KONE Elevator "Organizes" Partnership, Shenzhen Metro and Vanke Deepen Their Technology Profile

As the integration between Shenzhen Metro and Vanke deepens further, their cooperation has extended into more areas.

Shenzhen Metro, Vanke, and KONE Elevator recently formally signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Shenzhen. The three parties announced the establishment of the KONE Elevator Greater Bay Area Smart Logistics Center, which will be supported by an elevator and escalator product assembly center and a product and solution exhibition center.

In this project, Vanke, Shenzhen Metro, and KONE will each leverage their respective strengths. Vanke will draw on its mature experience in logistics management and operations, relying on intelligent logistics systems and regional distribution networks to provide KONE with customized warehousing and operation services, helping optimize its supply chain in the Greater Bay Area. Shenzhen Metro will also leverage its rail transit network advantages to support material transportation and circulation.

KONE stated that, as its core supply chain hub in southern China, the center will radiate across the Greater Bay Area urban agglomeration, significantly improving supply chain efficiency in South China, Hong Kong, and Macau, and enabling rapid resource circulation. Taking Hong Kong as an example, the delivery time for renovation and modernization solutions is expected to be shortened by 20%, marking a significant efficiency improvement.

KONE and Vanke will further strengthen their cooperation in residential and commercial sectors, expand overseas collaboration, and amplify synergies across multiple areas, including: advancing larger-scale cooperation in new elevator business for residential and commercial properties based on existing partnerships; deepening cooperation in digital maintenance and renovation/modernization services through agreed arrangements, while reinforcing supply chain coordination to enhance project delivery efficiency; and KONE Elevator providing Vanke with customized full-lifecycle solutions based on its original equipment manufacturer advantages and digital technologies.

In addition, KONE announced the establishment of its southern headquarters in Qianhai, Shenzhen, which is expected to be officially put into operation in early 2026. By then, a "dual headquarters, coordinated linkage" structure will be formed in China. KONE said the new headquarters will focus on regional market expansion, customer service, and resource integration, relying on Qianhai's locational advantages to enhance the Greater Bay Area's operational management hub function and localized response speed, achieving service efficiency upgrades.

This cooperation between KONE, Shenzhen Metro, and Vanke demonstrates that major shareholder Shenzhen Metro, beyond real estate development, has begun to tap into Vanke's accumulated capabilities in technology. This may also signal Vanke's future transformation trend. In recent years, Vanke has been exploring a "second growth curve," and these businesses are expected to become performance contributors for Vanke in the future.

At this year's shareholders' meeting, Vanke's management, when discussing the future, stated that Vanke will actively promote the integrated development of diverse scenarios and composite business formats. Vanke will engage in all-round cooperation with various resources in areas such as logistics, commercial operations, and public infrastructure maintenance; it will continue to innovate collaboratively with local governments, leading enterprises, and industrial investment institutions, continuously improving and refining its ecosystem construction.

In fact, prior to this, Vanke's subsidiary Wanwei Logistics had already engaged in relevant cooperation with Shenzhen Metro.

In July this year, the "Rail Transit + Robot Delivery" project jointly operated by Shenzhen Metro and Vanke entered the testing phase. The project utilizes off-peak hours of metro passenger transportation to complete last-mile delivery for rail transit retail stores, with both the robots and the intelligent scheduling system they use being integrated and developed by Vanke's Wanwei Logistics.

Onewo, another Vanke subsidiary, has also further strengthened its technology empowerment this year.

Earlier this year, Onewo proposed a three-tier employee collaboration model: H-type human employees, R-type robot employees, and A-type AI agent employees. After more than half a year of AI application development, various AI agents have emerged within Onewo. In July this year, the first batch of 6 AI employees officially started work after passing their probationary review. Meanwhile, Onewo's GC platform was also upgraded to version 2.0, implementing multiple RAG and MCP upgrades as well as multi-AI agent employee collaboration.

Industry observers noted that Shenzhen Metro Group's financial support and resource empowerment for Vanke, combined with Vanke's proactive adoption of diversified financing strategies and support from various parties, are expected to help Vanke gradually emerge from its downturn.