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DeepSeek could be expanding its focus to AI-powered search and agent-based tools, media reports said, citing recent job postings from the Chinese AI s…

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<a href="/company/deepseek">DeepSeek</a> could be expanding its focus to AI-powered search and agent-based tools, media reports said, citing recent job postings from the Chinese <a href="/industry/ai">AI</a> startup. The company is hiring to build a multilingual, multimodal AI search engine and infrastructure to support persistent agents that can operate with minimal human input.

<a href="/company/geely">Geely</a> has launched the EX2 in Indonesia and confirmed the start of local production, marking a key step in its localization strategy. The EX2 is now assembled locally with 46.5% local content, becoming the third Geely model produced in the country as the automaker steps up its push into Southeast Asia’s <a href="/industry/ev">EV</a> market.

<a href="/company/ant-group">Ant Group</a> subsidiary Robbyant has open-sourced LingBot-World, a real-time interactive world model for embodied intelligence and simulation. The company said the model supports millisecond-level interaction, nearly ten minutes of stable video generation, and benchmark performance comparable to Google’s Genie 3.

Chinese chipmaker Hygon’s processors were found immune to a recently disclosed hardware vulnerability, known as StackWarp, that affected several generations of AMD processors. Analysts attributed the immunity to Hygon’s use of its self-developed CSV3 security technology rather than AMD’s SEV-SNP.

Notion said it completed a private tender offer of about USD 270 million at an USD 11 billion valuation, with Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures increasing their commitments and GIC joining as a new investor. The transaction allowed current and former employees to sell shares.

<a href="/company/geely">Geely</a>-backed CaoCao Mobility said it will raise about HKD 383 million by placing up to 12 million shares at HKD 32.46 each. Roughly two-thirds of the proceeds will go toward robotaxi development, with the rest allocated to enterprise services and working capital.

<a href="/company/tencent">Tencent</a> said Sogou Input Method has rolled out its <a href="/industry/ai">AI</a>-focused 20.0 update, upgrading voice input, translation, and typing models. The company said the AI features now serve more than 100 million users, with daily voice input usage approaching two billion, reportedly the highest in the input method segment.

Vietnamese automaker Kim Long Motor said it will partner with China’s <a href="/company/byd">BYD</a> to build a USD 130 million battery plant in central Vietnam. Kim Long will fund the project, while BYD will provide technical support, with production focused on commercial <a href="/industry/ev">EV</a> batteries before expanding to passenger EV batteries.

Moonshot AI’s Kimi has released K2.5, an open-source multimodal model trained on about 15 trillion text and visual tokens. The model introduces a self-directed agent swarm that can coordinate up to 100 sub-agents in parallel, boosting performance in coding, vision, and complex multi-step tasks.

<a href="/company/baidu">Baidu</a> AI Cloud has raised its 2026 <a href="/industry/ai">AI</a>-related revenue growth target to 200%, from 100%, according to people familiar with the matter. The move comes as Baidu pushes to lead the AI cloud market with a full-stack strategy spanning chips, cloud infrastructure, large models, and AI agents.

<a href="/company/baidu">Baidu</a> has begun a new round of beta testing for a multi-user, multi-agent group chat feature in its Ernie app. The system deploys multiple <a href="/industry/ai">AI</a> agents with distinct roles in a single chat to support coordination, decision-making, and task execution, extending the app beyond one-on-one AI interactions.

Photo shows StepFun’s booth at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2024.

Foundation and Large Models

Just as investor enthusiasm for AI cools, StepFun secures major funding, following Moonshot and listed peers.

As AI consolidates, what makes StepFun worth a RMB 5 billion raise?

Cheng Zi is based in China, covering technology- and business-related events. She works with her colleagues at 36Kr Global to provide coverage in both English and Chinese.

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Chinese AI talent is weighing whether to stay, or return home.

Chinese AI researchers in US torn between promise, politics

As part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with Nikkei, you can read selected content from Nikkei Asia on KrASIA.

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Wook’s revenue topped RMB 1 billion in 2024 as it expands beyond Indonesia across Southeast Asia.

Alibaba-backed Wook moves closer to IPO as Southeast Asia drives growth

IPO Zaozhidao is a Chinese media outlet that provides timely coverage of IPO developments and related market signals.

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As AI consolidates, what makes StepFun worth a RMB 5 billion raise?

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