Tech Insider: Huawei’s Smart Car Venture, ByteDance’s Gaming Exit
TCL Technology dials back chip design ambitions, Ford scales back CATL-powered U.S. battery plant
ByteDance Headquarters in Beijing on Sept. 16. Photo: VCG
Huawei locks in Changan Auto for smart car venture
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. plans to set up a new company focused on developing intelligent vehicle systems and components, as the Chinese tech giant ramps up efforts to grow its fledgling smart auto business.
Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. Ltd. signed a memorandum of cooperation with Huawei on Saturday to invest in the company for up to a 40% stake, according to a Monday exchange filing.
The venture will focus on the research and development, design, production, sales and services of intelligent driving systems and components, according to the filing and a Huawei press release.
The plan comes as Huawei has been accelerating efforts to grow its smart driving business in a bid to find new revenue drivers to offset the impact of U.S. sanctions on its electronics business.
ByteDance to get out of mainstream gaming
TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd. plans to wind down its Nuverse gaming business, and will ultimately exit the mainstream video game sector dominated by Tencent Holdings Ltd. and NetEase Inc., Caixin confirmed with several independent sources Monday.
Nuverse will shut down all projects under development and will sell the ownership and operation of existing top-selling titles to other companies, according to the sources.
Nuverse held internal meetings and informed its employees of the plan Monday, the sources said. The company told Caixin that there will be a change in business direction and organization structure and it will focus more on “innovative games,” though the company didn’t explain what it meant by the term.
TCL Technology dials back chip design ambitions
Chinese TV panel-maker TCL Technology Group Corp. has shut down a subsidiary that designed driver chips for displays, withdrawing from a market segment that is becoming less profitable, Caixin learned from several sources.
The Guangdong province-based company disbanded the unit, Mooresilicon (Guangdong) Co. Ltd., as part of a restructuring, one of the sources told Caixin.
The move will have little impact on TCL Technology’s overall chip development strategy and the company is still involved in designing power chips, the source said. Power chips are crucial components in electronic systems that control the flow of electrical power.
Mooresilicon was founded in March 2021 amid an investment boom in China’s semiconductor sector by industry players concerned about the potential negative impact of increasingly severe U.S. export controls.
Ford scales back CATL-powered U.S. battery plant
Ford Motor Co. has resumed construction on a factory in the U.S. state of Michigan that will make electric vehicle (EV) batteries using technology licensed from China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), but at a reduced size, as growth in demand for EVs lags expectations.
The U.S. auto giant in February first announced the plant, where it planned to produce lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries.
The project quickly drew criticism from U.S. lawmakers known for their hawkish stance on China. And in September, Ford halted work on the Michigan facility, citing a lack of confidence in its ability to competitively operate the plant.
In a brief statement on Tuesday, Ford said that it was “moving ahead with” the Michigan plant, but with plans to reduce its annual production capacity by roughly 43% to around 20 gigawatt-hours. The company kept the date for initial production at the facility unchanged at 2026.
Foxconn plans $1.6 billion India expansion
IPhone-maker Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., also known as Foxconn, plans to expand its footprint in India with another NT$50 billion ($1.6 billion) investment for construction projects.
The news comes as Hon Hai and other Taiwanese electronics manufacturers continue to diversify their businesses outside of China as tensions rise between Washington and Beijing.
About half of Foxconn’s revenue comes from business with Apple Inc. The company has been making iPhones and other products in India for several years, including the latest iPhone 15. In September, a Foxconn representative in India said on LinkedIn that the Taiwanese company plans to double the size of its business in the South Asian country.