Patient Capital Becomes a New Trend, Chinese Government Investment Funds Usher in New Opportunities for High-Quality Development

 OpenAI CEO in the midst of a family controversy: sister sues for sexual assault, family jointly denies allegations"

Recently, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was sued by his sister, Ann Altman. She claimed that he sexually assaulted her multiple times between 1997 and 2006. She said that the assaults began when she was just 3 years old and caused her to suffer from long-term psychological problems, such as PTSD and depression. This is the first time Annie has taken such allegations to court. The Altman family quickly issued a joint statement denying all of the allegations. They called the claims "completely untrue" and noted that Anne has been facing serious mental health issues for years. They've been offering financial support and medical help, but Annie has refused to go through with it.

Haidilao's move into the Xiaomi Science and Technology Park is a win for the employees of the park, who have long dreamed of a hotpot restaurant.The first Beijing store of Haidilao Corporate Hotpot opened on January 2, 2025, on a trial basis in the park, offering a brand new dining experience to tens of thousands of employees. This is the eighth store for Haidilao Corporate Hot Pot, and it's a big part of their "Red Pomegranate Plan" to offer more options. We've designed these stores to meet the needs of enterprises, not only to provide high enclosure rooms, flexible tables, and other special services, but also to offer millet employees an exclusive 12% discount. We know how much our millet employees love to eat, and we're so happy to make their dreams come true with this new underwater dining experience. The first day of trial operation was a huge success! The delicious hot pot and signature show had employees raving, and the scene was once as hot as a fire.

Patient Capital is the new hot thing, and Chinese government investment funds are creating lots of new opportunities for high-quality development.The General Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China has recently issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of Government Investment Funds," emphasizing the importance of "patient capital" and aiming to promote the scientific management and efficient operation of government investment funds. The guidance suggests 25 specific steps, with a focus on nurturing long-term capital and cross-cycle regulation, and encouraging different types of social capital to support scientific and technological innovation and industrial development. Experts have shared that patient capital not only focuses on long-term returns, but it's also great at managing risk, making it a perfect fit for supporting the growth of small businesses and innovative projects.

Musk endorses Greenland joining US, Trump's son's visit sparks fervor

 Tesla is about to launch Grok, its new AI voice assistant, and it's going to make driving a whole lot more fun!In the latest news, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced that all future Tesla cars will support its newest AI assistant, Grok. Grok is a super smart language model developed by Musk's company, xAI, that can understand and respond to your questions and commands in a way that feels just like talking to a real person. You'll be able to chat with Grok in the car, asking questions or requesting features. This is going to make driving so much more fun!They're also working on Grok 3, which is a big step forward in AI technology. It's got ten times the computing power of the previous version and is in the final stages of development.

But here's the big question: can the EU stop Musk from getting too involved in European politics?

Recently, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been in the news a lot. He is supporting the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Germany's upcoming elections, which has many people talking. Musk is scheduled to speak live with the party's leader, Alice Weidel, ahead of the Feb. 23 election, an act that some are calling interference in the election. The European Commission is getting a lot of pressure from national leaders to think about whether to take legal action because of Musk's possible use of his social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to manipulate the spread of information. While EU law allows for live streaming, the Commission is carefully watching to see if there's a chance that Musk's actions might influence civic discourse and the electoral process.

Musk endorses Greenland joining US, Trump's son's visit sparks fervor

As Trump once again expressed interest in Greenland's incorporation into the United States, billionaire Elon Musk has also publicly supported the idea. He said on social media that the people of Greenland would be "very welcome" if they wanted to be part of the United States. These comments came just after Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., visited Greenland on a short, private trip to shoot some video content. Trump has said many times how important it is for the U.S. to have Greenland because it's good for national security. But Greenland's prime minister has made it clear that the island "is not for sale" and emphasized its autonomy.

This rejection of the proposed merger between the U.S. and Canada sparked a playful jab from Musk.On a different note, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently shared his thoughts on the idea of a merger between the U.S. and Canada, saying, "The likelihood of a merger between Canada and the U.S. is slim to none." "There is no snowball's chance in hell," Trudeau said on social media. He made it clear that trade and security cooperation between Canada and the U.S. is really important for both countries. Trump, for his part, reiterated his view at the press conference that the merger would enhance national security and hinted at a possible 25 percent tariff on Canadian goods to apply economic pressure. In response, Trudeau's comments prompted a playful jab from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who replied on social media, saying, "Hey, you're not the Prime Minister of Canada anymore, so your words don't have as much weight."

We're delighted to let you know that Honey Snow Ice City has received approval from the SFC! They're planning to issue 73.05 million H shares in Hong Kong.

 We're delighted to let you know that Honey Snow Ice City has received approval from the SFC! They're planning to issue 73.05 million H shares in Hong Kong.

We're thrilled to share the news that Honey Snow Ice City has received approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission for its plan to list in Hong Kong and issue up to 73.05 million H shares. In addition, 12 shareholders will convert approximately 131 million domestic unlisted shares into H shares for circulation. This move is a big step for Honey Snow Ice City in the capital market and is expected to provide a lot of financial support for its future growth. As the largest tea drink chain brand in China, as of September 2024, Honey Snow Ice City has over 44,000 stores at home and abroad.

Tencent recently repurchased 3.93 million shares for HK$1.5 billion in a major buyback, the largest since 2006!

Tencent Holdings announced on January 7, 2025, that it successfully repurchased 3.93 million Hong Kong-listed shares at a cost of approximately HK$1.501 billion. This is one of the largest repurchases since 2006! This move comes after Tencent was blacklisted in the United States, and it shows that the company has a lot of confidence in its value. The shares were bought back at a price between HK$376.8 and HK$392.4, which is sure to get the market's attention. It's also worth mentioning that Tencent has completed a buyback program of over HK$112 billion in 2024, with a cumulative total of 307 million shares repurchased. This demonstrates Tencent's determination to continue enhancing shareholder returns, which is great news for everyone involved!

Whatnot Successfully Raises $265 Million in Funding, Valuation Approaching $5 Billion, Live Streaming Shopping Market Gets Hot Again

 Amazon is investing a whopping $11 billion in Georgia to grow its cloud and AI infrastructure.Amazon Web Services (AWS) recently shared the exciting news that it's going to invest at least $11 billion in Georgia. This investment is all about expanding its data center infrastructure to support the growth of cloud computing and artificial intelligence technologies. We're thrilled to share that this investment is expected to create approximately 550 high-paying jobs, further cementing Georgia's position as a popular region for data centers. According to the report, data center construction in the Atlanta market is set to grow 76% year-over-year by 2024, attracting aggressive investment from tech giants like Google and Microsoft.
Whatnot recently raised a whopping $265 million in funding, bringing its valuation to an impressive $5 billion. The live-streaming shopping market is on fire again!Whatnot, a live-streaming shopping platform, recently announced the completion of a round of funding of $265 million at a valuation of $4.97 billion. The round, co-led by investment firms Avra, DST Global and Greycroft, shows how confident investors are in Whatnot's ability to bring new ideas to the collectibles and niche goods space.Whatnot plans to use the new funding to expand its product categories, including art, golf and vinyl, and to launch new tools to help sellers manage inventory and orders. They're also planning to enter the Australian market next month and expand to the rest of Europe later this year.

It looks like Bluesky is about to close its funding, which is great news!

 It looks like Bluesky is about to close its funding, which is great news! 

Their valuation has soared to $700 million, and they've managed to attract the attention of Bain Capital Ventures.The social media platform is in the final stages of funding discussions with Bain Capital Ventures. If everything goes as planned, they'll be raising money to bring their valuation to around $700 million. If everything goes as planned, this new round of funding will follow the $15 million Series A round that closed in October 2024 and the $8 million seed round that closed in 2023. Since Donald Trump was elected, the number of people using Bluesky has increased a lot, from a few million in 2023 to 25.9 million in 2024. This shows that it's becoming a strong competitor to X (formerly Twitter).Bluesky is dedicated to providing a decentralized social networking experience and plans to make it even more appealing in the future by adding new features and services.

Trump announced that the UAE's very own billionaire, Hussein Sajwani, who is the Chairman of DAMAC Properties, is going to be investing $20 billion in the U.S. to build new data centers. Trump said the investment will focus on Midwestern and Sunbelt states such as Texas, Arizona, and Oklahoma, and is aimed at boosting artificial intelligence and cloud computing technology. Sajwani said in the release that he's thrilled about Trump's election and is excited to continue working with other businesses under Trump's leadership.

Addepar is looking forward to raising $250 million at a record valuation of $3.25 billion!

Addepar, a financial technology company, recently shared the exciting news that it's in talks with investors to raise $250 million in funding, which would value the company at an incredible $3.25 billion. This is a big jump from the 2021 level of over $2 billion, showing its amazing growth in the wealth management and investment software space.Addepar currently works with more than 1,200 institutions, including well-known banks like Morgan Stanley, Jefferies, and HSBC. Even better, Joe Lonsdale, the co-founder of Addepar, pitched in with his venture capital firm, 8VC, and existing investors like Valor Equity Partners and WestCap are still on board.

AMD is putting its heart and soul into helping Absci develop new AI technology for healthcare!

