Here is the corrected fully English version of “HiddenMerit Daily · Issue 5” with all remaining Chinese phrases properly translated.

📊 HiddenMerit Daily · Issue 5

Focus on Database Frontiers, Practical Insights for DBAs
May 1, 2026 ｜ 5 Selected Global Hot Topics

01｜Domestic Database Industry Enters Knockout Round: AI Rewrites the Rules, Ecosystem Determines Survival

On April 22, the 2026 China Database Technology and Industry Conference was held in Beijing. Beyond Dameng’s release of four new products, the market report released by CCID Consulting revealed deeper industry trends: China’s database industry is moving from “large-scale replacement” into a new phase of “high-quality development and market shakeout.”

Core Data:

Three Driving Forces Behind the Knockout Round:

1. Deep AI Penetration: Databases need to simultaneously handle both data elementization and intelligent application demands. The ability to natively integrate AI with databases has become a key threshold.
2. Domestic-Tech Advances into Core Systems: Core systems in finance, telecommunications, and energy are moving from pilot projects to full-scale deployment.
3. Intensified Ecosystem Competition: Single-product advantages are no longer sufficient for long-term competitiveness; ecosystem synergy has become a necessity.

Technology Direction Convergence: Centralized and distributed architectures running in parallel, general-purpose and multi-model databases complementing each other. Products that cannot keep up with AI technology trends will be quickly eliminated from the market.

DBA Perspective
This may be the most important industry report I’ve read today. For DBAs, understanding industry trends and planning personal development paths are equally important.

Three Takeaways:

1. Skill upgrades are urgent: The essence of the knockout round is a “technology capability competition.” If your skills remain at the basic level of “writing SQL and performing backup/recovery,” you risk being marginalized. You need to proactively learn cutting-edge technologies at the intersection of AI and databases — vector search, intelligent operations, multi-modal data processing.

2. Ecosystem choice matters more than ever: Which database ecosystem you choose may determine your career development space for the next 5-10 years. Leading vendors (Dameng, OceanBase, Huawei GaussDB, etc.) have more complete ecosystems, more active communities, and more job opportunities.

3. Domestic-tech knowledge is no longer optional: Domestic-tech replacement is entering deep waters. DBAs in finance, energy, healthcare, and other industries must master at least 1-2 domestic databases. This is not only a technical requirement but also a career security need.

One sentence summary: The “knockout round” for domestic databases is also a “capability reshuffle” for DBAs. Those who proactively embrace change will gain better development opportunities.

02｜CETC Kingware Speaks at Digital China Summit: Over 20,000 Sets of Domestic Database Deployed

At the 9th Digital China Construction Summit, CETC Kingware, as a leading domestic database vendor, showcased its full-chain innovation achievements and disclosed the latest results of large-scale replacement.

Core Data:

Key Customer Coverage: State Grid Corporation of China, China’s “three oil giants” (CNPC, Sinopec, CNOOC), China Mobile, and other mega-enterprises.

AI Empowerment Achievements:

• Self-developed intelligent O&M system enables fault prediction, SQL optimization, and automatic self-healing
• High-performance vector retrieval supports RAG scenarios such as financial knowledge Q&A and government semantic search
• Promotes the transformation of O&M from “passive firefighting” to “proactive self-healing”

DBA Perspective
CETC Kingware’s data is compelling — over 20,000 sets deployed, covering 90% of central SOEs — indicating that domestic databases have completed the leap from “lab products” to “commercial-scale deployment.”

Details Worth Attention:

1. Over 70% market share in substation control systems: The energy industry represents the “deep water zone” for domestic-tech replacement. If a product can operate stably in core energy scenarios, its usability and reliability have been thoroughly validated.

2. Full-tier healthcare domestic-tech coverage: Nearly 500 healthcare institutions, covering 40+ business systems including HIS, LIS, and PACS — the healthcare industry places extremely high demands on data consistency and availability, making it a “touchstone” for domestic database capabilities.

