CHANGZHOU, China, Jan. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Recently, Trina Storage has once again secured a top spot in BloombergNEF’s (BNEF) Energy Storage System Cost Survey 2024, acknowledged for its cutting-edge products, technological innovation, integrated capability, and financial stability. Trina Storage’s continued presence on this prestigious list over the years highlights its comprehensive strength and competitive market position. This achievement lays a strong foundation for the company’s global expansion and reinforces its leadership in the industry.

As the most trusted third-party research provider in the global new energy sector, BNEF’s reports are crucial references for financial institutions when making commercial credit decisions. Trina Storage’s consistent ranking in the top tier reflects its strong market position and the high confidence the capital market has in its system integration solutions and their bankability.

As a global leader in energy storage products and system solutions, Trina Storage continues to enhance its comprehensive system integration capabilities, spanning from battery cells to AC solution. The company has also established a mature global sales network and implemented a robust quality management system covering the entire process—from R&D and supplier management to production and after-sales service. Notably, Trina Storage delivers customized energy storage solutions tailored to regional needs, including grid-forming, grid ancillary services, high-temperature resistance, and long cycle life.

As of the third quarter of 2024, Trina Storage’s global footprint is evident, with over 7.5 GWh of battery cabinets and systems shipped to six major markets worldwide. From North America to Europe, its global delivery network spans all continents, demonstrating Trina Storage’s robust international capabilities and growing influence in the energy storage industry.

This year, Trina Storage has secured its spot on the BNEF Tier 1 list for four consecutive quarters. The company was also recently recognized on S&P Global’s 2024 Top 10 Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Integrators list, achieving leading positions in the Chinese, UK, and Australian markets. This continued recognition underscores Trina Storage’s strong competitive edge on the global stage.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/trina-storage-retains-top-rank-in-bloombergnefs-2024-global-storage-providers-and-integrators-bankability-survey-302347822.html

SOURCE Trina Solar Energy Development Pte. Ltd.

The share of outbound travel in the ‘Buy Now, Plan Later’ (BNPL) segment in 2024 has increased by 10 percentage points compared to last year

BNPL now a mainstream method of travel consumption and is set to grow in 2025

HANGZHOU, China, Jan. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Fliggy, a leading online travel services platform and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA and HKEX: 9988), has released its 2024 Buy Now Plan Later (BNPL) Travel Insight. The insight shows the booking volume for BNPL travel products in 2024 has increased by over 20% compared to the previous year. This growth is largely driven by a younger demographic, with Generation Z consumers accounting for nearly a quarter of those utilizing this purchasing model. Planning travel through BNPL is now a mainstream method of travel consumption.

Great cost savings with greater flexibility

‘Buy Now, Plan Later’ travel involves consumers purchasing single or multiple travel products – such as flights, hotel stays, and attraction tickets – in advance. This model allows travelers to secure these options for future use, redeemable once they finalize their travel dates and destinations. Generally, this approach provides greater cost savings compared to conventional direct booking, with many options offering the flexibility of full refunds without restrictions before the reservation is finalized.

 “Looking ahead in 2025, the recreational tourism market is expected to experience steady growth in both scale and consumer spending,” said Acton Chou, Head of BNPL Product Operations at Fliggy. “Our primary objective for travel companies is to expand our customer base and tap into the incremental demands of our existing customers. The inherent advantages of the ‘Buy Now, Plan Later’ model – such as flexible pricing, adaptable benefits, and versatile usage – make it a strategic tool for enhancing customer willingness to spend.”

Hotel fulfillment rates jump 70%

The insight indicates that the share of outbound tourism within the BNPL travel segment in 2024 has increased by 10 percentage points compared to the previous year, with hotel booking fulfillment rates for outbound travel surging by 70% year-on-year. A noticeable trend is the expansion of popular travel destinations from a four-hour flight radius to a twelve-hour flight radius from China. The top destinations for BNPL orders in 2024 include Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, the Maldives, New Zealand, Australia, the United States, and Indonesia. Additionally, there is growing interest in emerging destinations such as Iceland, Norway, Kenya, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand, which all have experienced rapid growth.

International cruise bookings nearly triple

Travel experiences in 2024 have continued to diversify, with consumers exploring breathtaking landscapes such as Bomi in Tibet, embarking on self-driving tours across New Zealand, and taking luxury cruise ships to see albatross and penguins through polar tours. According to data from Fliggy, there has been a rapid increase in demand for international cruises, overseas car rentals, and tickets to overseas amusement parks. The volume of international cruise bookings saw a near threefold increase year-on-year.

45% of hotel package buyers are new customers

The ‘Buy Now, Plan Later’ model has gained popularity among consumers, particularly in the younger demographics. In 2024, a notable influx of first-time users embraced this model. Data from Fliggy reveals over 45% of consumers purchasing hotel packages through this model were new customers. Notably, nearly one-quarter of consumers opting for this model were born between 1995 and 1999 (often referred to as Gen Z), while the proportion of consumers born in 2000 or later has seen the fastest growth, nearing 20%.