 AMD is putting its heart and soul into helping Absci develop new AI technology for healthcare!

AMD, a U.S. semiconductor giant, is investing $20 million in Absci, a drug discovery company. They're teaming up to bring AMD's advanced AI chips to the healthcare industry. This investment, made using a private equity approach, marks AMD's first step into the life sciences sector. AMD plans to optimize Absci's AI drug discovery efforts by providing high-performance Instinct gas pedals and ROCm software.Absci, which currently uses more than 470 AI chips, mostly from its competitor Nvidia, will gradually start using AMD's. Sean McLean, Absci's founder and CEO, said the partnership will significantly enhance Absci's biological modeling capabilities and accelerate the development of antibody therapeutics.

Movement Labs is about to close a $100 million funding round at a valuation of $3 billion, which is fantastic news for the company and for the new era of Ether scaling.Movement Labs, a team focused on the development of the Layer-2 blockchain for Ether, recently announced the exciting news that it is about to close a $100 million Series B funding round at a valuation of $3 billion. This exciting round, co-led by CoinFund and Brevan Howard's Nova Fund, is expected to close by the end of January. This funding will provide Movement Labs with the financial support it needs to continue growing. This will follow the company's very successful $38 million Series A round raised in April 2024.

TikTok sister app Lemon8 aggressively promotes and encourages users to migrate in response to ban threat

 TikTok sister app Lemon8 aggressively promotes and encourages users to migrate in response to ban threat

With TikTok facing a potential ban, its sister app Lemon8 has begun sponsoring posts on TikTok to encourage users in the U.S. to migrate to Lemon8.Lemon8's integration with TikTok allows users to sign in directly with their TikTok account, making it easy to share content across platforms.Lemon8 is a lifestyle app that combines the features of Instagram and Pinterest features in a lifestyle app that focuses on visual storytelling and community interaction. Since its launch, the app has been downloaded 6.4 million times in the U.S. market, demonstrating its growth potential.

“Shark Tank” investor teams up with former Dodgers owner in bid to buy TikTok to avoid injunction

Renowned investor Kevin O'Leary is teaming up with former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt in a last-ditch effort to plan a buyout of TikTok's U.S. operations in anticipation of a nationwide ban that is set to take effect. O'Leary said in an interview that their goal is to create a U.S. platform that is focused on user privacy and securing the data of about 170 million U.S. users. He emphasized that this acquisition is not only about TikTok's operations, but also about empowering content creators and small businesses. Given the national security concerns facing TikTok and the background of its parent company, ByteDance, O'Leary believes that gaining the support of the Trump administration will be crucial to the deal.

Kai-Fu Lee denies Zero One Thing's acquisition by Ali, announces joint lab for industrial big models

Zero One Thing has recently made staffing changes and reorganized its business, a move that founder Kai-Fu Lee said was made to adapt to market changes. The company reached a strategic cooperation with AliCloud, the establishment of “industry big model joint laboratory”, focusing on the development of small parameter industry model. Although there are rumors that AliCloud plans to acquire the pre-training team of ZeroOneWonder, Kai-Fu Li explicitly denied this, saying that the relevant news is “completely wrong”. He also disclosed that the revenue of Zero One Everything has exceeded 100 million yuan in 2024, and is expected to double in 2025.

NVIDIA CEO says quantum computing is still decades away, IonQ and other quantum stocks fall in response

NVIDIA CEO says quantum computing is still decades away, IonQ and other quantum stocks fall in response

Quantum computing concepts have been hit hard in the latest market update, with shares of companies such as IonQ falling sharply in after-hours trading. The reason is that NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said at the International Consumer Electronics Show that practical quantum computers are "very useful" and may take decades to realize. This caused investors to worry about the future of the quantum computing industry, leading to a wave of sell-offs in related stocks.IonQ's shares have fallen from last year's highs, and the company is still facing losses and market uncertainty despite achieving 106 percent revenue growth in the second quarter.

NVIDIA CEO says AI chip performance gains surpass Moore's Law with 1,000-fold improvement in a decade

At the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES), NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said the company's AI chip performance has improved faster than Moore's Law, and that today's AI chips are a full 1,000 times better than the products of a decade ago. He also mentioned that NVIDIA's latest data center superchips are 30 to 40 times faster than their predecessors when running AI inference workloads. This advancement is thanks to the company's simultaneous innovations at multiple levels, including architecture, chips, systems, libraries, and algorithms. With the rapid development of AI technology, NVIDIA's chips are used a lot in top labs such as Google and OpenAI to train and run AI models.

Las Vegas cyber bombing: suspect actually used ChatGPT to plan attack

 Las Vegas cyber bombing: suspect actually used ChatGPT to plan attackIn the case of the Tesla Cybertruck bombing in Las Vegas, police have revealed that the suspect, Matthew Liversberg, 37, used the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT to plan the attack in detail before carrying it out.Liversberg used ChatGPT to look up information such as the amount of explosives needed, how to buy fireworks, and how to buy a cell phone without revealing his identity. He drove a Cybertruck on New Year's Day and set it off outside the Trump International Hotel, hurting seven people.The police say that this is the first time in the U.S. that there's been proof that ChatGPT was used to make an explosive device.Liversberg killed himself before the explosion, and the investigation showed that he did not intend to harm others. He saw the incident as a "wake-up call" to society.

The exciting news is that the valuation of Anthropic, an AI startup, has soared to an incredible $60 billion, and they're planning to raise $2 billion in a funding round. This is a big jump from the $18 billion it will be valued at in 2024, showing the market's confidence in its growth potential. The funding round is being led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, and if successfully completed, will bring Anthropic's total funding to $6 billion. They're well-known for creating large language models and bring in about $875 million each year through direct sales and partnerships with other cloud services.

While OpenAI is planning to launch its new AI agent tool, "Operator," in January, the pace is a bit slower than its rivals, such as Anthropic and Google, due to some security concerns. The reason for the delay is that they're being super cautious about something called "hint injection attacks," which are a kind of security risk that could mess with the AI systems. Despite these challenges, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is optimistic. He believes that the AI agent will be able to perform multiple tasks independently, such as writing code and booking travel. This is expected to significantly improve productivity. This launch is a big step for OpenAI's push for intelligent automation, and it shows how much importance they put on security and reliability in the industry.

The exciting news is that the valuation of Anthropic, an AI startup, has soared to an incredible $60 billion, and they're planning to raise $2 billion in a funding round. This is a big jump from the $18 billion it will be valued at in 2024, showing the market's confidence in its growth potential. The funding round is being led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, and if successfully completed, will bring Anthropic's total funding to $6 billion. They're well-known for creating large language models and bring in about $875 million each year through direct sales and partnerships with other cloud services.

While OpenAI is planning to launch its new AI agent tool, "Operator," in January, the pace is a bit slower than its rivals, such as Anthropic and Google, due to some security concerns. The reason for the delay is that they're being super cautious about something called "hint injection attacks," which are a kind of security risk that could mess with the AI systems. Despite these challenges, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is optimistic. He believes that the AI agent will be able to perform multiple tasks independently, such as writing code and booking travel. This is expected to significantly improve productivity. This launch is a big step for OpenAI's push for intelligent automation, and it shows how much importance they put on security and reliability in the industry.

U.S. Department of Defense blacklists Tencent, Ningde Times and 134 other Chinese companies, companies respond “this is a mistake”

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) updated its “List of Chinese Military Enterprises” on January 6, 2025, adding 134 Chinese companies to the list, including Tencent Holdings, Ningde Times, Changxin Storage, Mobile Telecom, and drone maker DaoTong Intelligence. Under Section 1260H of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, the list prohibits the U.S. Department of Defense from entering into or renewing contracts with these companies.

In response, Tencent said in a statement that its inclusion in the list was “clearly a mistake” and emphasized that the company is not a military enterprise and that the list has no impact on its business. Ningde Times also responded that the company has never been involved in any military-related activities and believes the decision is wrong.

Musk wants to buy Liverpool FC: family legacy or business investment?

 Tesla CEO Elon Musk's recent rumors of his interest in acquiring English Premier League team Liverpool FC have sparked widespread concern. According to a report by British media outlet Weekend Sports, Musk plans to buy the historic soccer club for about 6 billion pounds. As the richest man in the world, Musk's wealth is estimated to be over $421 billion and the deal will not be a difficult one for him.

Liverpool is currently owned by Fenway Sports Group (FSG), which has acquired the team for £300 million since 2010 and now values the team at over £4 billion. Although FSG have yet to publicly state their intention to sell, market rumors continue to swirl and many fans have had a mixed reaction, with some supporting the new investment and others fearing that the club's social values may be compromised. Musk's interest may not only be driven by business considerations, but also by his family background - his grandmother is from Liverpool, which gives him a deep emotional connection to the city.

NXP Acquires TTTech Auto for $625 Million to Boost Software-Defined Vehicle Market

 Dutch semiconductor giant NXP Semiconductors has announced that it will acquire Austrian automotive software development company TTTech Auto for $625 million in cash, in a move designed to enhance its product capabilities in the software-defined vehicle (SDV) space.TTTech Auto specializes in safety-critical systems and its technology will be integrated into NXP's CoreRide platform, enhancing automakers' capabilities in complex system management, performance and safety. The acquisition is expected to give NXP access to approximately 1,100 engineers and TTTech Auto's management team, further strengthening its position in the rapidly growing automotive market.

