Amid fast-paced changes that fill the business community with excitement, angst and trepidation, EqualOcean will publish a series of roundup articles to document the major events related to Chinese companies going global every week.
Overview
1. HEYTEA: Overseas Store Count Surges Over 6-Fold in Past Year
2. Tianlala Opens Three New Stores Simultaneously in Bali
3. Amap Launches World's First Map AI Native Agent
4. Apollo Go Forges Strategic Partnership with Lyft
5. PingPong Among First Asian Payment Firms to Support Wero Transactions
6. Ant International's WorldFirst Secures Category A Cross-Border Payment License from Central Bank of Malaysia
7. Over 1,000 Shanghai Enterprises to Expand Markets Through Overseas Exhibitions in Groups
8. OpenAI Officially Launches GPT-5
9. Amazon's Zoox Granted U.S. Approval for Self-Driving Cars
10. Trump Announces US to Impose Tariffs of About 100% on Chips and Semiconductors
Event Highlights & Commentary
1. HEYTEA: Overseas Store Count Surges Over 6-Fold in Past Year
【Event】Recently, Chinese new-style tea drink brand HEYTEA opened a new store on Main Street in Cupertino, California, USA. The city attracts market attention as the headquarters location of Apple Inc.
As of now, Heytea’s overseas presence spans 8 countries and China’s Hong Kong and Macau regions, covering 28 cities globally. Public data shows the brand operates over 30 stores in the U.S., a significant expansion from just 2 stores in early 2024. Its total overseas store count has surpassed 100, marking a 600% growth in the past 12 months.
For regional expansion, HEYTEA primarily targets landmark commercial areas in global core cities, including London, Manchester, and Birmingham in the UK; New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington in the U.S.; Toronto and Vancouver in Canada; and Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane in Australia. Product performance data indicates that its classic line has gained popularity among overseas consumers. Moreover, over 20 region-specific products have been developed, such as "iYerba" (blending yerba mate, kale, and chia seeds). Since 2025, more than 10 popular China-exclusive items like have been introduced overseas.
HEYTEA has established multiple warehouses in the U.S., UK, Australia, and Malaysia to centralize core ingredient supply. In the U.S., it localized procurement of 13 categories (e.g., milk, fruits) via partnerships with suppliers like Sysco and implemented a "regional hub warehouses + forward warehouses" delivery model. For brand collaborations, pop-up events in New York and Beverly Hills in 2024 featured regional exclusives like "California Sunset." Public records confirm consumption by figures such as NBA player Paul George, while artist Lisa mentioned Heytea beverages on social media.
2. Amazon's Zoox Granted U.S. Approval for Self-Driving Cars
【Event】The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced on Wednesday that federal auto safety regulators have granted Amazon (AMZN.US) subsidiary Zoox an exemption from safety standards for its vehicles without traditional manual controls.
This decision concludes years of protracted negotiations between the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the autonomous vehicle developer—Zoox first unveiled its steering wheel- and brake pedal-free design in 2022. NHTSA stated that the new exemption applies to all Zoox self-driving vehicles currently operating on public roads, though the specific scale of operations remains undisclosed.
It is understood that current U.S. auto safety standards typically require vehicles to retain manual controls, posing regulatory hurdles for automakers like Zoox and Tesla (TSLA.US) pursuing driverless designs. However, NHTSA has introduced multiple policy relaxations for autonomous driving this year. These include updating import vehicle exemption rules to cover domestically produced self-driving vehicles and streamlining exemption approval processes to accelerate technology deployment—reforms aligning with the regulatory approaches advocated by Tesla CEO Elon Musk during the Trump administration.
The policy shift marks a significant boost for U.S. autonomous driving pioneers like Zoox and Tesla. Under previous rules, multi-year approval processes can now be substantially shortened. This may fast-track commercialization for robotaxi companies and accelerate the overall growth of robotaxis in the U.S.
3. PingPong Among First Asian Payment Firms to Support Wero Transactions
【Event】Global payment platform PingPong recently announced it will be among the first Asian payment companies to support business use of Wero. In October this year, Wero will launch its To B payment service. After launch, businesses will be able to access this unified European digital payment service via PingPong, reaching 250 million European users.
Wero is the first pan-European payment solution developed by the European Payments Initiative (EPI) in collaboration with 16 leading European banks and financial institutions. Launched in July 2024, it aims to break Europe's fragmented payments landscape. Currently, Wero is widely used for personal transfers, with cross-border remittances taking as little as 10 seconds. Official data shows Wero already covers over 75% of active bank account users in core markets like Germany and France, with coverage steadily growing.
