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PyTorch Foundation Expands to Umbrella Foundation and Welcomes vLLM and DeepSpeed Projects

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Expanded Foundation will Provide a Trusted and Vendor-Neutral Home for High-Impact and Innovative Open Source AI Projects

PARIS, May 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The PyTorch Foundation, a community-driven hub for open source AI, today announced its expansion into an umbrella foundation. As part of this milestone, two leading open source AI projects—vLLM and DeepSpeed—have been accepted into the foundation by the Technical Advisory Council. This expansion positions the PyTorch Foundation as the trusted home for a broad range of community-driven AI projects spanning the entire AI lifecycle—from training and inference and domain-specific applications to agentic frameworks.

As artificial intelligence becomes a critical driver of global innovation and competitive advantage, enterprises are under pressure to adopt scalable, secure, and future-focused AI solutions. With global GenAI spending forecasted to hit $644 billion this year, and demand growing for open source AI alternatives, the PyTorch Foundation is positioning itself as a vendor-neutral home for trusted and innovative new AI projects. The foundation will support the development of the next generation of open source AI tooling, ensuring interoperability, reducing vendor lock-in, and enabling faster integration of trusted, production-grade technologies. With transparent governance and broad industry collaboration, the PyTorch Foundation is playing a crucial role in shaping the infrastructure enterprises rely on to build and deploy responsible AI at scale.

“This is an exciting new chapter for the PyTorch Foundation and the broader open source AI ecosystem,” said Matt White, Executive Director of the PyTorch Foundation. “By transitioning to an umbrella foundation, we’re not only formalizing the momentum we’ve built across the PyTorch ecosystem—we’re creating space for new projects and innovators to thrive within a vendor-neutral, open governance environment.”

The decision to expand to an umbrella foundation is a natural evolution of the PyTorch Foundation’s rapid growth and global momentum. In just two and a half years, the organization has grown to include over 30 member companies and 120 vibrant ecosystem projects, and PyTorch itself has become the preferred framework for AI research and deployment. The new umbrella structure will support a broader portfolio of high-impact projects, foster deeper collaboration across domains, and help scale innovation throughout the AI lifecycle.

The PyTorch Foundation’s expanded scope allows it to host two new categories of projects:

Platform Projects – Solutions that support multiple stages of the AI lifecycle, including training, inference, model optimization, deployment, and agentic systems.

Vertical Projects – Tools tailored for specific industries and applications, such as bioinformatics, geospatial intelligence, and protein folding.

Projects accepted under the PyTorch Foundation benefit from neutral IP governance, strategic support, increased visibility, and a global community of contributors. The PyTorch Foundation distinguishes between ecosystem projects, which remain independently governed, and foundation-hosted projects, which adopt the foundation’s open governance model and receive comprehensive operational support.

The first two projects accepted into the PyTorch Foundation as hosted projects are:

vLLM – An open and efficient inference engine for large language models. vLLM enables high-throughput, low-latency LLM serving through optimized memory management and scheduling techniques, including PagedAttention. It supports popular model architectures and is designed to maximize hardware utilization, making LLM inference more scalable and cost-effective across a range of deployments. Learn more about the contribution of vLLM to the PyTorch Foundation here.

DeepSpeed – A distributed training library that simplifies scaling AI workloads. DeepSpeed provides a suite of optimization techniques—such as ZeRO (Zero Redundancy Optimizer), 3D parallelism, and inference acceleration—to enable training of extremely large models efficiently. It is used extensively in both academic research and production environments to push the limits of model size, speed, and efficiency. Learn more about the contribution of DeepSpeed to the PyTorch Foundation here.

The PyTorch Foundation is committed to fostering the growth and adoption of open source AI solutions and tooling. Communities interested in joining the PyTorch Foundation’s expanding ecosystem can learn more about the process for becoming a project here.

Supporting Quotes

“AMD has been a consistent supporter of open source software and the community of open source AI projects. We are excited about this expansion of the PyTorch Foundation, which provides a great opportunity for important AI projects to mature in an open and vendor-neutral ecosystem.”
– Ramine Roane, Corporate Vice President of AI Product Management, AMD

“At Arm, we believe collaboration is essential to empower developers and accelerate AI innovation from cloud to edge. The expansion of the PyTorch Foundation is a major milestone for the open source AI community—by providing a trusted home for projects like vLLM and DeepSpeed, the PyTorch Foundation is helping to unlock scalable, efficient AI and we’re proud to support this important evolution.”
– Alex Spinelli, Senior Vice President, AI and Developer Platforms and Services, Arm

