<h4>Chapter 117: Into Chips</h4>
<strong>Trantor: </strong>Nyoi-Bo Studio <strong>Editor: </strong>Nyoi-Bo Studio
On the subway returning home, Zhen Ker Shin received an email on her phone; it was the offer letter from Xing Hai Technologies. She opened the email, and after she saw the number in the sry column, surprise was written all over her face. That’s a lot!
Once she arrived home, she hastened up the stairs, rushed through the door, and rushed into the kitchen with excitement. “Mom, I found a job! Deputy General Manager’s Assistant at Xing Hai Technologies! my monthly pay is already 18,000 just for the internship period! Close your barber shop mom, let me support you!” She held her mother as she keptughing and jumping.
“Sure, sure.” Zhen Xiao Qin patted her daughter’s shoulder, tears of joy shing in her eyes. That ruthless man, finally doing something good for her.
...
Good news came on July 20th. After four months of effort, the mechanical joints at Bi Long Company were finally being mass produced! Through the phone, Wang Quan Long said with a hoarse voice, “We’ve done it, Mr. Chen! I went all-out this month, so has everyone at the factory! Here we have it, high-end mechanical joints that passed quality check, and it’s on mass production! 20 kilos, I lost 20 kilos in total, I had lost the weight I thought I’d never be able to lose, now that’s two things for me to be happy about. Ahahaha, ahahahaha!” Wang Quan Longughed, and he could be heard crying within his hystericalughter.
Not easy. Not easy indeed. It was just as the journey from seeing hope to aplishing it. Everybody knew the meaning of this breakthrough, another uncharted territory in the high-end manufacturing field was unveiled. From that day on, all the mechanical joints of the Wa-wah robot could be fully supplied by Bi Long. Besides, there were many uses for the mechanical joint. For example, the active joints of industrial robots, the arms of high-precision machines, civilian robots, and many others. Theponent might be small, but its market was worth a whopping 100 billion. In the past, this high-end market was 100% monopolized by foreign suppliers. But now, Bi Long wouldpletely change this fact.
“Good, marvelous!” Chen Jin was also extremely ted. He said, “Mr. Wang, you need to stop working right now. Go get some good rest, you can go sleep for three days straight, then hold a celebration feast with good wine!”
Wang Quan Long agreed and hung up the call. Heyed down on a single bed, turned his head, and within a mere second, he was on the way to dreand.
Chen Jin, on the other hand, was still indulged in excitement. What a relief. Starting from then on, he could be relieved from heavy transporting work. He did not have to transport even a singleponent from the Base of Operations anymore.
Transporting operations could actually provide him a significant amount of earnings, for instance, transporting 50 thousand pairs of mechanical joints daily, where each pair is worth 300, the umted gain would be 15 million on a daily basis. This amount of earnings was on par with transporting gold, and moreover, it attracted less attention. But to try moving them for four months continuously? If I can’t earn the money while lying in my bed, no matter how much the money, I’d rather not.
“It is much better doing technical work, even a simple piece of technical information inside a tiny USB sh drive which is about 20-something grams, its value could be worth tens or even hundreds of billions... is there anything else in this world that has more worth than knowledge?”
Knowledge is wealth.
From this “supply chain crisis,” he learned an important lesson; never get limited by or depend on others in obtaining the supply of coreponents! It was imperative to be able to self-supply, only then scenarios could you avoid scenarios where you get choked by others. Especially on the “intelligent learning machine” project which he valued the most, mistakes that happened to the Wa-wah robot production could not happen again! Chen Jin was reluctant to do low-end jobs such as being a porter ever again.
Therefore, for the “intelligent learning machine” project, he nned to prepare an “umbre before the rain” and abolish any problem that resided within before it really happened. The core hardwareponents that were required to make the intelligent learning machine was as follows:
Screen
CPU
AI chip
sh and memory chip
Camera module
From these coreponents, the screen would not have any problems with supply; localpanies such as Oriental Crystal, Hua Star Optoelectronics, Youteng Optoelectronics, and other suppliers would be able to deliver quality LED and ALMOED screens.
