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The China Securities Regulatory Commission has disclosed information on its website indicating that Chinese memory chip maker Yangtze Memory Technologies Holding has begun pre-listing tutoring, formally starting its A-share IPO process. CITIC Securities and CSC Financial are serving as its advisors.
Founded in 2016, YMTC Holding is a memory integrated device manufacturer (IDM), with businesses spanning chip design, manufacturing, packaging and testing, and system solution products. Its wholly owned subsidiary, Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC), is valued at more than RMB 160 billion (USD 23.5 billion).
YMTC is central to YMTC Holding’s development. The company has made several advances in memory chip technology, supporting its product innovation.
In October 2017, YMTC designed and manufactured what it described as China’s first 3D NAND flash memory through a combination of in-house R&amp;D and international collaboration.
In September 2019, the company began mass production of its second-generation triple-level cell (TLC) 3D NAND flash memory, which uses its proprietary Xtacking architecture.
In April 2020, YMTC announced that it had completed R&amp;D for two third-generation products, covering TLC and quad-level cell (QLC) flash memory. The company said its X2-6070, its first third-generation QLC flash memory product, had the industry’s highest input-output speed, highest storage density, and highest single-die capacity at the time of its release.
YMTC’s self-developed Xtacking architecture is one of the company’s key assets. The architecture uses wafer bonding, a technology that can improve transfer speed, storage density, R&amp;D efficiency, and production cycles.
Before Xtacking was introduced, 3D NAND products on the market mainly used traditional side-by-side architecture or CMOS-under-array (CuA) architecture. YMTC applied wafer bonding to 3D NAND flash memory after nine years of technical accumulation in 3D integrated circuits and four years of R&amp;D validation.
According to the company, YMTC’s technology enables billions of metal channels to be connected within an area the size of a fingernail, merging two components into a single unit while delivering reliability comparable to processing on the same wafer. As layer counts continue to rise, 3D NAND flash memory developed and manufactured using Xtacking could gain cost and innovation advantages.
Amid rising global <a href="/industry/ai">artificial intelligence</a> demand and higher hardware costs, memory chips are entering what analysts have described as a new industry upcycle. According to a CITIC Securities research report, strong AI-driven demand is expected to keep memory demand robust in the near term, while memory chip price increases are expected to continue throughout 2026 and serve as an industry catalyst. Morgan Stanley has said bottlenecks in the AI value chain are shifting from GPUs to memory, packaging, and network bandwidth, and that sustained growth in memory demand could continue for at least three to five years.
Since its founding, YMTC Holding has completed multiple funding rounds. Its cap table includes state-owned, private, and industrial investors, including phases one and two of China’s Big Fund, five major state-backed banks, and various venture capital and private equity firms.
This <a href="https://xueqiu.com/2854806290/389786289">article</a> was adapted based on a feature originally written by and published on IPO Zaozhidao. KrASIA is authorized to translate, adapt, and publish its contents.

YMTC moves toward A-share listing amid memory chip supercycle

Deep Tech

Semiconductors

China

iMotion Automotive Technology, a Chinese autonomous driving technology developer, has released its financial results for the four months ended April 30.
According to company disclosures, iMotion recorded RMB 400 million (USD 58.7 million) in revenue during the first four months of 2026, up 162.55% year-on-year. Gross profit reached RMB 37 million (USD 5.4 million), a year-on-year increase of 571.89%, while gross margin rose to 9.32% from 3.64% in the same period of 2025.
In the announcement, iMotion said the revenue growth was mainly driven by a ramp-up in production and deliveries of its driving assistance solutions and products across multiple projects with <a href="/company/chery">Chery</a>, <a href="/company/geely">Geely</a>, Dongfeng Motor, <a href="/company/leapmotor">Leapmotor</a>, and other customers. Product sales volume rose 243.3% year-on-year to more than 148,400 sets. Sales of its self-developed iDC domain controllers and smart front cameras increased by 95.6% and 460.3%, respectively. Chery’s iCar V27, the first mass produced model equipped with the iDC510 Pro domain controller, officially launched in March.
Supported by revenue growth and gross margin improvement, iMotion’s pre-tax loss for the first four months of 2026 narrowed by 51.39% from a year earlier.
iMotion also secured 23 nomination letters from OEM (original equipment manufacturer) customers during the first four months of 2026. These projects are expected to enter mass production in stages in 2026 and 2027. They included the first two projects from an unnamed northern state-owned OEM, additional nominated projects from an unnamed customer in Taiwan, and a direct supply deal with an undisclosed overseas customer.
By product category, iMotion continued to secure projects for products and solutions based on Horizon Robotics’ Journey 6B platform, further strengthening its position on the platform. It also added multiple nominations for iDC500 and iDC700 projects based on the Journey 6M platform, reflecting further progress in mid- to high-end assisted driving solutions.
In embodied intelligence, iMotion said it has continued to advance R&amp;D, product implementation, and commercial applications. One of its subsidiaries reportedly received a new domestic order for its iRC100P robotics controller. The product has already been deployed in the customer’s robots and is expected to move into large-scale deployment and systematic operations alongside the customer’s products, entering real-world application scenarios.
This <a href="https://xueqiu.com/2854806290/389786371">article</a> was adapted based on a feature originally written by and published on IPO Zaozhidao. KrASIA is authorized to translate, adapt, and publish its contents.
Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.81 = USD 1 based on estimates as of May 22, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.

