Tech Insider: Factory Innovation’s Drivers, Huawei’s Dongfeng Tie-Up
EV startup to get CATL’s new fast-charging battery, Nvidia CEO makes first China tour in years
Voyah, the luxury new-energy vehicle arm of Chinese state-owned Dongfeng Motor Group, promotes itself on July 10 at a booth at the 2023 International Industrial Expo in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Photo: VCG
Davos panel explains what’s driving factory innovation
Artificial intelligence (AI), data, trust in technology, and fostering a workforce with new skills are some of the factors driving innovation in manufacturing, private and public sectors leaders said during a Caixin-hosted discussion at the World Economic Forum (WEF).
“It’s all about digitalization,” said Michael Suess, executive chairman of OC Oerlikon Corp. AG, a Swiss tech company. Developing new materials with AI can shorten the development time from years to months, he said.
The discussion, which took place last week at the WEF’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, invited four business leaders including Suess, and Ashwini Vaishnaw, India’s minister of electronics and information technology, to discuss the manufacturing sector’s “moonshots,” which typically refer to exploratory and groundbreaking projects.
Huawei ties up with Dongfeng luxury NEV unit
Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. announced Monday a strategic partnership with Voyah, the luxury new-energy vehicle (NEV) arm of state-owned Dongfeng Motor Group Co. Ltd.
This is Huawei’s latest car partnership as the telecom equipment giant aims to be a world-class leader in the intelligent-driving field with a new venture focusing on intelligent car systems and components.
The two companies did not disclose details of their partnership, but Voyah’s NEVs will be equipped with Huawei’s intelligent car systems, sources said.
In November, Huawei unveiled plans to establish a new company focused on the research and development, production, sales and services of smart driving systems, which will be open to investment from certain automakers.
Dongfeng is also considering investing in the venture.
EV startup to get CATL’s new fast-charging battery
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) will supply Chinese electric-vehicle (EV) brand Neta Auto with its new fast-charging battery, the latest deal for a power cell that could help overcome the range anxiety that is holding back EV uptake.
Neta Auto, a unit of Chinese carmaker Hozon New Energy Automobile Co. Ltd., will run the Shenxing lithium iron phosphate battery in its yet-to-be-released L SUV, CATL said last week.
The Ningde-based battery giant unveiled its Shenxing battery in August. The cell can charge to a range of 400 kilometers in 10 minutes and deliver a range of over 700 kilometers on a full charge, according to the company.
The new battery is expected to be commercially available in the first half of 2024, CATL said.
Huawei plans to finally buy Nokia out of JV
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. plans to team up with several local firms to acquire outright its venture with Nokia Oyj, a buyout that would see the Finnish handset-maker finally exit the company after a previous attempt to sell its stake failed due to strong opposition from its Chinese partner.
Nokia owns 51% of the wireless communications joint venture (JV), Beijing-based TD Tech, and Huawei owns the rest.
The Chinese telecommunication equipment giant is buying the stake with a consortium that consists of two state-owned companies and a private equity firm, according to an entry last week from the government’s market regulator.
The entry did not detail the cost of the buyout or how much equity each of the new investors will hold.
Nvidia CEO makes first China tour in years
Nvidia Corp. co-founder Jensen Huang celebrated the new year with staff during his first trip to China in four years, a low-key tour that coincided with growing concerns about Beijing’s ability to get around U.S. chip restrictions.
He visited Nvidia’s offices in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing earlier this month, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Huang embarked on his tour — first reported in local media — as Nvidia’s AI accelerators become pivotal in a tech race between Washington and Beijing. Huang has warned that an escalation in sanctions designed to cut off the flow of AI training chips could drive Chinese firms to develop their own alternatives. That could harm American tech leaders in the long run, he said in the past.
How XPeng got back into gear
Following a spate of rapid growth in previous years, XPeng Inc. in 2022 faced its biggest crisis since its founding. Co-founder He Xiaopeng was watching his then eight-year-old electric-vehicle (EV) namesake startup languish, dragged down by a problematic sales culture, weak supply chain management and poor corporate management, not to mention the weight of external factors including declining demand and a looming price war stunting sales growth.
The end of 2022 was a tough moment for XPeng. The whole sector was in overdrive rushing out models and corralling customers to place orders before government subsidies for EVs stopped at the end of the year.
Serious changes were needed. With larger shareholders voicing concerns, XPeng kicked off a major overhaul of its corporate structure, which would ultimately improve the efficiency of its sales network, streamline supply chain management and concentrate decision making with He and a select few executives.
Huawei makes clean break with Android
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. on Thursday launched the latest version of its operating system — HarmonyOS NEXT — which will no longer support Android apps and can only accommodate software specifically developed for it.
The Chinese telecom equipment giant said the Beta version for developers will be released in the second quarter, and the general version for consumers in the fourth quarter. Insiders from Huawei expect the new Mate smartphones to be released in the second half with the HarmonyOS NEXT installed.
Huawei also announced that it will invest 7 billion yuan ($980 million) in 2024 to encourage developers to create apps for HarmonyOS and make other innovations for the operating system.
Huawei faces delays in EV deliveries
Huawei is having trouble meeting delivery commitments for the first electric vehicle (EV) it has co-developed with partner Chery Automobile Co. Ltd., a possible sign of supply chain challenges for the model.
Some people who placed orders for the Luxeed S7, which is the first electric sedan marketed under Huawei’s Smart Selection business model, recently complained online that they could not receive their cars within the promised timeframe.
The delivery delays are mainly caused by disruptions in the supply of certain components, a person close to Huawei told Caixin, without giving details.
Another possibility is that Huawei wants to prioritize deliveries of the Aito electric SUVs it has co-developed with carmaker Seres Group Co. Ltd. under Smart Selection, a source told Caixin.
Chinese auto chipmakers race to cash in on EV boom
Chinese companies are rushing to make their own auto chips as demand continues to increase in the world’s largest car market, experts said at a recent industry event.
In 2023, there were more than 300 local auto chipmakers, nearly 10 times the number from three years ago, said Yuan Chengyin, general manager of the National New Energy Vehicle Technology Innovation Center, a government-backed research center.
China provides the best market for auto chipmakers as the demand for smart driving cars is much higher than in other countries, said Zhang Qiang, chairman of auto chipmaker Nanjing SemiDrive Technology Ltd. China’s car industry has serious overcapacity, but export growth can ease the excessive supply, which provides a larger market for Chinese vehicles and auto chips, he said.
BYD to debut in Indonesia
Chinese EV giant BYD Co. Ltd. is poised to enter Indonesia’s passenger car market in the latest step of its global expansion.
The Shenzhen-based carmaker, which stopped making vehicles running on fossil fuels to focus on pure electric cars and plug-in hybrids in March 2022, will hold a product launch event Thursday in Jakarta, BYD said in a media invitation to Caixin earlier this week, without providing further details.
In the invitation, BYD labeled the Southeast Asian country as an integral part of its “long-term global business expansion roadmap,” as the Indonesian government aims to widen the use of EVs in a bid to reduce emissions.
BYD, which sells vehicles in more than 70 countries, has accelerated efforts to localize manufacturing overseas.