Amid fast-paced changes that fill the business community with excitement, angst and trepidation, EqualOcean will publish a series of roundup articles to document the major events related to Chinese companies going global every week.
Weekly Overview (29/03-04/04)
1. TikTok Approved for 842-Billion-Baht Investment to Bolster Thailand as Regional AI and Computing Hub
2. Samsung (三星) Announces Withdrawal from Home Appliance Sales Market in Mainland China
3. CATL (宁德时代) and Turkish EV Brand Togg Partner for CIIC (Shenxing) Chassis; First Model to Enter Mass Production in 2027
4. Huayou Cobalt (华友钴业) to Acquire 100% Stake in Atlantic Lithium for $210 Million
5. Moonshot AI (月之暗面) to Complete $2 Billion Funding Round, Valuation Exceeds $20 Billion
6. Changan Automobile's (长安汽车) Overseas Sales Share Exceeds 40% in April; Q1 Net Profit Reflects "Deep Water" Transformation Challenges
7. BYD (比亚迪) Global Sales Surpass 320,000 Units in April; Overseas Share Hits Record High of 42%
8. Shein Under Investigation by Irish Regulators Over EU Cross-Border Data Transfer Compliance
9. Cainiao (菜鸟) Expands European Footprint with Four New Warehouses Opened This Year
10. AI Vision Robot Brand Dreame (追觅) NAVO Debuts in the United States
11. Geely (吉利汽车) Plans to Acquire Shop 3 of Ford’s Valencia Plant; New Model Codename "135" for Localized Production
12. Brazil Officially Announces Visa-Free Entry for Chinese Citizens
Selected Developments
1. TikTok (字节跳动) Approved for 842-Billion-Baht Massive Investment to Bolster Thailand as Regional AI and Computing Hub
【Event】Recently, the Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI) officially approved a massive investment plan for TikTok System Thailand (TikTok泰国子公司). Official documents reveal that TikTok (字节跳动) will invest 842 billion THB (approximately $25 billion) in Thailand for the large-scale expansion of server clusters, data storage, and cloud processing facilities in Bangkok, Samut Prakan, and Chachoengsao. This funding is not only the largest single-country infrastructure investment in the history of TikTok (字节跳动) but also accounts for nearly 90% of the total investment (958 billion THB) of the six major cluster projects approved by the Thai cabinet that day, signifying that Thailand has become the core computing stronghold for ByteDance (字节跳动) in Southeast Asia and globally.
According to the disclosed engineering blueprints, the project will fully deploy next-generation liquid-cooled servers and high-performance computing units, aiming to meet the explosive growth in short-video distribution and the digital demands of TikTok Shop (TikTok Shop) in the Southeast Asian market. The Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI) stated that this move will significantly strengthen Thailand's position as a regional digital infrastructure hub, assisting its push to become a regional leader in "AI and Cloud Services." As an attached obligation to the approval, TikTok (字节跳动) has pledged to implement localization cultivation programs, developing digital literacy and e-commerce vocational training courses to help local Thai SMEs and entrepreneurs integrate into the global e-commerce network. Currently, the project has received support from Thailand's tax incentive policy and is expected to commence full construction in the second half of 2026.
2. Moonshot AI (月之暗面) to Complete $2 Billion Funding Round, Valuation Exceeds $20 Billion
【Event】Recently, it was confirmed that the domestic General Artificial Intelligence (AGI) unicorn Moonshot AI (月之暗面) is nearing the completion of a new private equity funding round of approximately $2 billion, officially pushing its post-money valuation past $20 billion. This round was led by Meituan DragonBall (美团龙珠), with participation from China Mobile (中国移动), CPE GenFund (CPE源峰), and several existing shareholders who continued to increase their stakes. This financing is not only the largest single capital injection since the company's inception but also brings its cumulative funding to over $3.9 billion (over 37.6 billion CNY) in less than six months, surpassing Zhipu AI (智谱AI) and MiniMax (MiniMax) to secure the top spot on the financing leaderboard for Chinese large model startups.
Behind the capital surge is the exceptionally strong commercial performance of Kimi (Kimi). Wang Xinyu (王新宇), Partner at Meituan DragonBall (美团龙珠), revealed that with the iterations of the K2.5 and the latest K2.6 models, Kimi's (Kimi) Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) surpassed $100 million in early March 2026 and quickly doubled to over $200 million (approximately 1.45 billion CNY) in April. This growth is primarily attributed to an explosive increase in paid subscribers and API call volumes. The K2.6 model, open-sourced on April 20, has further fortified the company's technical moat in coding and complex long-range tasks with its 13-hour uninterrupted coding capability and a cluster architecture supporting 300 sub-agent collaborations.
3. Changan Automobile's (长安汽车) Overseas Sales Share Exceeds 40% in April; Q1 Net Profit Pressure Reflects "Deep Water" Transformation Challenges
【Event】Recently, Changan Automobile (长安汽车) officially disclosed its production and sales data for April 2026. The announcement shows that the company achieved automobile sales of 180,000 units in April, a slight year-on-year decline of 5.95%. Although total sales fluctuated due to intensified competition in the domestic market, the performance of overseas markets was particularly striking: April overseas sales reached 77,700 units, and the proportion of overseas sales to total sales rapidly climbed to over 43%. This not only confirms the accelerated implementation of Changan's (长安汽车) vast globalization strategy but also indicates that the overseas market is becoming the second engine supporting its production and sales scale.
