Qualcomm pushes the third generation Snapdragon smart cockpit chip Tesla Shanghai factory to be officially opened.

  Every morning morning, an overview of the big events yesterday morning.






「智东西」早报第1133期

"Smart Things" Morning Post No.1133


  Tuesday, January 08, 2019


  # Today’s news #


  1. Qualcomm launched the third generation Snapdragon intelligent cockpit chip platform.


  Zhidx reported in Las Vegas on January 7th that the day before the official launch of CES 2019, Qualcomm launched the third-generation Snapdragon smart cockpit chip platform, including three products: entry-level, intermediate-level and advanced. The platform is equipped with Qualcomm’s new generation AI engine, Hexagon DSP, fourth generation Kryo CPU, Spectra ISP and sixth generation Adreno GPU.


  It is worth mentioning that in DSP, Qualcomm also uses HTA tensor accelerator and HVX vector extension kernel, which can greatly improve the AI computing power-this is a heavy AI scheme that Qualcomm smashed when Snapdragon 855 was released a while ago.


  2. Tesla Super Factory Shanghai Lingang officially started construction.


  On the afternoon of January 7th, Tesla Giga Shanghai officially started construction in Lingang Industrial Zone. The annual production scale of the first phase of the factory is 250,000 pure electric vehicles, including Model 3 and Model Y series models. Tesla CEO Musk said that the Shanghai factory will have an initial production capacity by the end of this year, and the capacity for large-scale manufacturing will be formed next year. Tesla Super Factory integrates R&D, manufacturing, sales and other functions, and the annual production capacity will reach 500,000 pure electric vehicles after it is completed and put into operation.







Qualcomm pushes the third generation Snapdragon smart cockpit chip Tesla Shanghai factory to be officially opened.
3. The number of exhibitors in China in CES 2019 decreased by more than 20%.


  On January 7th, it was reported that the registration figures tracked by Hong Kong media showed that at CES 2019, the number of China enterprises that bought booths to display the latest technology decreased by more than 20% compared with last year. However, among the 4,500 exhibitors, China enterprises still account for more than a quarter, second only to the United States.


  # Artificial Intelligence #


  1. AMS develops 3D face recognition function with contempt technology.


  On January 7th, it was reported that Austrian sensor manufacturer AMS will cooperate with China software developer Face++ to develop a new 3D face recognition function for smart phones. At present, AMS is an optical sensor supplier for Apple’s iPhone.


  2. Tuya Technology’s A round of financing tens of millions of Jinshajiang Venture Capital led the investment.


  On January 7 th, it was reported that Tuya Technology recently completed tens of millions of A-round financing. This round of financing was led by Jinshajiang Venture Capital, and the new capital followed the investment. The old shareholders Temasek Group Xiangfeng Investment, Magic Capital, Ralph Venture Capital and Angel Bay Venture Capital continued to increase. It is reported that Tuya Technology was established in December 2016, focusing on the field of image and video compression, and using AI algorithm to save the storage cost and bandwidth cost of video for enterprises.


  3. Shang Tang ICLR 2019 paper proposes random architecture search.


  On January 7th, it was reported that in ICLR 2019 paper "SNAS: Stochastic Neural Architecture Search", Shangtang Technology proposed the Random Neural Network Structure Search (Snas). According to reports, compared with the reinforcement learning-based method (ENAS), the search optimization of SNAS is differentiable and the search efficiency is higher. Compared with other differentiable methods (DARTS), SNAS directly optimizes the objective function of NAS tasks, and the deviation of search results is smaller. In addition, this paper also proposes to optimize the expectation of network loss function and the expectation of network forward delay at the same time, and automatically generate hardware-friendly sparse networks.


  4. UMC withdraws engineers to stop DRAM research and development.


  According to reports from the industry, more than 100 memory talents from UMC’s DRAM research and development team for Fujian Jinhua have returned to Taiwan Province and transferred to Warburg Pincus and other big factories. This is the first case of a large-scale return of semiconductor talents to land since the beginning of 2019.


