Chapter 566: Vigilance in Times of Comfort, A Bumpy Road Ahead
"The Q2 financial report is in, including the final revision of Q1. The documents are in front of you. Since we'll be referencing some figures, I'll begin with a quick summary."
Inside Yuanxin's headquarters, the quarterly executive board meeting was underway.
This session's main purpose was to provide a comprehensive review of the second quarter and the first half of the year overall. Even Wang Rui, who had been stationed long-term in the United States, had returned specifically for the occasion.
Opening the meeting was Dr. Xi, while Chairwoman Chen Jing presided.
"Last month, thanks to our expansion into North American and European markets, we increased revenue by $180 million USD. Given the current foreign exchange policy constraints, that's no small feat," said Chen Jing. She turned to Wang Rui—noticeably slimmer than before—and smiled. "President Wang, thank you for your hard work."
Wang Rui smiled and waved modestly. "Just doing my job. Everyone's working hard."
But inside, he did feel a measure of pride. Over the past few years, despite holding the title of Global Business President and flying all over the world, most of Wang Rui's concrete achievements had been limited to East Asia and Southeast Asia—mainly the ASEAN countries.
And most of those projects were built on telecom partnerships with monopolistic local enterprises—slow and steady business, the kind meant to grow over years.
Yes, they'd built a lot of base stations. Yes, they'd pushed mobile devices, mostly the Zhongxin-branded ones. But profit? There hadn't been much.
Most of the capital had gone into helping ASEAN "brothers" build out telecom infrastructure.
Of course, Wang Rui fully supported Su Yuanshan's strategy of "rural areas surrounding urban centers." But as the head of global business, not being able to penetrate developed markets in Europe, the U.S., or Japan—and not turning back large sums of hard currency—had weighed on him.
Especially when, over the past two years, Su Yuanshan had burned through Yuanxin's once-impressive foreign reserves on international expansions and joint ventures—reserves that had once tempted even China's Foreign Exchange Administration.
So, pulling in nearly $200 million in foreign currency again had put wind back in Yuanxin's sails.
"In addition," Chen Jing continued, "both Deyuan Semiconductor and our Special Economic Zone OEM center reported steady growth. Deyuan's revenue reached 2.2 billion RMB, and the OEM center brought in 3 billion RMB. Especially worth noting: the OEM center signed two international orders and is now projected to become both profitable and capable of sustaining high growth independently."
She looked toward Jiang Qingchuan with a playful smile. "President Jiang, don't forget to repay your debts."
Laughter rippled around the room—one of the meeting topics was whether to formally spin off the OEM division.
Yuanxin's foundry operations were expanding fast and remained the largest in China, but they weren't without competitors. In the Special Economic Zone, Foxconn (Futukang) had gone even further down the same road. Global contract manufacturers like Flextronics and Jabil had also completed regional setups across Southeast Asia and were eyeing the mainland market.
Yuanxin's foundry division needed to become independent—free from Yuanxin's system, focused entirely on pure contract manufacturing.
Jiang Qingchuan forced a smile and raised his hands in mock surrender. "President Chen, you might as well sell me off too."
If there was one person least willing to see the foundry division spun off, it was Jiang Qingchuan. In just five years, he'd risen from a technical manager to overseeing a department with an annual output of over 10 billion RMB. His work had been nonstop: building plants, upgrading lines, optimizing processes.
Money? He'd never even considered it.
But independence would mean self-sufficiency—sink or swim on your own. That idea made him anxious.
After the laughter subsided, Chen Jing continued summarizing department reports. As she noted, most business lines at Yuanxin had steadily improved in the first half of the year.
For most companies, this would have been a celebration.
But not at Yuanxin.
"We all know," Chen Jing said, her expression now serious, "that our path into global markets won't be smooth."
She glanced at Su Yuanshan. "The incident during the Silicon Valley product launch and the barriers faced by Professor Lin Benjian's team—both show that the West does not welcome the rise of a mainland tech company."
At those words, the room grew somber.
"We have every reason to believe the West is preparing a new wave of technological blockades. Yuanxin will likely be the most targeted Chinese company in the next round."
