Release of international standards for blockchain based IoT security; SMIC and Huahong Semiconductor saw a decline in net profit in the first quarter; Huatie Emergency Cross border Investment Computing Power Leasing cites inquiries from the Shanghai Stock Exchange
Baidu Vice President Qu Jing resigns due to controversial remarks, questioning corporate values
On the evening of May 9th, a source revealed to a reporter from First Financial News that Baidu Vice President Qu Jing had already shown her resignation on Baidu’s internal collaboration software Ruliu. Since May, Baidu Vice President Qu Jing’s social media account has posted multiple videos with highly conflicting content, causing widespread controversy over many workplace perspectives. Among them, “I will criticize employees for breaking up and resigning in seconds” became a hot topic on Weibo, and she said that she only has an employment relationship with employees and has no obligation to understand their personal situation; If an employee refuses to travel with her continuously for 50 days, such as “don’t come to me for promotion or salary increase.”. The outside world has raised doubts about Baidu’s corporate values. Afterwards, Qu Jing posted on her social media late at night to apologize to netizens.
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Intel’s latest statement: Revoking licenses will affect actual revenue in the second quarter
On May 8th, Intel stated in a document submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the US Department of Commerce “revoked certain licenses for exporting consumer related products to Chinese customers, effective immediately. Therefore, the company expects its revenue for the second quarter of 2024 to remain within the original guidance range of $12.5 billion to $13.5 billion, but actual revenue will be lower than the previously expected median.”
Although Intel did not specify who the “Chinese customers” were in the aforementioned documents, the Biden administration recently tightened export restrictions on Chinese telecommunications company Huawei and revoked licenses for American chip companies Qualcomm and Intel to sell semiconductors to China.
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Compared to mobile phones, Huawei’s sales share of laptops in the Chinese market has increased from 2.2% in 2018 to 9.7% in 2023. Although Huawei currently has certain technological capabilities, including designs based on ARM architecture, if Intel’s core processor chip supply is restricted, the ranking of Huawei laptops will slide.
SMIC and Huahong Semiconductor saw a decline in net profit in the first quarter
On the evening of May 9th, China’s two major wafer foundry giants, SMIC and Huahong Semiconductor, released their first quarter financial reports. According to financial report data, SMIC’s revenue in the first quarter of 2024 was 1.75 billion US dollars, a month on month increase of 4.3% and a year-on-year increase of 19.7%. The net profit in the first quarter was 71.8 million US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 68.9%. In the first quarter, Huahong Semiconductor’s sales revenue was 460 million US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 27.08% and a slight increase of 1% compared to the previous quarter. The net profit attributable to the parent company was 31.8 million US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 79.1% and a month on month decrease of 10.17%.
Compared to its peers, TSMC, UMC, and GlobalFoundries have all released their first quarter financial reports. Among them, TSMC’s combined revenue in the first quarter was RMB 132.455 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16.5%, a month on month decrease of 5.3%, and a net profit of RMB 50.397 billion, a year-on-year increase of 8.9%, and a month on month decrease of 5.5%; In the first quarter, Liandian’s revenue was approximately $1.71 billion, a year-on-year increase of 0.8%, and its net profit was $327 million, a year-on-year decrease of 35.4%; Global Foundries achieved a revenue of $1.549 billion in the first quarter, a decrease of 16% compared to the previous quarter and the same period last year. Its net profit was $134 million, a decrease of 47% compared to the same period last year.
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The verdict of Noah Wealth suing JD.com in the first instance has been released
The judgment shows that the Shanghai Financial Court has supported the litigation claims of Shanghai Gefei and Self proclaimed Leasing (formerly known as Noah (Shanghai) Financial Leasing Co., Ltd.) against Chengxing. The judgment ordered Chengxing to pay Shanghai Gefei the outstanding amount of Chengxing’s accounts receivable of RMB 3.4 billion. Shanghai Gefei incurred relevant legal fees and expenses of RMB 3.6 million, and Chengxing paid a repurchase amount of RMB 85 million to self leasing. In addition, Chengxing was ordered to bear the expenses and expenses incurred by Shanghai Financial Court of RMB 17.1 million.