“Open source frameworks are essential to advancing AI development, which is why AWS has been committed to the long-term success of the PyTorch ecosystem since its early days and through our continued support of the PyTorch Foundation. Expanding to an umbrella foundation highlights the rapid growth of this community and will make it easier to support a broader portfolio of high-impact projects, foster deeper collaboration across domains, and help scale innovation throughout the AI lifecycle.”
– Brian Granger, Senior Principal Technologist of AI Platforms, Amazon Web Services

“DeepSpeed is delighted to become a hosted Platform project in the PyTorch Foundation. From inception, DeepSpeed has built on PyTorch, with critical dependencies on features such as Module, Tensor, Distributed, and Compiler. We are eager to leverage this closer integration with the PyTorch ecosystem to achieve our goal of providing open and democratized access to state-of-the-art AI technologies for all.”
– Olatunji Ruwase, Project Lead, DeepSpeed

“Google congratulates the PyTorch Foundation on its expansion into an umbrella foundation. This evolution is poised to not only champion important open source AI projects like vLLM and DeepSpeed, but is also a significant step forward in cultivating deeper collaboration and driving innovation within the AI community. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with the foundation and contributing to the expanded ecosystem.”
– Joe Pamer, Senior Director, ML Frameworks and Compilers, Google

“As a significant contributor to vLLM, DeepSeed and PyTorch, Huawei welcomes their move to the foundation. We believe the professional services offered under the umbrella model will foster continued growth and value for users and developers.”
– Li Yongle, General Manager of Open Source Development, Huawei’s Computing Product Line

“Super excited for vLLM and DeepSpeed to join the PyTorch Foundation as it becomes an umbrella foundation. These packages are essential tools in the deep learning stack and integrate seamlessly with PyTorch. This is a strategic move that ensures future growth and maintenance for them.”
– Lysandre Debut, Chief Open-Source Officer, Hugging Face

“As a pivotal member of the PyTorch community for years, IBM applauds the expansion of the PyTorch Foundation to an umbrella foundation. This shift provides opportunities to support projects such as vLLM and others across the entire AI model lifecycle, from training to tuning to inference. An umbrella organization structure will support new workstreams underpinned by essential AI governance principles, accelerating performance in a new era of open, responsible AI.”
– Sriram Raghavan, VP, IBM Research AI

“As a premier member of the PyTorch Foundation, Intel is excited about the foundation’s expansion into an umbrella model. This strategy empowers developers with essential resources and support, enabling them to create innovative, community-driven AI projects that tackle real-world challenges.”
– Kismat Singh, VP, Engineering for AI Frameworks, Intel Corporation

“PyTorch sits at the very core of AI today. Meanwhile, the depth of the AI stack has grown dramatically—evolving from enabling accelerated compute to powering fully autonomous systems. Broadening the PyTorch Foundation is a key step in keeping the AI revolution open and accessible to all, across the stack and aligned with the principles PyTorch was built on.”
– Luca Antiga, CTO, Lightning AI

“Today PyTorch plays such a fundamental role in the AI space underpinning Llama, ChatGPT and so many other influential projects. This move to create an umbrella foundation enables PyTorch to significantly expand its ecosystem both horizontally and vertically in this era of agentic systems. I really believe this will usher in a new wave of innovation, and I’m especially excited about vLLM and DeepSpeed joining. These projects have a strong history of being critical to AI’s advances and it’s exciting that we are joining forces to grow this amazing community!”
– Joe Spisak, Product Director for PyTorch, Meta

“The PyTorch Foundation plays a vital role in advancing the PyTorch ecosystem by driving innovation, supporting education, and fostering community collaboration. Its expansion to an umbrella foundation helps ensure the long-term success of open source tools and creates the conditions necessary to welcome new projects that are essential to the future of open source AI.”
– Ujval Kapasi, VP of Deep Learning Software, NVIDIA

“At Snowflake, we believe that empowering the AI community is fundamental, and strengthening the open, vendor-neutral foundation around pivotal projects like these is crucial for progress. It’s truly exciting to witness the PyTorch Foundation evolve into an umbrella organization and welcome essential projects like DeepSpeed and vLLM. Having been part of the PyTorch ecosystem, I deeply appreciate the significance of this strategic move. We eagerly anticipate the accelerated innovation this closer collaboration within the PyTorch Foundation will bring.”
– Dwarak Rajagopal, VP of AI Engineering and Research, Snowflake

