Xiaomi Raises Smartphone Shipment Target
On July 21, supply chain sources told NUPIAO that Xiaomi has raised its 2026 annual smartphone shipment target from around 90 million units to 110 million units, an increase of roughly 16%. The boost mainly comes from low-end models.
An insider close to Xiaomi told us that this upward revision is driven by the company’s belief that the current storage market is poised for a turnaround. After facing shortages and rising costs of upstream storage chips earlier this year, Xiaomi had actually lowered its targets twice.
Meituan Customer Service Debunks “Rider Delivery Fee: Bachelor’s $8, Master’s $15, PhD $88”
Recently, an image claiming that delivery fees vary based on riders’ education levels—labeling services like “Bachelor’s delivery,” “Master’s premium delivery,” and “PhD luxury delivery” with different prices—went viral on social media. On July 21, NUPIAO reporters confirmed that the image originated from a social media account called “If the Official Version Launched.” Scrolling through this blogger’s page, they found other AI-generated images, such as “ride-hailing apps letting you choose a driver’s background.” All these posts are AI-generated content, inventing fake app features like checking who viewed your Moments or showing estimated fuel costs on navigation maps. While these posts are tagged with “#AI,” they don’t clearly state the AI creation process or that they’re fictional. Reporters also noticed that some AI-generated content on these platforms lacks clear system identification.
A Meituan customer service representative told us that the platform has repeatedly denied such rumors. They explained that riders’ education levels must be verified through official channels like the China Higher Education Student Information and Career Center (CHESICC) or the Ministry of Education’s website, based on the certificates submitted by the riders themselves. During the registration process, Meituan doesn’t require education verification and simply doesn’t have access to such data.
Tencent Cloud: Massively Deploying Domestic Computing Power and NPO Super Nodes
On July 21, a senior Tencent Cloud executive stated at a World Artificial Intelligence Conference sub-forum that to minimize inference costs, the company will massively deploy domestic computing power. They also plan to roll out NPO (near-package optics) super nodes by Q4 2026 and called for unified industry standards for NPO both domestically and internationally.
Samsung Electronics Expands NAND Supply Cooperation with NVIDIA, Accelerating V9 and V10 Flash Memory Plans
On July 21, reports emerged that Samsung Electronics is deepening its NAND flash memory partnership with NVIDIA. Building on existing collaborations in DRAM, HBM (High Bandwidth Memory), and foundry services, Samsung is now strengthening their storage chip supply relationship. According to sources, Samsung has started mass-producing its tenth-generation V-NAND (V10) and supplying it to NVIDIA. Simultaneously, the company is ramping up production of ninth-generation V-NAND (V9) and advancing development of the eleventh-generation, 500-layer V-NAND (V11). Samsung currently has a monthly production capacity of over 100,000 V-NAND wafers, with about 60% allocated to V9 products.
Zhang Yiming Donates a Total of 1 Billion Yuan to Support Education and Healthcare in His Hometown, Longyan, Fujian
According to the Longyan Municipal Education Bureau, on July 21, 2026, ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming made an additional donation of 200 million yuan to the Fangmei Education Development Fund. This sum supports astronomy education, student interest cultivation, educational informatization, and improvements to school infrastructure in Yongding District and Shanghang County. He also added 100 million yuan to subsidize local medical staff training and equipment upgrades. The fund has now been upgraded to the Fangmei Public Welfare Fund, expanding its scope from “education development” to cover “education development, healthcare, and other charitable projects.” With this latest 300 million yuan injection, the fund’s total size has reached 1 billion yuan.
Xiaomi Reports a Security Incident: White Hat Hacker’s Bug Bounty Revoked
On July 20, the Xiaomi Security Center released a notice titled “MiSRC Violation Incident Handling Announcement,” detailing a serious breach. After an investigation by their security team, it was determined that on June 26, 2026, the team responded to a widespread intrusion incident. That evening, a white hat hacker named Liu** submitted a vulnerability report through the MiSRC platform that was closely tied to the intrusion. His actions were deemed to constitute substantive security harm, going far beyond normal vulnerability testing. As a result, all rewards for this submission were canceled, and the vulnerability won’t count toward any honors or rankings.
TSMC Reportedly Plans to Raise Foundry Prices by Up to 10% Starting in 2027
On July 21, reports indicated that TSMC is planning to adjust its chip foundry prices starting in 2027, with an estimated increase of up to 10%. This adjustment mainly covers advanced process technologies, driven by higher overseas plant operation costs, ongoing global supply chain pressures, and increased R&D and capital expenditures for AI chip high-computing demands. TSMC has already begun discussing new pricing plans for 2027 capacity reservations with key clients.
Ant International Closes Approximately $1.2 Billion Series A Funding
On July 21, Ant International announced the completion of its Series A equity funding round, raising approximately $1.2 billion. Existing investors, including Ant Group, Alibaba Group, and several prominent international investment institutions, participated in this round. The funds will be used to accelerate Ant International’s global expansion and drive innovation in areas like merchant payments and account management.