iMotion revenue jumps as product volume triples on new OEM nominations

Transportation

Autonomous Vehicles

Mobility

China's leading memory chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) said net profit skyrocketed over 1,688% in the January-March period from the same quarter the year before as revenue surged more than 719%, fueled by the global <a href="/industry/ai">artificial intelligence</a> boom.
The results, shared in an IPO prospectus submitted to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on May 17, underscore the significant progress Beijing has made in its push to localize critical chip production.
CXMT reported a net profit of RMB 24.7 billion (USD 3.6 billion) for the quarter on revenue of RMB 50.8 billion (USD 7.5 billion). The country's top maker of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips said the sharp rise in profit and revenue was driven by the global increase in DRAM prices.
The company logged its first full-year profit in 2025, reporting RMB 1.87 billion (USD 274.6 million) on revenue of RMB 61.79 billion (USD 9.1 billion), the prospectus said.
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The memory chipmaker said its planned listing on Shanghai's Star Market is intended to raise capital to support technology development and capacity expansion, as its current output still falls far short of massive domestic demand. The tech-heavy STAR Market is widely viewed as China's version of the Nasdaq.
Nikkei first reported that CXMT is undertaking its <a title="" href="https://asia.nikkei.com/business/tech/semiconductors/china-s-cxmt-and-ymtc-to-massively-expand-memory-output-amid-global-crunch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">most aggressive expansion ever</a> in Shanghai, aiming to not only multiply its production capacity but also develop high-bandwidth memory (HBM), the critical memory component used in AI data center servers. The company is also expanding its production capacity close to its headquarters in Hefei, Anhui.
CXMT said in its prospectus that it operates three chip complexes in Hefei and Beijing.
The company was founded in 2016 with the goal of helping China reduce its reliance on foreign DRAM suppliers, a market long dominated by Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology.
CXMT's planned listing comes as US lawmakers aim to further tighten restrictions on shipments of chipmaking equipment to Chinese customers with the proposed MATCH Act. In addition to pushing Washington's allies to step up their controls, the act also seeks to place more Chinese chipmakers, including CXMT and Hua Hong Semiconductor, on trade blacklists to further limit their access to advanced chipmaking tools.
The record financial results by CXMT and the prospectus were filed shortly after <a title="https://asia.nikkei.com/spotlight/trump-xi-summit/trump-xi-summit-how-the-us-president-s-china-visit-unfolded" href="https://asia.nikkei.com/spotlight/trump-xi-summit/trump-xi-summit-how-the-us-president-s-china-visit-unfolded" target="_blank" rel="noopener">US President Donald Trump concluded a visit to Beijing</a> for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The global memory chip crunch has created a golden opportunity for emerging players such as CXMT to rise on the international stage and benefit from a favorable pricing environment. Several leading PC makers, including HP, Dell Technologies, Asus, and Acer, are also <a title="" href="https://asia.nikkei.com/spotlight/supply-chain/hp-dell-acer-and-asus-mull-using-chinese-memory-chips-amid-supply-crunch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">open to qualifying CXMT's products</a> as memory shortages increasingly affect product rollouts and market demand.
CXMT said it is China's top DRAM maker and the world's number four player with a global market share of 7.67%, citing data from research company Omdia.
This article first appeared on <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/business/tech/semiconductors/china-chipmaker-cxmt-logs-1-688-profit-surge-amid-global-memory-crunch">Nikkei Asia</a>. It has been republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with <a href="https://www.rwegrgdf5.eu.org/nikkei-teams-up-with-36kr-in-asia-tech-news-coverage/">Nikkei</a>.
Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.81 = USD 1 based on estimates as of May 22, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.