On the production side, Changan Automobile's (长安汽车) April output was 180,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 6.87%; the cumulative output from January to April 2026 was 670,000 units, representing a year-on-year drop of 15.13%. The contraction in production reflects that Changan (长安汽车) is proactively conducting inventory management and production line adjustments to adapt to the rhythm shift from traditional internal combustion engine vehicles to new energy and intelligent models. Financially, the company achieved a revenue of 32.706 billion CNY in the first quarter of 2026, with a net profit attributable to the parent company of 351 million CNY. Compared to the same period last year, the pressure on the profit side mainly stems from continuous R&D investment in new energy brands such as Avatr (阿维塔) and Deepal (深蓝), the construction of marketing channels, and the severe consumption from the "price war" in the domestic market.
4. BYD's (比亚迪) Export Share Surpasses 42% for the First Time in April; Monthly Overseas Sales Hit Record High of 135,000 Units
【Event】Recently, BYD (比亚迪) released an official announcement disclosing that its new energy vehicle sales for April 2026 were 321,123 units. Although cumulative sales for the first four months of 2026 have surpassed the one-million mark (1,021,586 units), a structural year-on-year decline of 26.02% occurred due to the exceptionally high base set last year. Against this backdrop, however, BYD's (比亚迪) globalization process has demonstrated remarkable resilience: April overseas sales reached 134,542 units, a year-on-year surge of 70.9%. This means overseas operations now account for 41.9% of the company’s monthly total sales, and BYD (比亚迪) is rapidly transforming from a China-centric manufacturer into a truly global automotive enterprise.
In specific market segments, BYD (比亚迪) has demonstrated its ability to suppress traditional giants. As of April, BYD's (比亚迪) cumulative sales in the UK market reached 12,754 units, with a market share exceeding 7%, officially surpassing BMW (宝马) and Tesla (特斯拉) to become the largest pure electric vehicle brand in the UK. Furthermore, in the Brazilian and Australian markets, BYD (比亚迪) has achieved cross-dimensional strikes against local traditional internal combustion engine competitors through the Song PLUS (宋PLUS) and Sealion 7 (海狮7), respectively. Although the domestic market was affected by the price war, leading to a year-on-year sales decline of approximately 15.5% in April, BYD (比亚迪) successfully stabilized its fundamentals relying on the incremental gain of 135,000 units from monthly exports and overseas local production. On the energy foundation front, the total installed capacity for power and energy storage batteries in April was 20.977 GWh, with cumulative 2026 installations exceeding 81 GWh, supporting its strategic layout of "vehicle-storage linkage" on a global scale.
5. Geely (吉利汽车) Plans to Acquire Shop 3 of Ford’s (福特) Valencia Plant; New Model Codename "135" May Achieve Localized Tax-Exempt Production
【Event】Recently, Spanish media revealed that Geely (吉利汽车) has reached an agreement with Ford to acquire the long-idle Body Shop 3 at its Almussafes plant in Valencia. Although the workshop has been out of production for years, its degree of automation is extremely high, requiring only 100 employees per shift to operate. Geely's (吉利汽车) move aims to utilize the ready-made advanced production line to circumvent the potentially high tariffs imposed by Europe on Chinese-made electric vehicles and accelerate its global capacity layout.
In terms of product planning, Geely (吉利汽车) will utilize this production line to manufacture a mysterious model codenamed "135". Built on Geely's (吉利汽车) latest Global Intelligent New Energy Architecture (GEA), the vehicle is expected to offer three powertrain options: hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and pure electric. Foreign media speculate that this car is highly likely the compact electric vehicle codenamed EX2 (length 4,135mm, wheelbase 2,650mm). Notably, the report also mentioned that Ford may launch a successor to the Puma (Puma) based on Geely's (吉利汽车) GEA platform, forming a deep binding akin to "technology for capacity".
Currently, the annual output of Ford's Valencia plant has shrunk to less than 100,000 units, far below its design capacity of 400,000 units. If Geely (吉利汽车) successfully moves in, it is expected to help the factory recover to its pre-pandemic level of 300,000 units per year, thereby securing the livelihoods of over 4,000 local workers. Although the spokesperson for Geely Europe (吉利欧洲) stated "no comment" on this matter, industry sources claim the agreement is essentially finalized. This marks Geely (吉利汽车) as yet another Chinese automaker, following Leapmotor (零跑), GAC (广汽), and XPENG (小鹏汽车), to break through trade barriers via collaborative production in Europe.
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Since 2018, EqualOcean has been dedicated to tracking and analyzing the global expansion of Chinese enterprises. We welcome contributions from industry professionals to share your expertise and insights. Companies seeking international growth, media exposure, or discussions on overseas strategies are also encouraged to contact us directly.
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