“We’re excited that vLLM is one of the first Platform Projects joining the PyTorch Foundation. vLLM is built on top of PyTorch with deep integration such as Torch Compile and multi-hardware support. We look forward to further collaborating with the ecosystem that powers innovations in open source and vendor neural technologies for AI.”
– Simon Mo, Project Co-Lead, vLLM

About the PyTorch Foundation
The PyTorch Foundation is a community-driven hub supporting the open source PyTorch framework and a broader portfolio of innovative open source AI projects. Hosted by the Linux Foundation, the PyTorch Foundation provides a vendor-neutral, trusted home for collaboration across the AI lifecycle—from model training and inference, to domain-specific applications. Through open governance, strategic support, and a global contributor community, the PyTorch Foundation empowers developers, researchers, and enterprises to build and deploy responsible AI at scale. Learn more at https://pytorch.org/foundation.

Media Contact
Natasha Woods
The Linux Foundation
nwoods@linuxfoundation.org

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JinkoSolar Announces Results of 2026 Annual General Meeting

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SHANGRAO, China, Oct. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (“JinkoSolar” or the “Company”) (NYSE: JKS), today announced that all shareholders resolutions proposed at the Company’s 2026 annual general meeting held today were duly passed.

Specifically, the Company’s shareholders passed the following ordinary resolutions approving:

1. The re-election of Mr. Gang Chu as an independent director of the Company;
2. The re-election of Mr. Steven Markscheid as an independent director of the Company;
3. The ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP as auditors of the Company for the fiscal year of 2026;
4. The authorization of the directors of the Company to determine the remuneration of the auditors of the Company; and
5. The authorization of each of the directors of the Company to take any and all action that might be necessary to effect the foregoing resolutions 1 to 4 and resolutions 6 to 7 set out below as such director, in his or her absolute discretion, thinks fit.

The Company’s shareholders also passed the following special resolutions approving:

6. The change of the English name of the Company from “JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.” to “Jinko Holdings Limited”; and
7. The adoption of “晶科控股有限公司” as the dual foreign name of the Company.

 About JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.

JinkoSolar (NYSE: JKS) is a holding company combining clean energy industrial operations and strategic investment in emerging technologies. Its industrial foundation is a controlling interest in Jinko Solar Co., Ltd. (SSE: 688223), a global leader in clean energy technology. The Company makes disciplined strategic investments in renewable energy, advanced materials, artificial intelligence, commercial space and other frontier technologies, drawing on its industrial experience and its ability to identify emerging technologies and bring them to commercial scale.

Through Jinko Solar Co., Ltd., the Company distributes its solar products and sells its solutions and services to a diversified international utility, commercial and residential customer base in China, the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Chile, South Africa, India, Mexico, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Greece and other countries and regions.

JinkoSolar has over 10 production facilities globally, over 20 overseas subsidiaries in Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, India, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the United States, Mexico, and other countries, and a global sales network with sales teams in China, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Spain, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Netherlands, Vietnam and India, as of June 30, 2026.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

In China:

Ms. Stella Wang
JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.
Tel: +86 21-5180-8777 ext.7806
Email: ir@jinkosolar.com 

Mr. Christian Arnell
Christensen
Tel: +852 2117 0861
Email: christian.arnell@christensencomms.com 

In the U.S.:

Email: jinko@christensencomms.com 

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Price still dominates car buying in US and Europe, while China puts technology first–Bain & Company survey

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Dealers stay important: More than 80% of car buyers globally now combine online and offline channels, yet nine in 10 still complete their purchase at dealersAI is reshaping car-buying journey in all markets – more than 60% of younger buyers use AI when deciding on their next carConsumers who have test-driven a battery electric vehicle are up to 2.2 times as willing to consider buying oneCustomer loyalty is decreasing – more than a third of customers in Western markets are open to new brands entering the market Autonomous-driving technology could challenge traditional brand loyalty, with consumers willing to switch brands for better functionality

BOSTON and MUNICH, Oct. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — New technologies, including AI, are changing how consumers research and choose cars around the globe. Brand loyalty is decreasing and price continues to play a powerful role in purchasing decisions in the US and Europe, but less so for Chinese buyers, as new research released today by Bain & Company finds.

Bain’s new Global Automotive Consumer Survey, based on responses from more than 12,000 car buyers worldwide*, finds price remains the top consideration when buying a car in the US and Europe, cited by 68% and 62% of consumers respectively, while technology and features (58%) rank ahead of price in China. Loyalty to established automakers also varies considerably: US buyers remain the most committed, while newer Chinese brands are entering consideration in Europe.

The findings come as legacy automakers face weak industry growth and continued pressure on profitability, alongside rapid advances in electrification, artificial intelligence and autonomous driving.

