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… importantly, it tapped into what investor Li Chen called “the emotional value of young people.” Instead of targeting the niche market of seasoned guitarists, LiberLive embraced casual music fans who may want to play in front of friends, on social media, at gatherings. It gave them a sense of achievement and emotional payoff.
A Frost &amp; Sullivan report noted that younger consumers were more receptive to stringless guitars. While most buyers of smart guitars were aged 30–45, nearly half of LiberLive’s buyers were between 18–30.
<h3>Lessons from an outlier</h3>
LiberLive is a rare business story that runs counter to industry norms.
When looking for a product direction, Tang initially tried flashy AI concepts, but ended up committing to the less trendy category of musical instruments. While most smart hardware startups chase rapid iteration and constant upgrades, he spent four years refining a single product.
That contrarian approach likely explains why so many investors missed the opportunity. “Maybe what LiberLive wanted to do was too ahead of its time,” the marketing rep said. “Since no one had done it before, investors were hesitant.”
One hardware investor compared it to <a href="/company/pop-mart">Pop Mart</a>, a collectibles brand also overlooked by most institutions early on. “Consumer trends can’t always be predicted through research or logic,” he said. “They move with the times.”
Li Chen agreed that investor caution in 2019 was understandable. At the time, Tang had two failed products and an unproven concept. But in 2023, when the C1 was fully developed, investor reluctance was harder to explain. “It’s worth reflecting on,” he said.
He believes many hardware investors have become overly focused on abstract metrics like team pedigree, market buzz, and conceptual hype, neglecting what actually matters.
The same mistake, he said, is being repeated by today’s AI hardware founders. Many treat AI as the core and scramble to find hardware that fits the tech, instead of identifying unmet consumer needs. The result: products that fail to find product-market fit, or get rushed to launch in half-baked form.
He pointed to a Shenzhen company that released a smart glasses prototype within months, only to receive widespread backlash. “It couldn’t even handle basic Bluetooth calls,” he said.
“LiberLive didn’t have flash or buzzwords,” Li Chen said. “But it succeeded because it understood what real users actually want.”
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3292115548240001">article</a> was written by Wang Fangyu for 36Kr.

