Original link: https://www.latepost.com/news/dj_detail?id=1762
Microsoft expands its circle of allies and bets on artificial intelligence models in all directions
In the past few months, Microsoft, as a core investor of OpenAI, has sold OpenAI’s large-scale model services through cloud services, giving priority to transforming business with GPT-4 large-scale models, and has become the core beneficiary of the large-scale model boom.
But Microsoft does not intend to be limited to this, it is attacking on multiple fronts, betting on the big model of artificial intelligence in all aspects. At the Microsoft Inspire event held last night, Microsoft announced that the Microsoft 365 Copilot integrated with GPT-4 will be priced at $30 per user per month, emphasizing the extremely close relationship with OpenAI. In addition, it also announced a new large model partner – Meta. Microsoft announced that Azure is the premier collaboration platform for Llama 2, Meta’s open source large model.
Llama is Meta’s large language model that was open sourced earlier this year. It is the most concerned project in the open source community. In the past few months, a large number of developers have relied on it to make projects similar to ChatGPT. The latest Llama 2 released by Meta is stronger and free for commercial use (more than 700 million monthly active users apply separately), which is regarded as changing the large-scale model market.
In order to show that the partnership between the two parties is equally close, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg (Mark Zuckerberg) also posted a photo with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella (Satya Nadella) on social media while Microsoft held the Inspire event.
The left and right hands are pulling the strongest closed-source large-scale model company OpenAI and the most concerned open-source project Llama, which is not Microsoft’s entire bet in the field of large-scale models. The artificial intelligence scientists hired by Microsoft are still studying the large model from the bottom to find feasible iterative directions.
The latest development comes from the new progress of Microsoft Asia Research Institute this month. They proposed a new large-scale model infrastructure RetNet, claiming that it is more powerful than the current mainstream Transformer architecture in terms of extended results, parallel training, low-cost deployment, and efficient reasoning. It is expected to become the successor of Transformer.
Whether RetNet can prove itself stronger than Transformer in practice still needs to be verified, but what is certain is that under the wave of artificial intelligence large models, Microsoft is not willing to make choices, it wants all of them. (He Qianming)
China’s auto exports are still dominated by traditional brands of fuel vehicles
Automobiles are one of the most important categories driving industrial growth in the first half of the year. Its role in stimulating the economy is not only reflected in domestic sales, but also in exports. However, different from your daily experience, as of the first half of this year, fuel vehicles of traditional brands still accounted for the majority of China’s total auto exports. Among the top ten overseas sales, only Tesla and BYD do not sell fuel vehicles.
- According to China Automobile Association: China exported 1.78 million passenger cars in the first half of the year, of which new energy vehicles accounted for 519,000.
- According to the General Administration of Customs: China exported 1.96 million passenger vehicles in the first half of the year, of which nearly 770,000 were new energy vehicles.
The biggest difference between the two calibers is that the General Administration of Customs includes the export volume of low-speed electric vehicles (commonly known as “Old Tou Le”), while the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers does not. Therefore, the export data of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers can better reflect the overseas influence of Chinese auto companies. Under this caliber, the ratio of fuel vehicles and electric vehicles exported to China in the first half of the year was about 7:3.
The General Administration of Customs can estimate the average export price because it discloses the export amount at the same time. With the rapid increase in the export of electric vehicles, the drag on the average price of the low-priced “Old Tou Le” has been diluted, and the trend of electric vehicles becoming more and more expensive can now be seen. Although the export volume of new energy vehicles accounted for only 39% in the first half of the year, it contributed 54% of the export value. If the low-priced “Old Tou Le” is excluded, the contrast between the export volume and value of electric passenger vehicles may be even greater.
Regardless of the China Automobile Association or the General Administration of Customs, the export volume of Tesla’s China factory (182,000 vehicles in the first half of the year) is included in the statistics. If this part of the export data is deducted from both the numerator and the denominator, under the caliber of the China Automobile Association, the proportion of fuel vehicles in total exports will rise to 80%. The export of Chinese auto companies is still a market dominated by traditional brands and fuel vehicles.
Most of the cars are sold to underdeveloped areas. As European and American car companies gradually withdraw from the Russian market, Russia has become the largest overseas buyer of Chinese cars. In the first five months of this year, China exported 287,000 cars to Russia, a year-on-year increase of 460%. Exports of electric vehicles are concentrated in European regions except Russia.