Getty Images and Shutterstock Agree to Merge to Create $37 Billion Visual Content Giant

Getty Images and Shutterstock announced a merger agreement on January 7, 2025 that will make the combined company a leader in the visual content industry at a valuation of $37 billion. Under the agreement, Craig Peters, CEO of Getty Images, will continue to serve as CEO of the new company. The merger will result in Getty Images shareholders owning about 54.7 percent of the shares, compared to Shutterstock shareholders' 45.3 percent. The parties said the merger will provide customers with richer visual content and enhance competitiveness against the backdrop of rapid advances in artificial intelligence.

Fubo's imminent merger with Disney is expected to be rapidly cash flow positive

FuboTV recently announced that it has entered into a merger agreement with Disney, which is expected to be cash flow positive immediately following the closing of the transaction within the next 12 to 18 months. Under the agreement, Disney will gain a 70% controlling interest in Fubo, while Fubo's existing management team will continue to operate the new company. The merger will bring Fubo and Hulu+ Live TV to a combined total of 6.2 million subscribers, forming the second largest pay TV service in the US. As part of the deal, Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery will pay Fubo $220 million in cash and provide a $145 million loan.Fubo's stock surged 253.85% on Jan. 6, reflecting the market's positive expectations for the merger.

Serve Robotics raises another $80 million to help expand sidewalk delivery robotics business

Serve Robotics recently announced a successful $80 million financing round with plans to further expand its sidewalk delivery robotics business. The funding was secured through a public offering of 4,210,525 shares of common stock, which is expected to close on January 7, 2025. The financing comes on top of the $86 million already raised in December 2024, bringing Serve Robotics' total 2024 financing to $167 million. The company said the funds will be used for general corporate purposes, including enhancing working capital to support its future expansion plans. Since becoming independent from Uber in 2021, Serve Robotics has completed tens of thousands of deliveries, partnered with companies such as Uber Eats and 7-Eleven, and signed agreements to deploy up to 2,000 delivery robots in multiple U.S. markets.

ByteDance Launches Short Drama App “Melolo”, Starting a New Journey in Overseas Markets

ByteDance recently set up an overseas short drama business team and launched a short drama app called “Melolo”, marking its first foray into the overseas short drama market. The free app was launched in mid-November 2024 in Southeast Asian markets such as Indonesia and the Philippines to meet the viewing needs of local users, and Melolo offers a variety of short drama genres, including emotional, thriller, suspense, and costume, with high-definition picture quality and built-in subtitles, to enhance the user experience.

Apple Plans to Expand Apple News to More Countries to Enhance Local News Coverage

Apple recently announced plans to expand its news app Apple News to more countries and is considering establishing local news coverage in the UK. Currently, Apple News attracts about 125 million users per month, mainly from the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australia. The expansion is designed to improve advertising effectiveness and enhance partnerships with publishers, helping them find new growth opportunities against a backdrop of declining digital ad revenue. Additionally, Apple plans to roll out the Jigsaw Puzzle feature in the UK, which is currently limited to the US and Canada.

Kai-Fu Lee denies Zero2Everything's sale of assets to Aliyun, calls rumors “vicious vilification”

Kai-Fu Lee, the founder of Chinese startup Zero2One, recently strongly denied rumors that the company sold its pre-training team and infrastructure to Aliyun, calling the claims “vicious vilification.” In a Jan. 6 social media post, Kai-Fu Li said that Zero2One has recognized revenue of more than 100 million yuan in 2024 and expects to see multi-fold growth in 2025, and that the company's relationship with Aliyun is a “vicious smear campaign”. He emphasized that the company's cooperation with Aliyun is based on deep technology sharing and business collaboration, not an acquisition relationship. The two companies jointly announced on January 2 the establishment of the “Industrial Big Model Joint Laboratory”, which aims to promote the application of big model technology in real industries.

Zuckerberg Follows Musk's Lead, Ditches Fact-Checking, Introduces Community Notes

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that the social media platform will no longer use third-party fact-checking organizations, but will instead introduce a “community notes” system similar to Musk's X platform. The decision is aimed at increasing user trust in content, with Zuckerberg saying that traditional fact-checking mechanisms are politically biased and erode user trust. The new system will allow users to collectively assess and provide contextual information to better identify potentially misleading content, a change Meta plans to implement first in the U.S. and gradually ease restrictions on sensitive topics such as immigration and gender in order to promote free expression.

Google Forms New Team to Develop 'World Modeling' AI for Gaming and Robotics Training

Google has announced that it will create an artificial intelligence team focused on “world modeling,” with the goal of developing AI models that can simulate the physical world. The team is led by Tim Brooks, former co-leader of OpenAI's video generation project Sora, who joined Google DeepMind last October.The new team will work with Google's existing Gemini, Veo, and Genie teams to solve key problems and increase the computational power of the models.Brooks said on social media that the models will be used for real-time interaction generation, supporting a variety of domains including visual reasoning, simulation and entertainment.

China's auto industry sees rapid development in 2024, new energy vehicle penetration rate exceeds 50%, and Xiaomi's market value jumps to third among global car companies

In 2024, China's auto industry ushered in rapid development, with the market penetration rate of new energy vehicles exceeding 50% for the first time, and ranking first in global auto exports.

 According to the latest data, BYD once again won the global new-energy vehicle sales title with 4,272,100 units sold, while Tesla, despite a decline in sales, still maintains the top spot in market capitalization, reaching $1,296.351 billion. Toyota followed closely behind, ranking second with a market capitalization of $262.69 billion.

Notably, Xiaomi, with its diversified business and newly launched electric cars, has seen its market capitalization rise sharply to $112.006 billion, and has managed to rank third in the global car company market capitalization rankings. 

In addition, BYD and Xiaomi's performance shows the rise of China's own brands in the international market, which is expected to continue to lead the global automotive industry in the coming years.

U.S. Justice Department Asks Supreme Court to Reject Trump's Request to Delay TikTok Ban, Arguments Set for Jan. 10

 The U.S. Department of Justice recently filed documents with the Supreme Court asking to reject President-elect Donald Trump's request to delay the implementation of the TikTok ban. 

The ban requires ByteHop to sell its assets in the U.S. by Jan. 19, 2025, or face an injunction. Trump hopes to reach a negotiated settlement with TikTok after his inauguration, but the Department of Justice has said it can only consider Trump's request if ByteDance can demonstrate a likelihood of success.

 The Supreme Court is scheduled to argue the case on Jan. 10, which involves significant legal issues of national security and freedom of speech that are of high concern to TikTok and its creators, as the ban could affect the experience of 170 million U.S. users.

CES 2025 Jen-Hsun Huang's speech fully organized

At the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2025, NVIDIA Founder and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang delivered a 90-minute keynote presentation showcasing the company's latest advances and innovations in the areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), and autonomous driving.

Jen-Hsun Huang, in front of a crowd of more than 6,000 people in front of the Michelle Boh Super Arena in Las Vegas, reflected on NVIDIA's three-decade history and emphasized the rapid advances in AI. He noted that the evolution of AI has gone through the era of perceptual AI, to generative AI, and now physical AI, which is capable of reasoning, planning, and acting.

1. GeForce RTX 50 Series Graphics Cards

A new generation of GPUs: NVIDIA has officially announced the RTX 50 series of graphics cards based on the Blackwell architecture, including the RTX 5070, 5070 Ti, 5080, and 5090, with prices ranging from $549 to $1,999. The 5090 cards will be available on January 30th, with the other models to be released in February. These cards support 8K resolution and 165Hz refresh rate and come with GDDR7 memory to deliver amazing visual realism and performance boost.

2. Cosmos Platform

Physics AI Base Model : Cosmos is the first physics AI base model from NVIDIA designed to understand physical dynamics such as gravity and friction. This platform can be used to train robots and generate video data that conforms to the laws of physics, helping to reduce the cost of traditional data collection.

3. Project DIGITS

PERSONAL AI SUPERCOMPUTER: Jen-Hsun Huang introduced NVIDIA's first desktop computer, Project DIGITS, which is powered by the GB10 Grace Blackwell superchip and designed for AI researchers, data scientists, and students. The device is expected to be available in March 2025.

4. Autonomous Driving Technology

NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion Platform: Hwang Jen-Hsun announced this new platform designed to advance the development of self-driving cars and a partnership with Toyota to utilize the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX on-board computer for next-generation safe car development.

AI Models and Enterprise Applications

Llama Nemotron Models: NVIDIA introduced a series of new Large Language Models (LLMs) based on the Meta base model Llama, which can be used by enterprises to create and deploy AI agents for a variety of applications such as customer support, fraud detection and supply chain management.

NIM Microservices: these microservices enable organizations to build task-specific digital AI agents and simplify the AI deployment process.

Jen-Hsun Huang concluded his presentation by emphasizing that the past year has been a year of major breakthroughs for NVIDIA, including the development of the Blackwell system, physical AI base models and robotics. He stated, “The age of AI has arrived, and this is just the beginning.” He was confident about the future and thanked attendees for their support of NVIDIA.