The chance of problems urring in the CPU supply was rtively low; localpanies such as Teng Xun corporation, Mossy Electric corporation from Treasure Ind, Lian Fa Technologies, and Quam from M nation, as well as Samsin from Coldrea, were all designers and manufacturers of CPU. Thepetition was so intense that they would be scrambling to sell Xing Hai their products; those who said no to money were idiots.
As for the AI chip, there were also a lot of local manufacturers. The better suppliers would be Cold Five Instruments, Chow Yi Technologies, Zhongtian Micro Technologies, and others, but those who were in the AI chip designing field was very limited.
For the sh and memory chip, with the government’s support policies, Rivery Corporation, Purple Ray Technologies, and otherpanies had achieved notable results within the field and were currently in the phase of increasing production. Therefore, there was no need to worry even if the foreign supply chain was broken.
For the camera module, Sunny Optical from the Z nation and OfiLight Technologies were the first and second top giants in camera module supply across the globe, dominating arge portion of the middle and low-end market. Certainly, in the field of high-end camera module manufacturing, manufacturers from the Z nation were no match to the foreign big three: Sony, LG, and Sharp. But for cameras above 10 million pixels, there were many local factories that could supply the demand. Moreover, there was a trend that the Z nation was expanding the scale of its camera module industry.
That is why I said... my suppliers are not forces to be reckoned with!
For the supply of coreponents, the threat that foreign manufacturers posed on the Z nation was gradually lessening. But for Chen Jin’s intelligent learning machine, the supply of a coreponent was still in high risk of supply issues.
The AI chips! The reason being that localpanies focused more on design than production. The chips were of good quality, but production heavily relied on the foundries located on Treasure Ind. This could not be the case. Chen Jin would never seal the fate of the “intelligent learning machine” project in such a ce.
Therefore, he had two ns.
First, invest 500 million in establishing his own AI chip R&D department, seek coboration with Cold Five Instruments, and with the aid of their talents, develop an AI chip exclusively tailored for the intelligent learning machine. Secondly, invest in the chip foundrypany Zhong Xin International and sign a supply agreement with them. Subsequently, all the AI chip supply for the “intelligent learning machine” project would be handled by Zhong Xin International.
Coincidently, the headquarters of Zhong Xin international was located in Shang Hai and within the high-tech zone near Xing Hai Technologies’ headquarters. The twopanies were only three-to-four-hundred meters apart. Aside from that, within the high-tech zone, Zhong Xin International owned two modern chip factories, capable of mass producing theirtest and most advanced 14-nanochips. It could be said that with such a location advantage, Zhong Xin International without a doubt became the most preferredpany for partnership.
...
On July 21st, after cooperative intentions were confirmed in advance, Chen Jin personally led thepany’s negotiating delegation which consisted of thepany’s high personnel such as Ling Dong Jun, Liang Ying, and others, and traveled by foot to Zhong Xin International’s headquarters to have a face-to-face conference with the higher-ups of theirpany.
The current chairman of Zhong Xin International Zhang Wei Jin looked at this meeting very seriously, not only that he personally came to greet them, but executive CEO Khoo Ci Feng, general manager Liang Meng Nan, R&D director Yang Ming, and other important personnel from Zhong Xin International all attended the meeting.
“Mr. Chen, long have I heard your name, I never thought you were so young.”
“Mr. Zhang, yourpany is the most advanced and the very best at chip foundry in our country, even securing a top-four position worldwide. That was a marvelous achievement, you are a pride to the Z nation.”
After both sides exchangedpliments, Zhang Wei Jin went into the main topic and asked, “Mr. Chen, how much do you intend to invest in Zhong Xin International’s chip manufacturing?”