Brief

Norway's national data infrastructure, Norstore, has acquired 2 petabytes of Huawei OceanStor flash storage. This significant investment is intended to bolster the country's capabilities in large language model (LLM) training and other AI research. The new storage system aims to provide the necessary high-performance computing resources for advanced scientific endeavors. AI

European map provider TomTom has seen a tenfold increase in orders from Chinese automakers looking to expand internationally. The company is focusing on providing essential mapping and intelligent driving data to support Chinese car manufacturers in navigating complex overseas regulations and diverse road conditions. TomTom's platform offers standardized, scalable location data and software solutions, crucial for both in-car infotainment systems and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) used in global markets. AI

Huawei's investment arm, Shenzhen Hubble Technology Investment Partnership, has been actively acquiring stakes in various companies this year. Established in April 2021 with a capital of 9.48 billion RMB, Hubble Technology is wholly owned by Huawei and focuses on venture capital investments. Notably, in May, the firm invested in Miarco Semiconductor (Beijing) Co., Ltd., following earlier investments in companies like Magic Chip (Hangzhou) Technology Co., Ltd. and Cross-border Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. AI

Huawei has launched a comprehensive AI Data Center (AIDC) infrastructure solution designed to accelerate AI adoption for enterprises. The solution spans five key layers, from data lakes to intelligent agent frameworks, aiming to streamline AI deployment and management. It includes innovations like distributed storage for massive data, a unified data space with fast vector retrieval, and specialized memory storage to reduce AI inference latency. Huawei's offering also features tools for easier model engineering, efficient resource scheduling, and a low-code platform for developing intelligent agents, with a strong emphasis on end-to-end data security. AI

Huawei is reportedly developing a new smartphone chip aimed at competing with industry leaders like Apple and Nvidia. This initiative signals Huawei's ambition to regain a strong position in the high-end smartphone market and potentially disrupt the AI hardware landscape. The company's efforts are focused on creating advanced processing capabilities that could rival existing top-tier offerings. AI

Beijing Vifan Intelligence Technology (Vifan Intelligence) has secured several hundred million yuan in seed funding to develop a novel "brain chip" for embodied AI robots. The company, incubated from a Peking University lab, is creating a unified chip architecture that merges traditional GPU capabilities with brain-inspired computing. This approach aims to reduce power consumption and cost compared to existing solutions like NVIDIA's Jetson series, addressing a gap in the domestic market for advanced robot core computing. AI

SenseTime's AI Data Center (AIDC) is evolving from general standards to efficient and applicable principles, according to Lin Hai, General Manager of SenseTime's Smart Computing Center. The company's Shanghai Lingang AIDC, now one of Asia's largest and China's first 5A-rated smart computing center, was built with a focus on a full-link AI system covering computing power, scheduling, models, and applications. Innovations like modular delivery, redundant infrastructure, and compute-power synergy are key to this evolution, enabling rapid expansion and optimized resource utilization. AI

DeepSeek has permanently reduced the price of its V4 Pro model, making it significantly cheaper than competitors like GPT-4.5. This pricing strategy is enabled by their use of domestic Huawei chips for operation. The new pricing makes V4 Pro approximately 34.5 times more cost-effective for output tokens. AI

DeepSeek's V4 model has successfully validated inference on Huawei's Ascend 950 chip, marking a significant step for China's domestic AI hardware. This validation required substantial engineering effort, including rewriting numerous CUDA operators and extensive testing, to achieve performance parity with NVIDIA's offerings for inference workloads within China. The Ascend 950 features a unique dual-architecture design with high-bandwidth memory to address both compute-bound and memory-bound phases of LLM operations, though its widespread adoption is hindered by manufacturing capacity limitations. AI

Tmall's 618 shopping festival, beginning May 21st, is offering its largest discounts in five years, with official reductions and coupons bringing prices down to 7.3折 (approximately 73% of original price). Consumers can also benefit from an expanded national subsidy program covering 32 categories of home appliances and digital products, potentially reducing prices by up to 50%. This year's event also introduces an AI shopping assistant within the Taobao app to help users navigate deals and generate savings plans. AI

XPeng has launched its new GX SUV with a significant price reduction, dropping from a nearly 400,000 yuan pre-sale price to a 270,000 yuan starting price. This aggressive pricing strategy has led to a surge in orders and a positive market reaction, with the company's stock price increasing. The GX model emphasizes safety, advanced intelligent driving features, and a spacious interior, aiming to capture a larger share of the premium SUV market and improve the company's profitability. AI

Meta has initiated a global layoff of 8,000 employees, representing about 10% of its workforce, with affected employees in Singapore receiving notices as early as 4 AM. The company is also closing approximately 6,000 open positions and plans to reassign 7,000 existing employees to AI-focused projects. Meanwhile, DeepSeek is reportedly forming a new team to develop code intelligence agents, aiming to compete with Anthropic's Claude Code. AI