China chipmaker CXMT logs 1,688% profit surge amid global memory crunch

Max Beier, a sales manager for China-based carmaker Leapmotor, has little doubt that the T03 <a href="/industry/ev">electric vehicle</a> will be the dealership's most popular offering in May and June. After all, no other model carries a lease starting at only EUR 48.9 (USD 56.8) per month.
"It has been selling very well recently," Beier said.
Under a new strategy to encourage green car sales, the German government is subsidizing EVs at up to EUR 6,000 (USD 6,966.2) per vehicle. A family earning less than EUR 45,000 (USD 52,246.6) a year with at least two children will receive the maximum subsidy. This will more than cover the deposit usually required in auto lease contracts, EUR 4,250 (USD 4,934.4) in this case, and the delivery fee for the car, leaving the buyer to foot only the monthly payment.
With the T03 priced at EUR 18,900 (USD 21,943.6), Leapmotor will only recover EUR 11,139 (USD 12,932.8) at the end of the 36-month lease term, a sign of its aggressive strategy. Lessees will essentially only pay EUR 1,760.4 (USD 2,043.9)—less than the price of some bicycles—to use the car for three years under the offer that lasts until the end of June.
"The vehicle's extremely competitive pricing is made possible by Leapmotor's high level of cost efficiency," a Leapmotor spokesman told Nikkei Asia. "One key factor behind this is the company's extensive vertical integration. Additionally, the leasing rate, which starts at just EUR 49 (USD 56.9), is made possible by German government incentives."
The spokesman said the T03 is an entry-level electric model, suitable for new drivers and the elderly.
At Beier's dealership, just one T03 remains displayed at the main entrance, while seven newly leased ones are waiting to be picked up by customers at the side of the building.
"If the car is then returned without significant scratches or other damage, and the milage limit of 10,000 kilometers per year was not breached, the buyer has effectively paid very little for a good car," Beier said.
Leapmotor is majority-owned by European carmaker Stellantis, with the T03 built solely in China after production in Poland was stopped in March 2025. Industry observers said the move was in retaliation by Beijing for Warsaw having voted in favor of punitive European Union tariffs on Chinese EV imports.
The headline-grabbing price has precedent in France. In 2023, France launched its first subsidized leasing scheme, offering EVs to low- and middle-income households for EUR 49–150 (USD 56.9–174.2) a month. The French government plans to launch the scheme for the third time in June in response to rising gasoline and diesel prices brought on by the Iran war. The catch is that the scheme only covers the first 50,000 contracts.
There had been speculation that Leapmotor's generosity was driven by its desire to clear its inventory of T03s, which may not comply with new regulations. Starting in July, an EU regulation will require all newly registered EVs and light commercial vehicles to have installed camera-based driver warning systems, enlarged head impact protection zones for pedestrians and cyclists, and upgrades to autonomous emergency braking.
The Leapmotor spokesman rejects this claim and said the T03 is fully compliant with the new rules.
In the run-up to the previous round of regulatory changes in 2024, German automaker Porsche was forced to withdraw the Macan model from the EU market. MG Motor, which is owned by China's SAIC Motor, cleared its inventory of MG4s in Germany by offering buyers a second one free of charge under a leasing scheme.
An observer believes that given the volume of T03 sales in 2025, when the model accounted for 66% of all new Leapmotor registrations in Germany, it was unlikely that the company would have failed to comply with well-flagged rules.
"It would be incredibly shortsighted for the company to voluntarily forgo two-thirds of its registrations, so they have almost certainly implemented the necessary regulatory adjustments in a timely way," said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, director at the Center for Automotive Research, a German think tank.
"In my estimation, what we are witnessing here is essentially a sales-driven extravaganza," he said.
This article first appeared on <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/business/automobiles/electric-vehicles/china-s-leapmotor-woos-germans-with-57-monthly-ev-lease">Nikkei Asia</a>. It has been republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with <a href="https://www.rwegrgdf5.eu.org/nikkei-teams-up-with-36kr-in-asia-tech-news-coverage/">Nikkei</a>.
Note: EUR figures are converted to USD at rates of EUR 0.86 = USD 1 based on estimates as of May 22, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.

