Krstar Evening News | China's humanoid robots account for over 80% of the global market; Samsung Electronics will allow employees to use external AI models starting next month; People familiar with the matter: ByteDance has opened the subscription rights for "Doubao shares" to Seed employees this month.
Large Companies:
Sources: ByteDance opened "Doubao Shares" subscription rights to Seed division employees this month
According to four people familiar with the incentive plan, ByteDance is offering low-priced stock options linked to its Seed AI division to employees of the division. This marks the first time ByteDance has issued equity for a specific business unit. This incentive mechanism allows employees to share the growth benefits of the Seed division, without having their benefits diluted by the performance of ByteDance's other business lines.
Airbus supply issues delay Qantas' plan to launch non-stop London-New York flights
Airbus announced that due to supply chain problems plaguing the aircraft manufacturer, the delivery of the first batch of long-haul airliners to Australia's Qantas Airways has been postponed. The European aerospace group stated on Tuesday that the first of 12 specially modified A350-1000 aircraft will now be delivered in April 2027.
Samsung Electronics will allow employees to use external AI models starting next month
An internal memo released by Samsung Electronics on Tuesday shows that starting next month, the company will allow employees to use generative artificial intelligence (AI) models developed by other companies, including ChatGPT. The memo notes that Samsung plans to officially launch the external generative AI service in June, targeting employees of its Device eXperience (DX) division, which covers the company's display, mobile device and home appliance businesses. According to industry sources, Samsung also plans to offer AI application training courses in the second half of this year, and approximately 2,000 executives from Samsung Electronics and its major affiliates are expected to participate.
36Kr learned that recently, multiple AI assistants have accessed Meituan Errands to provide users with one-stop intra-city services. At the same time, Meituan has launched "Errand Skill", opening its errand ordering capability to the AI assistant ecosystem in the form of a packaged skill. With the rapid rise of the AI Agent ecosystem, the entry point for users to initiate errand requests is no longer limited to the Meituan App, but may come from any AI assistant, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, Cursor, WeChat and Feishu. The launch of Errand Skill means that no matter which AI assistant users use, they can place an errand order with a single sentence. The system automatically completes scenario recognition, address matching, price estimation and order submission, compressing the original multi-step operation into one step.
A preliminary agreement on Samsung Electronics' plan to distribute bonuses worth approximately 40 trillion won ($26.6 billion) to employees in its chip division has hit a snag. A union representing employees from the company's non-semiconductor departments has requested a South Korean court to suspend the voting process. The smallest union at Samsung, which is mainly composed of employees from the Digital Experience department, stated on Tuesday that it has filed an injunction to stop the voting on the agreement. The leader of this union said that the largest union at Samsung, which led last week's salary negotiations and abandoned the strike plan, is severely biased toward the chip department and sacrificed the interests of other business departments.
Tesla Supercharger cards are now available to non-Tesla vehicle owners
36Kr learned from Tesla that Tesla Supercharger cards are now available to non-Tesla vehicle owners.
New Products:
Honor 600 Series officially launched
36Kr learned that on May 25, the new product launch conference for the Honor 600 Series was held in Xiamen. The Honor 600 Series includes three models: Pro version, Super version and Youth version, with the national subsidized starting price starting at 2294.15 yuan.
Tencent Appbao for Mac officially launches public beta
36Kr learned that on May 26, Tencent Appbao for Mac officially launched its public beta. This beta version supports running Android applications and mobile games on Mac; it also supports uploading and running EXE files. Appbao for Mac supports 4K high-definition resolution, adopts HiDPI + Retina screen technology, achieves a refresh rate of up to 120 frames per second, and provides millisecond-level response to mouse and keyboard clicks.
Investment & Financing:
"Guanglun Intelligence" completes new round of financing
36Kr learned that recently, "Guanglun Intelligence" completed a new round of financing. This round is led by Ant Group, with participation from state-owned, industrial and financial institutions including Jiantou Investment, Greater Bay Area Common Home Fund, Semir Fangdao Fund, Shandong Fuhong (industrial fund managed by Foxconn Industrial Internet), Xinneng Investment, and Linxin Investment. Meanwhile, existing shareholders including 37 Interactive Entertainment, Guofang Innovation, Daohe Long-term Investment, and Dingshi Asset Management have over-subscribed. The proceeds from this financing round will be mainly used for core technology investment in physical AI data and evaluation infrastructure, to continuously strengthen the construction of large-scale delivery capacity, and to accelerate global market expansion and ecological cooperation.
"Qiaotian Intelligence" completes 100-million-yuan Series A+ financing
36Kr learned that "Qiaotian Intelligence" has completed a 100-million-yuan Series A+ financing, exclusively invested by the National Industrial Machine Tool Industry Investment Fund. The proceeds will be used for high-end production capacity expansion, core technology R&D and iteration, and global market layout. Founded in 2016, Qiaotian Intelligence focuses on robotic end effectors and peripheral equipment for automakers, and its product portfolio includes quick-change plates, magnetic mold change systems, grinders, industrial connectors, etc.
Today's Insights:
36Kr learned that in the early morning of May 26, global third-party programming ranking Code Arena released its latest list. Alibaba's latest flagship model Qwen3.7-Max scored 1541 points, surpassing models including GPT-4o and Gemini-1.5-Flash, ranking second among global large model manufacturers, second only to the Claude series.
Other Notable News:
China's humanoid robots account for more than 80% of the global market
According to customs statistics, in the first quarter of this year, China's robot industry accelerated its expansion into overseas markets. The total export value of various separately listed "robots" reached 11.32 billion yuan, and the products are sold to 148 countries and regions around the world. At present, there are more than 140 complete humanoid robot manufacturing enterprises in China, with an annual shipment of 14,400 units, accounting for 84.7% of the global market. Eight out of every ten humanoid robots come from China. Data shows that the market size of China's embodied intelligence industry is expected to reach 400 billion yuan in 2030 and is expected to exceed 1 trillion yuan in 2035.
Japan's net external assets fall to third in the world
Data released by Japan's Ministry of Finance on the 26th shows that as of the end of 2024, Japan's net external assets stood at 561.75 trillion yen (about 1 U.S. dollar equals 149 yen), an increase of 4.4% year-on-year. In terms of national and regional rankings, Japan has dropped from second to third place globally.