“The car-buying journey is changing quickly, but what stands out is how differently consumers across the globe are responding to that change,” said Klaus Stricker, leader of Bain’s Global Automotive & Mobility practice. “Technology can be a powerful differentiator for some buyers, while for others, price and brand remain decisive. We find that car buyers are increasingly using AI to compare brands, models and options.”

Digital car buying accelerates, but dealerships remain critical

The way consumers choose cars has become increasingly digital. Bain finds that more than 80% of respondents globally now combine online and offline interactions during the purchase journey, while more than six in 10 start the buying process online. China is further ahead, with 95% using both online and physical channels and more than eight in 10 willing to consider completing their purchase online.

But greater use of digital channels has not diminished the importance of the physical dealership. Nine in 10 consumers globally still complete their purchase offline, and more than half of buyers in Europe, the US and China have at least two interactions with dealers along the way.

Artificial intelligence is also reshaping how consumers research and compare cars. AI is already widely used by car buyers across several Asian markets and UAE, reaching more than 90% in Indonesia and close to 80% across age groups in China. In Japan, Europe and the US, adoption is more concentrated among younger buyers, with 52%, 61% and 55% respectively using AI, more than twice the share of older consumers.

Younger consumers drive BEV interest, but barriers to wider adoption remain

Consumer interest in battery electric vehicles (BEVs) is strong, particularly among younger buyers, the survey finds. Younger consumers (Generations Y and Z) in general are more likely to buy BEVs, but in China, willingness to buy BEVs is high across both younger and older generations.

For consumers still reluctant to buy a BEV, cost and charging remain the biggest sticking points. In the US and Europe, around six in 10 are unwilling to pay more for a BEV than for a comparable combustion-engine car, while almost half cite charging times as a concern. Bain concludes that closing the price gap and making charging more convenient will be critical to persuading more consumers to make the switch.

Bain cites an example in Germany where BEV-buying decisions shifted once price parity narrowed. In August 2026, BEV registrations jumped 75% year-on-year to reach around 32% of new car sales. New government incentives and rising fuel prices drove the change – in addition to new strong BEV models entering the market.

Getting more buyers behind the wheel provides another lever. Consumers who have already test-driven a BEV are up to 2.2 times more willing to consider purchasing one than those who have not. Yet mass-market buyers in Europe and the US are less likely to have tried a BEV, compared to premium buyers. With many potential buyers yet to try one, making test-drives easier to access could be one of the most effective ways for automakers and dealers to encourage wider BEV adoption.

Autonomous driving could challenge traditional brand loyalty

Appetite for autonomous-driving technology is substantially stronger in China and several Asian and Middle Eastern markets than in Europe and the US, Bain finds. Some 84% of Chinese consumers would consider buying a vehicle offering at least Level 3 (L3) autonomy, compared with 47% in Europe and 40% in the US. L3 allows a car to drive itself under certain conditions but requires the driver to take over when prompted. Interest is even higher in the UAE, India and Indonesia.

Greater interest in autonomous driving could also weaken traditional brand loyalty. Consumers most interested in the technology are more willing to switch manufacturers for better functionality, with premium buyers in Europe and the US particularly open to changing brands. In China, willingness to switch is more widespread. For automakers, better autonomous-driving functionality could therefore become an increasingly important way to attract customers from competitors.

“Technology is now part of the reason customers choose one manufacturer over another,” Stricker added. “That raises the stakes for automakers. Brands need to understand where customers are willing to pay for innovation, where affordability remains the overriding consideration, and where better technology could be enough to persuade a customer to switch. That requires a much more precise understanding of what different customers value.”

*Markets included in the survey: Canada, US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, UAE, China, India, Indonesia, and Japan. 

Media contacts:
Ann Lee (Singapore) — ann.lee@bain.com
Gary Duncan (London) — gary.duncan@bain.com
Dan Pinkney (Boston) — dan.pinkney@bain.com 

About Bain & Company

Bain & Company works with leaders worldwide to solve their toughest challenges and deliver enduring results. Since 1973, we’ve partnered with clients, including private equity and portfolio companies, to build the capabilities they need to stay ahead of change and help them redefine their industries. We measure our success by our clients’ success, and we proudly hold the highest levels of client advocacy in our field.

Bain is consistently recognized globally as one of the best places to work. We operate as one global team, uniting strategists, industry and functional experts, technologists, and advisors with a vibrant ecosystem of technology partners.

