Porsche Cuts 5,000 More Jobs and Returns to Combustion Cars as Tencent Plans $5 Billion Bond and OpenAI Launches GPT-6

Tencent Holdings is considering issuing up to $5 billion in offshore bonds, people familiar with the matter said on Oct. 8, according to Kuaikeji and ITHome. The bonds may be denominated in U.S. dollars and offshore yuan and could be completed as early as this month; Tencent did not comment on the plan. The move follows a June sale of long-term dollar and offshore yuan bonds that raised nearly $4.7 billion, its largest single issuance since 2020. Tencent has about $22 billion in outstanding offshore bonds, with no public bond maturities this year and a dollar bond due in 2028. In the quarter ended June, capital spending on AI projects and computing rose 176% to 52.8 billion yuan.

Alibaba Chairman Joseph Tsai said on Oct. 7 in Turin at the Wave by Vento conference that open-source AI is Europe's best route to avoid depending on U.S. or Chinese technology, according to ITHome and Kuaikeji. He called on Europe to build its own computing infrastructure to train and run models locally, warning that a change in government could allow a supplier to cut off technology. Tsai compared open-source AI to a top university that opens to the world and offers scholarships, describing it as a philosophical choice by Chinese companies. He said U.S. closed-source labs have stopped publishing papers because they do not want to share.

OpenAI made GPT-6 available to all ChatGPT users worldwide, according to Leiphone.

Butterfly Effect, the parent of AI agent startup Manus, has raised more than $500 million, or about 3.352 billion yuan, in the largest single funding round for a Chinese native agent startup, according to Sanyan Technology and Zhidongxi. The round was led by Boyu Capital and IDG Capital, with existing investors Tencent, Sequoia China and ZhenFund participating. On the same day, Manus posted 17 new positions in Beijing spanning product, research, operations and growth. Manus said on Sept. 1 that it had resumed independent operations. Less than a month earlier, Tencent, ZhenFund, HSG and other existing shareholders bought Manus equity back from Meta at a $2 billion valuation. Tencent took over Benchmark's stake and became Manus's largest shareholder, according to the report.

Xiaomi said locked orders for its Pengcheng series exceeded 70,000 in the first 30 days after launch, from Sept. 7 to Oct. 7, according to Kuaikeji. That implies more than 2,300 orders a day. The series includes four extended-range SUVs: the N70 Pro at 209,900 yuan, N70 Max at 239,900 yuan, N90 Max at 269,900 yuan and N90 Max Explorer at 299,900 yuan. Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun thanked customers on social media.

AI 3D multimodal model company Meshy ranked No. 31 on Andreessen Horowitz's 'Top 50 Consumer AI Apps by Monthly Revenue,' the only AI 3D company on the list, according to Leiphone. The list, which includes OpenAI, Anthropic, Canva, Superhuman and Higgsfield, tracks which AI products users pay for. Meshy said its annual recurring revenue has passed $100 million, and in July 2026 it closed a nearly $400 million Series B at a post-money valuation above 10 billion yuan. Founder Ethan Hu, who holds a PhD from MIT, has built a service with more than 15 million registered users worldwide.

Tian Keyu, a former ByteDance intern, has raised nearly $30 million for a stealth-mode world model startup from investors including Five Elements Capital and IDG Capital, according to Phoenix Technology. The funding values the company at $200 million post-money. In 2024, Tian drew controversy at ByteDance after being accused of tampering with code and attacking a team's model-training task over dissatisfaction with resource allocation, causing resource losses. ByteDance sued him for 8 million yuan and said the intern had been dismissed, while calling reports of more than 8,000 cards and tens of millions of dollars in losses severely exaggerated.

OFILM has become the exclusive optical supplier for the main cameras and 200-megapixel periscope telephoto modules on Huawei's Pura 90 Pro and Pura 90 Pro Max, according to Lanjing Technology. It will also supply an external telephoto imaging system. The Pura 90 Pro Max carries a large 200-megapixel telephoto sensor with an F2.6 aperture, optical image stabilization and telephoto macro, supporting 4x optical zoom and 100x digital zoom. OFILM previously supplied main camera modules for several Pura 80 models and is also a core supplier to DJI and has won a periscope telephoto order for the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max, the report said.

China FAW, Toyota and GAC signed a new strategic cooperation framework agreement on Oct. 8, according to First Financial. GAC plans to issue shares to buy the 50% stake in FAW Toyota held by China FAW. After the deal, FAW Toyota will remain an independent operating entity, and China FAW will become an important strategic shareholder of GAC. FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota will jointly handle functions including research and development, procurement, production and sales.

Doubao has launched as a native app on Huawei's HarmonyOS PC, available for download from the HarmonyOS app market, according to Phoenix Technology. The first version includes the Doubao-Seed-2.1 Pro and Turbo models and is designed around Chat and Work modes. In Work mode, users can set goals, attach files, create projects, connect local folders and run scheduled tasks, with capabilities for deep research, PPT generation and image generation. HarmonyOS PC does not run Windows, and mainstream applications must be rebuilt natively; the arrival of Doubao fills the ecosystem's most visible AI assistant gap.

XPeng Group named its Robotaxi business XPENG YOYO in English and Xiaopeng Youyou in Chinese, according to Leiphone. The company launched a Robotaxi page on its website and a YOYO autonomous ride-hailing mini program, and will later open public trials through invitation codes.

China Telecom's Dujiangyan branch denied an employee's allegation of forced unpaid overtime during the 2026 Mid-Autumn and National Day holidays, according to Sina Technology. The employee said on the Sichuan government inquiry platform that the company required all staff to work through the holidays, rejected leave and time-off requests, and refused triple pay or compensatory rest. The employee described the practice as long-standing and systemic. A branch official said the company had canceled related activities, did not require holiday work, treated overtime as voluntary and had paid triple wages.

A cage fight billed as the world's first human-robot match in San Francisco was halted by California regulators after footage spread online, according to Kuaikeji. REK organized the event, in which influencer Frankie LaPena fought three robots. A small robot was quickly kicked down. A modified Zhongqing T800, about 1.8 meters tall and nearly 90 kilograms with a kick force of up to 385 kilograms, kicked LaPena into the cage wall; LaPena later pushed it down to win the round. A final 'Predator' robot exhausted him and won. Regulators said the event was an unapproved cage fight, while REK's head said no law specifically bans human-robot fighting.

Editor's Summary

Porsche is deepening job cuts and returning to combustion-engine models as it tries to restore profitability. Tencent is weighing a new offshore bond sale to fund AI investment, while Alibaba, Manus, OpenAI and other technology companies advanced AI funding and product rollouts. Chinese corporate, supply-chain and regulatory developments also included a halted human-robot fight and a dispute over holiday overtime at China Telecom.