OEM TrendsSina Tech: On April 22, screenshots circulating on Weibo claimed Xiaomi had made a "major announcement" that Tim Cook would take the helm of Xiaomi EV to "lead its global expansion," alongside a supposed response from Cook himself. The images were all forgeries. Xu Jieyun, special assistant to the chairman and deputy general manager of Xiaomi's strategic marketing department, dismissed the rumors: "Photoshopping is unacceptable. These kinds of jokes really aren't funny."IT Home: The Shanghai Cyberspace Administration recently released a bulletin on registered generative AI services. As of April 21, Shanghai added one newly registered service, bringing the cumulative total to 158. The filing data shows that Tesla’s in-vehicle voice large model service was registered on April 20 by Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.IT Home: Media reports say Great Wall Motor has announced it will launch at least 10 new models in Europe over the next two years, attempting to re-open the market following previous setbacks. One of the earliest Chinese automakers to enter Europe, Great Wall made a high-profile debut at the 2021 Munich motor show with an EV-heavy lineup, yet it has struggled to gain a foothold in the highly competitive environment. For this return, the company plans to begin sales in 13 European markets within the next 12 months.CLS: Reports say Ferrari has set a preliminary price of roughly 550,000 euros (about $647,000) for its first pure-electric supercar, the Luce, which will debut in Rome next month. This pricing positions the new Luce above Ferrari’s Purosangue SUV, which starts at around 450,000 euros.36Kr: A source close to Luxeed says the brand is planning a coupe model designed to hit extreme performance targets. The vehicle could be sent to the Nürburgring to challenge a host of foreign luxury supercars.Supply Chain NewsCLS: On April 22, Gao Huan, chief technology officer at CATL, said sodium-ion batteries have passed the validation phase, achieving a range of 300 kilometers in extended-range vehicles and 500 kilometers in pure-electric models. Between the end of this year and the first half of next, CATL plans to introduce the technology in its passenger car battery-swapping system first, while also scaling up supply in the energy storage sector.Gasgoo: On April 22, Beidou Zhilian and Horizon Robotics signed a strategic partnership agreement. The two parties will deeply integrate "AI + Beidou" full-stack capabilities with a single-chip central computing architecture to co-develop next-generation smart vehicle solutions that are highly integrated, performant, and cost-effective. The goal is to accelerate the evolution of vehicle intelligence into AI agents within the physical world.CLS: Addressing foundry capacity guarantees at its 2025 earnings briefing on April 22, Cambricon stated that the company will maintain extensive cooperation with upstream and downstream supply chain partners based on industrial policy. It plans to keep close communication with relevant parties throughout product development stages while actively exploring solutions to drive continued business growth. The company also noted that surging demand for intelligent computing, driven by rapid innovation in large model technology, has allowed it to win industry recognition and a strong market reputation thanks to the competitive edge of its core smart chip products and high-quality services.Gasgoo: ThunderSoft recently released its 2025 annual report, showing full-year revenue of 7.778 billion yuan, a 44.45% increase, while net profit attributable to shareholders rose 10.47% to 450 million yuan. Operating performance improved steadily. Main business lines showed differentiated growth: smart software revenue reached 1.517 billion yuan, up 6.64%, as the company deepened its work in mobile AIOS and expanded into home appliances and smart home ecosystems. Smart automotive business revenue climbed 9.91% to 2.656 billion yuan, driven by the Dishui AIOS + AIBOX software-hardware synergy solution, which is helping scale up the deployment of AI large models in vehicles; the smart IoT business was a standout, with revenue surging 133.26% to 3.605 billion yuan, as its AIoT platform expanded into diverse scenarios like smart vision, robotics, and AI PCs.Gasgoo: At a recent global strategy conference and partner meeting for Changan Automobile Group, Desay SVW and Changan Automobile formally signed a global strategic partnership agreement. The two sides will promote deep technical collaboration as they embark on a new phase of global development together.Gasgoo: Qingdao SiEngine Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of SiEngine, has recently completed its initial construction and officially commenced operations. This marks another significant milestone in SiEngine's optimization of its industrial layout nationwide. The company noted that investors' continued funding in Qingdao has provided crucial capital support.Industrial EconomyCLS: A research note from CSC Securities on April 22 indicates that expectations for rising lithium carbonate prices in 2026 are materializing, gradually revealing the cost advantages of sodium-ion batteries. We expect leading sodium-ion manufacturers to achieve price parity with lithium by the end of 2026, ushering in an era of volume expansion at equal costs in 2027. Large-scale energy storage will be the primary battlefield for commercialization; overseas owners are willing to pay a safety premium, meaning foreign storage stations are likely to see adoption first. In the medium term, sodium batteries are set to carve out a niche in the power sector thanks to their low-temperature performance and safety. We forecast market demand for sodium batteries could reach 500 GWh by 2030. Investors should pay attention to the scaling up of sodium-ion industrialization, prioritizing the battery and aluminum foil sectors.Gasgoo: Juwei Technology has successfully completed four consecutive rounds of Series A financing totaling several hundred million yuan. Capital from this round will focus on deepening R&D in core technologies, as well as scaling up commercialization in specialized application scenarios nationwide. The latest A+++ round was jointly led by Binzhou Guotou, Weiqiao Group, and Binzhou Chemical, with participation from Heda Holdings and Denuo Capital.Gasgoo: Yixing Intelligent recently announced the completion of a 1.5 billion yuan Series B financing round. The company stated that the funds will be used primarily to advance mass production and commercialization of its Epoch series, develop next-generation flagship products, build a software-hardware ecosystem, and expand into global markets. Yixing Intelligent continues to drive the large-scale deployment of RISC-V AI computing chips and platforms.Gasgoo: Launix Technology (Nanjing) Co., Ltd. announced the completion of a new financing round worth tens of millions of yuan. Investors include Suzhou Sky Workshop Venture Capital, Yibin High-Tech Frontier Technology Industrial Venture Capital, and Yipu Capital. Proceeds from this round will be mainly used for iterative R&D of core products, construction of technical systems, and expansion into overseas markets and sales channels.
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