Enhancing Precision and Innovation in Neurosurgical Robotics Across China

ZHUBEI, March 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Brain Navi Biotechnology, a leading innovator in neurosurgical robotics, has announced a strategic partnership with BenQ Medical Technology to introduce and commercialize the NaoTrac neurosurgical navigation robot in the Chinese market. This collaboration aligns with Brain Navi’s 2025 globalization strategy, prioritizing localized partnerships to accelerate market entry and enhance clinical adoption.

China’s surgical robotics industry is experiencing rapid growth. According to Frost& Sullivan market research, the surgical robot market size is projected to exceed USD 3 billion by 2026 and reach USD 9.5 billion by 2030. As the demand for neurosurgical precision and automation increases, Brain Navi’s NaoTrac, a cutting-edge AI-powered navigation system, will play a crucial role in enhancing patient outcomes in neurosurgery.

Through this partnership, BenQ Medical Technology will leverage its extensive hospital network across China to facilitate NaoTrac’s clinical deployment. This collaboration is further supported by China’s 14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Medical Equipment Industry, which aims to foster domestic innovation and promote intelligent medical solutions.

“This collaboration marks BenQ Medical Technology as a key step in integrating surgical robots and expanding applications in smart operating rooms,” said Michael Kuan, the President of BenQ Medical Technology. “With the rapid advancements in AI and robotic technology, intelligent healthcare is the future. Working with Brain Navi, we are committed to driving the adoption of surgical robotics in China, providing patients with precise, safe, and innovative solutions.”

Dr. Jerry Chen, CEO of Brain Navi, emphasized the importance of regional partnerships, stating, “NaoTrac has been used in some medical centers across Asia, Latin America, and Europe. Partnering with BenQ Medical Technology gives us a robust gateway into the Chinese market, where localization is key to success. By combining our AI-driven surgical technology with BenQ Medical Technology’s strong market presence, we are confident in accelerating the adoption of neurosurgical robotics in China.”

As part of its 2025 strategy, Brain Navi continues to expand its global footprint, with current key focus areas in EMEA, the Asia-Pacific region, and Latin America. The company is committed to providing localized support through distributor empowerment, hospital collaborations, and advanced training programs tailored to the needs of neurosurgeons worldwide. By fostering strong alliances with distributors and hospital networks, the company ensures the seamless integration of neurosurgical robotics into regional healthcare systems.

Brain Navi will present NaoTrac at the AANS (American Association of Neurological Surgeons) Annual Meeting, scheduled for April 25–28, 2025, in Boston, MA. This event will offer distributors, hospitals, and neurosurgeons a chance to experience the future of neurosurgical robotics firsthand.

About BenQ Medical Technology

BenQ Medical Technology, a subsidiary of BenQ Group, is a leading provider of advanced medical devices and healthcare solutions. Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Taiwan, the company specializes in surgical equipment, imaging systems, and patient care solutions. With global certifications like ISO 13485 and ISO 9001, BenQ Medical ensures high-quality standards in medical technology. Through innovation and strategic partnerships, the company continues to expand its footprint, delivering intelligent healthcare solutions that enhance patient care and surgical precision worldwide. For more information, visit www.benqmedicaltech.com

About Brain Navi:

Brain Navi Biotechnology, a leading Taiwanese surgical robotic company, specializes in designing and developing innovative navigation and robotic surgery technologies. Their proprietary Surface Mapping Auto-Registration Technology (SMART) represents a significant surgical breakthrough, integrating machine vision, robotics, and AI for streamlined surgical procedures and real-time imaging, ensuring minimal invasive outcomes. NaoTrac’s swift patient registration and automatic surgical instrument registration enable surgeons to plan trajectories effortlessly, and the robot ensures precise autonomous navigation toward the desired target.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/benq-medical-technology-and-brain-navi-align-partnership-to-advance-neurosurgical-robotics-in-china-302406639.html

SOURCE Brain Navi

TAI’AN, China, March 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — This is a report from the Shandong office of Hong Kong Business Daily. Recently, Associate Researcher at the Institute of Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and PhD in Economics from Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, continued to write an article objectively analyzing the changes that artificial intelligence will bring to the tourist city of Tai’an.