 Musk's political clout skyrockets as countries around the world bow to Starlink

As Elon Musk's political influence reaches new heights with Trump's imminent return to the White House, global resistance to his Starlink satellite network is unraveling. According to Bloomberg, Musk has become one of Trump's chief advisors, a position that has forced governments to reconsider their cooperation with Starlink. Even Musk's home country of South Africa, President Ramaphosa has reached out to him to discuss easing local black ownership requirements to allow Starlink to enter the market.

Alex Capri, a lecturer at the National University of Singapore, noted that Musk now has “the backing of the most powerful office in the world,” which has forced many countries to weigh the pros and cons of partnering with StarChain. However, this trend has also raised concerns that Musk's influence is too great, especially in regions such as Taiwan, where Starlink's expansion faces more resistance. Experts believe that Musk's dual role as a politician and businessman will continue to influence the global tech and political landscape.

Musk's political influence has skyrocketed! His $437 billion fortune has helped “hardcore legislators” control key committees.

In early January 2025, Elon Musk's political influence reached new heights with the election of Donald Trump as president. Through his $437 billion personal fortune and America PAC, Musk has reportedly managed to support a number of “hardcore legislators” on key committees in the U.S. Congress. These committees cover areas such as transportation, space, artificial intelligence, and social media, and are directly related to Musk's Tesla, SpaceX, and other companies.

Musk invested more than $250 million to support Trump during the 2024 election4 and has pledged to continue funding the Republican primary. In addition, Musk will co-lead Trump's new “Department of Government Efficiency,” which aims to cut federal spending. Experts have warned that Musk's financial power and influence could be a key factor in determining future congressional candidates, raising concerns about the democratic process.

Musk challenges industry giants with another big move.Grok AI adds image analysis feature

On January 3, 2025, Elon Musk announced the addition of image analysis capabilities to Grok AI assistant, part of his artificial intelligence company xAI, further expanding its competition with tech giants like OpenAI and Google. Users can now upload all types of images, from medical tests to video games, which Grok can analyze. The feature is available to all X Platform users, but free users are limited to three image analyses and four image generators per day, with the ability to ask 10 questions every two hours.

X Premium subscribers have more access and can ask 50 questions per day. Despite Grok's late start in the image analysis space, its fewer limitations give it an edge in some areas. However, industry experts note that AI model upgrades are facing bottlenecks, and the delayed release of Grok 3 may reflect this trend.

Warren Buffett's First Investment of the New Year Revealed! 12 consecutive days to add a position in this technology stock, has risen more than 10% for the year

Warren Buffett's First Investment of the New Year Revealed! 12 consecutive days to add a position in this technology stock, has risen more than 10% for the year

At the beginning of the year 2025, the “stock god” Warren Buffett again, 12 consecutive trading days to increase positions in the Internet infrastructure services company VeriSign (VeriSign). The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosed the latest documents, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway from December 17, 2024 to January 3, 2025, the cumulative total of about 83 million U.S. dollars spent on nearly 400,000 shares of VeriSign stock.

Currently, Berkshire owns nearly 14% of Verisign's outstanding shares, with a total value of over $2.7 billion. Stimulated by this good news, Verisign shares have continued to rise since December 19, 2024, and as of the close of business on January 3, 2025, the company's shares were trading at $205.62, up more than 10% for the year. Analysts believe that Verisign's high margin performance among the S&P 500 components may be the main reason for attracting Buffett.

United Airlines Accelerates Deployment of Starlink Wi-Fi for First Flight in Spring 2025! Free high-speed Internet access is about to take off

 United Airlines Accelerates Deployment of Starlink Wi-Fi for First Flight in Spring 2025! Free high-speed Internet access is about to take off

United Airlines announced on January 5, 2025 that it is accelerating the deployment of its Starlink Wi-Fi service, with plans to launch it on commercial flights as early as spring 2025. The company will begin testing in February, with the first Starlink-enabled commercial flights expected to depart in the spring on an Embraer E-175 regional jet. United also plans to install Starlink equipment on all of its two-cabin regional fleet by the end of 2025 and have its first mainline aircraft carry Starlink service by the end of the year. The high-speed, low-latency Internet service will be free to all MileagePlus members and will support a variety of applications such as streaming, shopping and gaming.

Alibaba partners with Thunderbird Innovation to create “China's version of Meta Glasses”

On January 2, 2025, Aliyun, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, signed an exclusive strategic cooperation agreement with Hong Kong-based consumer AR brand RayNeo in Shanghai, officially announcing Alibaba's in-depth entry into the field of AI smart glasses. According to the agreement, Aliyun will provide exclusive customized Tongyi series of large model technical support for RayNeo's AI glasses, marking the first deep customization cooperation between large models and AI glasses hardware manufacturers in China.

Thunderbird Innovation plans to release Thunderbird V3 AI shooting glasses equipped with Tongyi's customized big models at CES on January 7, which integrates the Falcon Image System, Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 flagship chip and other innovations, with an average response speed of only 1.3 seconds and a recognition accuracy rate of up to 98%. Li Hongwei, founder and CEO of Thunderbird Innovation, said that this product is expected to surpass Meta and other competitors in terms of technology and lead the future trend of technology.

 World's first! China opens a “super high-speed rail” computing network with zero packet loss over 2000 kilometers, helping the East counts and the West counts.

On January 3, 2025, China officially opened the world's first optoelectronic fusion deterministic new computing network infrastructure, marking a major breakthrough in the “East Counts West Counts” project. The facility is built by Jiangsu Future Network Group in cooperation with Zijinshan Laboratory and other units, and the first phase of the project has covered nine cities, including Beijing and Shanghai. This “super high-speed rail” level of computing network has realized a lossless bearing without power relay over 2000 kilometers, with single-wave single-port transmission rate as high as 400G and 800G, jitter of the whole network lower than 5 microseconds, packet loss rate less than one in 100,000, and transmission efficiency of more than 90%.

Liu Yunjie, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that the facility will provide a reliable base for artificial intelligence, large model training, etc., and significantly reduce transmission costs. At present, the arithmetic scale of the country's 10 data center clusters has exceeded 1.46 million standard racks, and the green power usage rate of some advanced data centers has reached about 80%. This breakthrough will not only promote China's leadership in global science and technology, but also provide strong support for high-value applications such as smart manufacturing and smart cities.

Harvard Genius Teenager Joins OpenAI, Shortlisted for “Junior Nobel Prize” in High School, Takes a Break from Undergraduate Study to Engage in AI Research

At the beginning of 2025, Jeffrey Wang, a talented Chinese teenager from Harvard University, officially joined OpenAI as a researcher in the basic team, responsible for model pre-training and reasoning. Born in 1995, this talented young man was selected as one of the top 40 finalists for the Junior Nobel Prize in Regenerative Meta-Science for his development of a method for detecting structural changes in 3D genomes when he was in high school.

While at Harvard, Wang taught computer science and statistics courses to 61 students, while also focusing on machine learning, and co-authored papers at top conferences such as NeurIPS and ICML, exploring bias in language modeling privacy attacks and diffusion models. In addition to his academic accomplishments, Wang is also a little-known author with over 6 million cumulative views of his history, science, and statistics articles on the Quora platform.

OpenAI Founder Releases Mysterious Six-Character Poem, AI Singularity Approaching Sparks Global Concerns

 OpenAI Founder Releases Mysterious Six-Character Poem, AI Singularity Approaching Sparks Global Concerns

At the beginning of the new year of 2025, OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman posted a mysterious six-word poem on social media platform X: “The Singularity is Near; Unknown Directions”, which has sparked a lot of discussion in the global technology community. The short but meaningful verse suggests that artificial intelligence may be on the verge of reaching a “technological singularity,” a tipping point where AI surpasses human intelligence. Altman later explained that the poem could refer to the “simulation hypothesis” or the “inability to know with certainty when the moment of truth will arrive”.

Law returns to tech, Jarvis launches AI assistant J1 Assistant

On January 5, 2025, Luo Yonghao's AI startup project Jarvis quietly launched an aggregated AI assistant software called J1 Assistant overseas, which currently only supports Android. The biggest highlight of this product is its innovative voice interaction function, users only need to press the audio input button, you can send the voice content to a number of services, including Google search, its own AI model, ChatGPT, and even directly create memos.J1 Assistant is equipped with Jarvis self-developed AI model, which can provide users with practical answers and intelligent memo services. Luo Yonghao's move is seen as an important step to return to the technology industry.

Jitterbug, Pinduoduo, and Xiaohongshu Speak Out: Algorithm Governance in Action, User Experience to be Completely Upgraded

In early January 2025, China's three biggest Internet giants Shake, Pinduoduo and Xiaohongshu announced that they would improve their platform algorithms in response to a special action launched by the Chinese government at the end of November 2024 to “clear the air - the governance of algorithmic typical problems of online platforms”. Shake has pledged to establish a security center, improve the transparency of its recommendation system, and step up efforts to combat false information and online violence. Pinduoduo said it will actively build a healthier ecosystem to prevent big data from killing matches. Xiaohongshu, on the other hand, invited users to understand how its algorithm works and emphasized that users can turn off personalized recommendations at any time. The operation, which is expected to last until mid-February 2025, aims to address the problems of information cocooning and unfair pricing caused by algorithms.