  People in the industry believe that with the stalemate in the US-China trade war, Taiwanese businessmen have plans to withdraw from the mainland one after another considering the high uncertainty of receiving orders from the mainland in the future, and the US has vigorously blocked Chinese mainland from developing semiconductors, which has greatly weakened the magnetic attraction effect of local talents, and more talents from the mainland may return to Taiwan Province in the future.


  5. Huawei shipped 918,000 servers in 2018.


  On January 7th, it was reported that Qiu Long, president of Huawei’s intelligent computing business department, said at the conference of Huawei’s Kunpeng chips and servers that Huawei’s servers shipped 918,000 units in 2018, a 12-fold increase from 77,000 units in 2012, and the cumulative shipments in 2012-2018 exceeded 3.56 million units.


  6. Huawei launched the ARM architecture server chip Kunpeng 920.


  On January 7th, Huawei announced the launch of a new processor for servers-Kunpeng 920, which adopts 7nm manufacturing process and is based on ARM architecture. In addition, Huawei also released a TaiShan server based on Kunpeng 920. Xu Wenwei, director of Huawei and president of strategic Marketing, said that Huawei released Kunpeng 920 and TaiShan server this time, which are mainly used in big data, distributed storage and ARM native applications.


  7. NVIDIA pushes new GPU RTX 2060 for $349.


  On January 7th, NVIDIA released a new entry-level GPU RTX 2060 with ray tracing technology at CES 2019, which is another new model of Turing-based GPU in NVIDIA after RTX 2070, 2080 and 2080 Ti, and the price starts from 349 USD (about RMB 2,400).


  NVIDIA CEO Huang Renxun said that RTX 2060 will provide higher game performance than 1070 Ti and 60% faster than GTX 1060. In addition to the unique RTX Core, this GPU comes with 6G DDR6 memory and 240 TensorCores.


  # New trip #


  1. Ali released the top ten development trends of the automobile industry in 2019.


  On January 7, Alibaba released the top ten development trends of the automobile industry in 2019. It is predicted that in terms of autonomous driving, L3 self-driving cars will enter a period of rapid development, and high-precision positioning will usher in the first year of on-board application; In terms of intelligent network connection, the automobile industry will enter the first year of operation, and the software will redefine the car; In terms of OEMs, the new forces of building cars must produce products, and the construction and operation of big data platform will become the new core competitiveness of OEMs.


  2. Baidu 2019 CES will launch Apollo 3.5 open platform.


  On January 7th, it was reported that Baidu will hold the US market of Baidu World Congress, and bring the latest commercial products of Apollo autopilot, Apollo3.5, small intelligent hardware products, Baidu AI Cloud and other Baidu AI technologies and products to the 2019 CES. At the same time, Baidu will release the Apollo3.5 open platform, which can realize unmanned driving of complex urban roads including downtown and residential scenes.


  3. Volkswagen said that it will establish a research and development center in China.


  On January 7th, it was reported that Volkswagen said it would set up a research and development center in China. In 2018, the sales volume of Volkswagen in China will increase by about 20,000 vehicles, and it is expected that the sales volume of China automobile market will decrease in the first half of this year.


  4. Geely’s sales in 2018 exceeded 1.5 million units, an increase of about 20% year-on-year.


  On January 7th, the news of Smart Things, Geely Automobile announced that the total sales volume of Geely Automobile in China market in December 2018 was 86,298 units, down about 44% year-on-year. In 2018, the total annual sales volume of Geely Automobile exceeded 1.5 million vehicles, up about 20% year-on-year, and reached 95% of the company’s annual sales target of 1.58 million vehicles in 2018.


  5. Grab’s total strategic investment reached $175 million.


  On January 7th, it was reported that Tokyo Century Corp confirmed to add strategic investment to Grab, a taxi platform in Southeast Asia, with a cumulative investment of US$ 175 million.