As she spoke, Chen Jing couldn't help but recall her early days at Yuanxin. Back then, Su Yuanshan had asked her to procure lithography components for Chengguang Tech. At the time, the "Eight-Inch Group" embargo lists were still in effect. Nearly every company on the island had their own lists of restricted projects.
Back then, she had had to circumvent those barriers using smuggling routes under the guise of Meijie Corporation.
If the next round of tech sanctions mirrored that period, Yuanxin's path ahead would be far more than just "bumpy."
At that moment, Li Mingliu, who had remained silent so far, raised his eyebrows and said gravely, "The only solution to a blockade is a technical breakthrough. So, President Chen, please don't cut our R&D budgets again. Even if you have to assign watchdogs to monitor our spending—we won't mind. Just don't cut us off."
Seeing Chen Jing's brow furrow slightly, Su Yuanshan gently coughed. "Old Li, you know not all technical breakthroughs can be achieved by throwing money at them."
"…Of course," Li Mingliu softened his tone after realizing he might've sounded too harsh. "President Chen, I didn't mean anything else. I just want to say: those of us doing R&D are still fighting hard. We're not coasting, and we're not freeloaders."
Several tech leads in the room nodded.
Compared to elites like Dr. Xi, Qin Weimin, and Tian Yaoming, Li Mingliu had always been more hot-headed. But that made him the perfect voice for Yuanxin's more hands-on technical teams. Especially considering Su Yuanshan always viewed him as one of his most valuable R&D leaders.
—And Su Yuanshan?
—Well, he was the king of smooth diplomacy.
Seeing Li back off, Chen Jing relaxed and smiled. "We believe in you. Yuanxin didn't get here by luck—it's because of our strength in tech. But every investment has to be measured. And our expansions aren't for show. We're doing it so we can fund more R&D."
"After all, we are a technology company."
She paused and looked around.
"All right—open floor. Let's hear what everyone has to say."
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Chapter 567: PDA
"Open floor" at Yuanxin meant just that—anything goes, say whatever's on your mind.
Seeing that Chen Jing planned to save the next major topic for the afternoon, Duan Yongping cleared his throat lightly. "President Chen's reminder that we're a tech company almost made me afraid to speak up."
Chen Jing gave him a look and raised her chin slightly, signaling him to stop stalling.
Duan Yongping smiled and looked around. "President Li was absolutely right earlier—technological breakthroughs are the only answer to a blockade. But what if we face a market blockade instead?"
Hearing that, Su Yuanshan, who had been flipping through a report, looked up and signaled him to go on.
"If we're already preparing for the worst," Duan continued, "then we might as well consider the worst-case scenario. Don't forget how many years we've been negotiating to join the WTO. Every time we see a glimmer of hope, something goes wrong. The delays are measured in years. I heard the Premier even lost his temper about it recently…"
"So I think Yuanxin can't just plan for technological barriers—we have to consider market barriers too. What if they impose high tariffs? What if they raise technical certification thresholds?"
Su Yuanshan nodded thoughtfully, resting his chin on his hands. "And what's your proposal?"
"I think," Duan said, "besides leveraging the opportunities brought by the creation of the Ministry of Information Industry, and strengthening our domestic market—our foundational base—we should also consider investment strategy."
After hearing about the new ministry last month, Yuanxin's corporate side had already conducted an internal strategy session. Cao Xiaoliang had submitted complete notes from the Caotang Club discussion, which deeply inspired Duan Yongping.
"We had a great brainstorming session on that news. My take is: if we can anticipate that the domestic information industry is about to enter a golden era, then we should expand our investment scope. Build on our existing venture division and prepare for the coming boom."
As he spoke, Duan opened a folder and joked, "If I hadn't checked with the president's office, I would've forgotten we even had a venture fund. Here's the data from the past three years—the fund has invested a total of 30 million yuan in more than 100 startup teams."
"Most of those are in the software space. In fact, over half are game developers."
Su Yuanshan laughed. "Those game devs are actually making money. It's just none of them want to share it."
