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（4/10-10/10）
1. ANTA Sports（安踏体育）Completes Acquisition of a 29.06% Stake in PUMA（彪马）, Becoming Its Largest Shareholder
2. CATL（宁德时代）’s Debrecen Battery Cell Plant in Hungary Officially Begins Production, with Planned Investment of Approximately €7.34 Billion
3. Midea Group（美的集团）Completes Controlling Acquisition of Italian Medical Imaging Company Esaote（百胜医疗）
4. Pony.ai（小马智行）and Uber（优步）Move Forward with Plans to Bring Gen-7 Robotaxis to London
5. ESWIN Computing（奕斯伟计算）, Dubbed the “First RISC-V Stock,” Lists in Hong Kong with Net Proceeds of Approximately HK$2.386 Billion
6. Transsion Holdings（传音控股）Launches H-Share Offering, Seeking to Raise Up to HK$3.36 Billion
7. Moonshot AI（月之暗面）Completes Final Pre-IPO Funding Round at a Valuation of Approximately US$50 Billion
8. Sungrow（阳光电源）Secures 815.6 MWh in Overseas Energy Storage Orders; Canadian Solar（阿特斯）Wins a 200 MWh Battery Storage Project in Australia
9. Wasion Holdings（威胜控股）Subsidiary Secures More Than RMB 4 Billion in New Overseas Contracts This Year
10. Geely（吉利）Plans to Sell Passenger Vehicles in Canada Starting in 2027, Initially Introducing Geometry（几何）and Galaxy（银河）New Energy Models
11. Temu’s UK Entity Reports 2025 Revenue of US$171 Million, Up 171% Year on Year
12. Zhipu AI（智谱）’s GLM-5.3 Launches on Amazon Bedrock, Opening an Overseas Revenue-Sharing Channel
13. German Search Engine Ecosia Drops Mistral in Favor of Alibaba（阿里巴巴）’s Qwen, Zhipu AI’s GLM and Moonshot AI’s Kimi, Halving Inference Costs
14. LDROBOT（乐动机器人）Plans to Acquire Germany’s SABO for No More Than €6 Million, Gaining Access to Over 1,400 European Retail Outlets
15. Nvidia（英伟达）Is Reportedly in Talks to Acquire or Increase Its Investment in Reflection AI, Which Released the 501B-Parameter Open-Source Model Beam This Week
16. Gotion High-Tech（国轩高科）Begins Construction of a 6 GWh Energy Storage Project in Saudi Arabia
Selected Development
1. ANTA Sports（安踏体育）Completes Acquisition of a 29.06% Stake in PUMA（彪马）, Becoming Its Largest Shareholder
【Event】On October 7, ANTA Sports announced that it had completed the acquisition of a 29.06% stake in PUMA SE, the company behind the German sportswear brand, for €1.5055 billion in cash. All relevant regulatory approvals had been obtained and closing conditions met, making ANTA PUMA’s largest shareholder.
The transaction gives ANTA a shareholder position in a sportswear company with an established global brand and sales network. Compared with opening stores overseas or selling its own products abroad, the stake offers ANTA another way to participate in the development of an international brand. ANTA said it hopes to draw on its experience in managing multiple brands to support PUMA’s growth in China and other markets.
The 29.06% stake should not, by itself, be interpreted as giving ANTA control of PUMA. ANTA has said it will respect PUMA’s independent governance structure and brand autonomy. Whether the two companies will work together on products, distribution or supply chains, and how any such cooperation would take shape, remains to be seen.
The acquisition has closed, but its impact on PUMA’s business will take longer to assess. The next test for ANTA is whether it can develop effective cooperation while preserving PUMA’s brand independence, and whether that cooperation improves PUMA’s sales and profitability.
2. CATL（宁德时代）Begins Trial Battery Cell Production at Its Debrecen Plant, Which Has a Planned Capacity of 100 GWh
【Event】CATL announced that the first two production lines in the new battery cell building at its Debrecen plant in Hungary began trial production on September 22. The overall project has a planned capacity of 100 GWh. An earlier company announcement set an investment ceiling of €7.34 billion.
Battery cells are a core part of battery manufacturing. The Debrecen plant had already been producing battery modules; the start of cell trials extends its local manufacturing activities further upstream. The plant is close to European automakers’ production sites. If CATL establishes a stable cell supply, it will be able to organize more of its production locally and shorten parts of its supply chain.
