TheChek News Flow

Junyang Lin, former lead researcher of Alibaba’s Qwen models, is seeking to raise several hundred million dollars for his new AI lab, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The new AI lab will likely be valued at around $2 billion after the funding round, the people said, adding that the discussions are ongoing and the final valuation could change. Chinese venture capital firms Gaorong Ventures and HongShan are in talks to fund the lab, the people said.

A $2 billion valuation for a brand new AI lab is almost unheard of in China, where startups are typically valued far less than those in the U.S. The high target valuation for Lin’s new AI lab, whose name couldn’t immediately be learned, reflects his accomplishments at Alibaba and growing investor euphoria for AI stocks. Alibaba’s Qwen line of models are among the leaders in open-source AI models, and small-size versions of Qwen that are cheaper to operate are particularly popular among cost-conscious developers around the world.

Lin departed Alibaba in a rare public fall-out with the Chinese tech giant in early March. He broadcast his resignation in a post on the X social media site, before any official announcements were made by Alibaba’s executives. He has been widely credited with building a team of researchers and taking Qwen to the forefront of the global open-source AI in his three years at Alibaba.

Chinese large language model developers Zhipu and Minimax have seen their stock prices soar since they listed in Hong Kong early this year. DeepSeek, the best known Chinese AI lab overseas, is raising external funding for the first time and has increased its expected valuations several times as the talks progress.

In the U.S., a number of new research-focused AI startups founded by renowned former researchers from industry leaders have raised money at soaring valuations. Safe Superintelligence, co-founded by former OpenAI Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever, raised $1 billion at a $5 billion valuation in 2024 when the startup was just three months old. Similarly, Thinking Machines Lab, launched by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati last year, raised $2 billion in its first funding round at a $10 billion valuation.

But venture capitalists in China say new AI labs in the country, such as the one founded by Lin, could face more challenges and uncertainties than their U.S. counterparts. The high valuations of the U.S. AI startups are due in part to expectations that they could be eventually acquired by the biggest tech giants—but it remains uncertain if the same logic can apply to China, the venture capitalists said.

Any new AI labs in China also face the overarching challenges of securing sufficient compute, given U.S. controls on exports of advanced AI chips to China. On top of that, they will have to carve out research paths that don’t completely overlap with existing tech giants such as Alibaba and ByteDance.

Lin’s abrupt resignation announcement came days after Alibaba unveiled Qwen3.5, its new-generation AI models at the time. The departure of Lin, known in the industry for his dedication to open-source technology, was followed by a strategic shift at Alibaba toward offering more of its new AI models as proprietary products that can lead to more revenue.

After Lin left, Alibaba announced a major restructuring, consolidating the Qwen research team and other key AI-related businesses under one new division managed directly by the company’s CEO.

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Brussels seeks to replicate air travel bookings for trains, ferries and coaches

The EU will seek to force train ticket providers to display rivals’ offers and give greater protection to passengers in the event of cancellations.

Unveiling a set of proposals dubbed a “game changer” for rail travel, European commissioner for cohesion Raffaele Fitto said: “One thing air travel does well is it is simple. You search, you compare, you book in a matter of minutes. Rail passengers deserve the same experience.”

Passengers will be able to combine rail services purchased from different operators into a single ticket, purchased via one transaction. Services across different means of transport — from ferries to coaches — would also be included in the package.

The measure was first reported by the FT last week, when transport commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas said the rules would address the “nightmare” of long-distance travel.

The European Commission seeks to make it easier for passengers to purchase tickets online, addressing a “significant structural weakness”, the regulation states. Railway operators with half or more of market share in national railway services will be obliged to open their online ticketing services to any other operator.

This will impact operators such as France’s SNCF, Spain’s Renfe and Germany’s Deutsche Bahn in their national markets, forcing them to offer rivals’ services on their online platforms.

Catriona Meehan, from online booking service Omio, called it a “welcome step towards making rail easier to access and use for passengers across Europe”.

She added: “Too often, fragmented data and ticketing still make it harder than it should be to search, compare and book journeys, even where good services exist.”

She said the new rules must focus on allowing data access for all providers, including independent retailers, to avoid the measures “entrenching nationally concentrated models that limit choice”.

But Jon Worth, an independent European railways analyst, said the proposals were “both radical and far-reaching, but also unworkable”.

It places a “heavy burden on the shoulders of railway companies” by requiring them to offer tickets months in advance, while also harming season ticket holders, who may lose their discounts if they buy a newer, unified ticket that better protects their rights in the event of disruption.

Georgia Whitaker, from green research group Transport & Environment, said the rules were a “huge leap forward”, but added the EU needed to “increase the geographical scope of this commitment to ensure that the most frequently flown and driven routes are easily accessible for passengers to book by rail”.

Officials have dismissed concerns about opposition to the plans from national rail operators, noting that operators such as Renfe and SNCF were seeking to break into neighbouring national markets.

The proposal could benefit private companies such as new challengers in France like Kevin Speed and Velvet, and those offering specialised services like European Sleeper.

The measures will also ensure that passengers booking journeys with multiple legs across different providers have the same rights throughout the trip. Currently, passengers who miss connections due to delays can face “unequal treatment” across member states and operators and be left without the right to take the next available train in some cases.

The commission has drawn on studies showing that a third of citizens are unwilling to book journeys with several different modes of transport or operators, in part because of booking difficulties. The problem is most pronounced with rail tickets but also challenging with other forms of transport, the proposals state.

CSG’s move for stake in Franco-German company marks new attempt to consolidate European defence industry

Ammunition maker Czechoslovak Group has made an audacious proposal to buy a stake in Franco-German tank maker KNDS, in a move that marks a new attempt to consolidate Europe’s defence industry but is likely to meet political resistance.

CSG, whose shares have tumbled since its €30bn stock market listing in January, made the proposal to the German families that own half of Amsterdam-based KNDS in recent weeks, people familiar with the matter told the FT.

The bid is all or mostly cash, some of the people said, adding that it was not yet clear whether the proposal for CSG to take a significant stake would gain traction.

The Czech group’s approach comes as KNDS ploughs ahead with a plan for a stock market listing of its own by early July, targeting a market capitalisation of €15bn to €20bn.

However, the potential listing comes against a backdrop of falling defence stock valuations and squabbling among Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition about how big a stake it should buy from the German family.

The French state also holds a stake, meaning Paris and Berlin have a political interest in the future ownership of the group and potential influence over its programme priorities and the location of its manufacturing sites.

CSG was valued at about €30bn when it listed in Amsterdam in the largest-ever defence IPO, motivating several other European defence-related companies including KNDS to press ahead with share sales to capitalise on investor interest in the sector.

However, the fortunes of arms makers have changed in recent months. CSG shares fell sharply this month after short seller Hunterbrook alleged the company had omitted information from its IPO prospectus and claimed there was “a broader pattern of undisclosed or underdisclosed insiders around CSG’s core subsidiaries and business practices”. The company has rejected the claims.

KNDS, CSG and a representative for the families declined to comment.