"Haha, right. No dividends—so we'll just have to wait for an IPO. But I've looked into the gaming industry a bit. Right now, the only major players are EA and Nintendo. Both are publishers and industry veterans. If you're just a developer, it's still a long shot to go public."
"So I think we should look beyond gaming—maybe start investing in the internet sector," Duan concluded and let the topic hang in the air.
That was when Wang Chaoxin, who had rushed in from Wuxi, spoke up with a chuckle. "President Duan, I heard our two biggest internet projects left the incubation center because internet businesses burn too much money. Right now, with belts tightened, maybe it's not the best time to dive into that mess?"
"I think," said Zhang Rujin, cutting in smoothly, "that since we already have an investment division, and we've already taken steps in this direction, why not consider branching out further?"
Though Zhang had always been in traditional manufacturing, he'd spent many years abroad and knew how angel investment had been booming in the West. He saw it as a viable strategy. "As long as it's managed well and the scale is appropriate, it's a worthwhile experiment."
As he finished, everyone turned to look at Su Yuanshan.
Not because they needed his permission, but because everyone knew: the Xinghai Fund—Yuanxin's most successful investment arm—focused specifically on internet companies.
Su Yuanshan thought for a moment, then slowly nodded. "Dr. Zhang makes a good point. We are a tech company, and yes, we need to focus on our own R&D. But if we can place our bets before the internet boom hits, the return will be massive."
"All right then, let's leave it for the afternoon session," Chen Jing said, jotting down notes. Then she looked at her watch and nodded toward Su Yuanshan. "Ken Kutaragi is still waiting for you, right? Want to adjourn for now?"
Su Yuanshan nodded. "Sounds good. We'll continue later. Who knows—maybe Mr. Kutaragi will bring more good news."
…
Ken Kutaragi had already spent the better part of the morning in Yuanxin's café. Though the place had top-notch facilities and service, he kept checking his watch again and again.
He had taken a red-eye flight and had only managed to nap briefly on the plane.
"Meeting's over?" he asked when Su Yuanshan finally arrived.
"Just wrapped up. Sorry to keep you waiting." Su Yuanshan shook his hand, and the two sat down in a booth.
Seeing the bloodshot look in Kutaragi's eyes, Su Yuanshan shook his head with a smile. "If I were you, I'd have gotten some sleep first. We're past the point of formalities, aren't we?"
"Haha, it's because we don't need to stand on ceremony that I waited. The sooner we talk, the sooner I can sleep."
"Fair enough."
Su Yuanshan adjusted his posture and leaned forward slightly.
"Mr. Su," Kutaragi began without delay, "can you give me a concrete timeline for YOS?"
He was referring, of course, to one of Yuanxin's most closely guarded projects in recent years—the YOS (Yuanxin Operating System), now the focus of the entire tech park.
The reason was clear: Sony had analyzed the recently released YX04 white paper and concluded that this was a CPU capable of fundamentally transforming mobile phones and PDAs through its high level of integration.
In other words, Yuanxin was steadily marching toward the digital future Su Yuanshan had envisioned.
As an ally of Yuanxin, Sony couldn't afford to miss that train.
Su Yuanshan pursed his lips and smiled—he'd known from the beginning that Kutaragi wasn't here just to sign another vague MOU with Yuanxin and Deyuan.
"Mr. Kutaragi, I understand your concerns. But since we've already sent over the white paper, it means you can start PCB design right now," Su Yuanshan replied with a grin. "As long as you follow the spec sheet, YOS will be fully compatible."
But Kutaragi shook his head and smiled. "Mobile phones are important, yes. But if you use the YX04 chip just to play Snake and listen to music, isn't that a bit… wasteful?"
"…" Su Yuanshan shrugged, exasperated. "Just say it, Kutaragi. Even if it's your trade secret, I won't remember a word."
"Haha, I trust you," Kutaragi laughed, then turned serious. "The flash memory revolution isn't just about USB drives, phones, or digital cameras. It's also giving PDAs a whole new future."
He placed a small device on the table: a personal digital assistant.
Monochrome screen, 160x160 pixels, stylus input.
It looked ancient by modern standards, but Su Yuanshan immediately recognized it as one of the most advanced PDAs available at the time.