No strings attached: How LiberLive turned rejection into a runaway hit

Music

Creative

China

This month, Shenzhen-based smart home solutions provider VeSync officially went private, delisting from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at a 33.3% premium. The move marked the end of a six-month-long retreat from public markets.
Founded in 2011 by 38-year-old Yang Lin, VeSync began with smart outlets and other small appliances. Over time, it evolved into a global brand offering a wide range of smart home and kitchen products. The company made its market debut in Hong Kong in 2020.
Yet the delisting appears to be a reset, not a retreat.
From launching in a basement to dominating Amazon niche categories, VeSync reached USD 650 million in revenue in 2024. Despite this strong performance, the company chose to go private, likely in response to mounting pressure for short-term profitability and the high costs associated with being publicly traded.
Delisting, it seems, was just the opening move. According to VeSync, the bigger game is only beginning, and it’s one that calls for more flexibility to scale further.
<h3>An uncommon retreat at a high point</h3>
In 2011, Yang started VeSync in a basement somewhere in the US, long before the smart home category took off. Spotting an opportunity early, the company initially focused on small appliances like kitchen scales and smart outlets.
The breakthrough came in 2012 with the launch of its first brand, Etekcity. Within three months, its smart body fat scale reportedly topped Amazon’s category rankings, thanks to accurate data tracking and aggressive pricing.
A year later, Yang established the company’s headquarters in Shenzhen and began expanding its product lines. Today, VeSync’s key brands include:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Levoit, specializing in air purifiers and humidifiers.</li>
<li aria-level="1">Cosori, focused on air fryers and coffee machines.</li>
<li aria-level="1">Etekcity, centered on health monitoring and personal care.</li>
<li aria-level="1">Pawsync, a newcomer targeting the smart pet device market.</li>
</ul>
In 2020, VeSync went public in Hong Kong, but its first years as a listed company were bumpy. From 2020 to 2022, revenues rose, but profitability did not. In 2022, it posted net losses of USD 16.28 million, largely due to rising supply chain costs.
By 2023, the tide began to turn. In 2024, the company reported USD 650 million in revenue, up 11.5% year-on-year, and a net profit of USD 93 million, achieving double-digit growth.
So why go private now?
In its delisting announcement, VeSync cited the multifaceted benefits of privatization for both shareholders and the company. In a challenging climate marked by geopolitical tensions and a low-liquidity market, going private offered investors a premium exit.
For VeSync, continued listing no longer aligned with its strategy. Delisting means fewer disclosure requirements and less pressure for quarterly performance, giving the company room to focus on long-term goals.
“At the beginning of 2025, we are faced with numerous challenges, including heightened geopolitical tensions and the intensification of tariff barriers,” VeSync noted in its 2024 annual report.
Over 70% of VeSync’s revenue comes from North America, where shifting tariff policies have significantly raised compliance costs. Operating privately gives the company more leeway to adapt overseas strategies without the regulatory burden.
Public markets have also failed to fully capture the value of cross-border e-commerce brands. VeSync went public in 2020 with a valuation of over HKD 26 billion (about USD 3.3 billion). However, uneven earnings and stock volatility dragged its market cap down to HKD 8 billion (USD 1 billion) in 2022, and just HKD 6.35 billion (USD 810.1 million) by the time of its delisting.
<h3>A bruising chapter on the Hong Kong exchange</h3>
VeSync’s departure from the stock market bucks the conventional startup arc, where rising earnings usually herald further capital expansion.
The decision sent ripples through the cross-border e-commerce industry.
For companies in this space, going public has long been seen as a milestone not just for raising funds but also for enhancing governance and brand credibility. Yet public markets can be unforgiving.
Compared with peers listed in A-shares or in the US, VeSync’s valuation fell short. Anker, listed in China’s A-share market, boasts a market cap exceeding RMB 50 billion (USD 7 billion). Ugreen, traded on the ChiNext board, is valued around RMB 18 billion (USD 2.5 billion). Sailvan Times once hit RMB 15 billion (USD 2.1 billion) and still trades above RMB 8 billion (USD 1.1 billion).
Meanwhile, small appliance rival SharkNinja, listed in the US, has benefited from investor enthusiasm for consumer brands, reaching a valuation high of USD 16 billion this year.
This shift signals a new phase for cross-border e-commerce: one defined by higher investment requirements and slower returns. VeSync, like many top Amazon sellers, grew rapidly during boom years but now faces stiffer competition and the need to build deeper moats.
Loctek, for example, is investing heavily in overseas warehouses and smart home products. These are long-term plays that may not immediately translate to profit, showing up instead as high costs and low short-term returns in earnings reports.
VeSync is charting a similar course. The company is ramping up investment in TikTok content channels, growing its offline retail footprint, and expanding further into Europe. These efforts demand both time and fresh capital.
Whether VeSync remains private or pursues a new listing in another market, one thing is clear: delisting was only its first move. The real breakthrough may still lie ahead.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3310137307963136">article</a> was written by Ou Xue for 36Kr.

