Intel wrote to suppliers: ban products from Xinjiang

On December 21, according to a report by Guancha.com, Intel's official website found a letter written by the company to suppliers in simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, English, Japanese and other languages, saying, "Our investors and customers have asked Intel whether it purchases products or services from China's Xinjiang region. Governments of many countries and regions have imposed restrictions on products from Xinjiang. Therefore, Intel needs to ensure that our supply chain does not use any labor, purchase products or services from Xinjiang."

The letter, published in December, is Intel's latest requirement for suppliers: prohibit any form of human trafficking or involuntary labor practices such as forced labor, bonded labor, indentured labor or slavery.

The financial report shows that mainland China has been Intel's largest source of revenue since 2015. In 2020, the company's revenue from mainland China (including Hong Kong) was US$20.26 billion (approximately RMB 129.09 billion), and the second largest source of revenue was Singapore, with revenue of US$17.85 billion. Currently, Chinese companies that produce PCs, such as Lenovo, Inspur, Xiaomi, Huawei, and Honor, all need to use Intel products.

The tax department revealed that there are still top anchors who have evaded taxes and the amount is shocking, at least several hundred million

According to news on December 21, an insider of the tax department stated that although Xue Li was the first live-streaming anchor to be exposed for tax evasion, top anchors such as Viya were also investigated earlier. Due to the large amount of money involved and the wide impact, the tax department dispatched a special team to the companies of top anchors such as Qianxun to handle the matter.

In addition to Wei Ya, some other top anchors have not disclosed their tax. The top anchors have been paying back taxes and the more they are investigated, the bigger the loopholes are. The specific data cannot be disclosed, but it is known that "the amount is staggering, at least several hundred million." Wei Ya's tax evasion of more than 600 million this time also confirms the above statement. Not only that, all parties have discussed the appropriate time to announce the rest of the top anchors, and the specific penalties will not be announced on the same day.

In addition, the State Administration of Taxation has launched an investigation into tax evasion in areas such as automobile sales, agricultural product procurement, and personal income tax payment by high-income groups, and has recovered 756 million yuan in taxes.

Lei Jun says Xiaomi's high-end phones are comparable to Apple's

On December 21, Lei Jun, chairman of Xiaomi Group, announced on Weibo that Xiaomi's high-end mobile phones have officially begun to benchmark Apple and "learn from Apple" in terms of product quality and specifications.

Lei Jun mentioned that the flagship smartphone of the year, Xiaomi Mi 12, will compete with Apple this time. It will have two models, the regular version and the Pro version. According to his Weibo post, "Xiaomi Mi 12 emphasizes the full experience and configuration, and the feel is top-notch. Welcome Xiaomi Mi 6 loyalists to come and have a look; Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro emphasizes the ultimate configuration and experience."

According to Canalys data, Xiaomi's global market share in the third quarter was 13.5%, ranking third, compared with 16.7% in the second quarter, ranking second. In a conference call after the release of the third-quarter financial report, Xiaomi executives said that Xiaomi's market share declined in the third quarter, mainly due to the strong performance of the iPhone 13.

Tencent demands 800 million yuan in compensation from Douyin for Douluo Continent, and the total amount of claims against Douyin in half a year is nearly 3 billion yuan

Recently, the eight-month-long dispute over long and short videos has made new progress. Tencent applied to the court to change the lawsuit request, increasing the amount of compensation for "Douluo Dalu" from 61.6 million yuan to 800 million yuan.

In early June 2021, Tencent applied for pre-litigation injunctions for the animation "Douluo Dalu" at the Chongqing First Intermediate People's Court, arguing that the content uploaded by users on the Douyin platform infringed the copyright of "Douluo Dalu". Tencent required Douyin to immediately delete all infringing videos and take effective measures to filter and block infringing videos uploaded and disseminated by users. The court made a ruling two days after receiving the application for injunctions, supporting Tencent's request.

A person close to ByteDance revealed that from June to December 10, 2021, Tencent sued Douyin 168 times in 18 courts in 13 provinces across the country for copyright infringement, with a total amount of more than 2.943 billion yuan. Among them, there were four cases with a total amount of more than 100 million yuan. The highest amount was for "Douluo Dalu", which reached 800 million yuan, followed by "You Are My Glory", which was 755 million yuan. (Jiemian News)

Mogujie is laying off 80% of its technical department, leaving only 30 people

Following the year-end layoffs of iQiyi and Kuaishou, another Internet giant , Mogujie , also announced layoffs. Compared with iQiyi's 20% to 40% and Kuaishou's 30% layoffs, Mogujie made a big move -- 80% layoffs in the technical department.

On December 21, several sources said that the e-commerce platform Mogujie plans to lay off 80% of its employees in the technical department, and about 30% of its employees overall. According to the sources, only more than 30 people are left in the Mogujie technical department after the adjustment, and only three people are left in the operation and maintenance department. However, this layoff will be compensated with N+1.5. As of press time, Mogujie has not made an official response to this matter.

