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Comprehensive report by 21st Century Business Herald New Productivity Research Institute

Good morning, a new day has begun. What interesting things have happened in the technology industry in the past 24 hours? Let's take a look with 21tech.

【Giant weathervane】

1. The U.S. Department of Justice may seek to force Google to implement major changes or force it to divest the Android system.A U.S. court ruled that Google's search business violated antitrust laws, and the litigation process will enter the second stage, where the court will decide what kind of punishment Google needs to face for violating antitrust laws. Lawyers following the case said that in the next stage, U.S. Department of Justice lawyers may seek to hinder Google's efforts to dominate the next generation of search technology (conversational artificial intelligence) and make it easier for other search service providers to erode Google's 95% market share. Gene Burrus, former assistant general counsel of Microsoft, said that U.S. Department of Justice lawyers will almost certainly ask the judge to take "structural remedies", such as forcing Google to divest the Android system, rather than just requiring Google to make "behavioral changes" in the way it operates its search business and its partnerships with companies such as Apple.

2. Amazon invested $4 billion in AI startup Anthropic, which was investigated by the UK antitrust agency.The UK CMA has launched an investigation into Amazon's investment in AI startup Anthropic to assess its impact on market competition. Amazon expressed disappointment, emphasizing that the investment did not meet the review threshold and would not raise competition concerns. Anthropic also reiterated its independence. The $4 billion investment has raised antitrust concerns, similar to Google and Microsoft's investments in the AI ​​field, which are also facing regulatory scrutiny. With the development of AI technology, the focus of supervision has shifted from the Internet to the AI ​​field to prevent technology giants from forming an oligopoly.

3. The iPhone 17 series may add a new “Air” version.It is reported that Apple's iPhone 16 series this year may only undergo minor updates to keep sales stable. The iPhone 16 series is expected to support Apple Intelligence, add a new Action button, improve the design, slightly increase the screen size, and have new color options. Major changes are expected to be launched in 2025, including the new iPhone SE and iPhone 17 "Air" version, the latter of which may adopt a thin and light design, between the standard version and the Pro version.

4. ByteDance was exposed to be seeking US$5 billion in loan refinancing, and the company "declined to comment".Recently, there have been reports that ByteDance is actively negotiating with relevant financial institutions, hoping to refinance its existing $5 billion loan for three years. This move is expected to become one of the largest loan refinancing transactions by Chinese borrowers this year. Previously, ByteDance had finalized a total of $5 billion in loans in 2021, with half of them being regular and half being revolving credit. This refinancing may be to reduce financing costs, optimize debt structure or meet other financial needs. The reporter asked ByteDance for confirmation, but the other party declined to comment.

5. Microsoft Copilot AI is said to be able to be manipulated by hackers.Microsoft's Copilot AI has a vulnerability in the Windows system that may lead to sensitive corporate data leakage and phishing attacks. Security researchers pointed out that they can exploit this vulnerability to obtain users' contact information and use Copilot to send malicious attachments to any user. In addition, they also demonstrated how to use Copilot to trick users into modifying bank transfer payee information without obtaining employee accounts. This attack method is very simple and efficient, and it only takes a few minutes to generate a large number of deceptive emails. However, Copilot's flaws are not unfixable. Some experts recommend that companies take appropriate security measures to ensure data security when using Copilot, and remind people to be cautious about emails from unknown senders or unreliable sources.

6. Google developed a table tennis robot that has a winning rate of over 40% when playing against humans.Google's DeepMind announced that the team has developed a table tennis robot that can reach the level of amateur human table tennis players in competitions. The research and development team published an article on the preprint website arXiv, saying that this is the first learning robot agent that can reach the level of amateur human players in table tennis competitions. Its main body is a six-axis robotic arm that can move forward, backward, left and right through the bottom slide. In 29 games against humans, the robot won 13 games, with a winning rate of 45%. The opponents were all human players that the robot had never seen before, and their skill levels ranged from beginners to advanced players. The researchers said that the robot lost all games with advanced players, but won all games with beginners and 55% of games with intermediate players.

7. Chinese mobile phone brands are actively introducing the Gemini model in overseas markets.Google is working with Chinese mobile phone brands such as Xiaomi and OPPO to try to introduce Google Gemini to more domestic models. OPPO Chief Product Officer Liu Zuohu announced that incredible AI results have been achieved through close cooperation with Google. The OPPO international version is connected to Google Gemini, and the domestic version will use OPPO's self-developed AI model. Xiaomi founder Lei Jun said that the Xiaomi flagship to be launched in the international market will maintain cooperation with Google and make full use of the Google Gemini model and Google Cloud.

