Krypton Evening News | Cainiao to Build European Supply Chain Fulfillment Center in the Netherlands; Youdao Dictionary Pen Wins 2026 EdTech Breakthrough Award for K-12 Education Tech Application of the Year; The State Council: In-Depth Implementation of the "AI+" Initiative to Explore New Human-Machine Collaborative Work Models
Large Companies:
36Kr has learned that Zhang Qing, the Chief Merchandising Officer (CMO) of Sam's Club China, submitted his resignation recently. In addition, according to exclusive information obtained by 36Kr, the personnel changes at Walmart China this time also include: Tony Paladinetti, the current Vice President of Strategy at Walmart International, will join Walmart China as the Vice President of Strategy, reporting directly to Zhu Xiaojing. An internal email stated that Tony will officially join the Chinese team in August 2026 after completing the work visa process and will relocate to Shenzhen with his wife Meg and their children. Yang Zhian, the current Vice President of Strategy at Walmart China, will report directly to Tony. During the transition period, Neil Maffey, the former Chief Merchandising Officer of Sam's Club and the current full-time consultant, will serve as the Acting Chief Merchandising Officer of Sam's Club, reporting directly to Liu Peng, the President of the Sam's Club format, until the new person in charge takes office. Zhu Jun, the President of the Walmart store format, will expand his responsibilities to manage the Real Estate Department of Walmart China. Zhang Jinyuan, the current Senior Vice President of the Real Estate Department of Walmart China, will report directly to Zhu Jun. On Monday this week, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a statement saying that in response to the frequent food safety issues at Sam's offline stores and online shops discovered by the regulators and exposed by the media over a period of time, it recently summoned the person in charge of Walmart (China) Investment Co., Ltd. (i.e., the headquarters of Sam's Club) for an administrative interview.
Alibaba Cloud Adds Paris and Johor Regions, Expands Data Centers in Japan and Mexico
36Kr has learned that on June 17, during the VIVATECH conference, Alibaba Cloud announced the official launch of services in Paris, France, and Johor, Malaysia. At the same time, it expanded its data centers in Tokyo, Japan, and Mexico to meet the surging demand for Token calls in the AI-going-global and global markets. After this round of expansion, Alibaba Cloud's global layout has increased to 32 regions and 105 availability zones.
Cainiao to Build European Supply Chain Fulfillment Center in the Netherlands
36Kr has learned that according to Cainiao, Cainiao will build a European supply chain fulfillment center in the Netherlands, investing more than 100 self-developed climbing robots. It will cover the entire Europe, serving both B-end channel shipments and C-end consumers. It is reported that Cainiao's overseas warehouse has found a suitable site for the center and signed a 10-year lease. The site was built by a well-known local real estate developer, and the project has just been completed. The total area reaches 26,000 square meters, including warehousing and office facilities, and it has convenient transportation connections with the Port of Rotterdam and the European hinterland.
Stellantis, Wayve, and Uber announced on June 17 that they had signed a cooperation memorandum. The three parties will jointly explore the global development and deployment of Level 4 (L4) fully autonomous driverless taxis. Stellantis is responsible for designing, engineering, and mass-producing vehicles based on the L4-ready platform. The platform is equipped with a sensor suite and meets the safety redundancy requirements for high-intensity driverless operations. Wayve provides end-to-end AI driving software, which can adapt to different regions and driving scenarios without high-precision maps for each city. Uber will deploy driverless vehicles through its global mobility platform, connecting passengers with autonomous driving travel services. The three parties plan to cooperate on vehicle integration, testing and verification, and commercial deployment, with the goal of covering Europe, North America, and broader markets. (Jiemian)
36Kr has learned that recently, the 2026 EdTech Breakthrough Award was officially announced. Youdao Dictionary Pen under NetEase Youdao won the "K-12 Educational Technology Application of the Year" award. It is understood that this is the first time a Chinese intelligent learning hardware brand has won this honor in the K-12 sub-track since the award was established.
