China Tech News

Huawei's Rotating Chairman Eric Xu estimates the company's 2019 revenue grew 18% YoY to $122B, says it shipped 240M smartphones, but forecasts “difficult” 2020.

China will introduce new rules governing online encryption from Jan 1; the government will set encryption standards for state and enterprise organizations, and have full control over how crypto-tech is implemented; comes as China’s central bank plans to launch its a stablecoin linked to the yuan.

Tencent, the Chinese internet giant and owner of WeChat, is reportedly forming a team to explore possible new use cases for cryptocurrencies.

Trip.com and Netease are considering secondary listings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, both companies are currently listed on the Nasdaq.

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun says the company will invest at least ~$7.2B on 5G tech and AI-powered IoT (AIoT) over the next five years; follows an earlier commitment to spend ~$1.5B on AIoT; as part of the plan Xiaomi has partnered with China Telecom to establish a 5G R&D facility.

China-based autonomous vacuum cleaner company Trifo raises $15M Series B led by Yidu Cloud; also unveiled the $800 Lucy, a camera-equipped vacuum that recognizes rooms and monitors them for cleanliness.

TikTok's in-app purchase revenue passed $50M in the fourth quarter, according to Apptopia; up from $20M in the third quarter and up 310 percent year-over-year.

ByteDance has developed but not launched a deepfake feature for TikTok and Chinese-market sister app Douyin, the apps ask the user for a multi-angle biometric face scan, then provide a selection of videos for face insertion; the feature requires identity verification so users can't make deepfakes with images of non-consenting people.

The Hong Kong stock exchange (HKSE) approves IPO plans for China-based facial recognition firm Megvii, the IPO is expected to generate as much as $500M for the firm.

AInnovation, a China-based applied AI startup for retail, manufacturing, finance, and other sectors, raises ~$57M Series B, bringing its total raised to ~$143M.

ByteDance says its Chinese TikTok counterpart Douyin has reached 400M DAUs, up from 250M in Jan 2019; by comparison, Tencent’s competitor Kuaishou revealed it had 200M DAUs in May last year.

Tesla begins work on China-made Model Y vehicles; at a launch event, Elon Musk predicted the Model Y would become Tesla's most popular vehicle.

Mercedes-Benz partners with Chinese carmaker Geely to establish an EV joint venture; the unit will produce all-electric vehicles under the Smart brand; the companies will collectively invest ~$780M in the venture.

China-based e-commerce firm Xiaohongshu is in talks to raise $400M to $500M on a $6B valuation, according to Bloomberg sources; the company last raised a $300M Series D on a $3B valuation, but it’s reportedly now worth ~$5B.

Tencent reveals WeChat users spent $115B in the social platform's "mini-programs" last year, up 160 percent year-over-year; the company plans to increase focus on the apps-within-the-app this year.

Government data shows iPhone sales in China rose by 18.7% YoY to ~3.18M units in December while overall smartphone shipments were ~30M, down 13.7% YoY.

Luckin’s tech-enabled vending machines are powered with internet of things, big data, and facial recognition to enhance customers’ experience.

Chinese on-demand service provider Meituan-Dianping has added a virtual credit card service to its offerings. The firm hopes to catch up with the likes of Alibaba and JD.com as it enters China’s finance sector.

Shanghai has set its sights on becoming a globally competitive fintech hub in five years, according to a new action plan released by the municipal financial regulator.

Tesla says it plans to open a design and research facility in China, the company made the announcement via its WeChat account.

Volkswagen is set to take a 20% stake in Chinese electric vehicle battery maker Guoxuan as the German firm accelerates its electric push into the world’s largest auto market.

China’s largest property developer by sales Country Garden is planning to start mass production of construction robots next year to cut costs and raise efficiency.

Xiaomi said it is spinning off POCO as a standalone company that will now run independently of the Chinese electronics giant and make its own market strategy.

Chinese ride-hailing firm Dida Chuxing (not to be confused with rival Didi Chuxing) plans to raise as much as $300M and is considering an IPO.

TikTok-owner ByteDance is establishing a mobile gaming division, the unit has more than 1k staff. ByteDance has purchased several gaming studios including Mokun Digital and Levelup.ai.

Tencent begins testing a media-sharing feed within its WeChat messaging app, the feature lets users share photos and short videos with followers.

Tencent offers $148M to acquire full control of Norway-based games company Funcom, Tencent currently owns 29 percent of the firm.

WeChat is testing paywalls for official accounts, opening up more monetization opportunities for its content creators as Chinese internet users show willingness to pay for online content.

Isbank became the first bank in Europe that accepts payment with UnionPay QR Code which has accepted in more than 16.5 million merchants in 32 countries.