PalmPilot 1000—the original flagship of the Palm series.
Its most remarkable feature was its operating system, PalmOS. Before Windows CE even entered the game, PalmOS dominated the PDA market. It even had its own alliance—Sony was once a member and had released PalmOS-based devices.
Su Yuanshan knew all too well: PDAs would enjoy a brief golden age… before being crushed by tablets and smartphones. Not even dust would be left.
Because of that, he had never once considered entering the PDA space.
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Chapter 568: The Final Piece of the Puzzle
"Alright, I'll admit it—YOS paired with the YX0466 is currently the best PDA solution out there."
After fiddling with the PalmPilot 1000 for a moment, Su Yuanshan gave his assessment. Then he added, "No exceptions."
That made Ken Kutaragi burst into laughter. "Mr. Su, no need to overstate it."
Su Yuanshan shrugged and replied with a smirk, "I've never been able to lie—even in the womb. So tell me, Mr. Kutaragi, is Sony planning to enter the PDA market next?"
"That's just one of the directions we're considering," Kutaragi said, frank and unfazed.
"Well, don't worry. Yuanxin doesn't intend to make PDAs." Su Yuanshan slid the PalmPilot 1000 back across the table and leaned back into the sofa, relaxed. "In fact, I promise you—even if Yuanxin ever did decide to get into PDAs, wherever your products go, we'll gladly vacate that market."
Kutaragi coughed several times, barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
Come on. If you're not making PDAs, just say so. Why pretend like you're doing him a huge favor by staying out of his way?
But of course, Su Yuanshan wasn't going into the PDA business—not just because the category was doomed to obsolescence, but because he had his sights set on something much bigger: becoming the ecosystem architect of the digital product landscape.
As he had said earlier, YOS plus the powerful YX architecture processor, combined with flash storage and lithium batteries—this setup already covered most of the future's digital product essentials. The only missing piece?
The LCD panel.
Now that Yuanxin could provide everything else, Su Yuanshan had no reason to fight over scraps with companies who didn't control their core technologies.
Those old giants—many of them had long lost their edge. In the Internet age, they feared change more than anything. They weren't entering new markets to profit, but to avoid being left behind.
Which was why every time a new product or category emerged, the big players rushed in—some with "copy-paste" tactics, others via capital investment.
But one way or another, they never dared sit it out.
Take short-form video, for instance. (You know who I mean.)
But Su Yuanshan wasn't afraid.
At least for now, he saw no signs of a product capable of truly disrupting the existing order. Everything was still moving along the same general trajectory—just a bit faster thanks to Yuanxin's push.
"But Mr. Kutaragi, to be honest, I still think using the latest YX processor architecture in a PDA is a bit of a waste. It could be doing a lot more." Su Yuanshan picked up his coffee, sipped, and gave a knowing smile. "Nintendo just launched the Game Boy Pocket. Haven't gotten one to play with yet?"
That made Kutaragi cough again.
With a tired sigh, he reached into his briefcase and pulled out Nintendo's Game Boy Pocket, released just ten days ago.
There was no denying Nintendo's dominance. Even though the PlayStation had gained support from both the Japanese and Chinese game development communities, Sony still had a long way to go before it could truly shake Nintendo's throne.
Kutaragi had been promoted to Sony's General Manager from his role as head of Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), so he naturally paid close attention to the gaming market. When Nintendo launched the N64 and Game Boy Pocket within two months—and received overwhelmingly positive market response—he couldn't sit still anymore.
He couldn't allow the SCE division he'd built from the ground up to stumble. It was his foundation, his stronghold.
Of course, Su Yuanshan knew something Kutaragi didn't: when Square, one of Nintendo's most important partners during the Super Famicom era, defected to Sony earlier this year, it marked the beginning of Nintendo's slow collapse.
But he had no reason to tell Kutaragi that now.
Kutaragi nodded honestly. "You're right. We're indeed considering developing a handheld gaming device."
"I fully support it," Su Yuanshan replied without hesitation.
If… Nintendo had been willing to work with Yuanxin, he might have tried to balance the partnerships a little. Over the years, Yuanxin had never closed the door on anyone—not even Nintendo. After all, the N64 sold over 30 million units globally.
