Krypton Evening News | Starbucks China Unveils "Thousands of Stores, Thousands of Faces" Strategy; TikTok Announces €1 Billion Investment to Build Second Data Center in Finland; Google CEO Sundar Pichai: 2027 Will Be a Crucial Turning Point for AI to Reshape Production Methods
Large Companies:
On April 8th, it was reported that Samsung Electronics will adjust its China strategy. In the future, it may only retain its mobile phone and storage businesses, shifting its focus to semiconductor businesses such as storage. In addition, Samsung Electronics' home appliance business in China has been continuously shrinking, and it may switch to an agency system in the second half of this year. As of press time, Samsung has not officially responded to the above news. (Yicai Global)
Starbucks China launches the "Unique Stores for Every Location" strategy
36Kr learned that Starbucks China announced today that the strategic cooperation between Starbucks Global and Boyu Capital has been launched, and it has launched the "Unique Stores for Every Location" strategy, focusing on five major initiatives, including: becoming the preferred choice for professional coffee, high - quality product innovation, scene - based store expansion, partners creating "one store, one community", and AI - powered humanistic connections.
Shanghai Disneyland has received over 100 million visitors since its opening
A latest report released by the China Center for International Economic Exchanges on April 8th shows that Shanghai Disneyland has received over 100 million visitors since its opening. It has become one of the most successful theme parks in the world and an important pillar in China's cultural and tourism landscape. (Beijing Business Today)
36Kr learned that on April 8th, Wu Yongming, CEO of Alibaba Group, issued an internal letter announcing organizational adjustments related to AI, including the establishment of a Group Technology Committee and the upgrade of the Tongyi large - model division to accelerate AI construction. According to the internal letter, the two most important adjustments are: First, establish the Alibaba Group Technology Committee, with Wu Yongming as the leader, and members including Zhou Jingren, Wu Zeming, and Li Feifei; Second, upgrade the Tongyi Laboratory to the Tongyi large - model division.
Stellantis is in in - depth talks with Chinese automaker Leapmotor to develop Opel electric vehicles
Three sources revealed that Stellantis Group is in in - depth negotiations with Leapmotor to jointly develop a pure - electric SUV under the Opel brand. The new vehicle will use the technology of this Chinese automaker and will be produced at Stellantis' Zaragoza plant in Spain. (Sina Finance)
GoPro to lay off 23% of its global workforce to cut costs
On April 7th local time, action camera manufacturer GoPro filed a document with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, disclosing that the company's board of directors has approved a restructuring plan aimed at reducing operating costs and increasing operating leverage. It is expected to lay off about 145 employees globally, accounting for about 23% of the company's total employees (631) at the end of the first quarter. The layoffs will start in the second quarter of this year and are expected to be basically completed by the end of the year. The document shows that the restructuring plan is expected to incur a total cost of about $11.5 million to $15 million. (Jiemian)
Xiaoma Zhixing starts Robotaxi passenger - carrying operations in Singapore
36Kr learned that on April 7th, Xiaoma Zhixing and ComfortDelGro officially launched Robotaxi passenger - carrying operations in Singapore. Passengers have the opportunity to experience the autonomous driving travel service provided by the two parties in the Punggol area. Previously, at the 2025 earnings conference, Xiaoma Zhixing announced that this year it will deploy more than 3,000 Robotaxi fleets in over 20 cities at home and abroad, with nearly half of the cities being overseas.
36Kr learned that according to the Aiqicha App, recently, Beijing State - owned Assets Management Co., Ltd. underwent industrial and commercial changes, with its registered capital increasing from 10 billion yuan to 30 billion yuan, a 200% increase. The company was established in September 1992, with Zhao Jifeng as the legal representative. Its business scope includes asset management, project investment, and investment management. It is wholly - owned by the Beijing Municipal State - owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.