VeSync goes private to play the long game in smart home tech

Hardware

Retail

Consumer Economy

As Chinese manufacturers ramp up investment in this Cambodian border city, whole neighborhoods are cropping up to cater to them while signs emerge that factories are straining the power grid and labor market.
Bavet in Svay Rieng, more than three hours from Phnom Penh by car, is tucked into a corner of the country's southeastern border where it juts into Vietnam.
Vietnamese was once commonly used in Bavet, but now the city is filled with Chinese-language signage, even in the back streets. Some cafes have staff that can speak only Chinese.
"Look. It's China over there, China there, China here. Everything is China around here," said a food stall owner with a wry smile.
Other changes have raised concerns, with the arrival of Chinese-funded casinos and reports of shootings and murders involving Chinese nationals.
"The Chinese are good investors, but I'm worried about safety in the city," a taxi driver said.
The Bavet area has long had Chinese money flowing into its mainstay garment industry, but recent years have seen big investments in more electricity-hungry manufacturing of products such as tires.
In January, Wanli Tire broke ground on a new USD 500 million plant in Bavet, its first factory outside of China, which the company says will eventually be able to turn out more than ten million tires a year. It sits near a factory run by another big Chinese tire maker, Sailun Group.
More than ten of Cambodia's roughly 30 special economic zones (SEZs) are concentrated around Bavet. Three new ones were approved there last year, all believed to involve Chinese funding, based on the project names.
SEZs offer tax breaks and other benefits to local and foreign companies. The Council for the Development of Cambodia approved 130 investments in these areas, of which more than 50 in the vicinity of Bavet.
Roughly 80% of investment in the Bavet area comes from mainland Chinese or Hong Kong companies, according to the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO).
"Since Donald Trump was elected US president, moves into Cambodia have accelerated even more on concerns about tariff policy," said Kohei Wakabayashi, chief representative of JETRO's Phnom Penh office.
Much of Bavet's appeal lies in its location—about four hours by land from Cai Mep-Thi Vai, Vietnam's largest international port. By setting up shop across the border from Vietnam in Cambodia, companies can benefit from lower labor costs while still having access to an international port.
The route running from Cai Mep-Thi Vai through Bavet and across Cambodia into Thailand has been dubbed the Southern Economic Corridor, a concept put forward by the Asian Development Bank. The E1 expressway between Phnom Penh and Bavet was built with Japanese government support.
More recently, however, Cambodia has been tilting toward China's Belt and Road Initiative, with highways and ports being built with Chinese money. State-owned China Road and Bridge Corporation is building a new expressway between Phnom Penh and Bavet, the same corridor spanned by the Japanese-funded highway.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) by China in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) came to USD 17 billion in 2023, and totaled USD 140 billion from 2010 to that year, according to an ASEAN survey. China accounts for more than 10% of overall FDI in the bloc since 2020. In Cambodia, over 90% of garment factories are believed to be run by Chinese companies.
It has been estimated that SEZs being established around Bavet will need 50,000 or so workers once they are up and running. The government has said that Svay Rieng has a workforce of around 300,000, but Japanese companies estimate that only around 100,000 are within commuting distance of Bavet.
Some Chinese companies are reportedly recruiting workers from neighboring areas by offering pay equivalent to USD 300–350 per month, well above the Cambodian minimum wage of USD 208.
Power shortages are another concern. Some SEZs lost power last summer, leading the government to build a new substation. But outages reportedly began happening again around March, which has been blamed on an increase in power-hungry factories, as well as the area's booming casinos.
The Trump administration announced a 49% "reciprocal tariff" on imports from Cambodia on April 2. Still, Chinese investment in the country shows no signs of easing.
On April 9, local media reported that a Chinese company will build Cambodia's first oil refinery. Later that month, Chinese <a href="/industry/ev">electric vehicle</a> maker <a href="/company/byd">BYD</a> held a groundbreaking ceremony for a vehicle assembly plant at the Sihanoukville SEZ in southwestern Cambodia.
"I am convinced that Wanli Tire's investment will draw more Chinese companies to Cambodia," said Cambodian deputy prime minister Sun Chanthol at the company's January event.
This article first appeared on <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/China-here-China-there-Cambodian-city-reshaped-by-Chinese-money">Nikkei Asia</a>. It has been republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with <a href="https://www.kr-asia.com/nikkei-teams-up-with-36kr-in-asia-tech-news-coverage/">Nikkei</a>.