8. Huawei Cloud Pangu Drug Molecule Model adds ten new core AI pharmaceutical scenarios.At the Huawei Cloud Medical Health AI Summit, You Peng, President of Huawei Cloud Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, said that the Pangu drug molecule model has added ten core AI pharmaceutical scenarios, including target pocket discovery, molecular docking, molecular property prediction, custom property modeling, molecular clustering, pocket molecule design, free energy perturbation, synthesis path planning, molecular optimization, and molecular search. It can increase the efficiency of drug design by 33% and the optimized molecular binding energy by more than 40%, achieving full process acceleration in the early research stage.

9. An ancient tomb was unearthed at Xiaomi Auto Phase II Factory? Xiaomi's Wang Hua responded.Recently, a video circulated online showed that an ancient tomb was dug up at the Xiaomi Auto Phase II factory. In response, Wang Hua, general manager of Xiaomi Group's public relations department, said that the news was false. Wang Hua said: "The real situation is laughable. It's fake. Zhouying Daji is doing a cultural survey (normal survey). The security guards understand that cultural survey is to dig up ancient tombs. It's not a malicious rumor. Everyone, please go away."

10. CATL opened its first C-end store.The new energy life plaza jointly built by CATL and automakers opened in Chengdu. The first batch of 41 brands settled in, displaying more than 70 popular new energy models. It is expected that by the end of 2024, there will be more than 100 models settled in. The plaza is divided into two floors, with new car areas, future car areas, sedan exhibition areas, SUV exhibition areas, MPV exhibition areas, etc. The exhibition cars in the plaza are all equipped with CATL power batteries, including Kirin batteries, Shenxing batteries, etc. (Cailian News)

11. The world's first "RISC-V Vehicle-Road-Cloud Collaboration 1.0 Verification Demonstration System" was released.According to the Shanghai Lingang WeChat official account, at the unveiling ceremony of the "Shanghai RISC-V Digital Infrastructure Ecological Innovation Center" and the release of the "RISC-V Vehicle-Road-Cloud Collaboration 1.0 Verification Demonstration System", the RISC-V Vehicle-Road-Cloud Collaboration 1.0 Verification Demonstration System was released. This is the world's first RISC-V Vehicle-Road-Cloud Collaboration 1.0 system for smart transportation scenario applications. At the event, the Shanghai RISC-V Digital Infrastructure Ecological Innovation Center was officially unveiled and a strategic cooperation agreement was signed with Shanghai Lingang Investment Holding Group.

12. HiPhi Auto announced that it has entered the stage of pre-judicial reorganization.HiPhi Auto released a "Letter to HiPhi Owners" on its official website, announcing that it has officially entered the judicial pre-reorganization stage and is looking for an effective solution for "rebirth" through self-help. HiPhi said that "judicial pre-reorganization" is not "bankruptcy reorganization" or "bankruptcy liquidation." It is understood that the pre-reorganization period is six months from the date of the decision. If there are legitimate reasons, it can be extended for three months upon application by the pre-reorganization administrator. In the view of industry insiders, HiPhi's entry into judicial pre-reorganization means that it is working hard to seek external resources and resume work and production as soon as possible to return to the new energy vehicle track.

13. OPPO sold 21 patents.Transfer records from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) show that Philips acquired 21 essential patents for communication standards from Chinese mobile phone manufacturer OPPO, including patents such as "wireless communication methods, network devices and terminal devices", "device-to-device communication methods and terminals", and "communication methods and communication devices for obtaining delays". Analysts said that it is more likely that these transfers are directly the result of the settlement of patent claims filed by Philips against OPPO earlier this year; another possibility is that the asset transaction was completed after the settlement, which means that OPPO is now generally prepared to sell patents to companies that are known to file lawsuits. In January of this year, OPPO and Philips signed a patent licensing agreement, ending the global litigation between the two companies.

14. Foxconn in Zhengzhou is recruiting “high-priced” workers.A recruitment agency said that Foxconn is currently recruiting "high-priced" workers, mainly hourly workers and rebate workers. The hourly wage for hourly workers is 26 yuan, while rebate workers can receive a cashback reward of 7,500 yuan after clocking in for 90 days. Regarding the media reports that "50,000 people have flocked to Foxconn", the aforementioned agency said that there are basically long queues of people who are interviewed every day because "iPhone 16 will be mass-produced soon." According to the agency, "Basically 90% of people who sign up for the interview can pass. They just check whether they have infectious diseases, tattoos, criminal records, cigarette scars, etc. But those with smaller or inconspicuous tattoos can get in, and the requirements are not that strict." (Daily Economic News)

15. The flying taxi test flight takes Kunshan to Shanghai Pudong Airport within 30 minutes.According to "Kunshan Release", on the morning of August 10, the "air-to-air transport" service between Kunshan City Terminal and Shanghai Pudong Airport welcomed a trial flight, creating a new business model for air connection and business travel, shortening the original 1.5-2 hours of ground travel to less than 30 minutes. Kunshan has once again made efforts in the application market field of the low-altitude economic demand side. After the flight service is officially opened on August 18, Kunshan City Terminal will also become the first city terminal in the country to open a cross-provincial "air-to-air transport" project.

