West Tide | 2026-07-28

🌊 West Tide — Overseas AI News Column by Physix Frontier

Bringing Western trends East, cutting-edge info firsthand.

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I. AI Large Models

1. SoftBank's $40 Billion OpenAI Bridge Loan Adds 21 Syndicate Institutions

• SoftBank's $40 billion bridge loan arranged for its investment in OpenAI added 21 lending institutions during the syndication expansion phase, securing approximately $7 billion in total shares; Abu Dhabi First Bank, GIC, and Standard Chartered each committed nearly $1 billion, while the remaining $33 billion is still held by initial underwriters. This loan is one of the largest bridge financings in Asia-Pacific history, with an interest rate of approx. SOFR+250bp (~6.14%).
• Source: Bloomberg / Zhitong Finance

2. HiDream.ai Completes ¥1.5 Billion Series C Funding, Becoming a Unicorn

• Hefei-based multimodal large model company HiDream.ai completed a ¥1.5 billion Series C round, co-led by Social Security Fund Sichuan Revitalization Sci-Tech Innovation Fund, ICBC Capital, Hongyi Asset Management, etc., introducing film industry capital such as Shangying New Vision Fund and Huace Film & TV. Cumulative financing exceeded ¥2.1 billion in the last three months, with valuation surpassing $1 billion. The company is advancing R&D on native omni-modal world models, with products covering 100+ countries globally.
• Source: Xinhua Net / QbitAI

3. Zhipu Stock Drops Over 70% from Peak; Trillion-Market-Cap Bubble Sparks Industry Reflection

• Impacted by Kimi K3 (a 2.8 trillion parameter open-source model topping Code Arena with 1679 points), Zhipu plummeted over 44% cumulatively in two trading days, with market cap falling from HK$1 trillion to approx. HK$470 billion. The market is re-examining the scarcity premium of the "first large model stock"—the company's annual revenue was only ¥724 million, with a net loss of ¥4.718 billion, and its price-to-sales ratio once exceeded 400x. Participants in the HK$31.375 billion placement have already suffered unrealized losses exceeding 40%.
• Source: Bowang Finance / HKEX Quotes

4. Dense Financing in AI Memory Infrastructure Track: MemTensor Receives Hundred-Million-Level Investment from Huawei Hubble et al.

• MemTensor completed a hundred-million-level Pre-A round, jointly invested by Huawei Hubble, Honor Strategic Investment, SenseTime Guoxiang Capital, Shenzhen Venture Capital, etc., positioning itself as long-term intelligent infrastructure with self-developed MemOS memory operating system; concurrently, Red Bear AI received hundreds of millions in Series A+, with post-money valuation near ¥3 billion. "AI Memory" is becoming a new foundational capability track.
• Source: Xiaguang AI Lab

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II. AI Software

5. Rainboat Tech Secures $80 Million Angel Round Led by Sequoia China + IDG for AI Video Agents

• Rainboat Tech, focusing on full-process AI video creation, completed an $80 million angel round led by Sequoia China and IDG Capital. Its products adapt to overseas short videos, self-media, and brand marketing scenarios, making it one of the largest projects among this wave of outbound AI applications.
• Source: Xiaguang AI Lab

6. Meshy Raises Nearly $400 Million in Series B; AI 3D Generation Valuation Exceeds Ten Billion

• US-based AI 3D generation company Meshy completed a nearly $400 million Series B round, participated by cross-border dual-currency funds including IDG, Matrix Partners, and Sequoia China. Its valuation broke through the ten-billion-RMB level, establishing it as a top target in the global AI 3D generation track.
• Source: Xiaguang AI Lab

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III. Robotics

7. ATOMS Raises $1.7 Billion Led by a16z; Physical Automation Track Explodes

• US physical automation company ATOMS completed a $1.7 billion equity financing led by a16z, with participation from Uber, Bain Capital, etc., covering heavy industry, dining, and logistics full-domain physical automation scenarios. This is the largest single financing in the current global robotics track.
• Source: Xiaguang AI Lab

8. Domestic Biomimetic/Specialty Robots See Dense Financing: Future Not Far ~¥1 Billion; ShouXing/YueQuan/ShiHe Each Hundreds of Millions

• Future Not Far Robot: Pre-A round ~¥1 billion, C-end home general robot, completed real-world tests in 500+ households
• ShouXing Tech: Series A2 hundreds of millions, led by CITIC Jinshi + Geely Capital, high-end super-biomimetic humanoid robots
• YueQuan Biomimetics: Pre-A+ round hundreds of millions, full-stack self-developed artificial muscles and biomimetic dexterous hands
• ShiHe Robot: Series C hundreds of millions, high-altitude specialty robots landing in shipbuilding/petrochemical/energy scenarios
• Capital Consensus: AI is moving from pure software to deployable physical intelligence; biomimetic and specialty robots are becoming main tracks for domestic brands going global.
• Source: Xiaguang AI Lab / China.org.cn

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IV. Autonomous Driving

9. France Publicly Opposes Tesla FSD Activation in EU; Musk Warns It Will Cause More Casualties

• French Transport Minister explicitly opposed the current version of FSD being used on EU roads due to insufficient safety assessment, marking the first time an EU member state government publicly opposed the pan-European rollout of the technology. Previously, five countries including Netherlands and Belgium had temporarily approved FSD. The EU plans to vote on pan-European rollout this autumn; Musk stated on X platform that France's stance will lead to more human casualties.
• Source: Phoenix Auto / Wangtongshe

10. 2026 World Intelligent Connected Vehicle Conference Scheduled for October; MIIT to Compile "15th Five-Year" Plan

• The 2026 World Intelligent Connected Vehicle Conference, jointly hosted by MIIT, Ministry of Transport, and Beijing Municipality, will be held in mid-October in Beijing, themed "Gathering Wisdom, Unlimited Connectivity." MIIT revealed it will accelerate the compilation of the "15th Five-Year" plan for intelligent connected new energy vehicles, promoting vehicle-road-cloud integration pilots, L3/L4 production access, and road passage trials. 2026 is defined as the inaugural year for L3 mass production and accelerated commercialization of L4.
• Source: CCTV News / Global Times

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Today's Industry Judgment

Capital focus shifts from "model capabilities" to "physical intelligence + industrial implementation." This week saw billions flowing into the global AI primary market, but distribution is highly concentrated: Overseas bets heavily on industrial automation (ATOMS $1.7B) and AI materials (CuspAI $450M); domestically, investments focus on biomimetic robots (Future Not Far ~¥1B) and AI memory infrastructure—financing heat for pure model layers has clearly cooled. The halving of Zhipu's market cap marks the end of the era of "large model scarcity premium," with open-source models (Kimi K3) reshaping secondary market valuation logic. In autonomous driving, policy acceleration continues (MIIT 15th Five-Year Plan + L3 mass production), but regulatory divergence on FSD in Europe indicates that global implementation still faces geopolitical maneuvering.

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This briefing is compiled and edited by the Physix Frontier team. Original sources are noted in each item.