World’s Largest EVTOL ✈️ Burger King China JV 🍔 NEV Exports Up 70% ⚡

2026-02-09 | subscribe | homepage

Welcome back to China Insights Weekly. Here are some of the key highlights for this week’s edition:

• Tencent tests AI-powered group chats, pushing social use cases

• China’s battery giants widen lead, CATL and BYD top 55% share

• Inland provinces drive trade growth, EVs, batteries, solar surge

• Chinese chip toolmakers break into top tier, Naura climbs to global top five

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🚀 Headlines

Chinese PE firm CPE gets majority stake in new Burger King China JV for USD 350 million (link)

Chinese private equity firm CPE has acquired an 83% majority stake in Burger King China through a USD 350 million joint venture with parent company Restaurants Brands International, which retains 17% and a board seat. The newly established entity, Burger King China, secured exclusive 20-year development rights for the brand across mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. The partners aim to expand Burger King's China network from approximately 1,250 current locations to over 4,000 by 2035, with the USD 350 million investment remaining within the JV to fund growth. Founded in 2008, CPE manages around CNY10 billion (USD 1.4 billion) in investments across technology, healthcare, and consumer services, including portfolio companies such as Mixue Group and Aier Eye Hospital.

Tencent tests Yuanbao Groups for AI-powered social interaction (link)

Tencent has launched Yuanbao Groups (元宝派), a beta social feature for its AI assistant Yuanbao, enabling users to create or join groups and invite friends via WeChat and QQ for AI-powered group chats, collaborative tasks, and interactive entertainment. The feature allows users to @Yuanbao to ask questions, summarize conversations, set reminders, and facilitate fitness or study check-ins, with upcoming "Watch Together" and "Listen Together" capabilities for real-time media sharing. The move addresses persistent challenges in AI applications around user retention and limited usage scenarios, positioning AI as a "social lubricant" for both practical needs and emotional connection rather than purely one-on-one tool-based interactions. Tencent announced it will distribute CNY1 billion (USD 140 million) in cash red envelopes through the Yuanbao app starting February 1 to drive Lunar New Year engagement and traffic to the new social feature. Yuanbao, launched in May 2024 as Tencent's standalone AI assistant built on its Hunyuan large language model, represents the company's effort to integrate AI deeper into social networking scenarios.

China accounted for 35.6% of the global automotive market in 2025, a new record high (link)

China captured a record 35.6% of the global automotive market in 2025, selling 34.35 million units—up 9% year-on-year—against total worldwide sales of 96.47 million vehicles, according to China Passenger Car Association data. This marks a steady climb from 30% in 2016-2018 and 34.2% in 2024. Among the top 10 global automakers, three Chinese companies ranked: BYD (5th, 5.4%), Geely (7th, 4.6%), and Chery (10th, 3.7%). China also maintained its position as the world's largest vehicle exporter for the third consecutive year, shipping 8.32 million units—a 30% increase—with new energy vehicle exports surging 70% to 3.43 million units, though average export prices declined to USD 16,000.

CATL and BYD continued to lead global EV battery market in 2025 (link)

Global EV battery installations reached 1,187 GWh in 2025, representing a 31.7% year-on-year increase from 901.4 GWh, according to SNE Research data. Chinese manufacturers CATL and BYD maintained market dominance with a combined 55.6% share, totaling 659.5 GWh. CATL retained its position as the world's leading supplier with 464.7 GWh installed—a 35.7% increase—capturing 39.2% market share, up from 38.0% in 2024 and making it the only provider globally exceeding 30% share. BYD ranked second with 194.8 GWh, up 27.7% year-on-year, though its market share declined slightly to 16.4% from 16.9% in 2024. South Korea's LG Energy Solution placed third with 108.8 GWh and 9.2% share, followed by China's CALB at 5.3% and Gotion High-tech at 4.5%. Chinese manufacturers secured six of the top ten positions, with Eve Energy and Svolt Energy ranking eighth and tenth, respectively, with market shares of 2.6% and 2.4%.

China’s central and western provinces drove exports in 2025 (link)

China's inland central and western provinces drove 2025 export growth, with nine of the top ten fastest-growing regions located outside coastal manufacturing belts. Xinjiang led with 19.9% foreign trade expansion, followed by Shaanxi (18.5%) and Hubei (18.2%), while growth centered on the "new three" categories—NEVs, lithium batteries, and solar products. Chongqing reported a 73.5% surge in these sectors. Hubei’s lithium battery exports jumped 163%. Henan’s NEV/battery/solar exports hit CNY 33.6 billion (up 1.8 times). And Anhui became the first province to export over 1.2 million vehicles annually. Despite this interior shift, coastal provinces including Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang maintained value dominance, accounting for CNY 34.1 trillion—more than half of China’s total foreign trade.