LeTV officially releases salary increase poster

On December 21, LeTV Video and LeTV Smart Ecosystem's Weibo accounts simultaneously released posters to announce salary increases. At the same time, a letter to all employees issued by LeTV's Human Resources Department circulated online. The letter stated that after several years of adjustment, LeTV finally ushered in exciting news in 2021 - after the Spring Festival next year, the salary cuts and subsidies for all employees during last year's epidemic will be restored.

According to LeEco's Human Resources Department, without considering the impact of historical debt, its latest operating data has achieved a balance between operating profit and cash flow, which is the first time in the past few years. (AI Finance)

The employee of Huya who was carried away won the lawsuit and was awarded 5016 yuan in compensation

On December 21, the verdict of the case of a Huya employee who was carried away by HR and five other people for refusing to sign a resignation letter was announced. The Guangzhou Nansha Court ruled that Huya should pay a total of 5,016 yuan in medical expenses and property damages such as a broken phone. Huya Company publicly apologized on Weibo, which will be kept for 7 days.

The employee said that he hopes that friends who are experiencing or have experienced workplace bullying and injustice can face it bravely. Excessive tolerance will only make the bullies more rampant. They should learn to use legal means to protect their legitimate rights and interests. (AI Finance)

Changdian Technology sues Yongsi Electronics for infringement

On December 21, the domestic chip packaging and testing giant "JCET" issued a statement saying that it had filed an unfair competition lawsuit against Yongsi Electronics and some of its senior executives for infringing on Changdian Technology's trade secrets through unfair competition, resulting in the loss of talent and technology from Changdian Technology. Changdian Technology has filed a labor arbitration and lawsuit against some Yongsi Electronics employees for holding Yongsi Electronics shares through others during their tenure at Changdian Technology, which violated Changdian Technology's conflict of interest policy and employees' basic good faith and loyalty obligations. Given that as many as 32 of Yongsi Electronics' only 38 patent inventors were originally employed by Changdian Technology, accounting for 84.21%.

Changdian Technology believes that Yongsi Electronics has unstable patents and that the patents or proprietary technologies are derived from Changdian Technology. Changdian Technology has filed a request for invalidation of some invention patents authorized by Yongsi Electronics with the patent administrative department. In addition, Changdian Technology has reported and appealed to relevant regulatory authorities including the China Securities Regulatory Commission for the above-mentioned improper behavior of Yongsi Electronics and some managers and core technical personnel and their adverse legal consequences. (Titanium Media)

Li Jiaqi's company Meiwan's application for a sound trademark was rejected

On December 21, the China Trademark Network showed that the "sound trademark OH MY GOD, buy it, buy it!" applied for by Li Jiaqi's company Meiwan (Shanghai) Network Technology Co., Ltd. was recently rejected.

According to the trademark process status, the application date is March 16, 2021, and the international classification is Class 35, which involves advertising, displaying goods on communication media for retail purposes, etc. On December 1, the trademark was changed to "Rejection Notice". The trademark details show that this sound trademark uses an adult man with a faster rhythm and higher pitch to read "OH MY GOD, buy it, buy it!". (Beijing News)

OPPO's smart ring patent is authorized to control smart glasses

On December 21, Tianyancha APP showed that OPPO Guangdong Mobile Communications Co., Ltd. recently obtained a patent authorization for "smart rings and wearable devices that combine rings and glasses."

The patent abstract shows that the smart ring includes a ring body, an inertial measurement module, a processor and a wireless communication module. By detecting the gestures of the fingers wearing the smart ring, a control signal is generated and sent to the smart glasses, so that the smart glasses perform corresponding operations, improving the convenience of user control. (Phoenix Network Technology)

GAC Group, WeRide and Ruqi Mobility have reached a strategic cooperation and will launch self-driving taxis next year

On December 21, at the strategic cooperation and investment signing ceremony held by GAC Group, WeRide and Ruqi Mobility, the three parties announced the establishment of a strategic cooperation. At the same time, GAC Group made a strategic investment in WeRide and WeRide made a strategic investment in Ruqi Mobility.

In addition, the three parties will carry out in-depth cooperation to jointly promote the design, development, mass production and commercial operation of Robotaxi (autonomous driving taxi) pre-installed models. The three parties plan to gradually establish a Robotaxi fleet and realize commercial operation in the next few years. Among them, it is planned to launch Robotaxi operation on the Ruqi travel platform in 2022 to provide users with autonomous driving travel services. (36Kr)

Baidu Vice President Ma Jie: The road to the Metaverse is long, and XiRang does not engage in virtual asset transactions

On December 21, Baidu announced that its first domestically produced metaverse product "Xirang" was officially opened for targeted internal testing. Users can use the invitation code to enter the Xirang space for an advanced experience. The first functions launched include virtual space customization, real-life machine-computer interaction, and a business expansion platform.