Xu Ji believes that the climbing robot in Mount Taishan Scenic Area has become a beautiful landscape, which can greatly increase the consumption opportunities of tourists. The traffic volume of Tai’an is huge. During the 2025 Spring Festival alone, the number of tourists will reach 2.5755 million, and the related content of “climbing power robot” in Mount Taishan Scenic Area will be viewed more than 100 million times on the whole network. In addition, Tai’an will also share the same brand of assistive robots with the fire department for trial, which will greatly benefit the acceleration of smart transformation in public sectors such as fire rescue. The good experience of mountain climbing assistive robots among tourists in Tai’an will drive them to use health and wellness assistive robots, which will contribute to the growth of the health and wellness industry and the prosperity of the silver haired economy.

Continuing to say that leveraging data advantages to achieve advantageous industry chain extension is an important direction for Tai’an’s cultural and tourism industry efforts. Tai’an has built a cultural and tourism industry brain based on big data, artificial intelligence, and GIS, integrating multi-dimensional data such as tourist information, tourism resources, and urban supporting facilities. The cultural and tourism industry brain can not only determine the carrying capacity and operational efficiency of scenic spots, optimize the spatial layout of tourism resources, but also link emergency broadcasting and smart gates to control and guide the flow of people in scenic spots. In addition, the cultural and tourism industry brain can optimize product recommendation and customer service services according to the basic information and behavior characteristics of tourists, so as to meet the diversified consumption experience of tourists to boost cultural and tourism consumption.

According to the brain data of Tai’an’s cultural and tourism industry, during the Spring Festival in 2025, the proportion of adult tourists aged 18-23, 24-30, and 31-40 will be 23.11%, 20.58%, and 49.78%, respectively.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/taian-chinas-artificial-intelligencecultural-tourism-innovation-breaks-through-the-situation-302406556.html

SOURCE Shandong Office of Hong Kong Business Daily

SINGAPORE, March 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — JOYY Inc. (NASDAQ: YY) (“JOYY” or the “Company”), a global technology company, announced its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2024.

In the fourth quarter, JOYY’s revenue reached US$549.4 million, with BIGO achieving revenues of US$480.0 million. For the full year 2024, the Company’s revenue reached US$2.24 billion. The Company’s core business segment BIGO generated revenues of US$1.99 billion, with a year-over-year increase of 3.3%.

Driven by continued enhancement of global operations and strong execution, JOYY achieved steady profit growth in 2024. The Company’s non-GAAP[1] net profit for the full year 2024 reached US$298.5 million, a year-over-year increase of 2.0%. Non-GAAP[1] net margin came in at 13.3%. JOYY’s full-year non-GAAP[1] operating profit was US$136.1 million, a year-over-year increase of 4.2%. Non-GAAP[1] operating margin came in at 6.1%. The BIGO segment’s full-year operating profit and non-GAAP[1] operating profit reached US$240.9 million and US$286.3 million, respectively, which were equivalent to GAAP and non-GAAP[1] operating margin of 12.1% and 14.4%.

As JOYY sets the stage for ongoing growth, shareholder returns remain a high priority for management. In 2024, the Company repurchased 9.21 million ADSs for a total of US$309.2 million, representing 15.1% of its total outstanding shares as of the end of 2023.

JOYY announced a quarterly dividend policy for the following three years commencing immediately. Under such policy, the total cash dividend amount expected to be paid will be approximately US$600 million and quarterly dividend will be set at a fixed amount of approximately US$50 million (US$0.93  per ADS) in each fiscal quarter. Additionally, the company also announced an additional share repurchase program, under which the Company may repurchase up to US$300 million of its shares until December 2027.

Additionally, JOYY announced that the Company’s ticker symbol on Nasdaq will be changed from YY to JOYY, effective from March 31, 2025.

Ms. Ting Li, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of JOYY, commented, “In 2024, we made substantial progress in improving operational efficiency and diversifying our revenue streams. For full year 2024, our group’s non-GAAP operating income reached US$136.1 million, improving by 4.2%, year over year. Our group’s non-livestreaming revenues grew by 55.9% to US$449.8 million year over year. As we embark on a new chapter following the divestiture of YY Live, we have firmly established ourselves as a global technology company with remarkable international reach. Looking ahead, we remain deeply committed to driving diversified growth across our global operations and deepening our penetration in key markets to build on this success. Through AI-driven innovation, we are comprehensively enhancing our operational efficiency and cultivating meaningful experiences for our users. Based on our solid operational execution, we are confident in driving sustainable growth of our global business and creating long-term value for our shareholders.”