Finally, the monthly production and sales reports released by various car companies also include overseas sales data. Since there is no detailed distinction between the production and sales of bases at home and abroad, it is not suitable for direct comparison with the export data of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers or the customs. However, in view of the higher requirements for enterprises established by overseas factories, the production and sales caliber of enterprises may also reflect the competitiveness of Chinese auto brands more comprehensively.
For example, SAIC, which sold more than 530,000 vehicles overseas in the first half of the year, directly sells in Europe through the British sub-brand MG, which is easier to gain market recognition. MG alone contributed nearly 115,000 sales records to SAIC in Europe in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 143%.
Chery has been exporting cars since 2001, and is the first Chinese independent brand to go overseas. Its overseas sales in the first half of the year were nearly 400,000 vehicles (basically fuel vehicles), more than domestic sales. Currently, Chery has established 10 overseas production bases in Russia, Brazil and other countries. Other Chinese private car companies that rank high in export volume have experienced a similar growth process. Great Wall Motor even relied on exports for almost all of its sales.
For BYD, which was far ahead in domestic sales in the first half of the year (total sales exceeded 1.25 million vehicles), its overseas sales in the same period were less than 80,000 vehicles, ranking eighth among all independent brands. Previously, “LatePost” also analyzed in a long article that BYD is likely to be close to reaching the ceiling of the domestic market, and then more needs to be found in overseas markets for growth. As for the new domestic forces that have made great efforts to go overseas, they may not appear on this list for a long time. (Qiu Hao)
Amazon’s team of economists is almost bigger than the Fed’s
According to technology media The Information, Amazon currently employs about 400 Ph.D. economists, up from about 150 in 2019. This means that Amazon has almost caught up with the Federal Reserve as one of the largest employers of economists in the United States. In 2021, there will be approximately 1,216 PhDs in economics in the United States.
Silicon Valley has long been vying for economist talents, and the team includes both newly graduated doctoral students and professors from famous schools. Large companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Meta have their own teams of economists, and many small companies also employ full-time or part-time economists. Uber will hire about a fifth of Harvard’s Ph.D. graduates in economics in 2021.
In technology companies, economists can be competent in many roles, such as spotting the trend of mobile work, predicting changes in international relations and avoiding risks in advance, or estimating the impact of next-day shipping on sales, calculating how long people are willing to wait for discounts when hailing a taxi, and so on.
Chinese Internet companies have built similar talent pools in recent years. For example, Kuaishou’s economists are studying whether different soundtracks for short videos can improve user stickiness. Didi has set up a staff department to study how to apply economics and operation management to practice, so as to improve the efficiency of order matching and capacity scheduling.
Susan Athey, professor of economics at Stanford, mentioned that in the market or actual business, the impact of many decisions is not single. For example, improving the matching degree of advertising and search will reduce revenue in the short term, but in the long run, as the conversion rate increases, advertising bids will also increase.
In her view, economists can pay more attention to the impact of different mechanisms, while engineers and AI tend to simplify problems. Pat Bajari, former chief economist at Amazon, described the changes brought about by economists in this way, “Companies use the scientific method more seriously and eliminate a lot of guess work (guesswork)”.
Amazon offers economists an in-house top-tier salary, in addition to stock options. Some firms even offer million-dollar annual salaries to junior economists. In order to attract top talent, large companies such as Microsoft offer a wider research space that may not be directly related to the business, and can continue to publish papers.
The bigger draw is that these tech companies aren’t far removed from “economics”—they have extremely rich, real data on individual behavior. In the past, economists could only study macro public data, but now they can mine valuable conclusions from micro individual behaviors. These conclusions will soon be applied, or falsified or confirmed, and then affect millions or even hundreds of millions of people. (Lin Guangying)
The IPO has been known for a long time丨Zhejiang Rongtai started to apply for purchase today, and is a Tier 1 supplier of Tesla and Volvo
A total of 2 companies subscribed for A shares today
- Zhejiang Rongtai: a manufacturer of high-temperature-resistant insulating mica, issued a total of 42.1 million shares at a purchase price of 15.32 yuan, with a price-earnings ratio of 35.58 times. The company mainly produces high-temperature insulating mica products. Mica is widely used in new energy vehicles and battery energy storage industries due to its electrical and thermal insulation properties. The company is a Tier 1 supplier of Tesla and Volvo.