16. Xiongan Qianfang Digital City Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. was established to speed up the process of Xiongan’s intelligent connected transportation.On August 9, Xiongan Qianfang Digital City Intelligent Connection Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xiongqian Digital Connection") was established. According to reporters, Xiongqian Digital Connection is jointly funded by China Xiongan Group Digital City Technology Co., Ltd. and Qianfang Technology (002373.SZ), the former being a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Xiongan Group. At present, Xiongqian Digital Connection is 100% controlled by Beijing Qianfang Technology Co., Ltd., and the two parties will subsequently inject capital in proportion according to the agreement. According to the information, Xiongqian Digital Connection is the first enterprise jointly founded by state-owned enterprises and private enterprises in Xiongan Group. It aims to help Xiongan New Area accelerate the construction of a new benchmark for national digital roads, intelligent connections, and smart transportation through the city-level planning, construction, and operation of intelligent connections that integrate vehicles, roads, clouds, and networks.

17. The 2-ton domestically-produced large unmanned transport aircraft successfully completed its maiden flight.On August 11, my country's independently developed large twin-engine unmanned transport aircraft conducted its first flight test at Fengming General Aviation Airport in Zigong, Sichuan, and was a complete success. The first flight test lasted about 20 minutes, and all systems worked normally during the flight. The unmanned aircraft has a wingspan of 16.1 meters and a height of 4.6 meters. It has a loading space of 12 cubic meters and a commercial load capacity of 2 tons. It is the largest and domestically produced large unmanned transport aircraft currently developed in China in accordance with market demand. At the same time, the aircraft also has the characteristics of easy loading and unloading, high reliability, high safety, and high intelligence, providing support for my country to expand new scenarios for air cargo and create a new form of low-altitude economic and intelligent logistics.

【The most core news】

1. Japan's Rapidus plans to build a fully automatic 2-nanometer chip factory.Japanese chipmaker Rapidus announced that the chip factory under construction in northern Japan will use robots and artificial intelligence technology to create a fully automated 2-nanometer chip production line to meet the needs of advanced artificial intelligence applications. The company plans to start prototyping of 2-nanometer chips next year, but mass production will not be achieved until 2027 at the earliest. Through automated production, Rapidus expects to be able to shorten chip delivery time to one-third of its competitors. The exterior structure of the company's factory is scheduled to be completed in October this year, and EUV lithography equipment will enter the site in December.

2. In the second quarter, semiconductors and automobiles accounted for more than 35% of South Korea’s total exports.Data provided by the Korea Trade Association on August 11 showed that in the second quarter of this year, semiconductors and automobiles accounted for 23.5% and 12.1% of South Korea's total exports respectively. The total proportion of the two major products reached 35.6%, the highest level in a single quarter in history.

【Listing Capital Flow】

1. Horizon Robotics has passed the IPO filing of China Securities Regulatory Commission.Horizon Robotics, the "smart driving unicorn", has passed the IPO filing of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, which means that it has obtained the pass to be listed in Hong Kong. Horizon Robotics is a supplier of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and advanced autonomous driving (AD) solutions for passenger vehicles. It is also one of the star projects of Baidu executives who left to start their own businesses. The last round of financing had a post-investment valuation of more than US$8.7 billion (approximately RMB 62.6 billion). In September 2015, Horizon Robotics, which had just been established, completed its first round of financing. Investors included well-known institutions such as 5Y Capital, Hillhouse Capital, Sequoia Capital China, GSR Ventures, Linear Capital, Sinovation Ventures and ZhenFund.

2. India’s largest IPO this year was born.Ola Electric was listed on the local Indian market on August 9. This is the largest IPO in India since the $2.7 billion stock offering of the state-owned Life Insurance Corp of India in 2022. The company's founder Aggarwal graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and then joined Microsoft Research India. Aggarwal founded Ola Cabs in 2010. As a taxi-hailing app, Ola Cabs has achieved success in the Indian market and has become the country's main shared travel service provider. (Securities Times)

【Technology Financial Report View】

1. TSMC’s revenue in July increased by 44.7% year-on-year.TSMC, a large wafer foundry, disclosed its revenue in July, showing that its consolidated sales revenue for the month reached NT$256.953 billion, an increase of 23.6% from June and 44.7% from the same period in 2023, setting a new monthly record. In the first seven months of 2024, TSMC's revenue reached NT$1,523.107 billion, an increase of 30.5% from the same period in 2023, also setting a new record for the same period.