Investment and Financing:
TikTok announces a 1 - billion - euro investment to build a second data center in Finland
On April 8th, TikTok announced that it will invest 1 billion euros to build a new data center in Lahti, Finland, which is the company's second 1 - billion - euro data center investment project in Finland. The statement said that this investment is part of TikTok's 12 - billion - euro "Project Clover", which aims to process and protect the data of over 200 million European users. TikTok also said that it is proceeding as planned with the data center project in Kouvola, Finland, which was announced last year. (Jiemian)
"Qixiangyun" secures nearly 100 million yuan in Series A strategic financing
36Kr learned that recently, "Qixiangyun" announced the completion of nearly 100 million yuan in Series A strategic financing, led by the industrial investment fund under Guangzhou Industrial Investment Group, with participation from existing shareholder Saiyi Industrial Fund. This round of financing will be used to strengthen the AI execution base, jointly build vertical - domain silicon - based employees, and expand the service scale. Currently, Qixiangyun has connected with over 500 full - scenario ISV service providers, covering over 5 million end - enterprise users, and the annual service call volume has exceeded 30 billion times.
New Products:
Zhipu GLM - 5.1 "Day0" goes live on Huawei Cloud
36Kr learned that according to Huawei Cloud, on April 8th, Zhipu officially released its new - generation flagship model, GLM - 5.1, which went live on Huawei Cloud on the day of the release and was integrated with multiple Huawei Cloud products. This model has achieved a breakthrough in long - term task processing ability and can work continuously and autonomously for up to 8 hours in a single task, delivering complete engineering - level results.
36Kr learned that on April 8th, Haiguang Information globally launched the "Confidential Token" technology. Relying on a hardware - level security architecture, this technology achieves "zero exposure" of plain - text data in the entire process of cloud - based large models. Users can safely call the capabilities of large models without delivering core data to third - parties, providing a new path for the large - scale implementation of cloud - based large models.
Today's Views:
Google CEO Pichai: 2027 will be a key turning point for AI to reshape the production mode
Google CEO Pichai said that due to the wafer production volume, memory supply, and the speed of infrastructure construction, even though Google has a capital expenditure plan in the tens of billions of dollars, it is still difficult to fully implement it in the short term. He expects that 2027 will be an important turning point for AI to change the way of working. Google is also promoting long - term technology layouts such as quantum computing, space data centers, robots, and drone delivery. (Caixin)
Other Noteworthy News:
36Kr learned that the National Financial Regulatory Administration issued the "Notice on Doing a Good Job in Financial Support for the Comprehensive Revitalization of Rural Areas in 2026". The notice clearly states that in 2026, the Agricultural Development Bank of China and large and medium - sized commercial banks should continue to set separate agricultural credit plans and strive to achieve the goal of continuous growth in the balance of agricultural loans of the same caliber compared with the beginning of the year. Guide large and medium - sized banks to actively develop agricultural industrial chain finance, expand the number of first - time borrowers, promote the improvement of the ability of rural small and medium - sized banks to support agriculture and small businesses through reform, reasonably determine internal preferential policies for inclusive agricultural loans, and resolutely prevent and correct "involution - style" competition. Optimize agricultural credit products and services, provide more suitable credit products in combination with the characteristics of "agriculture, rural areas, and farmers", and increase support for loan extensions and renewals for agricultural enterprises and farmers in accordance with laws and regulations. Strengthen insurance protection for rice, wheat, corn, and soybeans, and develop insurance for local advantageous and characteristic agricultural products according to local conditions. Give play to the role of agricultural insurance in disaster prevention and mitigation.
36Kr learned from the State - owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council that the commission has newly established the Bureau of Overseas State - owned Assets. Its main responsibilities include: guiding the international operations and optimization of overseas asset layouts and structural adjustments of supervised enterprises, undertaking relevant work on the supervision of overseas assets of supervised enterprises, strengthening the prevention and resolution of risks in overseas investment and operations, and undertaking relevant work on handling overseas emergencies and crises.
Greece bans people under 15 from using social media
On April 8th, Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis announced that the country will ban people under 15 from using social media. (CCTV News)