However, there is a lack of basis for the lawsuit claims of Shanghai Gefei and Self proclaimed Leasing against JD Trading, and the Shanghai Financial Court does not support them.
On November 24th last year, the contract dispute between Shanghai Gefei Asset Management Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Noah Wealth, and Guangdong Chengxing Holdings Group Co., Ltd., Guangdong Zhongcheng Industrial Holdings Co., Ltd., Suzhou Shengjun Marketing Management Co., Ltd., and Beijing JD Century Trading Co., Ltd. was heard in the Shanghai Financial Court.
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On December 4th last year, JD.com released a statement on Weibo’s “JD spokesperson” regarding Noah Wealth’s malicious prosecution of JD.com, misleading investors and the public.
JD.com stated that recently, the “Chengxing case” has attracted widespread media and public attention. JD, as an uninformed victim, was involved in a four-year malicious lawsuit, causing significant damage to the company’s reputation and rights.
International Standard Release of Internet of Things Security Based on Blockchain
Recently, the IEEE-SA official website showed that the international standard “Blockchain based Internet of Things Zero Trust Framework Standard” led by Changhong Holdings Group was approved and officially released by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE-SA). This standard is the first international standard based on blockchain technology for the security application of the Internet of Things, and has been developed for nearly 3 years. Changhong, as the chairman unit, has convened multiple meetings for discussion. The working group members include authoritative institutions, research institutes, and leading enterprises such as China Mobile, Haier, China Electronics Technology Standardization Research Institute, State Grid, Microsoft, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, etc.
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Huatie Emergency Cross border Investment Computing Power Leasing cites inquiries from the Shanghai Stock Exchange
After Hongbo Group (002229. SZ), the A-share market has seen a resurgence of a company engaged in cross-border computing power leasing business. On May 6th, Huatie Emergency (603300. SH), whose main business is equipment leasing, announced that the board of directors has approved the proposal on investing in the construction of an intelligent computing center, intending to invest 1 billion yuan to carry out intelligent computing business and obtain profits by providing GPU level high-end computing resource leasing and value-added technology services to customers.
The reporter noticed that the announcement of Huatie’s emergency entry into the computing power track immediately attracted an inquiry letter from the Shanghai Stock Exchange on the late night of May 6th. The Shanghai Stock Exchange pointed out that the company is currently placing orders from its subsidiary, Coventry, which has signed two contracts. According to business information, Kesihan was established on September 19, 2023, with a registered capital of 99 million yuan and a paid in capital of 0 yuan, respectively. The inquiry letter requires the company to provide additional disclosure on the specific situation of Kesihan, including the background of its establishment, team personnel arrangement, the background and cooperation mode of Hainan Kesihan Enterprise Management Co., Ltd., as well as the profit sharing mode and major decision-making process.
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Venture Capital Vanguard
According to Tianyancha information, there were a total of 57 investment and financing events this week; From the industry distribution of financing events, there were 13, 11, and 8 incidents in production and manufacturing, medical and health, advanced manufacturing, and artificial intelligence, respectively; From the perspective of the number of times investment and financing institutions have taken action, investment institutions are becoming increasingly diversified, including Shanghai International Asset Management and Sumitomo Mitsui Marine Insurance, all of which are on the list.
There were a total of 11 financing events in the healthcare industry this week; Mainly focused on Series B, Series A, and strategic financing (both tied), with 3 and 2 cases respectively; In terms of financing amount, Taiyi Butler and Zenas Biotechnology have raised over 100 million yuan in financing; From the perspective of investment institutions, including Longpan Investment and Delian Capital, all have investments.
There were a total of 8 financing events in the artificial intelligence industry this week; From the perspective of rounds, B rounds are the main ones, with 2 occurrences; In terms of financing amount, Mainline Technology and Chaoxing Future’s financing amount exceeds 100 million yuan; From the perspective of investment institutions, Source Code Capital and Shuimu Venture Capital have a record of selling.
A total of 8 financing events have occurred in the advanced manufacturing industry; From the perspective of rounds, Series A and Series B are the main financing events, with two financing events each; In terms of financing amount, Zonghui Xinguang and Xinsong Semiconductor have raised over 100 million yuan; From the perspective of investment institutions, Hefei Innovation Investment and Shushan Urban Investment have all made efforts.