- From 2020 to 2022, the company will realize operating income of 365 million yuan, 522 million yuan, and 667 million yuan respectively, with a compound annual growth rate of 29.95%; realize net profit attributable to the parent company of 29 million yuan, 104 million yuan, and 134 million yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 84.22%.
- Yifei Laser: a supplier of precision laser processing equipment, issued a total of 23.79 million shares at a purchase price of 46.80 yuan, with a price-earnings ratio of 65.40 times. The company mainly produces precision laser processing equipment, such as lasers, laser intelligent welding stations and laser intelligent production lines, etc., and its main customers include Guoxuan Hi-Tech, Ningde Times, etc.
- From 2020 to 2022, the company will realize operating income of 206 million yuan, 397 million yuan, and 539 million yuan respectively, with a compound annual growth rate of 65.04%; realize net profit attributable to the parent company of 12 million yuan, 42 million yuan, and 94 million yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 102.47%.
A total of 4 companies listed on A shares today
- Suzhou Planning: Jiangsu Provincial Planning Design and Engineering Design Company actually raised 580 million yuan, with a total market value of 3.431 billion yuan, up 47.97% on the first day.
- Aviation Materials: A supplier of aerospace parts and materials, actually raised 7.109 billion yuan, with a total market value of 28.64 billion yuan, down 19.43% on the first day.
- Echo Optoelectronics: A manufacturer of core components for machine vision, including industrial cameras and image collectors. The actual fundraising was 1.247 billion yuan, with a total market value of 4.783 billion yuan, down 4.08% on the first day.
- Haosheng Electronics: a manufacturer of electroacoustic devices, actually raised 193 million yuan, with a total market value of 1.018 billion yuan, up 18.07% on the first day. (Intern Lin Hongsheng)
OTHER NEWS
In the first half of the year, the revenue from the sale of state-owned land use rights by local governments decreased by 20.9% year-on-year.
According to the Ministry of Finance, in the first half of this year, revenue from the sale of state-owned land use rights by local governments fell 20.9% year-on-year to about 1.87 trillion yuan. Compared with the same period in 2021, it has dropped by more than 40%. In the first half of the year, the national tax revenue increased by 16.5% year-on-year to 9.97 trillion yuan, of which the domestic consumption tax, corporate income tax, and personal income tax decreased by 13.4%, 5.4%, and 0.6% respectively, and the domestic value-added tax increased by 96% year-on-year.
In the first half of the year, the number of people entering and exiting the country recovered to 48.8% of the same period in 2019.
According to the National Immigration Administration, in the first half of this year, a total of 168 million people entered and exited the country, a year-on-year increase of 1.7 times and 48.8% of the same period in 2019, including 80.28 million mainland residents, 74.9 million Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents, and 8.44 million foreigners. In the first half of this year, the number of ordinary passports issued nationwide, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan entry and exit documents, and residence permits for foreigners in China recovered to 68.2%, 96.5%, and 86.7% of the same period in 2019, respectively.
The unemployment rate in Hong Kong fell to 2.9% in the second quarter, returning to the pre-epidemic level.
From April to June this year, Hong Kong’s unemployment rate was 2.9%, and the underemployment rate was 1.1%, both down 0.1 percentage points from the previous cycle (March to May). The unemployment rate of consumer tourism-related industries has improved significantly. Among them, the unemployment rate of the retail industry fell by 0.3 percentage points from the previous cycle to 3.5%, and the unemployment rate of the accommodation service industry fell by 0.5 percentage points to 3%. The unemployment rate for food service events remained at 4.8%.
Chinese customers rushed to stock up, and ASML’s orders in the second quarter exceeded expectations.
The entire chip market is still weak, but ASML, the world’s major lithography machine manufacturer, received new orders worth 4.5 billion euros in the second quarter, an increase of more than 20% quarter-on-quarter. The increase in orders is mainly driven by Chinese customers. Since the new regulations on the export control of lithography machines in the Netherlands will come into effect in September this year, Chinese fabs are taking the time to stock up in advance. ASML CEO Peter Wennink said Chinese customers were happy to pick up equipment that others had abandoned. He also said that the company will raise its full-year revenue guidance, and expects full-year sales growth to reach 30%.
Anta Group’s overall revenue growth slowed down in the first half of the year.