  6. Foreign media: Uber sells its Singapore car rental subsidiary.


  On January 7th, according to the Sunday Times, Uber sold its car rental subsidiary in Singapore to a joint venture company, further divesting its local business, which cost about S $350 million (US$ 257 million), including about 8,000 cars.


  7. Baiteng announced the interior scheme of the first production car M-Byte.





On January 7 th, at the press conference before the CES show held this morning in Beijing time, Baiteng announced more product details of its first production car, Byton M-Byte. In the formal mass production scheme, Batten's iconic 48-inch "full screen" was retained, while the screen scheme on the steering wheel was adjusted based on safety requirements. According to the plan, Baiteng's M-Byte model will be officially unveiled in mid-2019 and will be put into production at the end of this year.
  On January 7 th, at the press conference before the CES show held this morning in Beijing time, Baiteng announced more product details of its first production car, Byton M-Byte. In the formal mass production scheme, Batten’s iconic 48-inch "full screen" was retained, while the screen scheme on the steering wheel was adjusted based on safety requirements. According to the plan, Baiteng’s M-Byte model will be officially unveiled in mid-2019 and will be put into production at the end of this year.


  8. Musk started construction of Tesla Shanghai factory in China today.


  On January 7th, the Beijing News reported that Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter that he was looking forward to the groundbreaking ceremony in Tesla Giga Shanghai today. It is reported that Musk arrived in Shanghai yesterday, and the groundbreaking ceremony of Tesla Giga Shanghai (Phase I) will be held this afternoon.


  In addition, according to Bloomberg News, Musk said that the Tesla Shanghai factory aims to complete the initial construction of the factory this summer and plans to start production of Model 3 at the end of the year. Musk said that Model 3 and Y produced by Tesla’s Shanghai factory will be supplied to Greater China.


  # Smart Home #


  1. Samsung TV users will be able to access Apple iTunes content.


  On January 7th, local time on Sunday, Apple announced the establishment of a cooperative relationship with Samsung. Soon, users of Samsung Smart TV will be able to access iTunes movies and TV content. Airplay 2 will also support iPhone and iPad users to send content from their mobile phones to TVs.


  2, Xiaomi released a new small love speaker HD price of 599 yuan.


  On January 7 th, it was reported that Xiaomi launched a brand-new "Little Love Speaker" product-Little Love Speaker HD. This product is currently the highest-end smart speaker in Xiaomi, equipped with Xiaomi voice assistant Xiao Ai. This is also the fourth smart speaker product equipped with Xiaoai students after Xiaomi AI speaker, Xiaomi Xiaoai speaker mini and Xiaomi Xiaoai Bluetooth speaker portable version. The speaker is priced at 599 yuan and will be put on Xiaomi Mall in the near future.







Qualcomm pushes the third generation Snapdragon smart cockpit chip Tesla Shanghai factory to be officially opened.
# Robots/drones #


  1. The robot company Boxin Technology Pre-A rounds tens of millions.


  On January 7 th, it was reported that Boxin Technology, a robot company with heavy-duty truss handling, recently announced that it had obtained tens of millions of pre A rounds of financing. This round of financing was led by Qingkong Ginkgo, followed by Meihua Venture Capital and Kexin Capital. Wu Yuexin, founder and chairman of Boxin, said that the financing will be mainly used to establish and upgrade the product standardization system and promote its service capabilities in the fields of automobiles, machine tools, construction and transportation, and intelligent warehousing.


  # Communication circle #


  1. Huawei opened its first flagship store in Saudi Arabia.


  On January 7th, according to foreign media reports, Huawei announced the opening of its first flagship store in Saudi Arabia, which is also the largest store in the Middle East and Africa. At the opening ceremony in Riyadh, Sultan Mofti, Deputy Director of Investment of Saudi Arabia General Investment Bureau, said that Huawei is committed to training Saudi talents through training programs such as STEP, which aims to train 10,000 Saudi talents by 2020. In 2016, Huawei became the first China company to acquire a 100% stake in Saudi Arabia.