3. AI empowerment as a differentiator: CETC Kingware positions intelligent O&M and vector retrieval as core selling points, consistent with trends covered in our previous issues — “AI + database” is becoming a new competitive track for domestic vendors.

Recommendation: If you work in central SOEs or the energy/healthcare industries, proactively understand CETC Kingware’s technical architecture and ecosystem — this may be one of the technology stacks you encounter in your future work.

03｜Oracle AI Database@Azure Adds Multiple Regions and Cross-Region Data Guard

On April 23, Oracle officially announced multiple updates to Oracle AI Database@Azure, including new region support and enhanced cross-region disaster recovery capabilities.

Update Details:

Cross-Region Data Guard Highlights:

• Enables disaster recovery between different Azure regions
• Manages encryption keys through Azure Key Vault (AKV)
• When the primary region fails, the standby database can access encryption keys
• Customers maintain complete control over encryption keys

DBA Perspective
Oracle’s expansion on Azure is accelerating, which is an important signal for DBAs in enterprises adopting multi-cloud strategies.

Technical Points Analysis:

1. Cross-region Data Guard + AKV integration: This is a security enhancement worth attention. In traditional Data Guard, encryption key management was a pain point — key synchronization was complex for cross-region disaster recovery. Now with centralized management through AKV, both compliance requirements are met and operational complexity is reduced. DBAs with cross-region disaster recovery needs should examine this solution in depth.

2. 200 subscriptions per single account support: Oracle explicitly positions this as a “security and cost tracking” feature — allowing subscriptions to be partitioned by project, environment, and application domain while maintaining unified billing. This reflects the enterprise demand for “fine-grained resource isolation.”

3. Region expansion pace: With consecutive multiple region launches (6 region updates in April alone), Oracle is accelerating its coverage on Azure. If your company has business in Azure regions, pay attention to the availability status of Oracle AI Database@Azure in those regions.

One sentence summary: The Oracle-Azure partnership is moving from “available” to “good-to-use.” Multi-cloud DBAs should include it in their technology evaluation perspective.

04｜Alibaba Cloud RDS AI Assistant Flagship Edition Launches: Intelligent O&M + Multi-Model Service

On April 28, Alibaba Cloud officially released the RDS AI Assistant Flagship Edition, adding multi-model service capabilities on top of the Professional Edition’s intelligent O&M features.

Core Capability Comparison:

Multi-Model Service Details:

• One API Key can invoke multiple mainstream large models including Tongyi Qianwen, Zhipu, Kimi, MiniMax
• System automatically selects the optimal model based on task complexity (simple queries → qwen-flash, complex reasoning → qwen3-max)
• Built-in circuit breaker degradation, automatic retry, and multi-model disaster recovery ensure high service availability

Intelligent O&M Capabilities:

• Natural language querying of performance, resource usage, and instance information
• Automatic inspection across 12 dimensions with over 60 items
• Support for creating custom AI assistants with dedicated roles and response logic

DBA Perspective
This is another important milestone in the “AI-ification” of cloud databases. The release of Alibaba Cloud RDS AI Assistant Flagship Edition means that DBAs’ daily work methods will undergo profound changes.

Three Trends Worth Attention:

1. Unified operations entry point: The Flagship Edition supports managing “Alibaba Cloud RDS + self-built databases + other cloud databases,” solving the pain point of operational fragmentation in multi-cloud/hybrid cloud scenarios. For DBAs managing multiple database environments, such tools can significantly improve efficiency.

2. AI cost governance becomes a new topic: The Flagship Edition includes token metering and cost analysis, indicating that model invocation cost has become a factor that must be considered for enterprise-grade applications. DBAs may need to learn the new skill of “model cost optimization.”

3. Controllable AI operations: The Flagship Edition supports API Key integration, meaning enterprises can integrate AI capabilities into their own operations systems rather than being locked into the cloud vendor’s console. This is valuable for enterprises with customized operations needs.

