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BYD to rev up Japan sales with EV mini dealerships

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ByteDance’s Seedance hit by IP row

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SCMP
ByteDance said it is strengthening safeguards in its Seedance 2.0 video model after Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter alleging infringement of characters from the Marvel and Star Wars franchises. The backlash includes criticism from SAG-AFTRA and the Motion Picture Association, as well as a Japanese government investigation into AI-generated anime content.

CaoCao hits 100 robotaxis in Hangzhou

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CaoCao Mobility
CaoCao Mobility has expanded its robotaxi fleet in Binjiang, Hangzhou, to 100 vehicles, marking a milestone in its shift toward fully driverless operations. The company also launched a mobility hub equipped with automated battery swapping and dispatch systems, and plans to debut a purpose-built robotaxi model this year with a target of deploying 100,000 units by 2030.

Genki Forest logs third year of growth

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Jiemian News
Genki Forest posted double-digit growth for a third straight year, with founder Tang Binsen saying profitability and operational efficiency improved further in 2025 after an initial breakthrough in 2024. Vitamin water sales jumped about 128% YoY, iced tea rose 56%, and the company expanded its retail footprint to 1.28 million outlets by year's end.

MiniMax unveils M2.5 model

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MiniMax
MiniMax has launched M2.5, a foundation model it said delivers state-of-the-art coding and agentic performance, including 80.2% on the SWE-Bench Verified benchmark. Served at up to 100 tokens per second (TPS), the model can reportedly run continuously for about USD 1 per hour at 100 output tokens per second, with a lower-speed version priced at roughly half the cost.

Tencent integrates Uber abroad

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IT Zhijia
Tencent has integrated Uber into its mobility-focused WeChat mini program, allowing users to book rides overseas without downloading a separate app. The feature spans more than 20 countries and regions, including Hong Kong, Japan, the UK, and the US, covers over 1,000 destinations, and supports WeChat Pay without the need for currency exchange.

Pangdonglai rules out IPO, caps scale

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Jiemian News
Pangdonglai will never go public and will halt expansion after completing its planned model targets, founder Yu Donglai said. He also mandated that the firm’s top executives step down from key roles before age 60. The announcement coincides with Yu’s formal retirement after the Lunar New Year, marking a leadership transition for the company.

Temu partners Dekra on testing

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Temu
Temu has partnered with Dekra to provide independent testing for selected electrical and electronic products, integrating the services into its platform to give merchants direct access. The move expands Temu’s network of more than 20 testing, inspection, and certification partners and follows a reported USD 100 million global investment in compliance and quality control in 2025.

OpenAI flags DeepSeek to US panel

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Bloomberg
ChatGPT maker OpenAI has told US lawmakers that DeepSeek used distillation and “new, obfuscated methods” to extract outputs from US-made AI models to train its R1 chatbot, according to a memo. The company said accounts tied to DeepSeek sought to bypass safeguards via third-party access routes.

Grab buys US fintech firm Stash

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Grab
Grab, operator of the eponymous Southeast Asian app, has signed definitive agreements to acquire 100% of US digital investment platform Stash, valuing an initial 50.1% stake at a USD 425 million enterprise value at closing, with the remainder to be acquired over three years. The deal, expected to close in Q3 2026, expands Grab’s fintech operations beyond Southeast Asia.

E-Power to form US grid venture

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E-Power
E-Power, formerly Sunrise New Energy, has signed an MoU with Kehui International to establish a US joint venture focused on microgrids for AI compute and power automation. E-Power will hold at least 55% and invest USD 1.5 million, while Kehui contributes patented technology with exclusive rights in the US and Canada. The venture targets USD 3 million in sales within three years.

WeRide, Uber launch Abu Dhabi robotaxis

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WeRide
WeRide and Uber have launched commercial robotaxi services in downtown Abu Dhabi, marking the emirate’s first deployment in its city center. The network covers about 70% of core areas, with the fleet quadrupling since December 2024. Rides are available via the Uber app under a phased rollout toward fully driverless operations.

ByteDance unveils Seedance 2.0

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ByteDance
ByteDance has launched Seedance 2.0, a multimodal generation model that supports text, image, audio, and video inputs. The system enables up to 15-second multi-shot outputs with dual-channel audio, expanded editing, and video extension features, and is available on Dreamina, Doubao, and Volcano Engine’s Model Ark.

Alibaba’s Qwen logs 120 million orders

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IT Zhijia
Alibaba said its Qwen app completed more than 120 million orders in six days during a Lunar New Year campaign backed by up to RMB 3 billion in subsidies, after users made 4.1 billion requests. Alipay’s “AI Pay” also surpassed 120 million transactions in a week.

ByteDance plans AI chip with Samsung

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Reuters
ByteDance is developing an AI inference chip and negotiating with Samsung Electronics for manufacturing and memory supply, with sample units targeted by end-March, sources said. The company plans to produce at least 100,000 chips this year, potentially scaling to 350,000. ByteDance said the reported in-house chip details are inaccurate.

Xiaomi halts first-gen SU7 output

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Sina
Xiaomi has discontinued production of the first-generation SU7, with the final unit shipped, founder Lei Jun said. The new SU7 will begin arriving in stores from February 13 ahead of an April launch. The company delivered more than 410,000 vehicles in 2025 and has set a 2026 sales target of 550,000 units.

BYD overtakes Ford in global sales

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Bloomberg
BYD reported 4.6 million vehicle sales in 2025, surpassing Ford’s nearly 4.4 million as the US automaker’s wholesale numbers fell almost 2%. The result lifts BYD to sixth in global rankings, one spot ahead of Ford. Toyota remained in first place for a sixth straight year with 11.3 million units sold, up 4.6% YoY.

Li Auto to launch “store partner” plan

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National Business Daily
Li Auto confirmed it will roll out a "store partner" program after the 2026 Lunar New Year, granting store managers greater decision-making power and replacing single sales targets with metrics covering sales, profit, and user satisfaction. It is also evaluating the closure of low-efficiency stores opened during its expansion phase.

Pop Mart sells 400 million units in 2025

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Pop Mart
Pop Mart said it sold more than 400 million units worldwide in 2025 across all IPs and categories, with The Monsters alone exceeding 100 million units. The figures were released in a voluntary board announcement.

Xpeng taps Antom for charging payments

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Xpeng
Xpeng launched in-app EV charging payments in Hong Kong on February 9 through Ant International’s Antom, its first global payment partner for vehicle charging. Drivers can start, stop, and pay for charging in the Xpeng app using AlipayHK, with cards and regional wallets to be added as the rollout expands across Southeast Asia and other markets in 2026.

China cloud market tops USD 13 billion

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Omdia
Mainland China’s cloud infrastructure services market grew 24% YoY to USD 13.4 billion in Q3 2025, marking a second consecutive quarter of growth above 20% as AI adoption lifted demand for compute, storage, and database services. Alibaba Cloud led the market with a 36% share, followed by Huawei Cloud at 16% and Tencent Cloud at 9%.
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      BYD to rev up Japan sales with EV mini dealerships

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