  2. Indian Telecommunications Minister: No intention to ban the purchase of Huawei network equipment.


  On January 7th, according to the Indian Business Line, a few days ago, Indian Telecommunications Minister Manoj Sinha said in a written reply that there is no proposal to ban telecom equipment made by Huawei in China.


  3. Samsung lowered the output target of smart phones this year to 290 million units.


  On January 7th, according to Korean media reports, Samsung Electronics lowered its smartphone production target in 2019 to about 290 million units, about 10% lower than the initial plan made in November last year, reflecting weak sales. Samsung shared its production plan with its partners. Since 2013, the annual shipment of Samsung smartphones has exceeded 300 million units.


  # Apple Pie #


  1. Apple will close the smallest retail store in Japan for 13 years.


  On January 7th, according to the notice published on Apple’s website in Japan, Apple will close its retail store in Yemachi, Sendai in the near future. This store is Apple’s smallest retail store in Japan and one of the smallest stores in the world. Apple’s retail store in Sendai City, located in the shopping area of Yimachi, opened on December 10th, 2005. At that time, it was Apple’s sixth retail store in Japan.


  2, foreign media: iPhone XI or will be equipped with a rear three-camera.


  On January 7 th, according to foreign media reports, the early renderings show that Apple’s next flagship smartphone, the iPhone XI, which will be launched this fall may be equipped with three cameras on the back. According to sources, all the iPhone that Apple will launch in 2019 are still in the stage of engineering verification and testing, so the actual specifications may change. As usual, the company may choose to release it in September this year.







Qualcomm pushes the third generation Snapdragon smart cockpit chip Tesla Shanghai factory to be officially opened.
# New progress #


  1. The sale of major assets of TCL Group was approved by the shareholders’ meeting.


  On the afternoon of January 7th, TCL Group held the first extraordinary shareholders’ meeting in 2019, which divested smart terminal businesses such as consumer electronics and home appliances and related supporting businesses, and focused on the major asset sale scheme with Huaxing Optoelectronic Semiconductor Display Industry as its core business, and finally succeeded in getting through the customs. At the extraordinary shareholders’ meeting, all 14 proposals related to this major asset sale plan were passed by voting, involving a total capital of 4.76 billion yuan.


  2. Ali: Ma Yun never transferred or withdrew from Taobao’s shares.


  On January 7 th, in response to the market rumors that Ma Yun cleared Taobao’s shares, Alibaba Group issued a statement saying: Ma Yun has never transferred or withdrawn from Taobao’s shares, and he has no intention of doing so; This is a very normal and common technical and legal operation in any company management process; Such adjustment will further promote the transparency and openness of Alibaba’s management, which will only benefit the company’s future.


  3. Amazon’s share price hit its biggest quarterly decline in 10 years in Q4 last year.


  On January 7 th, according to CNBC, Amazon’s share price plummeted by 25% in the fourth quarter of last year, the biggest quarterly decline since 2008. Despite this, Wall Street analysts are as optimistic as ever and expect the company’s share price to rebound in 2019. According to FactSet data, among the 42 analysts who rated the stock, 41 suggested "buying" the stock.


  4. The total amount of venture capital financing of American enterprises in 2018 was 99.5 billion US dollars.


  On January 7 th, according to GeekWire, an American technology media, in 2018, the financing scale of American startups hit a record high since the "Internet bubble" era in 2000. According to the MoneyTree report released by PricewaterhouseCoopers and CB Insights in the fourth quarter of last year, in 2018, the total venture capital financing of American start-ups reached 99.5 billion US dollars. The number of transactions with financing scale exceeding $100 million reached a record 184, up from 120 in 2017. In addition, in 2018, the valuation of 53 companies exceeded $1 billion, which also set a new record.