'Black Myth: Goku' sells over 25 million copies, grosses around Rs. 7.8 billion

Since its release in August 2024, Black Myth: Goku has recorded an impressive sales of nearly 25 million copies, totaling about RMB 7.8 billion in revenue. This domestically produced 3A masterpiece has not only received widespread acclaim for its game quality, but has also delivered an eye-catching scorecard in terms of economic benefits. Industry insiders hope that the success of Black Myth: Wukong will rekindle investment enthusiasm in China's game industry, especially against the backdrop of previously tightened regulatory policies.

Feng Ji, CEO of GameScience, said that Black Myth: Goku is the first installment of the Black Myth series, and more magical adventures of legendary heroes will be released in the future. Meanwhile, the success of the game has also driven hardware sales, with several e-commerce platforms reporting significant growth in sales of gaming devices. With the first DLC scheduled for release in early 2025, it is widely recognized that Black Myth: Goku is expected to be a major milestone in the development of China's gaming industry.

Sam Altman's Retrospective and Reflections on the Coming of Super Artificial Intelligence

 ChatGPT's second birthday was just over a month ago, and now we have entered the next paradigm - the era of models capable of complex reasoning. The New Year always puts people in a reflective mood, and I'd like to share some personal reflections on the journey so far, and some of the insights I've gained along the way.

As we get closer to generalized artificial intelligence (AGI), it seems like an important time to look back at the company's progress. There's still a lot to understand, a lot of uncharted territory, and we're still in the early stages. But we have accumulated more knowledge than when we started.

We founded OpenAI nearly nine years ago because we believe that general artificial intelligence is possible and that it could be the most impactful technology in human history. We want to figure out how to build it and make it broadly accessible to humanity; we want to make our mark on history. Our ambitions were extremely ambitious, and we were convinced that this work could benefit society in equally extraordinary ways.

At the time, few people were paying attention to the field, and when they were, most of them didn't think we'd make it.

In 2022, OpenAI was an obscure research lab developing a project tentatively named “Chat With GPT-3.5”. (We're much better at research than we are at names.) We've been watching people use the playground features of our API and have found that developers really enjoy talking to the models. We thought that building a demo system around this experience would show people important features for the future and help us make models better and safer.

We ended up being lucky enough to name it ChatGPT and release it on November 30, 2022.

We've always known in the abstract that at some point we would reach a tipping point from which the AI revolution would unfold. But we didn't know what that moment would be. To our surprise, it is that moment.

The launch of ChatGPT has set off a wave of unprecedented growth - in our company, our industry, and the world at large. We're finally seeing some of the great advantages we've been waiting for from AI, and we can foresee more breakthroughs in the near future.

The journey has not been easy. The road has not been smooth and the right choice has not been obvious.

Over the past two years, we've had to build an entire company around this new technology almost from scratch. There is no way to train people other than hands-on, and when the technology category is completely new, there is simply no one who can tell you exactly what to do.

The process of building a company at such a high rate of growth and with little to no training to follow is destined to be chaotic. It's usually two steps forward and one step back (sometimes one step forward and two steps back). Mistakes are corrected along the way, but there really isn't any manual or guidebook to refer to when you're doing groundbreaking work. Moving at high speed through uncharted waters is an incredible experience, but it's also extremely stressful for all involved. Conflict and misunderstandings abound.

These have been some of my most rewarding, interesting, exciting, exhausting, and stressful years to date, and the last two years in particular have been full of unpleasantness. But the most overwhelming feeling is gratitude; I know that someday when I retire to our ranch to watch the plants grow, I might get a little bored and think back on how cool it was to be able to do the job I've dreamed of since I was a kid. I try to remember this every time seven bad things have gone wrong before 1:00 p.m. on a given Friday.

One Friday about a year ago, the worst thing that happened that day was that I was abruptly fired from my job during a video call, and right after we hung up, the board immediately published a blog post about it. I was in a hotel room in Las Vegas at the time. The feeling, which is hard to describe in any words, was like a dream that suddenly turned into a nightmare.

Being publicly fired without any warning, followed by an extremely crazy few hours, and a pretty crazy few days. The strangest part was the “fog of war”. None of us can get a satisfactory answer as to what happened and why.

In my view, the whole thing was a major failure of governance, and that includes all people of goodwill, including me. Looking back, I certainly wish I had done things differently then, and I would like to believe that I am a better and more thoughtful leader now than I was a year ago.

I also recognize the importance of a board with diverse perspectives and a wealth of experience in managing complex challenges. Good governance requires a great deal of trust and credibility. I am grateful that so many people have worked together to build a stronger governance system for OpenAI so that we can continue to pursue our mission of ensuring that general-purpose AI benefits all of humanity.

My biggest realization is that I have so much to be thankful for, and so many people to be thankful to: everyone at OpenAI who has chosen to invest their time and energy in pursuing this dream; our friends who have helped us in times of crisis; our partners and customers who have supported us and trusted us to help them succeed; and the people in my life who have shown me that they care! We are all working together in a more united and positive way.

We all returned to work in a much more cohesive and positive way, and I'm very proud of how focused we've been since then. We completed some of arguably our best research ever. We grew our weekly active user base from about 100 million to over 300 million. Most importantly, we continue to introduce the world to technology that people really love and that solves real problems.

Nine years ago, we really had no idea what we'd end up becoming; even now, we only have a vague idea. The evolution of AI has taken many turns, and we expect more changes in the future.

Some of the twists and turns have been exhilarating; others have been difficult. It's been fun to watch the research miracles continue to emerge, and many skeptics have become true believers. We've also seen some colleagues go their separate ways and become competitors. Teams tend to change as they get bigger, and OpenAI is expanding really fast.

I think some change is inevitable - startups typically experience a lot of turnover at each major new stage of scale, and at OpenAI the numbers are growing by an order of magnitude every few months. The last two years have been like a decade for the average company. When any company grows and evolves this quickly, interests naturally diverge. And when any company is leading in an important industry, many people will attack it for a variety of reasons, especially when trying to compete with it.

Our vision will not change; our strategy will continue to evolve. For example, in the beginning we didn't think at all that we would need to build a product company; we thought we would just need to do great research. We also didn't realize that we would need such a huge amount of capital. Now we have to build new things that we didn't even understand a few years ago, and there will be new things in the future that we can barely imagine now.

We are proud of our research and deployment accomplishments to date and are committed to continuing to advance our thinking on security and benefit sharing. We continue to believe that the best way to make AI systems secure is to release them into the world in an iterative and incremental way, giving society time to adapt and co-evolve with the technology, learn from experience, and continue to make the technology more secure. We believe in the importance of being a world leader in security and alignment research and have guided this research with feedback from real-world applications.

We are now confident that we know how to build general-purpose AI as traditionally understood. We believe that in 2025, we may see the first AI agents “join the workforce” and materially change a company's output. We continue to believe that putting great tools in people's hands iteratively will lead to widely distributed great results.

We're starting to move beyond that toward true superintelligence. We love our current products, but we're here for that glorious future.

With superintelligence, we can do anything else. Superintelligent tools can dramatically accelerate scientific discovery and innovation far beyond our own capabilities, and in turn dramatically increase abundance and prosperity.

Now that this sounds like science fiction, it seems a little crazy to talk about it. That's okay - we've been through this before and we wouldn't mind going through it again. We're pretty confident that everyone will see what we're seeing over the next few years, and the need to maintain great caution while maximizing broad benefits and empowerment is so important. Considering the possibilities of our work, OpenAI cannot be an ordinary company.

How fortunate and awesome to be a part of this work.

Brisk It Launches Zelos 450 Artificially Intelligent Grill with AI-Powered Remote Monitoring of the Grilling Process

Brisk It Launches Zelos 450 Artificially Intelligent Grill with AI-Powered Remote Monitoring of the Grilling Process

Brisk It unveiled its newest smart grill at CES, the Zelos 450, an electric wood chip pellet grill that not only features 450 square inches of cooking space, but also comes equipped with Wi-Fi capabilities that allow users to remotely monitor and adjust the grill settings via a mobile app.Priced at $399, the Zelos 450 incorporates generative AI technology that is able to automate the entire grilling process and provide personalized recipes. Its latest Vera 2.0 AI system analyzes pictures of ingredients to help users easily create suitable recipes and sends real-time status updates and alerts during the cooking process to ensure food doesn't burn.

Xiaohongshu ushered in the “silver wave”, with the monthly active volume of users over 60 years old exceeding 30 million.

The latest data from Xiaohongshu shows that by the end of 2024, the monthly activity of senior users over 60 years old had exceeded 30 million, and the number of senior creators had tripled over the past two years, with more than 100 million notes published. This trend shows that more and more older people are actively participating in social media, sharing their life stories and hobbies, which netizens affectionately refer to as “Old Red Book”. To further support this group, Xiaohongshu has launched a user-friendly manual designed specifically for seniors, which includes large bold letters and detailed steps to help them better use the platform.