Full Year 2024 Financial Highlights

Net revenues for the full year of 2024 were US$2.24 billion.Non-GAAP[1] net income attributable to controlling interest and common shareholders of JOYY for the full year of 2024 increased by 2.0% to US$298.5 million from US$292.5 million in 2023. Non-GAAP[1] net margin for the full year of 2024 was 13.3%, compared to 12.9% in 2023.

Fourth Quarter 2024 Financial Highlights

Net revenues were US$549.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.Non-GAAP[1] net income attributable to controlling interest and common shareholders of JOYY in the fourth quarter of 2024 was US$96.1 million, compared to US$64.2 million in the corresponding period of 2023. 

Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Business Highlights

JOYY continued to focus on cultivating a safe, high-quality, and diverse content ecosystem for its global users and community. In the fourth quarter, Bigo Live updated the community guidelines and comprehensively enhanced its community safety technological capabilities. The platform introduced its exclusive multimodal content moderation model, which was fine-tuned with scenario-specific data, leveraging third-party large models to further strengthen its content moderation capabilities. On the product feature front, Bigo Live refined user verification processes and stratification mechanisms to direct traffic towards high-quality, verified user content. At the same time, Bigo Live exercised stricter management of user-generated-content to ensure its users would have safe, high-quality experiences. In addition, Bigo Live formed partnerships with multiple industry players and worked with relevant authorities to jointly prevent and punish any potential malicious use of the platform.

On the content front, the annual Bigo Awards Gala was held at Marina Bay Sands Theatre in Singapore. Over 1,000 guests from around the world attended in person, and nearly 500,000 viewers tuned in via livestream. The event honored over 200 outstanding content creators and Families for their contributions to Bigo Live’s vibrant user community, and featured performances from global artists across various genres. The Bigo Awards Gala has become a core tradition for the platform, and has helped countless talented creators expand their influence and reach the global stage. In addition to the main global venue, Bigo Live also held regional galas in Dubai, Thailand, and others.

During the fourth quarter, Bigo Live utilized its proprietary AI model to analyze ultra-long user behavior sequences and refined its content recommendation. This improvement, together with Bigo Live’s continuous effort to expand its high-quality content offering and optimize its livestreaming room viewing features, drove a 2.1% sequential increase in average viewing time per user during the fourth quarter. By strategically directing traffic to mid-tier hosts and optimizing livestreaming tools such as beauty and body filters, Bigo Live achieved a 1.2% increase in host next-day retention and a 2.9% increase in average livestream time per host, both quarter-over-quarter.

Likee remains focused on two core markets: the Middle East and Europe. In the fourth quarter, Likee’s DAUs in Europe increased by 4.4% quarter-over-quarter. Driven by growth in paying users, Likee’s livestreaming revenue grew 2.2% sequentially. In 2024, Likee recorded its second consecutive profitable year.

Likee continued to elevate its content and community engagement in its core markets. Likee partnered with the globally popular game Genshin Impact to deepen its penetration among Gen Z users. The campaign featured Genshin-themed short video and livestream contests with special prizes, and a co-branded offline event in Europe. During the campaign, the initiative generated over 5.7 million views, and the offline themed event attracted 11,000 participants, even prompting several creators with millions of followers to join Likee. Beyond these targeted operational activities, Likee increased support for quality creators, driving a 13% quarter-over-quarter increase in viewer time spent on short videos. The proportion of content creators among daily active users grew steadily compared to the third quarter, indicating healthy levels of engagement.

In the fourth quarter, Hago’s quarterly livestreaming revenue achieved a quarter-over-quarter growth, driven by its blockbuster year-end operational events. Hago’s cash flow remained positive in the fourth quarter, achieving its goal of positive cash flow for the second consecutive year.

Hago’s user engagement further improved during the fourth quarter. Average time spent in channels increased by 8.6% quarter-over-quarter to 108.2 minutes. The product’s next-day retention rate also continued to improve.

This press release includes certain non-GAAP financial measures as additional clarifying items to aid investors in further understanding the Company’s performance and the impact that these items and events had on the financial results. The non-GAAP financial measures provided above should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. For details of the non-GAAP measures, including the reconciliations of GAAP measures to non-GAAP measures, please refer to the press release titled “JOYY Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Unaudited Financial Results” issued by the Company on March 20, 2025.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/joyy-reports-steady-profit-growth-for-2024-full-year-buybacks-exceed-us300-million-302406560.html

SOURCE JOYY Inc.