"China here, China there": Cambodian city reshaped by Chinese money

Cambodia

Southeast Asia

<a href="/company/kuaishou">Kuaishou’s</a> artificial intelligence strategy is showing early signs of commercial payoff. The Chinese tech firm reported RMB 150 million (USD 21 million) in revenue from Kling AI in the first quarter of 2025, as its upgraded video generation product gained traction among content creators, advertisers, animators, and game developers. Nearly 70% of Kling’s Q1 revenue came from consumer subscriptions, with a growing base of independent creators and professional users driving up average spend.
The company also posted its first-ever overseas operating profit, buoyed by strong growth in Brazil. Combined with steady domestic performance in e-commerce and live streaming, Kuaishou generated total revenue of RMB 32.6 billion (USD 4.6 billion), up 10.9% year-on-year. Adjusted net profit rose to RMB 4.6 billion (USD 644 million), yielding a 14% adjusted net margin. Daily active users on the Kuaishou app reached a record 408 million.
Kuaishou’s momentum suggests it has made headway in shaping a second growth curve built on AI applications and international expansion. “We’re confident that by being focused on long-term technology investment and delivering real user value, we will be able to rise above short-term cycles,” said Cheng Yixiao, the company’s co-founder and CEO, during the earnings call.
Launched globally in April, Kling 2.0 introduced a multimodal editing system that lets users combine images, video, voice, and motion prompts. Upgrades in motion quality and semantic responsiveness have also drawn in creators looking for more precise control over the video generation process.
Corporate adoption is expanding as well. More than 10,000 companies, including firms in film production and smart devices, are reportedly using Kling’s APIs. The company is also cultivating its AI ecosystem through programs offering funding and IP incubation to emerging creators.
Future versions of Kling are expected to broaden its user base by offering different cost-performance tiers. While Kuaishou plans to scale AI-related investments this year, CFO Jin Bing noted that Kling’s high-margin subscription model and scalable architecture will limit the impact on group profitability to around 1–2%.
whereRelatedArticle
Beyond AI, Kuaishou’s overseas business is entering a new phase. International revenue grew 32.7% year-on-year to RMB 1.3 billion (USD 182 million), led by Brazil. The company credited increased user engagement and local content partnerships with driving retention. A sponsorship deal with Brazilian variety show Big Brother Brasil 25 helped boost brand visibility in the market. E-commerce order volumes also rose, underpinned by product localization and disciplined ROI management.
The profitability milestone marks a shift for Kuaishou, which had been absorbing heavy losses overseas until recently. Management attributed the turnaround to gains in customer acquisition efficiency and ad monetization.
AI integration has also deepened across the platform. Large model capabilities now support user recommendations, ad material production, and customer service functions. In Q1, daily ad spend on AI-generated marketing content averaged RMB 30 million (USD 4.2 million).
AI tools also played a key role in e-commerce, helping merchants streamline operations through automated live streaming clips, smart product suggestions, and conversational bots. These enhancements contributed to a 15.4% year-on-year increase in gross merchandise volume, which totaled RMB 332.3 billion (USD 46.5 billion).
Live streaming revenue climbed 14.4%, supported by partnerships with talent agencies and a strong content pipeline. Revenue from local services more than doubled, with most of the growth coming from lower-tier Chinese cities.
Despite its optimistic outlook, Kuaishou is taking a measured approach to expansion. AI deployments remain ROI-driven, and the company continues to balance growth with cost discipline. R&amp;D spending rose 16% to RMB 3.3 billion (USD 462 million), while operating cash flow remained positive at RMB 3.3 billion.
The company repurchased shares worth HKD 1.4 billion (USD 178.6 million) in Q1, underscoring its confidence in long-term prospects. As Kuaishou deepens its investment in AI and international markets, its evolving results point to a defensible, multi-pillar business model, one that’s increasingly buffered from the volatility of China’s advertising economy.