China's Leapmotor woos Germans with USD 57 monthly EV lease

East Asia

Leapmotor

Electric Vehicles

Europe

… This technology system provides a solid foundation whether we are building cars or robots. From the OS to the base layer and chip deployment, it is all our own. That is the premise behind automakers entering robotics.
<h3>36Kr: After the chassis domain becomes tightly integrated with assisted driving, will its software layer also follow the scaling law?</h3>
LL: I do not think the accumulation of chassis data contributes much to chassis algorithms.
Data accumulation in assisted driving follows the logic of scaling law: more data, more compute, larger models, better functions. But chassis control is model-based control. This model is not a large language model. It is a vehicle control model based on vehicle dynamics, a mathematical model of the physical world, and it does not require excessive data.
For chassis, the point that really creates differentiation is the dynamics model. Whether the full-vehicle model is more precise and more intelligent depends fundamentally on the capability of this mathematical model.
<h3>36Kr: In integration, is battery-chassis integration, such as cell-to-body (CTB) or cell-to-chassis (CTC), something Li Auto wants to do next?</h3>
LL: If we make sedans in the future, we will definitely consider it, because it contributes to interior space along the Z-axis, meaning height. CTB’s greatest value lies there. In sedans, second-row headroom is very tight, around 920–930 millimeters. After integration, an extra ten millimeters makes a very large contribution.
<h3>36Kr: What will the next R&amp;D direction for the chassis domain be?</h3>
LL: There will be small hardware iterations, but there will not be significant changes in form. Whether active suspension, steer-by-wire, or EMB, local parts will continue to iterate to make reliability higher. The upper limit for reliability has no endpoint. The pursuit is always zero PPM, or zero defects per million.
The core remains the OEM’s system integration capability: integrating the execution systems in the three directions through a full-vehicle model to coordinate control of the three forces. The emphasis is more on control, making the whole driving and riding experience better. Another direction is integration with AD, making the assisted driving experience better, response faster, and safety performance stronger.
Personalization is also an important direction for our next generation of R&amp;D. The system will adapt to your driving preferences, or the driving preferences you want. You can tell it what you like, and it will report its current state. If you say this is not what you want, and specify the dimensions where you want it to be gentler or more aggressive, you can adjust it, and the car will adapt to you.
<h3>36Kr: How does Li Auto internally judge the value of technology and products?</h3>
LL: Internally, we have a product world model. It is not the world model used in artificial intelligence simulation. It is similar to the integrated product development (IPD) process. In one vehicle, it contains the core selling points, key technologies, business aspects, and so on.
<h3>36Kr: How does Li Auto balance innovation investment against wastage brought by uncertainty?</h3>
LL: If you are doing forward-looking research, you will inevitably face detours. From the chassis perspective, however, among the technologies we selected, Europeans have worked on many of them over the past 100 years. So in this regard, there are not that many detours.
<h3>36Kr: The all-new Li L9 Livis will be delivered soon. What expectations does Li Auto have for the car?</h3>
LL: It is the world’s first vehicle to mass produce electromechanical brake-by-wire, steer-by-wire, rear-wheel steering, and 800V active suspension together. It is also the first vehicle to allow these four systems to truly coordinate through full-stack in-house algorithms. Having the hardware in place is only the prerequisite. Connecting the software is the core.
Once the chassis truly achieves comprehensive electronic control, many things that could not be done in the past have only just become possible: deep coordination between assisted driving and the chassis, personalized driving adaptation, and more extreme safety redundancy. All of these need to continue iterating on the basis of full drive-by-wire.
Internally, we say that the past four years were about teaching the chassis to think with electricity. Next, it is about teaching the chassis to help people think. The day the Li L9 Livis reaches users is not the endpoint. It is the first day this truly begins.
KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3804380633554696">article</a> was written by Xiao Man for 36Kr.

