Welcome back to China Insights Weekly. Here are some of the key takeaways from this edition:
Swiss outdoor equipment specialist Mammut is changing hands, while Chinese investment group CPE expands overseas.
CATL globally captures 39.9% market share, while seven Chinese battery manufacturers collectively hold 72.4% of the market.
Miniso leads retail growth in the US after its revenue jumped 53% to $466 million.
Unused office spaces are being converted into rental apartments, including 744 units in Shenzhen with a 95% occupancy rate.
Top News
Tencent's Hy3 AI model expands globally, developer usage surges 68x (link)
Tencent has expanded the international availability of Hy3, its flagship open-source large language model (LLM), and is trying to attract developers with aggressive pricing. Hy3 has a total of 295 billion parameters, with 21 billion active at any given time, and offers a context window of 256,000 tokens. It is available through WorkBuddy, Tencent Design Miora, and TokenHub services, with WorkBuddy being free to use until August 31st.
Prices on the OpenRouter platform start at $0.1288 per million input tokens and $0.5336 per million output tokens, which is below DeepSeek's base prices. Developer usage of the model through its API – a software interface that applications use to call the model – has increased 68x since its international launch.
The Hy3 model, led by former OpenAI researcher Yao Shunyu, ranked second on OpenRouter's weekly usage leaderboard on August 9th, just behind the latest DeepSeek V4 Flash model. Tencent is using subsidized access to build its own developer ecosystem and compete with DeepSeek and OpenAI.
Chinese investment group CPE to buy Swiss outdoor brand Mammut (link)
Chinese investment group CPE has agreed to acquire the Swiss outdoor brand Mammut from Jacobs Capital. The transaction is still subject to regulatory approval. Mammut was founded in 1862 and is known for its mountaineering equipment, climbing gear, and technical outdoor apparel. The purchase price was not disclosed.
Jacobs Capital acquired Mammut in 2021 from the Swiss company Bystronic for CHF 218 million (USD 270 million). CPE, which this year took control of Burger King's operations in China, manages private equity assets worth over CNY 150 billion (USD 22.2 billion). Its portfolio includes companies like Mixue, Pop Mart, and Laopu Gold, but Mammut will be its first brand focused on outdoor sports.
CPE plans to collaborate with Mammut's management team on product innovation, brand building, and supply chain optimization in China and the Asia-Pacific region. The transaction will test whether the Chinese investment group can accelerate the growth of this over a century-old Swiss technical brand, which has already changed ownership twice in five years.
CATL further strengthens its dominance in the global electric vehicle battery market (link), NEV vehicles reached a record share of 64.4% in July (link)
Global consumption of electric vehicle batteries reached 608.5 GWh in the first half of 2026, representing a year-on-year increase of 20.0%. CATL remained the dominant force with an installed capacity of 242.7 GWh. This increased by 25.3%, increasing the company's market share from 38.2% last year to 39.9%.
BYD, on the other hand, showed a lackluster performance: its installed capacity only grew by 1.6% to 87.7 GWh, causing its share to fall from 17.0% to 14.4%. Together, these two Chinese giants controlled 54.3% of the market. Among the ten largest manufacturers, seven were Chinese companies, which together held a share of 72.4%.
South Korean LG Energy Solution came in third with 52.6 GWh and an 8.6% share. The most significant growth was seen by the Chinese companies CALB and Gotion High-tech, whose results increased by 39.5% and 43.3%, respectively.
Retail sales of NEV passenger vehicles in China reached 970,000 units in July, with a record expansion rate of 64.4%, compared to 62.8% in June. Retail sales fell year-on-year by 2%, but the decline was milder than the 9.4% decrease in June.
The wholesale volume increased by 24% to 1.463 million vehicles, while the total wholesale sales for the first seven months of the year rose by 8% to 8.251 million units. Production of gasoline-powered light vehicles fell year-on-year by 54% to 422,000 units due to increasing electrification. Total sales of NEV vehicles reached 5.675 million units during the first seven months of the year.
The Chinese chain Miniso has become the fastest-growing retailer in the US (link)
The Chinese lifestyle goods retailer, Miniso, has topped the annual ranking of the fastest-growing retailers in the United States, compiled by the National Retail Federation. The company reported a 53% increase in sales, with its revenue in the US market reaching $466 million.
The company outperformed Dick's Sporting Goods, whose sales rose by 49% to $13.6 billion, and Costco, which ranked 18th with an 8% growth rate and US revenues of $198.7 billion.
The NRF attributed Miniso's success to its affordable lifestyle products, "discovery-based shopping," and expansion in the United States. The retail chain, founded in 2013 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2020, gained popularity through viral collectible surprise boxes and collaborations with brands like Minecraft and My Little Pony. The company's founder, Ye Guofu, has a net worth estimated at $1.6 billion.
China's First Artificial Heart Receives European Union Certification (link)
The Chinese device, Corheart 6, developed by Shenzhen Core Medical, has become the world's first artificial heart to receive CE certification under the strict European Medical Device Regulation (MDR).
The MDR framework, which replaced the previous Medical Devices Directive in 2021, has an approval success rate of less than 60%. Corheart 6 was approved as a bridging solution for transplantation, for myocardial recovery, and as a long-term therapeutic treatment, covering the entire spectrum of clinical needs.
The device weighs only 90 grams and has a diameter of 34 mm. It is the smallest and lightest commercially available, fully magnetically levitating implantable artificial heart in the world. Compared to similar foreign products, it is 30% smaller and 50% lighter.
By the end of the first half of 2026, the number of implants is expected to exceed 1,500 cases in more than 150 hospitals. The two-year survival rate was 86%, with no reported cases of pump thrombosis or device failure.
Tomáš Kučera & Yereth Jansen
China-insights.com/gnews.cz – GH