Record high foreclosures, Court rules in favor of CATL against CALB, 300 companies sign up for Ernie Bot

Foreclosures in China reached a record high of 606,000 properties in 2022, 447,000 more than the previous year and a year-on-year increase of 35.7%, according to the real estate research agency CIH. The total value of properties put up for auction after foreclosure in 2022 was about 1.4 trillion yuan ($204.06 billion), although only 118,000 foreclosed properties were sold for a total value of 271.60 billion yuan ($39.58 billion).

Yesterday, a Fuzhou court ruled in favor of China’s biggest electric vehicle battery company CATL against CALB, the country’s third-largest battery maker, drawing to a close a long-running patent infringement case. CALB was ordered to pay CATL compensation of 35.8 million yuan ($5.21 million). CATL first sued CALB in 2021. On November 30 2022, the Fuzhou court ordered the recently IPOd CALB to pay compensation of 2.63 million yuan ($374,642) to CATL. CALB appealed the ruling, but has now been forced to pay an even higher amount.

About 300 companies have signed up to join Baidu’s AI chatbot ecosystem for Ernie Bot (文心一言), Baidu’s version of ChatGPT set to launch in March. The companies operate in various industries such as the internet, media, finance, insurance, automobiles, and enterprise software. The latest partners include Neusoft 东软集团 and Shanghai Newtouch 新致软件 (software), Geely (automobiles), Midea and Hisense (smart home appliances), the Guangzhou Data Exchange (data management), and iQiyi (online content).