PingPong is a cross-border trade digitalization service brand founded in 2015 and headquartered in Hangzhou, China. Its main business covers cross-border collection, B2B payments, supply chain financing, and other financial services. Its service network spans over 200 countries and regions, with 38 branches across 15 countries including China, the US, Luxembourg, the UK, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the UAE. It holds over 60 global payment licenses and permits.
This cooperation will simplify cross-border payment processes between Asian businesses and European consumers. After the product officially launches, PingPong's enterprise clients will directly access core European customer groups through the Wero system. Businesses can reach multiple European markets at once without needing to integrate multiple payment systems, reducing cross-border operational costs. Simultaneously, by enabling instant payment experiences for users, it can reduce cart abandonment rates and improve conversion.
4. Over 1,000 Shanghai Enterprises to Expand Markets Through Overseas Exhibitions in Groups
【Event】The Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce announced that to assist enterprises in exploring international markets, Shanghai plans to organize 1,388 enterprises to participate in 101 overseas exhibitions in the second half of the year, with a total expected exhibition area of 15,000 square meters.
This participation plan focuses on cutting-edge industrial sectors such as high-end manufacturing, digital economy, biomedicine, and green energy, while also covering Shanghai's traditionally strong foreign trade industries including light industrial products, textiles and apparel, machinery equipment, building materials and hardware, food and agricultural products, and automotive parts. Data shows that in the first half of this year, Shanghai organized 445 enterprises to participate in 104 overseas exhibitions, with a total exhibition area of 6,157 square meters.
Recently, the Shanghai Municipal Government has been actively promoting a "government facilitation + market operation" model, aiming to pave an efficient channel for enterprises to "go global in groups". Compared to the high costs and risks enterprises previously faced attending exhibitions alone, the government-led group model offers significant advantages: On one hand, the government not only leads the delegations but also provides subsidies for booth fees, effectively reducing the burden on enterprises; on the other hand, the government has meticulously selected 15 overseas exhibitions that align with the demands of Shanghai's advantageous products and key industries and have strong enterprise participation interest. It organizes enterprises to exhibit or visit these shows through unified group delegations. During the exhibitions, specialized promotions, client visits, and institutional exchanges will also be conducted to showcase corporate brand images and enhance product recognition and influence.
Beyond government support, the "go global in groups" model itself brings tangible benefits to enterprises. Collective participation by enterprises from the same industry commands greater attention from local governments, leading to more support in areas like visa processing, booth construction, and client resource sharing. Simultaneously, enterprises presenting themselves as integrated industry chains possess stronger bargaining power than those acting individually. Currently, the model for Chinese enterprises going global is shifting. It is moving away from passively chasing exhibitions in the past towards, with active government platform-building and group organization support, more effectively securing orders and boosting international exposure through exhibitions, gradually building a normalized ecosystem for global expansion.
5. OpenAI Officially Launches GPT-5
【Event】On August 7 local time, OpenAI announced the release of its artificial intelligence model GPT-5. The model combines the reasoning capabilities of the o-series with the fast-response strengths of the GPT series, delivering enhanced performance in coding, creative writing, and complex query reasoning. It will serve as the core technology for the company’s next-generation ChatGPT.
GPT-5 will be rolled out to all ChatGPT users in stages over the coming week. Based on subscription tiers, Plus members will receive higher usage limits, while Pro members will gain access to GPT-5 Pro, featuring extended reasoning capabilities.
According to technical documentation, GPT-5 is OpenAI’s first “unified” AI system. It is not a single language or reasoning model, but integrates the GPT series (large language models) and the o-series (reasoning models), with the ability to orchestrate sub-models. The system does not require users to manually select the model type; it can automatically invoke standard language processing or deep reasoning resources based on task needs. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that the launch of GPT-5 marks “an important step” toward achieving Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
In programming applications, GPT-5 excels in complex front-end generation and large-scale codebase debugging, enabling users to create responsive websites, applications, and games from a single prompt. In creative writing, the model can transform rough ideas into rhythmically rich and literarily sophisticated works, including unrhymed iambic pentameter and free verse. In healthcare, GPT-5 significantly outperforms its predecessors on the standardized HealthBench testing platform, demonstrating the ability to interpret basic medical information.