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iFlytek’s SuperAgent aims to make AI the new marketing infrastructure

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Pulses

Longi warns of another annual loss

just now
Bloomberg
Longi Green Energy shares fell after the Chinese solar manufacturer warned of another annual loss in 2025, projecting a deficit of RMB 6.0–6.5 billion. The figure narrows from 2024’s RMB 8.6 billion loss, driven by continued cost pressures and weak panel prices. Analysts expect a gradual recovery from 2026 as competition and overcapacity ease.

EHang names Shuai Feng as CTO

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EHang
EHang has appointed founding team member Shuai Feng as CTO, effective January 14. Feng, who helped develop core eVTOL models such as the EH216-S and VT35, succeeds founder Huazhi Hu in leading the company’s technology strategy.

China leads humanoid robot boom

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Counterpoint Research
Global humanoid robot installations reached 16,000 units in 2025, with China accounting for over 80%. Shanghai-based Agibot led global OEMs with a 31% share, followed by Unitree, UBTech, Leju, and Tesla. Cumulative installations are projected to surpass 100,000 units by 2027, driven by demand from logistics, manufacturing, and automotive sectors.

WeRide hits new robotaxi milestone

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WeRide
WeRide said its global robotaxi fleet reached 1,023 vehicles as of January 12. With fully driverless operations already underway in Guangzhou, Beijing, and Abu Dhabi, the company said it aims to deploy tens of thousands of robotaxis worldwide by 2030.

Ford in talks with BYD on battery supply

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WSJ
Ford Motor is in talks with BYD to supply batteries for hybrid vehicles, people familiar with the discussions said. The potential deal, still under negotiation, comes as Ford pivots from EVs toward hybrid cars and seeks new battery suppliers. BYD, one of China’s top automakers and battery producers, has been expanding its global capacity across Asia, Europe, and Brazil.

Robot Era partners with SF Technology

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IT Zhijia
Robot Era and SF Technology have formed a partnership to develop and deploy embodied robots across logistics operations. By leveraging Robot Era’s ERA-42 model and its humanoid robots L7 and M7, the collaboration seeks to enhance automation flexibility, establish industry standards, and drive large-scale adoption of advanced robotics in supply chain management.

Qwen integrates Taobao and Alipay features

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Securities Times
Alibaba has integrated its Qwen app with Taobao, Alipay, Fliggy, and AutoNavi to enable more than 400 AI-powered services, letting users shop, make payments, book trips, and access government services through natural language commands. The company said the update marks Qwen’s transition from conversational AI to a task-oriented assistant.

Z.ai and Huawei present GLM-Image

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Z.ai
GLM-Image is said to bethe first open-source, industrial-grade discrete auto-regressive image generation model, combining a nine-billion-parameter auto-regressive module with a seven-billion-parameter diffusion decoder. Developed by Z.ai (Zhipu AI) in partnership with Huawei and built on GLM-4-9B-0414 and CogView4, the model reportedly excels in text rendering, semantic accuracy, and complex image-to-image tasks.

Kuaishou’s Kling achieves ARR milestone

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Kuaishou
Kuaishou said its video generation platform Kling AI generated over USD 20 million in revenue in December 2025, lifting its annualized run rate to USD 240 million. Achieved less than two years after launch, the milestone reflects growing adoption among creators and enterprise users in marketing, e-commerce, and content production.

Alibaba’s Qwen hits 100 million MAUs

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Sina
Alibaba’s Qwen app has reportedly surpassed 100 million monthly active users just two months after launch, though the company has not confirmed the figure. Framed as an AI assistant that can both converse and complete tasks, Qwen marks Alibaba’s strategic shift toward the consumer AI market after years of focusing on enterprise solutions.

MiniMax unveils OctoCodingBench

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MiniMax
MiniMax has introduced OctoCodingBench, a benchmark designed to evaluate how well coding agents follow process-level instructions. The study found that while many models can pass output tests, they may disregard rules such as naming conventions and user preferences. Several open-source models surpassed closed-source counterparts in overall rule compliance.

4Paradigm’s Phancy debuts eyewear

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IT Zhijia
Phancy, the consumer brand of 4Paradigm, has launched smart glasses featuring a 13-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, and AI-driven stabilization. Co-developed with Anyka Microelectronics, the device uses proprietary algorithms for image enhancement, translation, and automated meeting transcription.

Baichuan plans IPO by 2027

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Sina
Baichuan founder and CEO Wang Xiaochuan said the company plans to pursue an IPO by 2027. He noted that while many AI firms benefit from policy and technology tailwinds, their valuations have outpaced commercialization. Wang added that Baichuan’s long-term strategy, particularly in healthcare, remains centered on sustainable growth toward a public listing.

DeepSeek unveils Engram memory method

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TechRadar
DeepSeek and Peking University have launched Engram, a conditional memory system that decouples storage from computation in LLMs. Engram reportedly improves reasoning efficiency and scales across GPUs without increasing compute load, easing dependence on high-bandwidth memory and addressing global DRAM price pressures.

BrainCo files for Hong Kong IPO

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Wallstreet CN
BrainCo has confidentially filed for a Hong Kong IPO and is working with CICC and UBS on the deal, according to people familiar with the matter. The filing follows the brain-computer interface startup’s recent RMB 2 billion fundraising, the industry’s second largest round globally after Neuralink.

Xpeng plans IPO for flying car unit

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Xpeng
Xpeng has hired JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley to prepare an IPO of its flying car unit in Hong Kong, according to people familiar with the matter. The company has confidentially filed for a share sale that could take place this year as it seeks to tap China’s low-altitude economy and expand its frontier technology portfolio.

Pop Mart denies smartphone plans

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The Paper
Pop Mart has denied reports that it is developing a smartphone, saying it will instead launch an IP collaboration with a major phone brand. Earlier reports suggested the company planned to release a youth-oriented device. The statement comes as Pop Mart expands into new consumer segments, including jewelry and AI-powered toys.

China curbs pressure on online sellers

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Bloomberg
China has banned major e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba, JD.com, and Meituan from coercing merchants into promotions, part of new rules aimed at curbing fierce online competition. Effective February this year, the regulations also prohibit false influencer marketing and require platforms to strengthen consumer and data protections.

China to review Meta’s Manus deal

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WSJ
China's Ministry of Commerce has said it would review Meta’s USD 2.5 billion acquisition of AI startup Manus, founded by Chinese entrepreneurs who relocated the company to Singapore. Sources said the review reflects Beijing’s broader effort to safeguard AI technologies amid an intensifying tech rivalry with the US.

Agibot leads humanoid robot market

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The Paper
Omdia ranked Agibot first globally in humanoid robot shipments and market share for 2025, with 5,168 units delivered and a 39% global share. The report said Chinese manufacturers led the sector’s rapid growth and rated Agibot highest in six of eight technical dimensions, ahead of peers including Unitree and Tesla.
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