Italy negotiates €1.5 billion secure communications deal with SpaceX, kicking off Europe's largest project

Italy negotiates €1.5 billion secure communications deal with SpaceX, kicking off Europe's largest project

The Italian government is in advanced talks with Elon Musk's SpaceX for a five-year secure communications deal worth €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion). The deal aims to provide the Italian government with high-level telephone and internet encryption services covering both civilian and military use, particularly for military communications in the Mediterranean. The project has been in preparation since mid-2023 and has now been approved by the Italian intelligence agencies and the Ministry of Defense. Although the negotiations have not yet been finalized, progress on the agreement has accelerated significantly following a meeting between Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

Macron accuses Musk of meddling in German election, says he supports reactionary movement

In a recent speech, French President Emmanuel Macron publicly accused billionaire Elon Musk of meddling in European elections, including in Germany, and of supporting a “new international reactionary movement.” Macron mentioned that who would have thought a decade ago that the owner of one of the world's largest social networks would be directly involved in national elections. His comments came in response to Musk's recent public support for Germany's far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) and his plans to hold live discussions with party leaders on social media platform X. The German government has strongly objected to this. The German government has strongly objected to this, arguing that Musk's behavior is an attempt to influence the upcoming federal elections, leading several political leaders to compare him to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Musk calls on Farage to resign as Reform Party leader in the UK

Recently, billionaire Elon Musk publicly called for the resignation of Nigel Farage, the leader of the Reform Party of the United Kingdom, on the social media platform X, saying that he was “incapable” of leading the party. The comments came after Farage had repeatedly praised Musk as a “hero,” and Musk's change of attitude has attracted widespread attention. Farage responded by saying, “This is a surprise! I respect Musk, but on this point I disagree.” He emphasized that he has always stood on principle and would not support imprisoned far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whom Musk advocated.

Disney and FuboTV enter into a strategic merger to reshape the online live TV market

 Disney and FuboTV enter into a strategic merger to reshape the online live TV market

Disney and FuboTV recently announced a merger agreement to integrate Disney's Hulu + Live TV business into FuboTV to form a new virtual multi-channel video distribution platform. Under the agreement, Disney will own 70% of the combined company, while FuboTV will own 30%. This merger is expected to provide consumers with a wider selection of programs, combining the strengths of both companies to attract more subscribers. The combined company will continue to operate under the Fubo and Hulu + Live TV brands, aiming to become the second largest digital pay-TV provider after YouTube TV, with about 6 million subscribers.

Singapore's Digital Edge Successfully Raises $1.6 Billion to Fuel Data Center Expansion in Asia

Digital Edge, a Singapore-based data center operator, recently announced that it has successfully raised more than US$1.6 billion in financing, including approximately US$640 million in equity investment and US$1 billion in debt financing. The funds will be used to fuel a number of the company's data center expansion plans in Japan, South Korea, India, and elsewhere. Since its inception in 2020, Digital Edge has operated 21 data centers in six Asian countries, delivering more than 500 megawatts of critical IT load, with plans to develop 300 megawatts of new facilities in the future.

MicroStrategy Steps Up to the Bitcoin Plate Again, Acquires 1,070 for $101 Million

MicroStrategy recently announced that it has purchased 1,070 bitcoins for $101 million at the end of 2024, a transaction that brings its total holdings to 447,470. The company plans to further expand its bitcoin investments through the issuance of perpetual preferred stock, common stock, and debt financing, and expects to raise as much as $2 billion in support of its “21/21 Plan,” which is to raise $21 billion over the next three years through equity and fixed-income instruments.MicroStrategy's Bitcoin investments realized a 74% return in 2024, demonstrating its strong performance in the digital asset space.

Foxconn posts record Q4 revenue on surging demand for AI servers

 Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision Industry) recently announced its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2024, showing that its revenue reached a record NT$2.13 trillion (US$64.6 billion), up 15.2 percent year-on-year and exceeding the market's expectation of a 13 percent increase.

The company said strong artificial intelligence (AI) server demand was the main factor driving the growth, especially in its cloud and networking products divisions.

In December 2024, Foxconn's single-month revenue even reached NT$654.83 billion, up 42.3% year-on-year.

The company is optimistic about the future despite flat sales growth of consumer electronics products such as the iPhone.

China's Trina Solar Achieves Another Record High Solar Conversion Efficiency

 China's Trina Solar Achieves Another Record High Solar Conversion Efficiency

Trina Solar (China) recently announced that its new n-type fully passivated heterojunction (HJT) solar module has achieved a global record conversion efficiency of 25.44% in laboratory tests. This achievement, certified by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Research in Germany, signifies Trina Solar's leadership in solar technology.HJT technology improves the overall efficiency of solar cells by covering defects on their surfaces, making solar power generation cheaper and smaller. Trina Solar Chairman Jifan Gao said the company will continue to increase its R&D efforts in passivation solar technology to maintain its technological leadership.

Lucid Motors Successfully Delivers 9,029 Electric Vehicles, Exceeds Production Targets

Lucid Motors recently announced that the company produced 9,029 electric vehicles in 2024, successfully achieving its production goal of 9,000 units. Deliveries for the year reached 10,241 units, an increase of 71 percent year-over-year. This achievement was made possible by the company's price incentives and improved financing conditions, which drove up market demand. Despite producing only 3,386 units in the fourth quarter, Lucid has achieved consecutive delivery growth over the past year, demonstrating its competitiveness in the luxury EV market.

Avataar Launches Velocity Tool to Easily Generate Product AI Videos

Avataar recently released a new tool called Velocity, designed to simplify the process of generating product videos. The tool allows users to quickly create high-quality AI videos using only product links, significantly reducing the cost and time of video production. Since beta testing began in September 2024, Velocity has been adopted by well-known brands such as HP, Victoria's Secret, and Lowe's to help them generate promotional videos for their different products.Sravanth Aluru, the founder of Avataar, said that the tool not only covers the entire product catalog, but also enhances the customer experience through vivid storytelling, thereby drive sales conversions.

Baidu Wiku's AI feature exceeds 90 million monthly active users, 40 million paid users raise concerns

Baidu Wiku recently announced that the monthly active users of its AI function have exceeded 90 million, making it the online document platform with the largest number of users in China, second only to ChatGPT's 310 million. Since its comprehensive reorganization, Baidu Wiku has added more than 100 new features, greatly enhancing user experience and content creation. As users' recognition of AI tools increased, the payment rate grew 60% year-on-year, and the number of paid users reached 40 million.

Youbu and Lyft restarted their self-driving program, and joined hands with Waymo and May Mobility to lay out the future of mobility

Against the backdrop of the rapid development of self-driving technology, U.S.-based online taxi giant Lyft recently announced a partnership with a number of companies in order to re-layout the self-driving cab market.Lyft will partner with Intel's Mobileye, self-driving shuttle company May Mobility, and Nexar, a maker of smart driving recorders, with plans to begin rolling out self-driving cars from 2025 on its platform to roll out self-driving cars. The move is a strategic adjustment for Lyft to remain competitive in the market after rivals such as Uber and Waymo have accelerated their driverless services.Waymo's current Robotaxi service in San Francisco offers more than 100,000 paid rides per week, while Lyft is looking to use these partnerships to boost its own market share and technological capabilities in the self-driving space.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confident that he has mastered AGI building technology, moves to superintelligence future

 In his latest blog post, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says the company is now confident it can build artificial general intelligence (AGI) in the traditional sense, and is shifting its focus to developing superintelligence.

Predicting that 2025 will be the year that AI agents first “join the workforce,” which will dramatically change business productivity, Altman emphasized that superintelligent tools have the potential to dramatically accelerate scientific discovery and innovation beyond current human capabilities, thereby contributing to the prosperity and affluence of society.

Byte Jump plans to invest 160 billion yuan to build an autonomous data center and comprehensively lay out AI computing power

ByteDance recently made an announcement that it plans to invest 160 billion RMB by 2025, dedicated to building an autonomous and controllable large-scale data center cluster. 

Among them, 90 billion yuan will be dedicated to the procurement of artificial intelligence (AI) arithmetic to support its in-depth research and application in the field of AI; 70 billion yuan will be used for the construction of IDC infrastructure and the upgrade of network equipment. 

This strategy not only highlights ByteDance's ambition in AI technology, but will also further enhance its competitive advantage and technical barriers in the industry.

ChatGPT Pro Subscription Service Losing Money as User Usage Exceeds Expectations

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently revealed on social media that the company's ChatGPT Pro subscription service is facing losses due to user usage far exceeding expectations. He stated, “The crazy thing is that we're currently losing money on OpenAI Pro subscriptions! 

People are using it more than we expected.” ChatGPT Pro was launched last December for $200 per month, offering virtually unlimited access and more computing power.

 However, OpenAI's operating costs have risen as the number of subscribers has skyrocketed, and it is expected to face a $5 billion loss in 2024.