Notes to Editors 

Bain & Company was founded in 1973 and today has 19,000 employees across 67 cities in 40 countries. We have worked with more than two-thirds of the Global 500 and more than 9,000 companies worldwide. Bain has pledged to deliver $2 billion in pro bono consulting to nonprofit, public sector, and charitable organizations by 2035. The firm is consistently recognized as a Leader in major analyst rankings across multiple areas, including digital business, innovation, strategy, experience design, customer experience, and carbon-zero transformation.

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HiTHIUM enters Canada with first 8-hour BESS and sodium-ion solutions adapted to extreme cold

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TORONTO, Oct. 21, 2026 /CNW/ — HiTHIUM, an integrated full-scenario energy storage solutions provider, has announced its entry into the Canadian market. Ranked in the top two globally for energy storage component, the manufacturer has surpassed 200 GWh in cumulative delivered capacity, focusing exclusively on stationary energy storage technologies.

Canada’s energy storage expansion requires reliable large-scale suppliers and local presence

Mizhi Zhang, HiTHIUM President of Global Business, commented: “We are committed to delivering Canadian customers advanced, robust solutions, from 8-hour long duration energy storage to extreme-weather-ready sodium-ion BESS. But this also means being present for customers wherever they are, able to serve them quickly and locally. While Toronto serves as the main hub for our Canadian operations, we have subsidiary offices in British Columbia and Alberta, as well as operating sites in Quebec, Yellowknife, and Fort Smith.” 

HiTHIUM has introduced 4-hour and 8-hour BESS solutions to serve the market’s rapid buildout of utility-scale energy storage. With installed Canadian storage expected to double between 2025 and 2027, and the country’s total wind, solar, and energy storage capacity on track to reach 50 GW by 2035, HiTHIUM is positioned to fill the growing demand for BESS on a large scale. The company has also revealed a new 4 MWh sodium-ion storage solution, which is designed for an extra-long service life, supports storage durations from 2 to 8 hours, and is perfect for extremely cold climates, like Northern Canada.

“Canada’s ambitious clean energy targets, as well as its high safety and regulatory standards, require partners who can deliver advanced technology that’s also tested and compliance-ready. At the same time, project developers have to consider the tough climate. As a vertically integrated, global solutions provider, HiTHIUM is structured to meet exactly this nexus of challenges. Our strategy of advancing both lithium-ion and sodium-ion storage is designed to offer customers in markets like Canada the benefits of flexibility, since we see these technologies as highly complementary,” continued Zhang.

“Our partners, whether major energy developers, public utilities, or industrial enterprises, rely on our readiness for local certification and our long-term bankability to support them, from permitting through project commissioning,” added Jordan Hebbert, HiTHIUM Senior Manager of Canada. “Likewise, they depend on the proven durability of HiTHIUM technology–including performance even in extreme weather conditions. In fact, long-term operational data from North American and European projects has recently demonstrated systems outperforming even our guarantees. And we offer customers a wider range of durations and choice of chemistries because we understand that they’re coming to us with a very diverse range of energy storage needs.”

4-hour or 8-hour BESS: Matching duration to project specifications

The manufacturer’s 4-hour BESS solution consists of its “∞Power” 6.25 MWh container, built on HiTHIUM’s own 1175 Ah cell. Most Canadian projects are currently designed around the 4-hour unit. This enables them to shift wind, solar, and baseload output to later peak times, strengthen grid reliability, and drive the consumption of more renewables, particularly as electrification increases demand. The ∞Power system design fits more capacity into the typical 20-foot container but also reduces a project’s overall footprint, because the containers can be placed back-to-back and side-to-side.

In a groundbreaking step for long duration energy storage, HiTHIUM also developed the first ever native 8-hour solution based on lithium-ion technology. Its 6.9 MWh 8-hour BESS, built with HiTHIUM’s own 1300 Ah cells, fewer components overall, and a 25-year lifespan, is designed to address issues like curtailments and to fill key gaps for zero-downtime industrial segments like AI data centers. For wind project developers and data center operators alike, 8-hour BESS offers risk reduction and greater revenue reliability.  

Extreme fire test validates safety architecture

HiTHIUM additionally worked with UL Solutions at the start of 2026 on an independently conducted, extreme fire test of its 6.25 MWh block’s intrinsic safety systems. A container was subjected to 24 hours of extreme combustion conditions, with its doors opened for maximum thermal spread, while neighboring containers were placed just 15 cm away. Only the containers’ passive safety systems were enabled. The results validated HiTHIUM’s multi-layer safety architecture, with the tested container structurally intact after the test, no thermal propagation across the containers, and the temperatures of cells in adjacent containers remaining below safety thresholds.

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