According to the announcement of Anta Group, in the first half of this year, the retail sales of Anta brand increased by 4%-6% year-on-year, FILA increased by 10%-20%, and other brands increased by 70%-75%. At present, more than 90% of the group’s revenue comes from Anta and FILA. From 2017 to 2021, the compound growth rate of overall revenue will exceed 30%, and it still increased by nearly 9% last year. After the results were released, the company’s stock price fell nearly 4% at one point today. Previously, Jefferies reported that in the past two months, the retail sales of the domestic sporting goods industry fell significantly year-on-year, and there may be downside risks for the whole year.
Bubble Mart’s net profit in the first half of the year increased by at least 40% year-on-year, mainly due to cost reduction.
Bubble Mart expects revenue to grow by no less than 18% year-on-year in the first half of this year, and net profit to grow by no less than 40%. The changes are mainly due to product cost optimization, strict cost control, and increased deposit interest income. In the same period last year, Bubble Mart’s revenue increased by 33% year-on-year, and its net profit fell by 7.2%. CEO Wang Ning once said that trendy play is anti-cyclical, because people will buy toys when they are happy and unhappy. There is also a view that if people want to save money. First of all, consumption of non-essential goods will be reduced.
Great Wall Motor announced the first batch of award-winning netizens who reported “water army”.
On July 19, Great Wall Motor released the list of the first batch of netizen winners of the “Clean Network Action” on its official WeChat account, with a total of 26 network IDs. In March of this year, Great Wall Motors launched the “Clean Internet Action”, offering a reward of 10 million yuan to encourage netizens to provide clues to report trolls. Those who can provide complete evidence and are recognized as valid evidence by the judicial authorities will receive a one-time direct reward of 2 million to 3 million yuan. Great Wall said that it has received nearly a thousand reports from netizens, and some online trolls have entered into judicial proceedings for malicious smearing.
Shanghai introduced new policies to support the platform economy.
Shanghai recently announced 16 support measures for production-oriented Internet platforms, to “strengthen” commodity trading service platforms and establish important commodity price indexes; “enlarge” industrial product e-commerce service platforms to provide professional and integrated supply chain management services; encourage information technology services with big data, blockchain, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, etc. as the core, and “specialize” digital transformation service platforms; In addition, Shanghai will encourage and guide qualified platform companies to enter the multi-level capital market for listing, and will prepare plans to ensure the land demand for logistics and storage facilities of relevant platforms.
For the first time, India was among the top five iPhone markets.
According to a quarterly tracker by industry research firm Counterpoint Research, iPhone sales in India surpassed Germany and France to become the fifth-largest market for iPhones, temporarily trailing the US, China, Japan and the UK. In April this year, Apple CEO Cook visited India and held talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hoping to expand local production scale and smartphone sales.
Shanghai released specific measures to stabilize employment, focusing on strengthening employment services for college graduates.
Recently, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security issued 18 measures to optimize and adjust the employment stabilization policy. The measures include supporting the expansion of enterprises, supporting financial institutions to carry out loan business, implementing entrepreneurship training for key groups such as college graduates and migrant workers, and batch loans for entrepreneurship guarantees, etc., to expand employment capacity and broaden employment channels. In addition, it also provides one-off employment absorption subsidies, job expansion subsidies, social insurance subsidies, etc., to encourage employers to absorb youth employment such as college graduates.
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: Focus on consumption hotspots to promote household consumption upgrades.
On July 18, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated that it will explore the green building materials industry to go to the countryside. Through industrial and project support, it will drive the entire industry chain of green building materials into the countryside, create a number of characteristic industrial clusters, and help the construction of beautiful countryside. In the next step, it will also focus on consumption hotspots such as smart homes and the silver-haired economy, create a high-quality supply system, design homes suitable for the elderly, and promote the continuous upgrading of the whole house smart system.
Threads became popular all of a sudden, but fewer and fewer people insisted on using it.
Threads, Meta’s Twitter-like service, set a record with 100 million downloads in five days. However, according to SensorTower data, two weeks after its launch, Threads’ active users have decreased by 20% from the peak, and the user’s usage time has also decreased by 50%. Another social service, Mastodon, launched last year to divert disappointed Twitter users, has experienced similar fluctuations.
This article is transferred from: https://www.latepost.com/news/dj_detail?id=1762
This site is only for collection, and the copyright belongs to the original author.