BNPL product placements surge by nearly 70%

In China, more consumers are turning to live streaming for information on travel and events, often purchasing travel products through the BNPL model. Fliggy has led the way in integrating livestreaming into the travel industry, creating a diverse and efficient livestreaming ecosystem. By partnering with Taobao and a network of professional live streamers, Fliggy supports merchants who may lack the resources for effective live commerce.

In 2024, promotional placements for BNPL products through livestreams and Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) on Fliggy rose by nearly 70% year-on-year, with a significant uptick in conversion rates for livestreaming sales. Notably, during the 2024 Double 11 shopping festival, Fliggy’s official content-driven sales channels, including its Fliggy Super VIP livestream, performed strongly, with 19 product items each exceeding RMB10 million in sales.  

About Fliggy

Fliggy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA and HKEX: 9988 (HKD Counter) and 89988 (RMB Counter)), and is one of the leading online travel platforms in China. Fliggy places a strong emphasis on innovation in its products and services, catering to the increasingly personalized and diversified needs of consumers in both China and overseas markets.

Leveraging Fliggy’s advantage as part of the Alibaba ecosystem, merchants can benefit from the vast user base within the Group. Fliggy also collaborates with partners through a full-service management format, helping more merchants, especially small and medium-sized ones, easily and efficiently share opportunities enabled by digitalization.

Fliggy’s long-term strategy is to promote the digital transformation of the tourism industry, using an open platform and mechanisms to help the industry make better use of digital business infrastructure for their operations.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/gen-z-travelers-drive-buy-now-plan-later-travel-bookings-by-over-20-fliggys-2024-buy-now-plan-later-travel-insight-302347825.html

SOURCE fliggy

TAIPEI, Jan. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Aetina Corporation, a leading provider of edge AI solutions and a subsidiary of Innodisk Group, today announced a collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., who unveiled a revolutionary Qualcomm® AI On-Prem Appliance Solution and Qualcomm® AI Inference Suite for On-Prem. This collaboration combines Qualcomm Technologies’ cutting-edge inference accelerators and advanced software with Aetina’s edge computing hardware to deliver unprecedented computing power and ready-to-use AI applications for enterprises and industrial organizations.

The flagship offering, the Aetina MegaEdge AIP-FR68, sets a new industry benchmark by integrating Qualcomm® Cloud AI family of accelerator cards. Each Cloud AI 100 Ultra card delivers an impressive 870 TOPS of AI computing power at 8-bit integer (INT8) while maintaining remarkable energy efficiency at just 150W power consumption. The system supports dual Cloud AI 100 Ultra cards in a single desktop workstation. This groundbreaking combination of power and efficiency in a compact form factor revolutionizes on-premises AI processing, making enterprise-grade computing more accessible than ever.

Richard Hung, Vice President at Aetina, emphasized the transformative potential: “Our collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies marks a significant breakthrough in edge AI deployment. By achieving the complex landscape in a desktop form factor, we’re democratizing access to enterprise-grade AI capabilities. This solution enables businesses to run sophisticated AI models locally, ensuring data privacy while maintaining superior interoperability and cloud-level performance.”

The collaboration introduces innovative applications in generative AI, particularly through Large Language Models (LLMs) with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). This advancement enables organizations to rapidly develop, test, and customize generative AI models on standard PC workstations, with seamless scalability to private or cloud data centers. This capability is particularly valuable for industries requiring secure, high-performance AI processing, such as healthcare, finance, retail and manufacturing. Additionally, the collaboration strengthens Aetina’s role as a key AI innovator within the Innodisk Group, highlighting its expertise in global partnerships.

“We are excited to introduce novel and advanced on-prem AI inference appliance solutions with Aetina,” said Rashid Attar, Senior Vice President of Engineering, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “These solutions address enterprise on-prem AI needs across a diverse set of sectors and combined with the AI Inference Suite enable a broad range of AI agents, applications, and use cases.”

The Qualcomm AI On-Prem Appliance Solution combines state-of-the-art processors with comprehensive Qualcomm AI Inference Suite for On-Prem to offer a powerful, localized AI computing solution that operates efficiently within enterprise environments. The new bundle solution will be available through global distribution partners starting in Q1 2025, marking a significant milestone in making enterprise-grade AI accessible to organizations of all sizes.

For more information on how Aetina is revolutionizing edge computing, please visit Aetina’s website.

About Aetina Corporation
Aetina, a provider of state-of-the-art AI solutions, offers a wide range of AI computing systems, platforms, hardware, and software tools ideal for the creation of different types of vertical AI. Aetina’s integrated solutions empower its Arm, x86 computers, GPUs, ASIC hardware, cloud management software, and development tools with artificial intelligence, delivering comprehensive, tailor-made hardware and software suites to enable smooth, quick system intellectualization progress at the edge. With its ecosystem network, Aetina makes the creation and deployment of any specific AI-powered applications highly achievable by leveraging its global partners’ AI technologies.
Read more at: www.aetina.com

Qualcomm is a trademark or registered trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated. Qualcomm branded products are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aetina-works-with-qualcomm-to-advance-edge-ai-with-groundbreaking-on-prem-solutions-302347826.html

SOURCE Aetina Corporation