Baidu said that the direction of Baidu's efforts is to become the infrastructure platform of the Metaverse, providing AI, cloud computing and other technical engines for "Xirang" and other Metaverse products. At present, Baidu Smart Cloud's distributed cloud can support Metaverse users to access it anytime and anywhere. This time, "Xirang World" made extensive use of edge computing node resources distributed in various places.

Regarding whether there will be virtual real estate and other similar transactions in this virtual world, Baidu Vice President Ma Jie said that although "Xirang" has introduced underlying technologies similar to blockchain, there will be no virtual currency in the "Xirang" world, and no virtual asset transactions will be made. (The Paper)

NetEase Cloud Music internally tests Beat trading platform

On December 21, NetEase Cloud Music is testing a Beat trading platform and plans to provide systematic Beat trading services. It is understood that Beat is a "must-have" market for music creators to trade, and NetEase Cloud Music will become the first music platform in the industry to provide Beat trading services. This move may mean that NetEase Cloud Music will focus on supporting behind-the-scenes music creators in the next step, and go deep into the upstream and downstream of the music industry in order to fully strengthen the platform's original music advantages. (Titanium Media)

Foxconn's India factory to remain closed this week amid food poisoning protests

On December 21, Reuters reported that Indian government sources said that Foxconn will continue to close this week after protests broke out at its factory near Chennai in southern India. Local police in India said the factory announced a five-day holiday. Previously, more than 150 employees of Foxconn were hospitalized after suffering from food poisoning in the dormitory. Subsequently, the food poisoning incident triggered protests from workers and their relatives. According to Taiwan's Central News Agency, this is the second demonstration that broke out at Apple's foundry in India within a year. (Titanium Media)

LG Display hopes to bring transparent OLED to the European and American markets

Recently, LG Display Vice President Cho Joo-wan has been on frequent overseas business trips and is busy promoting the company's T-OLED (transparent organic light-emitting semiconductor) technology to Europe and the United States. LG Display launched the T-OLED panel two and a half years ago, which is both a window and a screen for projecting advertisements and other information. LG Display has put it on subways and tourist trains in some cities in China and Japan for testing this year, and hopes to further expand market applications. (TechWeb)

Strategy Analytics: Smart speaker sales hit a new high in Q3 2021

On December 21, the latest report from Strategy Analytics showed that in Q3 2021, the total shipments of smart speakers and smart screens increased by 10% year-on-year to 39.3 million units, setting a record for Q3, but was basically the same as the 39 million units in Q2 2021.

Amazon ranked first in the Q3 smart speaker shipment rankings, followed by Google, Baidu, Alibaba and Apple. However, Strategy Analytics said that the global component shortage has affected the supply chain of smart speakers, and the growth of the market is likely to take until at least 2023 to return to pre-COVID-19 levels. (Titanium Media)

IC Insights: Samsung will surpass Intel to become the world's largest semiconductor supplier in 2021

Recently, market research firm IC Insights updated its 25th edition of the McClean Report forecast analysis, showing that driven by strong growth in the memory market, Samsung will become the world's largest semiconductor supplier in 2021, with sales expected to increase 34% year-on-year to US$833.1 billion, US$7.5 billion ahead of second-ranked Intel.

In 2021, there will be 17 semiconductor companies with sales exceeding $10 billion worldwide, including 9 in the United States, 3 in Europe, 2 in Taiwan, China, 2 in South Korea, and 1 in Japan, including 6 fabless companies (Qualcomm, Nvidia, Broadcom, MediaTek, AMD, and Apple) and 1 foundry (TSMC). AMD, NXP, and Analog have joined the ranks of "super suppliers" for the first time. (Aijiwei)

Acer sues Volkswagen over 4G mobile chip patents

Computer maker Acer has filed a lawsuit against Volkswagen in the United States, accusing it of infringing on mobile communications patents, Bloomberg News reported, citing German weekly Wirtschaftswoche.

The lawsuit claims that Volkswagen only purchased 2G and 3G patents for built-in telecommunications systems, but in the past few years has mainly installed mobile chips with 4G technology in its cars. Volkswagen told Bloomberg that the company will evaluate the lawsuit and decide on further actions with its suppliers. "After a preliminary evaluation, we have come to the conclusion that the insinuations and allegations in the complaint are without basis and we will defend our position," Volkswagen said in its response. (Bloomberg News)

Samsung reportedly won a large semiconductor order for Tesla electric vehicles

On December 21, according to market news, Samsung continued to expand its presence in the electric vehicle semiconductor market, and it was reported that it had won a large chip foundry order for Tesla's new generation of fully autonomous driving system processors. The media pointed out that Tesla had previously considered cooperating with TSMC, but ultimately chose to continue to have Samsung produce the new generation of chips after considering production costs, long-term cooperation and other factors. In addition, Samsung also has the opportunity to produce a number of automotive semiconductor devices for Tesla, including high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs), DDR4 RAM, GDDR6 graphics cards and UFS storage chips. The cooperation will be closer next year. (China Business Times)