Kuaishou turns a corner in Q1 as AI push begins to pay off

Kuaishou

East Asia

Artificial Intelligence

Entertainment

Short Video

Live Streaming

Deep Tech

Video

Content

Zhuohai Technology has reportedly filed for an IPO on the Beijing Stock Exchange, marking a renewed bid to go public following a previously aborted attempt.
In June 2022, the Wuxi-based company had applied to list on the ChiNext board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, reaching the hearing stage by January 2023 before the process was terminated that same month. Zhuohai later entered the Innovation Tier of the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ) in August 2024 under the code 874380.
Founded in 2009, Zhuohai specializes in frontend metrology equipment used in <a href="/industry/semiconductors">semiconductor</a> manufacturing. Its business encompasses the development, repair, and sales of these systems. These are critical tools for measuring key parameters or detecting defects in lithography, etching, and thin film deposition processes. Most of them operate using optical or electron beam technologies.
According to data from SEMI, frontend metrology systems account for approximately 13% of the global semiconductor equipment market. Between 2019 and 2023, the mainland Chinese market for frontend metrology and repair equipment expanded from RMB 1.48 billion (USD 207.2 million) to RMB 4.98 billion (USD 697.2 million), reflecting a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 35.44%, according to Frost &amp; Sullivan. The market is projected to reach RMB 12.77 billion (USD 1.8 billion) by 2027, growing at a projected CAGR of 26.69%.
Policy shifts in China may further accelerate demand. New rules state that the origin of a chip is determined by where critical wafer processing occurs, potentially strengthening the case for domestic sourcing in semiconductor manufacturing.
Still, technical hurdles remain. Frontend metrology tools, often described as the “eyes” of chip production, play a decisive role in wafer yield rates. As of 2023, Chinese brands made up only about 5% of the domestic new equipment market, which is largely dominated by US-based KLA and Applied Materials, along with Japan’s Hitachi.
However, in the repair segment, Zhuohai has been steadily gaining ground. Its market share rose from 2.07% in 2018 to 7.39% in 2023, ranking third globally behind KLA and Hitachi. The company’s repair capabilities now extend to 12-inch wafers and 14-nanometer nodes, with leading domestic performance in process coverage, product variety, and scale.
Operating upstream in the semiconductor equipment value chain, Zhuohai sources used systems from major integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) such as KLA, then refurbishes and enhances them using proprietary technologies. These tools are acquired through partnerships with resellers and auctions in South Korea, the US, and other regions. As of 2024, its inventory was valued at RMB 741 million (USD 103.7 million), representing 74.87% of current assets and reflecting its tight control over upstream supply.
Nonetheless, geopolitical risks pose a threat to this model. Restrictions on the export of decommissioned tools could disrupt procurement channels.
On the customer side, Zhuohai serves domestic semiconductor makers including Hua Hong Semiconductor, Silan Microelectronics, and China Resources Microelectronics, with end users in 2024 extending to listed firms like BYD and Gree Electric.
Due to the capital intensity and technical demands of chip fabrication, Zhuohai’s customer base remains relatively concentrated. In 2024, its top five clients contributed 56.12% of revenue—down from 70.64% in 2022 and 66.01% in 2023—yet still reflective of significant client concentration risk.
Zhuohai’s business is organized into four segments: refurbished equipment, self-developed equipment, components and parts, and technical services. From 2022–2024, revenue rose from RMB 314 million (USD 44 million) to RMB 465 million (USD 65.1 million), while net profit fell from RMB 132 million (USD 18.5 million) in 2023 to RMB 104 million (USD 14.6 million) in 2024, reflecting a 21.6% year-on-year (YoY) decline amid cyclical market pressures. Gross margin also declined, from 60.58% in 2022 to 46.56% in 2024.
Refurbished tools remain Zhuohai’s core revenue driver, generating RMB 428 million (USD 60 million) in 2024, accounting for 92.24% of total income. Unit sales grew 22.3% YoY, but gross margin narrowed to 46.49% amid rising procurement costs and intensifying price competition. This business centers on restoring decommissioned devices for resale, including electron beam defect inspection systems and thin film thickness meters, primarily supporting process nodes from 14–28 nm.
Self-developed equipment contributed RMB 12 million (USD 1.7 million), or 2.62% of revenue, with a gross margin of 37.43%. Commercialized products in this category, such as stress measurement tools and four-point probe sheet resistance meters, are said to match the performance of leading international models, although market adoption remains limited.
Components and parts made up 3.39% of total revenue, led by high-repetition-rate pulsed lasers and precision transport systems. Several of these components have been integrated into both self-developed and refurbished systems.
Technical services, including maintenance and production line debugging, accounted for roughly 1.75% of revenue. These offerings are aimed at boosting customer retention through added value.
Despite its product diversification, Zhuohai continues to lag in R&amp;D investment. From 2022–2024, R&amp;D spending stood at 4.81%, 7.46%, and 7.25% of revenue, respectively, far below the 36.07% allocated by Skyverse Technology and the 30% reported by Jingce Electronic.
The refurbished segment also remains susceptible to cost inflation and pricing pressure. In 2024, gross margin for some models dropped by 14.01% due to these headwinds.
While Zhuohai has made incremental gains in self-developed technologies, this segment still contributes just 3% of revenue, underscoring the company’s need to accelerate innovation and reduce reliance on legacy products.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3309073600387846">article</a> was written by Peng Xiaoqiu for 36Kr.

