Meituan AI Urged to Channel Wang Xing's War Spirit

💡Meituan pushes AI harder—watch apps strategy shift

⚡ 30-Second TL;DR

What Changed

Meituan AI requires faster development pace

Why It Matters

Signals Meituan ramping up AI amid big tech race. Could reshape local services with AI apps. Pressures execs for bold moves.

What To Do Next

Track Meituan AI API docs for new local services integrations.

Who should care:Founders & Product Leaders

Background and context from public sources — not the original article. 8 sources cited.

•Meituan is developing its proprietary large language model 'LongCat,' already integrated across its ecosystem for tasks like food recommendation curation using DeepSeek-R1.
•CEO Wang Xing outlined an AI playbook emphasizing embedding AI into workflows, building AI-native products, and in-house LLM development during a March 2025 earnings call.
•Meituan launched global recruitment in early 2026 targeting 6,000 AI-focused positions, including the 'Beidou Plan' for large model and autonomous driving talent.
•Overseas expansion via Keeta app reached 1 million weekly active users in Saudi Arabia by January 2026 amid narrowing new initiatives losses to RMB 7.3 billion in Q4.

Meituan's LongCat model will power 20% of delivery optimizations by end-2026

LongCat is already deployed ecosystem-wide, building on AI tools that reduced delivery times by 18% and costs by 30% in pilots.

Overseas AI-driven growth will cut new initiatives losses by 50% in 2026

Q4 losses narrowed significantly to RMB 7.3 billion with Keeta hitting 1M users, fueled by AI investments and global recruitment.

R&D spend exceeds RMB 25 billion in 2026

2024 R&D hit RMB 21.1 billion amid 'all-in' AI push, with 2026 recruitment of 6,000 AI roles signaling escalated commitment.

2017-01

Launched 'Lush Mountain Project' for low-carbon tech initiatives.

2024-03

Deployed over 2,000 self-driving delivery vehicles in 20 cities, completing 1M+ orders.

2024-12

Autonomous vehicles and drones completed 4.91M and 450K orders respectively; R&D investment RMB 21.1B.

2025-03

Wang Xing announced AI playbook including LongCat LLM during earnings call.

2026-01

Keeta app achieved 1M weekly active users in Saudi Arabia.

2026-02

Initiated global spring campus recruitment for 6,000 AI-focused positions.

Factual claims are grounded in the sources below. Forward-looking analysis is AI-generated interpretation.

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