But Nintendo had made its position clear. They saw Yuanxin as a staunch Sony ally and rejected every proposal Su Yuanshan offered. They even chose NEC—second-tier at best—for their N64 chip, ignoring the vastly superior YX architecture.
So Su Yuanshan had given up on them.
"Meijie just signed a GPU tech cooperation agreement with Xinghai. Combined with their previous work on onboard display cores, they'll likely complete integration of the northbridge chip and display core within six months."
(Note: Early integrated GPUs were housed within the chipset.)
"We're also actively developing integrated display cores for the YX architecture. One year—Mr. Kutaragi, I'd say we'll have results in a year at most." Su Yuanshan raised a single finger.
Kutaragi didn't blink, staring intently. When he heard that the YX architecture would support integrated graphics within a year, his eyes gleamed.
"Excellent," he said in a low, firm voice.
"You know why I visit Fujitsu every time I go to Japan?" Su Yuanshan exhaled softly. "Mr. Kutaragi, right now, the last missing piece of our puzzle… is the LCD panel."
The gleam in Kutaragi's eyes faded. He nodded slowly.
Yes—of all the core components in the digital product ecosystem, LCD displays were the only one where Yuanxin still had some catching up to do. And in the past year or two, Kutaragi had witnessed firsthand how Japanese semiconductor firms were expanding aggressively in that space. Every time he thought about it, cold sweat broke out.
If not for Su Yuanshan convincing him to work with Fujitsu on LCD development, Sony might have missed out on the entire category.
Most importantly, in every other part of the puzzle—except chip design—Sony already had a presence.
"I'll make sure our cooperation over there stays on track," Kutaragi replied solemnly.
"Much appreciated."
"It's only right." After a pause, he sighed. "But Mr. Su, I do have some bad news."
"I couldn't convince Nikon to join our venture."
His expression showed sincere regret.
Su Yuanshan's disappointment was brief, but he soon smiled again.
"That's alright. As long as they're still willing to sell us lithography machines, a transactional partnership is just fine."
—By "venture," Kutaragi was referring to the proposed joint wafer fabrication plant.
—Both he and Su Yuanshan believed that including a lithography equipment manufacturer would significantly strengthen the plant's competitiveness and resilience.
Unfortunately, Nikon wasn't stupid.
Well… maybe a little.
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Chapter 569: The Mission of the Industrial Park
Although Nikon and Canon were often mentioned in the same breath within the industry, Nikon's market influence was still slightly greater. As one of the leading manufacturers of lithography machines, Nikon had no incentive to dive into the murky waters of chip manufacturing—a field notorious for its complexity and risk.
Put bluntly, they were selling the printing presses. They didn't care whether the banknotes being printed gained or lost value—so long as the machines were being bought, they were happy.
In that sense, yes, they were smart.
But Su Yuanshan, who had a deep understanding of the semiconductor industry, knew what was coming next. The United States was about to form the EUV Alliance and, from the beginning, had never recognized Japan's semiconductor industry as a legitimate peer.
When that moment came, Yuanxin would be the only unpredictable variable left on the board.
…
After exchanging the most important pieces of information, Su Yuanshan and Ken Kutaragi had a quick lunch before Kutaragi went off to catch up on sleep. Su Yuanshan returned to Yuanxin's executive board meeting.
That afternoon, the proposal to increase support for Yuanxin's investment division passed with twelve votes—out of a total of fifteen, including the rotating chair's two votes and Su Yuanshan's three.
Ironically, the three dissenting votes came from Qin Weimin, Tian Yaoming, and Li Mingliu.
Their reasoning? With budgets already tight, they felt compelled to defend the interests of the R&D department.
Su Yuanshan couldn't help but laugh. But inwardly, he was relieved.
This was exactly what he'd hoped for in a board where there had been no prior lobbying or discussions behind closed doors. Blind consensus would have been a sign of incompetence.
The next topic—splitting off the foundry division—sparked much more debate. Though everyone agreed it was inevitable, opinions varied widely on when and how it should happen: split now or wait, fund through financing or prep for IPO, and so on.