Li Auto uses the Li L9 Livis to make its case as a technology company

… has not settled on how</h3>
Overall, the short-term cash returns AI is bringing Tencent are currently reflected mainly in the advertising business.
Mitchell said many Tencent products, including its expansion into games, the launch of Weixin, and its move into payments, went through long incubation periods with no immediate return on investment. Tencent backed those products because it believed they could create franchise value over time.
Most companies now investing heavily in large models are winners of the internet era, and they generally understand delayed returns. The difference is that AI may not only take longer to make money, but also burn money faster.
In the internet era, companies mainly paid bandwidth costs, while most computing power sat on users’ devices. That made near-unlimited expansion possible. In the AI era, every user served comes with a fairly high cost.
On the earnings call, an analyst asked whether Tencent’s AI products would pursue a large DAU scale or focus more on serving a small group of heavy users with strong willingness and ability to pay.
Lau said high-value use cases matter at least as much as, if not more than, simply increasing DAU and user time. The difference between the AI and internet eras, he said, is that AI is about intelligence, and the value of intelligence is reflected in how much people are willing to pay for it. In AI, every service delivered carries meaningful variable cost.
Doubao, <a href="/company/bytedance">ByteDance’s</a> AI assistant, is already trying to make money through advertising, e-commerce, and paid subscriptions. For now, however, a fully workable business model does not exist.
Lau believes the subscription model will not be especially large in China, but that subscriptions are still necessary. He said e-commerce or advertising as monetization methods remain very early, even in the US, where eCPM (effective cost per mille) is much higher. Leading players have not yet built a robust advertising model, he said, so advertising monetization will be a long-term process and most likely a supplement to subscriptions.
Tencent is not rushing to set an ARR (annual recurring revenue) target for AI agent products because the field is changing too quickly. Mitchell said Tencent could set a target today and be off by an order of magnitude a year later in either direction, because usage demand is so dynamic. For now, the company is focused less on hitting specific ARR targets and more on building the right products.
For Tencent, the era of cost reduction and efficiency gains appears to be giving way to the cash burn of AI. The company succeeded in the previous internet cycle, but a new challenge is directly ahead. The wealth, talent, and businesses Tencent accumulated in the previous era are all being rebuilt through AI.
Judging from its share price performance, the market is somewhat nervous about that.
Mitchell said Tencent has a cash-generative business and a substantial investment portfolio, and is accelerating the process of monetizing part of that portfolio. That should allow it to sustain buybacks through the rest of the year. “We believe our share price is somewhat dislocated, and therefore it’s an opportune time for buybacks,” he said.
KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3808710182034944">article</a> was written by Wang Yuchan for 36Kr.
Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.81 = USD 1 based on estimates as of May 21, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.

Tencent is putting AI into everything, but when will it pay off?

Artificial Intelligence

… more capital and talent into this sector.
<h3>36Kr: Over the past few years, there have been repeated claims that this industry is in a bubble and will soon cool down. How do you see this?</h3>
YY: Claims that the industry is “cooling” have existed for years. But we believe the long march of embodied intelligence has only just taken its first step. The industry is far from convergence.
This year, some robotics companies are going public, which will actually be a major positive for the industry. Just like large model companies going public this year, it will stimulate more capital to pay attention to and invest in the sector, making the whole ecosystem more prosperous, rather than creating so-called capital siphoning.
KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3804282431659779">article</a> was written by Qiu Xiaofen for 36Kr.

Vbot’s home robotics push starts with a quadruped bot and RMB 500 million in funding