The Hottest Embodied AI Startups in Silicon Valley in 2024(2)

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Nimble's core technical capabilities are reflected in the high efficiency and flexibility of its robot system. Through large-scale data training and customized hardware design, Nimble's robots can quickly adapt to different environments and be seamlessly integrated into existing warehouse management systems without the need to modify the code.
This "plug-and-play" advantage enables its technology to be deployed quickly and at a low cost. In addition, the company also improves operational reliability through an AI framework combined with human supervision, solving the instability problem of traditional robots when handling complex products.
In terms of financing, Nimble recently completed a $106 million Series C financing, and the company's valuation reached $1 billion. This round of financing was led by FedEx and established a strategic cooperation relationship with Cedar Pine LLC. As part of the cooperation, FedEx plans to use Nimble's fully automated third-party logistics (3PL) model to expand its fulfillment services. The funds will mainly be used to expand the scale of robot manufacturing, accelerate system deployment, and further strengthen R&D capabilities.
Currently, Nimble's technology has been adopted by multiple Fortune 500 retailers and processes more than 100,000 items daily in fulfillment centers across the United States. With the continuous growth of e-commerce demand and the intensification of the labor shortage problem, Nimble is promoting the transformation of the logistics industry towards automation through its innovative technology. Through cooperation with industry giants such as FedEx, the company is expected to further expand its market share and promote its fully automated fulfillment center model globally, bringing revolutionary changes to supply chain management.
Bright Machines
Bright Machines is an American artificial intelligence robot company founded in 2018, headquartered in San Francisco. The company is dedicated to providing innovative automation solutions for the manufacturing industry by combining flexible factory robots, intelligent software, production data, and machine learning technology.
In terms of products and services, Bright Machines' core product is a full-stack automation solution called "Software-defined Microfactories." This system integrates central data visualization, traceability, performance benchmarking, and flexible automation functions.
The company has also developed the Design for Automated Assembly (DFAA) tool, which uses a powerful data network to provide virtual design suggestions to shorten the time to market. Bright Machines' robots use machine learning algorithms to ensure quality control and traceability during the assembly inspection process. In addition, the company also provides flexible disassembly functions to help recycle and reuse components at the end of the product life cycle, achieving full-cycle manufacturing.

In terms of core technical capabilities, Bright Machines focuses on the development of computer vision, machine learning, and software applications to change the way products are designed and manufactured. The company's technology can transform isolated and inefficient manual manufacturing processes into data-driven intelligent manufacturing processes. By combining a data network with flexible robotics, modeling, and simulation, Bright Machines can support modern factory operations far beyond traditional factories.
In terms of financing, Bright Machines completed a $126 million Series C financing in June 2024, including $106 million in equity investment and $20 million in venture debt. This round of financing was led by funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, with participation from companies such as Nvidia, Microsoft, Eclipse, Jabil, and Shinhan Securities.
Bright Machines' technology and solutions have been applied in multiple industries, including the construction of AI hardware infrastructure. The company's CEO, Lior Susan, said that through cooperation with technology leaders such as Nvidia and Microsoft, Bright Machines can provide customers with flexible, integrated, and intelligent manufacturing solutions, starting from DFAA and running through the entire manufacturing process until the recycling and reuse of components.

Path Robotics
Path Robotics is an American artificial intelligence robot company founded in 2018, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The company was founded by brothers Andy Lonsberry and Alex Lonsberry and is dedicated to developing intelligent welding robot systems to solve the problem of skilled labor shortages faced by the manufacturing industry, especially in the welding industry.
In terms of products and services, Path Robotics mainly provides two intelligent welding robot systems: AW-3 and AF-1. The AW-3 welding robot cell is designed for large parts and can handle parts up to 70 feet long and can autonomously complete the welding of steel parts.

The AF-1 welding robot cell is more advanced and can complete picking, assembly, and welding work without human intervention. In 2024, the company launched a full-stack automation solution called "Software-defined Microfactories," which integrates central data visualization, traceability, performance benchmarking, and flexible automation functions.
Path Robotics' core technical capabilities are reflected in its use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computer vision systems to automate the welding process. The company's robot systems can "see" any weldment, locate its spatial position, and use robot AI to autonomously determine and execute the best motion plan. These systems use proprietary sensing technology and robot AI to enable intelligent welding units to adapt to various part sizes.
In addition, the company has also developed the Design for Automated Assembly (DFAA) tool, which uses a powerful data network to provide virtual design suggestions to shorten the time to market.
In October 2024, the company completed a $100 million Series D financing led by Drive Capital and Matter Venture Partners, with other investors including Gaingels, Tiger Global Management, Catapult Ventures, and Addition.
Path Robotics' technology and products have been applied in many manufacturers in the United States and Canada. The company's mission is to solve the labor challenges faced by the manufacturing industry through intelligent automation solutions, improve production efficiency, and minimize upfront costs.

Collaborative Robotics
Collaborative Robotics (abbreviated as Cobot) is an American artificial intelligence robot company founded in 2022, headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The company was founded by Brad Porter, former vice president of Amazon Robotics, and is dedicated to developing collaborative robots (cobots) that can work safely and economically with humans.
In terms of products and services, Collaborative Robotics is developing an autonomous mobile manipulation robot. This robot features an omnidirectional mobile design with four wheels and a steering drive system, is slightly less than 6 feet (about 1.8 meters) tall, and can carry items weighing up to 75 pounds (about 34 kilograms).
In addition, it can also operate and move existing carts with a maximum load capacity of 1,500 pounds (about 680 kilograms). The company's robot system is designed to adapt to various manufacturing, supply chain, and healthcare workflows to solve the labor shortage problems faced by these industries.

ROBOTIQ
Collaborative Robotics' core technical capabilities are reflected in the application of its artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computer vision systems. The company emphasizes the trustworthiness and safety of robots and adopts a human-centered design approach, enabling users to understand the functions of robots through observation.
Recently, the company also announced the establishment of a foundation model AI team led by Michael Vogelsong, the founder of Amazon's deep learning technology team, aiming to explore the frontier possibilities of AI in enhancing robot capabilities, especially in the fields of bimanual manipulation and low-latency multimodal models.
In terms of financing, Collaborative Robotics completed a $100 million Series B financing in April 2024, led by General Catalyst, with participation from Bison Ventures, Industry Ventures, and Lux Capital, and existing investors such as Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, and Mayo Clinic also continued to follow suit.
Collaborative Robotics' team consists of robotics and artificial intelligence experts from companies such as Amazon

Apple, Meta, Google, Microsoft, NASA, and Waymo. The company has also established a cooperative relationship with the University of Washington and funded academic research in the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics. As the company continues to expand and advance its commercialization process, Collaborative Robotics is expected to play an important role in the field of human-robot collaboration and bring innovative automation solutions to industries such as manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare.

 

1X Technologies
1X Technologies is a Norwegian artificial intelligence robot company founded in 2014, formerly known as Halodi Robotics. The company is dedicated to developing safe and intelligent humanoid robots to solve the global labor shortage problem and create a rich labor supply.

 

In terms of products and services, 1X mainly offers two humanoid robots: EVE and NEO. EVE is a wheeled highly mobile robot mainly targeted at enterprise customers and can perform industrial tasks such as equipment handling, door opening, and order fulfillment. NEO is the company's newly developed bipedal humanoid robot, specially designed for daily household assistance and can support various household tasks such as cleaning, tidying, and running errands. Both robots can move naturally in both unstructured and structured spaces and understand users' instructions through natural language.

 

1X's core technical capabilities are reflected in its innovations in artificial intelligence and machine learning. The company has developed the world's highest torque-to-weight ratio drive servo motor for mimicking the movement of soft organic muscles. In addition, 1X also adopts a unique embodied learning method for data collection and training. In the company's studio in Moss, Norway, robots learn practical tasks in diverse real scenarios through VR remote operation technology, thus obtaining an intuitive understanding of the difficulty and feasibility of tasks. This method is different from traditional coding and preset algorithms and focuses more on practical learning to adapt to the world designed for humans.

 

In January 2024, the company completed a $100 million Series B financing led by EQT Ventures, with participation from Samsung NEXT, Skagerak Capital, and the Nistad Group. Previously, 1X completed a $23.5 million Series A financing led by OpenAI and Tiger Global in March 2023.

 

1X plans to use the funds to bring NEO to the market, support existing enterprise customers, and expand its data collection strategy for embodied AI. The company's commercialization process is steadily advancing, and some customers are already using its products. For example, Sunnass Hospital and Everon Company have deployed about 250 robots for night guard duty in commercial buildings.

 

Carbon Robotics
Carbon Robotics is an American artificial intelligence agricultural robot company founded in 2018, headquartered in Seattle. The company is dedicated to developing advanced AI-driven agricultural technologies to improve agricultural production efficiency and sustainability.

 

In terms of products and services, Carbon Robotics' core product is the LaserWeeder™ series of weeding robots. The LaserWeeder utilizes computer vision, AI deep learning technology, robotics, and laser technology to accurately identify and eliminate weeds without the use of chemical herbicides, manual labor, or soil disturbance.

 

In February 2024, the company launched a new model, the Track LaserWeeder, specially designed for peat soil, which improves the machine's adaptability to various soil types through a customized track system. In addition, Carbon Robotics also provides the Carbon Ops Center software platform, which provides farmers with detailed data analysis of crops and weeds in the field.

 

Carbon Robotics' core technical capabilities are reflected in the application of its AI and machine learning algorithms. Each LaserWeeder is equipped with 24 NVIDIA graphics processing units and can process 4.7 million high-resolution images per hour. The company's robots can identify and eliminate weeds with millimeter-level accuracy, reducing weeding costs by 80% while increasing crop yield and quality.

