Tesla is building a new battery factory in Shanghai

The electric car manufacturer wants to significantly expand the business with the “mega packs”. Also: Samsung is reducing its chip production and Sensetime is introducing a ChatGPT competitor.

Good morning! Even during the weekend, work in the digital scene continued in many places.

The top topics:

Tesla wants to open a new factory in Shanghai that can produce 10,000 so-called “megapacks” per year. The tech group announced this in a tweet on Sunday. A Megapack is a powerful lithium-ion battery that stores energy, helps stabilize the power grid, and prevents power outages. Tesla’s main business is selling electric cars, but CEO Elon Musk says its solar and battery business is set to expand to a similar size.

Tesla currently has a factory in Lathrop, California, which the company’s website says can also produce 10,000 megapacks a year. In a tweet, Musk explained that the new Chinese factory will complement production at the California factory. Tesla plans to start building the factory in the third quarter of this year, according to Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua. Production is scheduled to start in mid-2024. [Mehr bei CNBC, Wall Street Journal, Manager Magazin und The Information]

On Founder Scene: The 13th season of the start-up show has been running for a good week “The Lion’s Den” on German television – and two new lions take a seat on the famous armchairs. One of them is Tillman Schulz. At just 33, he’s the youngest “Stammlion” ever on the show. In the current podcast episode, he reveals how he did it. [Mehr bei Gründerszene]

And here are the other headlines of the night and the past few days:

Samsung announced that it would cut memory chip production “significantly” due to falling demand. First-quarter profits for the world’s largest chipmaker fell 96 percent to a 14-year low. The South Korean company’s semiconductor division suffered billions of dollars in losses in the first three months of this year due to subdued global demand. The trend should continue in the second quarter. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt, Financial Times und Manager Magazin]

Ex-TwitterCEO Parag Agrawal and two other former executives at the group, former chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde and former chief financial officer Ned Segal, are suing the Elon Musk-led social media platform. Twitter is said to have failed to pay more than $1 million in personal legal costs, including costs related to a US Department of Justice investigation. The trio allege Twitter has “refused to honor its obligations and pay bills” after personally incurring “significant costs” in lawsuits and investigations related to their past positions. [Mehr bei Bloomberg und Financial Times]

The Chinese company Sensetime introduced a range of new Artificial Intelligence (AI) services, including the latest challenger to the AI ​​phenomenon ChatGPT – a chatbot called Sensechat. CEO Xu Li demonstrated how Sensechat can use multiple question and answer sessions to tell a story or help with writing computer code. The Shanghai-based company is thus joining the global race to develop artificial intelligence. [Mehr bei Reuters und Bloomberg]

Uber sells 50 percent of a newly created super app unit of its ride-hailing company Careem for USD 400 million to the Emirates Telecommunications Group. Uber bought Middle East-based Careem in 2019. The new entity will handle Careem’s grocery delivery and fintech services, while Uber will retain all of the company’s ride-hailing business. [Mehr bei Reuters, Bloomberg, The Information, Techcrunch und CNBC]

The worldwide computer shipments from Apple according to the market research company IDC, fell by more than 40 percent in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the previous year. All five largest computer manufacturers – Apple, ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo – posted double-digit declines in shipments in the first quarter, driven by weaker demand and ongoing inventory issues. However, Apple’s decline was the sharpest of all. [Mehr bei CNBC, Wall Street Journal und Reuters]

Elon Musk has the W on the shield of the Twitter-Painted the San Francisco HQ and changed it to Titter. In a tweet on Sunday, the social media platform’s CEO posted an image of the sign with the W painted over in white to blend with the background. Musk wrote: “Our landlord at SF HQ says we are required by law to keep the sign as Twitter and can’t remove the ‘W’ so we painted over it the background color. Problem solved!” [Mehr bei Business Insider und Spiegel]

Our reading tip on Gründerszene: The Berlin startup Neggst has developed a plant-based egg with a white shell. A novelty on the market for vegan egg substitutes. Investors like Janna Ensthaler are already on board. [Mehr bei Gründerszene]

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Have a good start into the shortened working week!

Your Gründerszene editors