Robotics

36Kr has exclusively learned from multiple independent sources that Nowwa Coffee’s 2025 revenue reached RMB 700–800 million (USD 102.8–117.4 million), with profit of about RMB 60 million (USD 8.8 million).
It was a year of rapid expansion for Nowwa. From more than 1,200 stores at the end of 2024, it surpassed 10,000 stores by the end of 2025, making it the fourth coffee brand in China to cross that threshold.
Unlike its rivals, most Nowwa stores use a shop-in-shop model. Nowwa partner Li Lixu recently said publicly that about 80% of Nowwa outlets are shop-in-shops, while around 20% are standalone stores. A shop-in-shop refers to a model that embeds coffee operations inside convenience stores, internet cafes, gas stations, and other locations. Partner stores provide the space and staff, while Nowwa provides materials and equipment. The former earns incremental revenue from the coffee business, while Nowwa profits from ingredient margins.
“For convenience stores, first, they do not need to purchase heavy assets. Second, they can use Nowwa’s online traffic to sell coffee. Third, for some convenience store chains that already had coffee operations but poor sales, it also allows them to reuse idle assets such as coffee machines,” one industry insider told 36Kr.
<figure id="attachment_162076" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-162076" style="width: 405px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-162076" src="https://console.rwegrgdf5.eu.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Nowwa-Coffee-Nowwa-Express.jpg" alt="Photo shows a Nowwa Express kiosk inside a convenience store, based on the shop-in-shop model." width="405" height="480" srcset="https://console.rwegrgdf5.eu.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Nowwa-Coffee-Nowwa-Express.jpg 1080w, https://console.rwegrgdf5.eu.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Nowwa-Coffee-Nowwa-Express-608x720.jpg 608w, https://console.rwegrgdf5.eu.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Nowwa-Coffee-Nowwa-Express-864x1024.jpg 864w, https://console.rwegrgdf5.eu.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Nowwa-Coffee-Nowwa-Express-768x910.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 405px) 100vw, 405px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-162076" class="wp-caption-text">A Nowwa Express kiosk inside a convenience store, based on the shop-in-shop model. Photo source: 36Kr.</figcaption></figure>
For Nowwa, lower store opening costs have also become a key factor in breaking through the 10,000-store mark.
But quality control is also the weakness of the shop-in-shop model. Under this model, Nowwa does not hire dedicated store staff. Instead, it uses the convenience store’s existing employees, who can start after training.
Another industry insider pointed to FamilyMart’s self-operated Par Cafe as an example. FamilyMart’s coffee business sells only two categories, Americano and latte, and uses prefilled ice cups. For store staff, the process requires only simple steps such as adding milk and pouring coffee concentrate.
“But Nowwa has more SKUs, including fruit coffee products. With the same convenience store staff operating the business, Nowwa requires them to remember more formulas. And because Nowwa cannot directly manage store staff, quality control and shelf-life risks are greater,” he said.
It is not that Nowwa does not want to add more staff. Its existing cost structure does not allow it. At present, Nowwa settles with franchisees uniformly at beverage cost plus RMB 2 (USD 0.3) and also pays a certain amount of monthly rent. But a person familiar with the matter told 36Kr that the monthly rent Nowwa pays to some convenience store chains is “very low, almost negligible.”
In other words, franchisees earn RMB 2 in profit from each cup of coffee. An employee at a convenience store that works with Nowwa told 36Kr that the store’s daily coffee sales are around 80 cups. At that level, it is not economical for the franchisee to add another coffee staff member. When existing staff are reused, they may struggle to handle concentrated order volumes. On social media, many users have commented on inconsistent product standards at Nowwa.
For coffee brands, shop-in-shops are not new. In 2024, Cotti Coffee also tried the model and once announced an ambitious target of 50,000 stores in three years. But the model soon generated controversy because some stores were roughly operated and locations were chosen casually. Cotti has since suspended shop-in-shop recruitment.
Nowwa also wavered over the shop-in-shop model before committing to it. In 2022, it slowed its shop-in-shop push and tried to expand through standalone franchised stores, but the results were limited. That was also the year China’s RMB 9.9 (USD 1.5) coffee price war began. As competition intensified, entry costs became too high. Amid heavy subsidies and low prices, Nowwa struggled to find expansion opportunities. Only after restarting its shop-in-shop push did it surpass 10,000 stores.
whereRelatedArticle
Li once said that, compared with Japan and Taiwan, convenience store coffee already has mature consumption habits. Consumers are buying caffeine and convenience, making it category-driven consumption. In China, however, consumer education around freshly made coffee was largely completed by brands such as Starbucks, so consumption is more brand-driven. This is also one reason convenience stores choose Nowwa rather than operating coffee businesses themselves.
In other words, Nowwa wants to brand convenience store coffee. But to sustain that story, it may have to answer two questions.
First, is the shop-in-shop model inherently at odds with building a branded experience, making it harder to build recognition when users buy incidentally rather than seek out the brand?
Second, in Japan, convenience stores have an infrastructure-like presence and account for more than 65% of freshly made coffee sales, making them the dominant channel. But in China, the main channel for coffee remains grab-and-go stores, with convenience stores serving only as a supplement. Could that limit Nowwa’s ceiling?
If the model is mainly about helping convenience stores earn extra money from coffee, Nowwa may look less like a consumer brand and more like a channel operator.
KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3800419059555584">article</a> was written by Zhong Yixuan for 36Kr.
Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.81 = USD 1 based on estimates as of May 21, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.