  5. Ma Yun transferred the equity of Qing Taobao, and Zhang Yong took over.


  On January 7 th, it was reported that the enterprise investigation showed that last Friday, Ma Yun and Xie Shihuang withdrew from the equity filing of Zhejiang Taobao Network Co., Ltd. and added Hangzhou Zhenxi Investment Management Co., Ltd. as the sole shareholder. Hangzhou Zhenqiang and Hangzhou Zhensheng each subscribed a registered capital of 2.5 million yuan, holding 50% of the shares. At present, Zhang Yong, Zhao Ying, Zheng Junfang, Tong Wenhong and Shao Xiaofeng each hold 20% shares in Hangzhou Zhenqiang and Hangzhou Zhensheng.


  In this regard, Alibaba official said that this adjustment was disclosed in the annual report of July 2018. This adjustment does not involve the equity adjustment at the Alibaba Group level, nor does it affect the Alibaba partner mechanism. Ma Yun will still be a partner of Alibaba.


  6. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will promote the development and application of a new generation of information technology.


  On January 7 th, it was reported that Wang Xinzhe, chief economist of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that efforts should be made to promote the development and application of a new generation of information technology. Accelerate the pace of 5G R&D and commercialization, and promote the scale deployment of IPv6. In-depth implementation of intelligent manufacturing engineering to promote the deep integration of the Internet, cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and manufacturing. Accelerate the digital transformation of manufacturing industry, improve the level of digitalization, networking and intelligence of manufacturing industry, and make the digital economy bigger and stronger.


  7. Los Angeles sued IBM for abusing user location data.


  On January 7th, it was reported that the city of Los Angeles was suing IBM’s Weather Channel application. The city of Los Angeles accused IBM of using users’ detailed location data for accurate advertising and using these data to identify consumer trends for hedge funds, but at the same time it informed consumers that its data would only be used to provide weather forecasts in the region. The lawsuit did not accuse IBM of selling users’ personally identifiable data.


  8. Sources: The detailed rules of science and technology innovation board will be issued in the first quarter as soon as possible.


  On January 7th, it was reported that a person close to the Securities and Futures Commission revealed that the guidance and policies on science and technology innovation board’s landing were still in the works, and would be introduced as soon as the first quarter. He also said that although local governments have collected a lot of enterprise lists, the intermediary mode sponsored by brokers will not change in science and technology innovation board. "The financing function of A shares for the real economy is always in the first place." The above-mentioned people believe that this precondition determines that the launch of science and technology innovation board should also focus on this purpose.


  9. Samsung Electronics’ quarterly profit may decline for the first time in two years.


  On January 7th, it was reported that with the slowdown of market demand in China, Samsung Electronics will see its first quarterly operating profit decline in two years. Samsung will release its preliminary results for the fourth quarter on January 8, and according to analysts’ average forecast, Samsung’s operating profit for the quarter fell by 12% year-on-year to 13.3 trillion won (US$ 11.85 billion). The company’s profit for the whole year of 2019 will also decline.


  10. Huami released AMAZFIT rice bracelet 2 for 299 yuan.


  On January 7th, it was reported that Huami Technology released AMAZFIT rice bracelet 2. The bracelet has a 1.23-inch color touch screen, NFC bus card simulation in 163 cities, 50-meter swimming waterproof, music control and other functions, and uses the photoelectric continuous heart rate sensor and heart rate monitoring algorithm independently developed by Huami Technology. AMAZFIT bracelet 2 is currently priced at 299 yuan, and will be sold on platforms such as JD.COM and Tmall AMAZFIT flagship store on January 8th.



    This article first appeared on WeChat WeChat official account: Wise Things. The content of the article belongs to the author’s personal opinion and does not represent Hexun.com’s position. Investors should operate accordingly, at their own risk.

(Editor: Li Jiajia HN153)