New Products:
Snap Launches AR Smart Glasses SPECS
36Kr has learned that Snap Inc. announced today the launch of SPECS, a wearable computing device built into transparent augmented reality glasses. The product is now available for pre-order, priced at $2,195. The product is expected to be launched in the US, UK, and French markets first this fall.
Baidu's Co-Pilot DuMate Mobile Version Launches on Apple App Store
36Kr has learned that the iOS version of the Baidu co-pilot DuMate mobile APP has officially landed on the Apple App Store. Previously, DuMate had released its mobile capabilities at the Create conference and was first launched on the Android version. After the launch of the iOS version, users can access DuMate on both Android and iOS devices to handle scenarios such as information retrieval, data organization, content generation, and task planning, making AI collaboration no longer limited to fixed devices.
Investment and Financing:
"Anycubic" Completes Hundreds of Millions of Yuan in Series B Financing
36Kr has learned that the consumer-grade 3D printing brand "Anycubic" announced the completion of hundreds of millions of yuan in Series B financing. This round of financing was jointly led by Guotai Haitong and Fortune Capital, followed by Challenger Venture Capital, Mirae Asset Capital (China), and Qingbo Fund. Blacksheep Technology served as the exclusive financial advisor for this round of financing. The financing will be mainly invested in FDM multi-color/multi-material printing, high-end light-curing products, core software and hardware, new material systems, and the construction of global channels and local service capabilities to further enhance the company's product innovation and large-scale delivery capabilities in the global consumer-grade 3D printing market.
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Commits C$1 Billion to Joint Project with CtrlS Data Centers
It is reported that the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board said in a statement that it has committed to investing up to C$1 billion in cooperation with India's CtrlS Data Centers to expand data center infrastructure. (Yicai)
Today's Views:
>Shelly Wee, the Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said that global equity investment valuations are highly dependent on artificial intelligence, but the revenue returns related to AI are still highly uncertain, and the costs of energy and chips are also rising continuously. The rapid application of AI in the short term may bring risks such as insufficient economic benefits and insufficient security guarantees. (Caixin)
Other Noteworthy News:
36Kr has learned that the State Council issued the "15th Five-Year Plan for Implementing the Employment-Priority Strategy", which mentioned adapting to the development of artificial intelligence to promote employment and entrepreneurship. Deeply implement the "AI+" initiative to promote the formation of more entrepreneurial projects in AI application scenario innovation and technology achievement transformation, explore new forms of human-machine collaborative work, and strengthen the employment-creation effect of artificial intelligence. Promote the use of artificial intelligence to empower employment policies and employment services. Actively utilize the dividends of artificial intelligence development to better ensure employment and improve people's livelihoods.
To regulate the subsidy behavior of food delivery platforms, based on laws and regulations such as the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China, the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China, the Price Law of the People's Republic of China, the E-Commerce Law of the People's Republic of China, and the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China, the State Administration for Market Regulation, after extensively soliciting opinions from all parties and strengthening research and demonstration, drafted the "Ten Regulations on the Subsidy Behavior of Food Delivery Platforms (Draft for Comment)". Public opinions are being solicited from now until July 17. The "Draft for Comment" mainly includes four aspects: First, clarify the general principle that long-term and large-scale subsidies should not be used to exclude or restrict market competition and disrupt market competition order. Second, clarify specific requirements, such as not forcing platform operators to participate in subsidy activities or bear subsidy costs, not using capital advantages to implement monopoly or unfair competition behaviors, and not selling goods at prices below cost. Third, clarify supervision measures, such as publicly disclosing information before and after subsidy activities and specifying the main information to be disclosed to accept social supervision. Fourth, clarify legal risks, reminding food delivery platforms of the relevant legal regulations that subsidy behaviors should comply with and the legal consequences of illegal subsidy activities. (CCTV News)