Recommendation: If your team is exploring AI-assisted operations, start with high-value, low-risk scenarios like “slow SQL analysis” or “anomaly diagnosis” to verify the accuracy and reliability of the AI assistant.

05｜PostgreSQL 19 Contributor Count Hits Record High, China’s Force Rises

At the HOW 2026 China Database Open Source Development Summit and PostgreSQL Forum held on April 27, PostgreSQL core contributors revealed that both the number of features and the number of contributors for PG 19 will reach record highs.

Key Information:

• PG 19 expected to release in September 2026
• 45 engineers from HighGo participated in contributions, covering kernel, peripheral plugins, tools, and documentation
• Number of Chinese contributors continues to grow, with PostgreSQL core contributor Mark Wong stating “this growth is surprising”
• Kernel contribution accounts for 60%: The depth of Chinese developer participation is increasing

Technology Trends:

• PostgreSQL has become the “de facto open-source AI database,” with enterprises like OpenAI using PostgreSQL technology as their underlying foundation
• PGVector plugin performance has achieved a leap driven by AI, becoming the underlying support for RAG applications
• AI is evaluated as a “1000x leverage” by Tan Zhongyi, rather than just 10x

Community Dynamics:

• The Database Open Source Development Alliance was officially established, aiming to promote industry-education integration and cultivate open-source talent
• PostgreSQL community’s unique mechanisms: continuously attracting new developers through openness, diversity, and inclusiveness
• Over the past three years, PostgreSQL’s monthly code merge volume has continued to grow

DBA Perspective
PostgreSQL is becoming the “data infrastructure winner” in the AI era. The first item in this issue discussed domestic databases entering the knockout round, while PostgreSQL’s ecosystem continues to flourish. These two are not contradictory — the database market is differentiating, and the strong get stronger.

Three Points to Consider:

1. China’s force: from “users” to “contributors”: 45 HighGo engineers participated in PG 19 contributions, with kernel contributions accounting for 60% — this indicates that Chinese enterprises are no longer just “using it” but are beginning to deeply participate in open-source community development. This is a sign of the maturity of China’s database industry.

2. PGVector’s AI value is highly recognized: RAG applications and agent memory storage both rely on vector retrieval, and PostgreSQL naturally supports this capability through the PGVector plugin. For teams building AI applications, PostgreSQL is a natural technology option.

3. Community health is a key asset: Behind PostgreSQL’s “continuously growing monthly code volume” is a healthy, open governance mechanism. As a DBA, when choosing a technology stack, you should not only look at the technology itself but also at community vitality and governance models.

Recommendation: If you haven’t been exposed to PostgreSQL yet, we recommend catching up soon. Whether for career development or technical preparation, PostgreSQL is a “high-value” learning direction — open-source, active, and increasingly valuable in the AI era.

📅 Today’s Database Events Calendar

Today is May 1, 2026, International Workers’ Day. Happy holiday to all DBAs! Review of this week’s highlights:

Summary of This Issue

📌 Editor’s Note
Today is International Workers’ Day, and the first day after MySQL 8.0 EOL. This issue’s content reveals a clear signal: the database industry is experiencing a “triple wave superposition” — AI reshaping technology paths, domestic-tech accelerating replacement, and open-source ecosystem globalizing competition.

As DBAs, we stand at a rare moment in history. Technological change brings not a crisis of “being replaced,” but an opportunity to “redefine value.”

Three Holiday Suggestions:

1. Review your MySQL 8.0 upgrade plan: If not yet upgraded, start assessment immediately after the holiday
2. Pay attention to PG 19’s AI features: Vector retrieval capabilities are worth studying in depth
3. Set a small goal for yourself: Master one domestic database or advanced PostgreSQL features this year

Labor Day Special Interaction: Have you upgraded your MySQL 8.0? Did you choose 8.4 LTS or cloud-native? Welcome to share your upgrade experience in the comments! See you after the holiday!