Zhuohai makes second IPO push as China doubles down on chips

Semiconductors

<a href="/company/pinduoduo">PDD Holdings’</a> first-quarter earnings reflect a company willing to absorb financial hits today in pursuit of long-term gains. The Chinese e-commerce firm reported a 47% year-on-year (YoY) drop in net income as it ramped up spending to support merchants facing economic uncertainty and regulatory disruption.
Total revenue rose 10% YoY to RMB 95.7 billion (USD 13.4 billion), driven by growth in online marketing and transaction services. But that increase was more than offset by surging costs. Operating profit fell to RMB 16.1 billion (USD 2.3 billion), down 38% from a year earlier. Non-GAAP net income declined 45%, reflecting an aggressive ramp-up in sales and marketing expenses, which jumped 43% to RMB 33.4 billion (USD 4.7 billion).
The sharp contraction in profitability wasn’t framed as a setback by management. Rather, it was portrayed as a deliberate shift: a decision to backstop merchants and stabilize the platform ecosystem under the banner of its newly launched RMB 100 billion (USD 14 billion) support program.
“In times of external shocks or policy changes, where merchants face difficulties, [...] we feel a strong obligation to support our merchants to navigate through these external uncertainties,” said Chen Lei, chairman and co-CEO, during the company’s earnings call. “This is not an empty slogan, but a real commitment backed by tangible investments.”
The support program expands on PDD’s earlier effort to reduce merchant fees. It includes more generous subsidies, traffic boosts, logistics support, and digital upgrades, particularly for small and midsize sellers who have struggled to keep pace amid shifting macro policies and rising tariffs.
Management emphasized that this investment is not a response to a single quarter’s results but a recalibration of the company’s long-term strategy. “We are not a conventional company,” Chen said. “We do not evaluate our strategic decisions based on quarterly financial results.”
That stance comes at a cost. The company’s non-GAAP operating margin dropped from 33% in Q1 2024 to 19% this quarter. Net cash from operating activities also declined, falling to RMB 15.5 billion (USD 2.2 billion) from RMB 21.1 billion a year earlier.
Still, PDD maintains a strong cash position, with RMB 364.5 billion (USD 51 billion) in cash, equivalents, and short-term investments as of March 31. This gives it the financial runway to fund the pivot.
PDD’s business model also plays a role in this shift. As a third-party marketplace, the platform lacks the direct inventory control that first-party e-commerce companies can use to capitalize on government subsidies and respond swiftly to policy shifts.
Executives acknowledged this constraint. “Our third-party model has inherent limitations when it comes to certain policy incentives,” said co-CEO Jiazhen Zhao. In response, the company has launched a dedicated national subsidy page, benchmarked prices against government-supported programs—including in categories like daily necessities—and expanded its coupon offerings. These measures aim to maintain merchant competitiveness and stimulate consumer demand.
Beyond the numbers, PDD executives sought to paint a picture of systemic transformation. They highlighted efforts to modernize agricultural supply chains, citing digital logistics tools adopted by papaya growers in Yunnan, and detailed visits to manufacturing hubs in Shenzhen and Guangzhou to support merchant upgrades.
Whether these initiatives ultimately deliver a stronger, more resilient platform remains to be seen. For now, the mismatch between investment timelines and earnings cycles is weighing on the bottom line—a dynamic expected to persist.
While management has characterized these expenses as long-term investments, there remains a gap between when costs are incurred and when returns materialize. “Our profitability is likely to face challenges in the near term, and potentially over a longer period,” said Jun Liu, vice president of finance at PDD.
PDD is making a clear bet: that by enduring short-term financial pressure, it can secure long-term gains by reinforcing the foundation of its marketplace. Whether that trade-off pays off will depend on whether merchants can convert the company’s support into real and sustainable growth.

PDD Holdings takes a profit hit in Q1 to shore up its merchant base

Pinduoduo

On-demand Services

E-commerce

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Most AI tools play to our worst instincts. YouMind is betting on the opposite

… demands. The company ended the quarter with RMB 180.4 billion (USD 25.3 billion) in cash and equivalents, giving it ample firepower to counter rivals and sustain its expansion. “The winner is going to be really valuable,” Wang said. “And we plan to be the winner.”