After crossing 10,000 stores, Nowwa Coffee faces the hard part

Retail

Consumer Economy

Coffee

… Excluding losses from the quick commerce business, EBITA was stable YoY. In addition, first-quarter cash flow turned negative again, with heavy investment causing a net outflow of RMB 17.3 billion (USD 2.5 billion).
Taotian Group’s customer management revenue (CMR) has returned to normal growth. Under the new reporting basis, the e-commerce business launched a plan to return part of marketing expenses to merchants if they meet gross merchandise value (GMV) targets. Previously, merchants’ advertising fees and commissions were included in CMR, while marketing expenses were included in market spending. In the first quarter, China e-commerce CMR grew 1%, but on a comparable basis, actual YoY growth was 8%, exceeding market expectations. This was mainly due to delayed Lunar New Year stockpiling and continued revenue growth from Taobao Shangou.
Taobao Shangou’s path to positive unit economics depends on continually reducing costs and expanding merchant revenue.
At present, Taobao Shangou has made reasonable adjustments to both user and rider subsidies. After a year of user accumulation, Alibaba’s subsidy focus has shifted toward users with higher average order values. Rider subsidies have also been adjusted based on order volume and business layout. Compared with last year, more Shangou rider capacity will support retail businesses such as four-hour and half-day delivery.
Some leading merchants now have a strong willingness to pay because early adopters have already seen results. Take Decathlon as an example. Since launching a direct sales plus in-store pickup model on Taobao Shangou, its average daily order volume has reportedly exceeded 5,000, and peak order volume during major promotions can reach 20,000. Its single-store fulfillment radius has expanded from three kilometers to ten kilometers, and sales have already surpassed RMB 100 million (USD 14.7 million).
This is closely tied to Taobao Shangou’s push into retail. Since the end of last year, Shangou has expanded its retail footprint, increasing investment in formats such as warehouses built for rapid local fulfillment, Tmall Supermarket, and Hema front warehouses. A person close to Shangou told 36Kr that fresh groceries still account for 70–80% of its retail business, but its target this year is to increase the combined share of daily necessities, beauty products, alcoholic beverages, and healthcare products to about 50%. The SKU count for each of these categories will increase by more than 1,000.
The next step is to make those retail categories easier to discover and convert. That is where Qwen enters the e-commerce story. In the same week Alibaba released its earnings, it announced that Qwen had been integrated into the Taobao app across all e-commerce categories. Taobao also launched an AI shopping assistant powered by Qwen, which will provide services such as outfit styling and price comparison. The integration came only one quarter after Qwen was connected to Taobao Shangou, making it a relatively fast rollout compared with other AI e-commerce efforts globally.
36Kr has learned that Alibaba’s approach to consumer-facing AI differs from the more sales-driven orientation of AI in the business-facing market. For B2C use cases, Alibaba will evaluate token consumption, user volume, and ecosystem synergy together. Rather than focusing only on consumer user numbers, it is also examining how products such as Qwen can coordinate with other business segments inside Alibaba’s ecosystem.
The main external question around the integration of e-commerce and Qwen is whether Alibaba can succeed where major US technology companies have struggled.
In AI-driven e-commerce, Alibaba’s advantage is that it has both a leading open-source large model family, Qwen, and a sizable e-commerce platform, Taobao. It can pursue deeper integration without cross-company coordination. This is also why, after Alibaba’s market value was overtaken by <a href="/company/pinduoduo">Pinduoduo</a> in 2023, Jack Ma could write confidently on Alibaba’s internal forum:
<blockquote>“The era of AI e-commerce has just begun. It is an opportunity and also a challenge for everyone.”</blockquote>
Major US tech companies have faced a structural constraint: few possess both advanced large model capabilities and a large e-commerce ecosystem. OpenAI and Google do not have e-commerce ecosystems, while Amazon has lagged behind leading AI model developers. To explore new opportunities and expand its business-facing services, OpenAI turned toward Amazon and loosened its tie with Microsoft, shifting to a nonexclusive partnership.
But the window may not stay open for long. ByteDance is putting pressure on Alibaba from the other direction, through Doubao and Douyin E-commerce, whose integration is expected to deepen. For Alibaba, the challenge is not just improving Taobao with Qwen, but doing so before ByteDance narrows the gap.
KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3807527591058948">article</a> was written by Peng Qian for 36Kr.
Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.81 = USD 1 based on estimates as of May 21, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.

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