4 d. ago Chinese delivery giant Meituan releases AI model to take on Alibaba, DeepSeek

On-demand local services giant Meituan has become the latest Chinese Big Tech company to release an open-source large language model (LLM) to market, more than two years after it acquired mainland AI start-up Light Year for US$281 million. Beijing-based Meituan, the long-standing leader of China’s food delivery market, on Monday released and open-sourced its own LLM, called LongCat-Flash-Chat, via artificial intelligence developer platforms Hugging Face and GitHub, as well as the model’s...

Politics

8 d. ago Tesla's Struggles In China Come At Bad Time: Electric Vehicles Hit 51% Market Share In Most Populous Country

Tesla's Struggles In China Come At Bad Time: Electric Vehicles Hit 51% Market Share In Most Populous Country  Yahoo Finance

Events

8 d. ago Electric vehicles reach tipping point in China, surge to 51% market share

Electric vehicles reach tipping point in China, surge to 51% market share  Electrek

Economics

1 week ago Chinese food delivery company Meituan's profit slides as competition intensifies

Chinese food delivery company Meituan's profit slides as competition intensifies  Reuters

Society

1 week ago Meituan’s Profit Crumbles During Food Delivery War With Alibaba

Meituan’s Profit Crumbles During Food Delivery War With Alibaba  Bloomberg

Society

1 week ago From India to Vietnam, Lego bets on Asia’s booming toy market

After posting record half-year sales figures on Wednesday, Lego said it would sustain its momentum by doubling down on the market in Asia. The Danish toymaker announced 34.6 billion kroner (US$5.4 billion) in revenue for the first half of 2025 – higher than those of rivals Mattel and Hasbro, and up from US$4.8 billion for the first half of last year. Consumer sales also increased by 13 per cent. While the toymaker expanded its market share in every major geography, Chief Executive Officer Niels...

Politics

1 week ago Meituan sales weaken, profit plummets amid ‘irrational’ delivery price war

Chinese on-demand local services giant Meituan saw second-quarter earnings fall, as it faced off against Alibaba Group Holding and JD.com in a costly instant delivery price war. Beijing-based Meituan on Wednesday reported weaker-than-expected revenue of 91.8 billion yuan (US$12.8 billion) in the quarter ended June 30. That was up 11.7 per cent from 82.2 billion yuan a year earlier, but fell short of the 93.7 billion yuan estimate by analysts. Net profit for the period tumbled 96.8 per cent to...

Economics

1 week ago Foreign brands in China are losing market share to domestic rivals, year after year

Foreign brands in China are losing market share to domestic rivals, year after year  MSN

Economics

1 week ago Why foreign brands in China are losing market share to domestic rivals

Why foreign brands in China are losing market share to domestic rivals  South China Morning Post

Economics

2 w. ago Alibaba, Ant combine forces to take on Meituan in instant commerce market

Alibaba Group Holding and its fintech affiliate Ant Group, both co-founded by Jack Ma, have joined forces to create an army of delivery service workers to defeat Meituan in the instant commerce market. A total of 22 businesses operated by Alibaba and Ant, including domestic online marketplaces Taobao and Tmall, Ant’s Alipay payment service and Alibaba Cloud, have pledged to improve the conditions of millions of delivery riders. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. Alibaba’s move to pool...

Politics

2 w. ago Tesla’s revamped Model Y aimed at regaining mainland market share from rivals

Tesla China has priced its six-seat Model Y variant about 30 per cent higher than its basic edition and has started accepting orders from customers who prefer spacious, long-range electric vehicles (EVs) for family use. The US carmaker announced on Tuesday that the upgraded version of the Model Y would sport a price tag of 339,000 yuan (US$47,182), compared with 263,500 yuan for the entry-level edition currently. The three-row SUV with a driving range of 751km is 25,500 yuan, or 8 per cent, more...

Economics

2 w. ago Mainland Chinese tech firms using Hong Kong’s support to ease geopolitical risks

Some mainland Chinese technology companies are choosing to take advantage of Hong Kong’s policies and government support to help mitigate geopolitical risks in their international expansion. Insta360, a company listed in Shanghai that holds a 70 per cent share of the global panoramic camera market, is having its Hong Kong distributor open the company’s first multi-storey global flagship store in the city. “To be able to enter the Hong Kong market is basically the first step for them to go...

Politics

3 w. ago Alibaba beats Meituan’s delivery market share, fuelled by subsidies

The daily delivery volume of Alibaba Group Holding briefly surpassed rival Meituan last week after it offered free drinks to customers who ordered through its on-demand service amid the industry’s cutthroat competition, according to a report by the technology media outlet LatePost. Orders on Alibaba’s instant commerce channel Taobao Shangou topped 100 million on Thursday, 20 million fewer than Meituan. After Meituan stopped its promotion on Friday and Saturday, Taobao’s orders overtook...

Events