 

By combining computer vision, AI deep learning, and laser technology, Carbon Robotics' robots can effectively control weeds without the use of chemical herbicides, providing farmers with an environmentally friendly and efficient solution.

 

In terms of financing, Carbon Robotics completed a $70 million Series D financing in October 2024, led by BOND, with participation from existing investors such as NVIDIA's venture capital division, NVentures.

 

The funds will be used to expand the LaserWeeder business scale, introduce new software and hardware products, expand advanced manufacturing capabilities in eastern Washington, and support the company's market expansion in Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.

 

Carbon Robotics' technology has been applied in many regions in North America, Europe, and Australia, helping farmers eliminate more than 10 billion weeds in over 100 crops. The total usage time of the LaserWeeder by the company's customers exceeded 50,000 hours in 2023, significantly reducing weeding costs and reporting a substantial increase in crop yield and quality. As the company continues to expand and advance its commercialization process, Carbon Robotics is expected to play an important role in the fields of precision agriculture and sustainable agriculture and bring revolutionary changes to global agriculture.

 

Botrista Technology
Botrista Technology is an American artificial intelligence beverage automation company founded in 2017, headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company was founded by former Tesla automation engineer Sean Hsu and is dedicated to providing innovative beverage solutions for the catering industry.

 

In terms of products and services, Botrista's core product is the DrinkBot automatic beverage dispenser. This device utilizes patented mixing and algorithmic dispensing technologies and can produce a variety of high-quality cold drinks, including more than 2,000 beverage recipes in 15 categories such as bubble milk tea, iced coffee, smoothies, lemonade, and energy drinks, within 20 seconds.

 

The DrinkBot occupies only 4 square feet of space, equivalent to that of an ordinary beverage dispenser, but can provide the variety of drinks equivalent to a complete bar. In addition to the hardware device, Botrista also provides the CloudBar intelligent cloud system, which provides data analysis and menu development guidance for restaurant operators.

 

Botrista's core technical capabilities are reflected in the application of its artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms. The company uses a large amount of data collected from the sales of millions of cups of drinks in 34 states, combined with factors such as demographics, geographical location, consumer preferences, food pairings, and time periods, to customize the most suitable beverage menu for the restaurant's customer base and local market trends.

 

In addition, Botrista is also continuously strengthening the application of AI technology in menu creation and recipe optimization to help restaurants keep up with the latest beverage trends.

 

In terms of financing, Botrista completed a Series C financing in July 2024, bringing the company's total financing since its establishment to $120 million. This round of financing was led by the global catering company Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC). JFC owns 18 brands in 33 countries and is the second-fastest-growing catering brand in the world.

 

Previously, Botrista completed a $55 million Series B financing in October 2022. The funds will be used to expand the business scale of DrinkBot, develop new software and hardware products, strengthen AI technology research and development, and support the company's global market expansion.

 

Currently, Botrista's technology has been applied in 37 states, and its customers include national chain restaurants, independent restaurants, university campuses, movie theaters, theme parks, and other venues. The company's solutions have helped restaurants increase beverage sales and profit margins while solving problems such as labor shortages and operational complexity.

 

For example, a fast-food chain saw an 18% increase in average order value after using DrinkBot. As the company continues to expand and advance technological innovation, Botrista is expected to play a greater role in the fields of beverage automation and personalized customization and bring revolutionary changes to the global catering industry.

 

Bear Robotics
Bear Robotics is an American artificial intelligence robot company founded in May 2017, headquartered in Redwood City, California. The company was founded by former Google software engineer Ha Jung-woo and is dedicated to developing intelligent service robots to provide innovative solutions for the catering, hotel, and other service industries.

 

In terms of products and services, Bear Robotics' core product is the Servi series of autonomous food delivery robots. The Servi robots can autonomously navigate, avoid obstacles, and complete food delivery tasks, greatly improving the operational efficiency of restaurants. In 2023, the company launched a new generation of product, Servi Plus, with a larger load capacity and an advanced drive suspension system. In addition to hardware products, Bear Robotics also provides the CloudBar intelligent cloud system, which provides data analysis and operational optimization services for customers.

 

Bear Robotics' core technical capabilities are reflected in its artificial intelligence, computer vision, and autonomous navigation. The company's robots use advanced AI algorithms and sensor technology and can accurately position and avoid obstacles in complex environments. According to the company's official website, as of January 2022, the Servi robots had traveled a cumulative distance of more than 247,500 miles, equivalent to the circumference of the Earth.

 

In terms of financing, Bear Robotics recently completed a $60 million Series C financing led by LG Electronics. The funds will be used to drive the company's entry into emerging markets such as intelligent warehousing and supply chain automation and develop a new generation of robot platforms. Previously, the company completed an $81 million Series B financing in March 2022, led by IMM and with participation from Cleveland Avenue, LLC. Bear Robotics' total financing has exceeded $120 million, and its investors include well-known institutions such as Softbank and LG Electronics.

 

Bear Robotics' technology has been applied in multiple industries in North America, Europe, and Asia, including hotels, healthcare, retail, and logistics. The company's strategic cooperation with LG Electronics not only provides financial support but also promotes technological innovation and market expansion in the field of service robots. Bear Robotics CEO John Ha said that the company will utilize its successful experience in the hotel industry to further expand its technological vision and develop customized solutions for fields such as intelligent warehousing and supply chain automation.

 

Pickle Robot
Pickle Robot is an American artificial intelligence robot company founded in 2018, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company specializes in developing robot systems for warehouse automation, especially robot technology for unloading trucks and containers.

 

In terms of products and services, Pickle Robot's core product is the Pickle Unload Systems, an AI-driven robot system specifically designed for unloading non-palletized cargo. This system has been in production and use in the distribution centers of multiple customers since the summer of 2023.

 

Pickle's robots can autonomously unload trucks, trailers, and import containers, and their performance has reached or exceeded the human level. To date, Pickle's robots have unloaded more than 10 million pounds of goods, including footwear, clothing, power tools, toys, kitchenware, packaging materials, small household appliances, and other daily necessities.

 

Pickle Robot's core technical capabilities are reflected in its so-called "Physical AI" technology. This technology combines a powerful vision system and generative AI foundation models trained with millions of data points from real logistics and warehouse operations, enabling Pickle's robot hardware platform to perform physical work at or above the human level of efficiency.

The company's technology also includes machine learning, computer vision, and advanced sensor systems, which enable the robots to adapt to complex warehouse environments.

 

In November 2024, the company announced the completion of a $50 million Series B financing. This round of financing was led by an unnamed "strategic customer" and included participation from Teradyne Robotics Ventures, Toyota Ventures, Ranpak, Third Kind Venture Capital, One Madison Group, Hyperplane, Catapult Ventures, and others.

In addition, in the third quarter of 2024, six customers placed orders for more than 30 production robots, with plans for deployment in the first half of 2025. These orders include pilot conversions, expansions by existing customers, and adoptions by new customers.

Pickle Robot plans to use the new funds to accelerate the development of new features and expand the size of the commercial team to explore new markets and geographical regions. The company's goal is to automate the inbound and outbound processes of 1 million warehouse doors within the next 10 years. As the company continues to expand and advance technological innovation, Pickle Robot is expected to play a greater role in the field of warehouse automation and bring revolutionary changes to the global logistics industry.

Mytra
Mytra is an American artificial intelligence robot company founded in 2024, headquartered in South San Francisco, California. The company was founded by former Tesla Optimus humanoid robot team leader Chris Walti and former Tesla and Rivian factory software leader Ahmad Baitalmal and is dedicated to developing three-dimensional robot technology to improve industrial production efficiency.

In terms of products and services, Mytra's core product is a three-dimensional robot system called Mytra Unload Systems, specifically designed for automating the most common industrial tasks in warehouses: the movement and storage of materials.

This system consists of three main components: robots, a simple and repetitive matrix structure, and edge intelligence software. Mytra's robots can move in any direction in three dimensions, can handle goods weighing up to 3000 pounds, achieving the maximum flexibility within physical limits.

Mytra's core technical capabilities are reflected in its "Physical AI" technology. This technology combines a powerful computer vision system, ultra-wideband sensors, and IMU feedback, enabling the robots to process perception information in real-time and make intelligent responses. Mytra's software platform can optimize robot paths, manage inventory, and continuously learn to improve performance and adapt to changing customer needs. This software-defined automation system breaks the trade-off between automation and flexibility, greatly increasing warehouse density and throughput.

In terms of financing, Mytra announced in July 2024 that it had completed a total of $78 million in financing, including seed round, Series A, and Series B.

Among them, the Series B financing was led by Greenoaks, with participation from Eclipse. Other investors include 515 Ventures, founded by Okta co-founder and chairman Frederic Kerrest, as well as individual investors Garry Tan and Lachy Groom.

Mytra's technology has been put into use in some of Albertsons' distribution centers to buffer and sort inventory before shipment. It is estimated that Mytra's system can save up to 88% of labor time in the warehouse and double the internal rate of return. As the company continues to expand and advance technological innovation, Mytra is expected to play an important role in the fields of warehouse automation and supply chain optimization and bring revolutionary changes to the global manufacturing and logistics industries.