BEIJING, Aug. 4 -- The following are the highlights of China's key business news from the past week:

NEV CHARGING POLES

Four of China's leading property developers have teamed up with the State Grid in setting up new-energy vehicles (NEVs) charging poles for some 8.7 million households.

Property giant Evergrande Group and the State Grid Corporation of China jointly launched a smart energy services company in Shenzhen in early July to install NEV charging poles for each parking space in residential communities.

Other real estate developers including Country Garden, Vanke and Sunac have also joined in the venture, extending the charging services to 5,468 communities operated by the four developers and covering an estimated 31 million residents.

TRANSPORT DIGITALIZATION

China has become a pioneer for developing and applying the latest mobility technologies thanks to the country's huge market demand and efficient implementation, according to senior management with German transportation firm Siemens Mobility.

The future transport will be connected, autonomous and electric, and China enjoys many advantages in transport innovation including supportive policies, clear development plans and fast execution, Jurgen Model, CEO with Siemens Mobility Greater China told Xinhua in an interview.

He observed that China is one of the leaders in the development and application of autonomous driving technologies which have now been tested in 16 cities. "The commercial use of 5G wireless technologies will accelerate its industrial application," he said.

SHRINKING PROFITS

China's steel output surged in the first half of the year, but higher material costs had weighed upon profit of the sector, according to the China Iron and Steel Industry Association (CISA).

China's crude steel output came in at 492 million tonnes in H1 2019, up 9.9 percent year on year, CISA data showed.

The country in H1 saw its newly-added output of crude steel at 44.34 million tonnes, while net exports of steel suffered a 70,000-tonne decrease year on year, said the CISA.

VR STARTUP

Chinese mobile virtual reality (VR) firm NOLO Inc. has completed its series A+ financing of 15 million U.S. dollars.

This round of financing was led by Joy Capital, followed by BlueRun Ventures and Peakview Capital, and the money will be mainly spent on the continuous research and development as well as commercialization of its VR tracking technology, the company said in a statement.

Established in 2015, the startup focuses on VR interaction and now has users from more than 70 countries and regions.