decreased by 16.54% year-on-year in 2025, and plans to distribute 3 yuan per 10 shares

36Kr learned that Xinquan Co., Ltd. released its 2025 performance report. The report shows that in 2025, the operating income reached 15.524 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.04%; the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 815 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 16.54%; the basic earnings per share was 1.66 yuan. It is planned to distribute a cash dividend of 3 yuan (tax included) per 10 shares to all shareholders based on the total share capital on the record date of the equity distribution. The remaining undistributed profits will be carried forward to subsequent years. The company will convert capital reserve into share capital, with a conversion ratio of 4 shares for every 10 shares, and no bonus shares will be distributed.

Cool Products

iOS 26.4 official version may debut next week, typing accuracy of iPhone 17 improved

According to IT Home, on March 19th, Apple pushed the iOS/iPadOS 26.4 RC (Release Candidate) update to iPhone and iPad users. It's been 9 days since the last Beta/RC update, and the official version is expected to be released next week.

Previously, some iPhone 17 users reported that after upgrading to iOS 26, when typing quickly, even though there was tactile feedback when pressing the keys, characters would still disappear without reason, causing input interruptions. This defect also triggered a chain reaction. Since the system skipped characters instead of just having simple spelling mistakes, the auto - correction algorithm lost the basis for context judgment and frequently gave wrong word suggestions. Apple clearly marked in the iOS 26.4 RC update log that it has "improved keyboard accuracy during fast typing" (IT Home).

Compiled | Zixin Xu