Trial production is intended to adjust equipment, refine processes and validate production methods before mass production and capacity ramp-up. The start of trials on two lines therefore does not mean the entire plant has entered mass production. The 100 GWh figure is the project’s planned capacity, while €7.34 billion is an investment ceiling. Neither represents current production capacity or investment already spent.
For CATL’s European business, the more important milestones are when the cell lines enter mass production, whether they can maintain consistent quality, and how local manufacturing connects with customer deliveries. Debrecen has moved beyond construction alone, but its supply scale and investment returns will depend on actual output and order fulfillment.
3. Midea Group（美的集团）Completes Acquisition of a Controlling Stake in Italy’s Esaote（百胜医疗）, Expanding Its Medical Imaging Business
【Event】On October 9, Italian medical imaging company Esaote announced that Midea Group had completed the acquisition of a controlling stake in the company. Esaote will become part of Midea’s healthcare business while continuing to operate independently as a medical equipment company headquartered in Genoa, Italy.
Esaote’s businesses include ultrasound, dedicated magnetic resonance imaging systems and healthcare IT. It also has research, development and manufacturing facilities in Italy and the Netherlands. Midea’s existing medical imaging products and Esaote’s portfolio have different strengths. The acquisition gives Midea an established company with its own brand, products and international operations, creating scope for the two businesses to complement each other.
Medical imaging equipment requires research and development, clinical use, product certification and after-sales support. Completing the share purchase will not, by itself, produce sales synergies. Keeping Esaote independent should help preserve its brand and existing operations; coordination in research, distribution and management will still have to be worked out in practice.
The transaction has progressed from an acquisition agreement to operation under Midea’s controlling ownership, but completing the acquisition does not mean integration is complete. The next test for Midea is whether the companies can combine their products and market resources and demonstrate the acquisition’s value through sustained business performance.
4. Pony.ai（小马智行）and Uber（优步）Plan to Test Gen-7 Robotaxis in London
【Event】On October 8, TechCrunch reported that Pony.ai and Uber planned to begin road testing Pony.ai’s seventh-generation Robotaxis in London within the following weeks. The plan forms part of their expanded European partnership. London testing had not begun at the time of the announcement, and no date had been given for the start of passenger service.
Pony.ai provides the autonomous driving technology, while Uber provides its ride-hailing platform and access to users. This arrangement allows the vehicles to connect with an existing mobility network. Deployment will also require fleet management, maintenance, dispatching and local compliance arrangements. The companies have not disclosed who will own or operate the London fleet.
The two companies previously announced plans to deploy more than 2,000 Robotaxis across Europe, expanding from their existing service in Zagreb, Croatia, to four additional cities. That figure applies to the wider European plan. It is neither a target for London alone nor a count of vehicles already in service.
Testing in London will show how the vehicles perform on local roads and help inform subsequent operating plans. A public passenger service would still depend on regulatory requirements, fleet arrangements and test results. For now, this is an overseas project with a named city and a testing plan, rather than a commercial service operating at scale.
5. Ecosia Adjusts Its AI Model Strategy, Considering Open-Weight Options Including Chinese-Developed Models
【Event】German search engine Ecosia is reviewing the models used in its AI features and is considering open-weight models through the German platform Melious. Models named in reports include Alibaba（阿里巴巴）’s Qwen, Zhipu AI（智谱）’s GLM and Moonshot AI（月之暗面）’s Kimi. Ecosia’s founder has identified model quality, cost and the way models are run as factors in the decision.
A search product must process a continuing flow of user requests, so answer quality and operating costs both affect the user experience. Open-weight models offer more choices for deployment and switching. The inclusion of Chinese-developed models in Ecosia’s evaluation shows that they are taking part in a European application provider’s model selection process, beyond appearing on model rankings.
Being considered is not the same as fully replacing an existing provider. Ecosia’s current product documentation says its AI features use both Mistral and open-weight models, while its founder has described further use of Melious as a future possibility. It would therefore be inaccurate to say that Ecosia has completely abandoned Mistral or that Qwen, GLM and Kimi have all been deployed and are handling a steady volume of requests.
The next questions are which models Ecosia ultimately uses, which features each model supports, and whether the reported cost improvements hold up in continued operation. Using an open-weight model developed by a Chinese team also does not mean a Chinese company operates Ecosia’s AI service. Model developers, hosting platforms and user-facing products play different roles.
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