Meituan had a strong Q1, but it may be the calm before the subsidy storm

Xiaoxiang Supermarket

Keeta

Food Delivery

Grocery Delivery

<a href="/company/tencent">Tencent</a> is accelerating its large model strategy, with fresh updates to its Hunyuan model lineup and a sharpened focus on agentic <a href="/industry/ai">artificial intelligence</a> and multimodal capabilities.
“As AI continues to evolve, every company is becoming an AI company,” said Tang Daosheng, senior executive vice president of Tencent and CEO of its cloud and smart industries group. Tang was speaking at a Tencent Cloud industry summit held on May 21.
That same day, Tencent unveiled a broad upgrade to its Hunyuan ecosystem. Two new iterations were introduced: the fast-thinking Hunyuan Turbo S and the deep-thinking Hunyuan T1. Built on the foundation of Turbo S, Tencent also debuted the visual reasoning model T1-Vision and the low-latency voice model Hunyuan Voice. Additional multimodal releases included Hunyuan Image 2.0, Hunyuan 3D 2.5, and Hunyuan-Game.
<figure id="attachment_153991" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-153991" style="width: 1920px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-153991" src="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Tencent-Tang-Daosheng.jpg" alt="Photo of Tang Daosheng, senior executive vice president of Tencent and CEO of its cloud and smart industries group, speaking at the May 21 summit." width="1920" height="1080" srcset="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Tencent-Tang-Daosheng.jpg 1920w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Tencent-Tang-Daosheng-720x405.jpg 720w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Tencent-Tang-Daosheng-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Tencent-Tang-Daosheng-768x432.jpg 768w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Tencent-Tang-Daosheng-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Tencent-Tang-Daosheng-480x270.jpg 480w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-153991" class="wp-caption-text">Photo of Tang Daosheng, senior executive vice president of Tencent and CEO of its cloud and smart industries group, speaking at the May 21 summit. Photo and header photo source: Tencent.</figcaption></figure>
According to Tang, Hunyuan Turbo S now ranks among the top eight models globally on Chatbot Arena, a well-regarded benchmarking platform for large language models. In China, only <a href="/company/deepseek">DeepSeek</a> surpasses it. Turbo S also places in the global top ten for STEM capabilities, including math and coding.
Officially launched in early 2025, Turbo S is powered by a hybrid MoE-Mamba architecture. Its performance gains are attributed to deeper token training during pretraining, as well as a new long-short chain-of-thought framework in post-training. Tencent claims over 10% improvement in STEM reasoning, a 24% gain in coding tasks, and a 39% jump in competitive math scores.
Tencent has also been steadily advancing Hunyuan T1, which focuses on deep reasoning. Since launching on the Yuanbao app earlier this year, T1 has undergone multiple iterations. The latest update delivered an 8% improvement in competitive math, another 8% in commonsense Q&amp;A, and a 13% increase in agent task performance.
China’s large model landscape is increasingly specialized, with each player carving out technical niches. Tencent’s multimodal offerings, particularly in 3D and video generation, have seemingly resonated with developers.
Among the newest entries, T1-Vision supports multi-image input and native long-form reasoning. Tencent reports a 5.3% overall performance improvement and a 50% increase in processing speed versus the previous version.
Hunyuan Voice is another key release: a fully end-to-end model tailored for real-time, low-latency communication. It reduces response lag by over 30% compared to traditional cascaded systems, down to 1.6 seconds. The model also delivers stronger human-likeness and emotional expression. Already in soft launch on Yuanbao, real-time video call integration is expected soon.
Tencent also highlighted growing interest in subjective evaluation metrics. Hunyuan Image 2.0 was rated among the most humanlike by users assessing visual quality and style, hinting at a shift in what distinguishes next-gen models.
A standout theme at the summit was Tencent’s formal shift to an agent-first strategy.
Rebranded from its former knowledge engine, the Tencent Cloud Agent Development Platform (TCADP) is now positioned as a one-stop solution for building enterprise-grade AI agents. It integrates Tencent Cloud’s retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) framework with tools to activate domain-specific knowledge and create custom workflows.
Wu Yunsheng, vice president at Tencent Cloud, head of its AI unit, and director of the Youtu Lab, said the company’s goal is to advance AI agents beyond conceptual frameworks, making them genuinely usable for enterprises.
A key enabler of this shift is technological progress. “When we tried to implement similar capabilities using traditional AI, the results were often underwhelming,” said Wu during a post-summit interview. “Tasks like keyword extraction or summary generation require deep language comprehension.”
Large models, especially multimodal ones, have changed the equation. Semantic understanding, context modeling, content segmentation, and tag generation have all seen meaningful advances. Semantic retrieval and matching are now significantly more accurate. Multimodal models, in particular, enable smooth interaction between visual and textual inputs.
“If an agent can operate a browser, its action boundary expands dramatically,” Wu added. “That opens up many real-world applications.”
Open source was another major focus at the event.
Hunyuan’s 3D model has already been downloaded more than 1.6 million times on Hugging Face. Looking ahead, Tencent plans to roll out a family of hybrid inference models spanning 0.5 to 32 billion parameters, along with a 13-billion-parameter mixture-of-experts (MoE) model designed for both enterprise and edge deployment.
Tencent also intends to open-source a suite of multimodal base models and plugins for image, video, and 3D content generation.
Hunyuan is now deeply integrated across Tencent’s product ecosystem. The models power intelligent features in platforms like WeChat, QQ, Yuanbao, Tencent Meeting, and Tencent Docs, enhancing user experiences internally while enabling businesses and developers to boost productivity through Tencent’s expanding AI toolkit.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3303284805523970">article</a> was written by Deng Yongyi for 36Kr.

Tencent doubles down on agentic AI with latest Hunyuan updates

Foundation and Large Models