Su Yuanshan listened quietly as the conversation played out, noting the resigned expression on Jiang Qingchuan's face—he, more than anyone, seemed caught in the middle. He simply hadn't adjusted to the idea of becoming the person at the helm.
Seeing this, Su Yuanshan smiled, lightly cleared his throat, and said, "Mind if I say a few words?"
The room quieted immediately. All eyes turned to him.
"Here's the situation," Su Yuanshan began. "Since last year, the foundry division has already been listed internally. Right now, the separation mainly involves financial accounting, HR relationships, and shareholding clarity."
He paused to recall the timeline. "Personally, I hope the foundry can complete its IPO within two years."
"Two years? Where would you list it?" Chen Jing asked immediately, her eyes fixed on him.
"Hong Kong," Su Yuanshan replied. A faint smile curved his lips at the thought of the "HK Defense War" two years from now.
To Wall Street's predators, Asia's fields of capital were ripe for harvest—it was time to reap.
The next year's financial crisis was inevitable.
But Su Yuanshan had no desire to meddle with international hedge funds. Yuanxin Holdings and Xinghai Fund were both VC-oriented, not speculative financial tools.
Yuanxin built real products. It served ordinary people. Even if there were easy millions to be made lying around, there were some pools of money he simply would not dip into.
That didn't mean he couldn't give those people a little "friendly nudge" when the time came.
(The "HK Defense War" has already been written about in many novels. Readers may be tired of it by now. I'll decide later if I want to include it. In short, it ended with the HK government buying stocks to support the index, and the short sellers losing badly.)
"Why Hong Kong?" someone else asked.
"Because it'll have returned to us by then." Su Yuanshan shrugged and grinned. "We ought to give those bumpkins a proper welcome gift."
The word "bumpkins" coming from Su Yuanshan's mouth made everyone chuckle knowingly.
As the return of HK drew near, every sort of strange and arrogant figure had emerged over there. To call it a mess would be putting it kindly. The elite there harbored a superiority complex toward the mainland that bordered on pathological.
But to Su Yuanshan and the people sitting in this room? They really were just a bunch of bumpkins.
In the realm of technology, not a single player in Asia—not even Japan—could challenge Yuanxin. Since Su Yuanshan had declared the arrival of the digital age, even the Japanese had been reduced to following in Yuanxin's footsteps.
Chen Jing smiled too but didn't fully buy the "gift" excuse. Still, whether or not to go public, or where, was a long-term goal. Anything could change by then.
"So you're saying the sooner we split, the better?"
"Yes." Su Yuanshan turned to Jiang Qingchuan. "Brother Jiang, a lot of companies are still waiting and watching, right?"
Jiang nodded. "Exactly. The more independent we appear, the more likely they'll want to work with us. That's inevitable."
"Then we're all set. Let your team take the lead."
"What about group finances?" Chen Jing asked next. "The foundry's cash flow is no small matter."
Su Yuanshan pursed his lips and frowned slightly. Then he smiled. "But the cost of scaling up is also no small matter. And I trust you guys—your expertise is better than mine. You'll figure out how to manage the transition smoothly."
"Besides, I truly believe both the domestic and international markets will see major surges next year."
"And if needed, the financial pressure could be used to light a fire under certain departments—like the CPU division," Su Yuanshan added with a sly smile. "Once that business ramps up, its revenue could easily rival the foundry's hard-earned cash."
Jiang Qingchuan coughed immediately.
"Brother Jiang, no need to argue. Everyone knows chips are the most profitable business."
Su Yuanshan chuckled. "And yet somehow, ours has become the division that needs constant support. Isn't that infuriating?"
With Gao Xiaodi absent, Su Yuanshan's jabs came without restraint.
Thankfully, Li Mingliu—responsible for the science park and Gao Xiaodi's indirect superior—stepped in to defend him. "To be fair, the CPU market is still dominated by the IAO trio in the West. Our main business is still overseas."
"Beyond the Tenglong CPU series, we have flash memory, plus lithium battery applications from the Vidoo 5M and iMusic. These will all scale massively in the next two years. As long as we don't expand blindly, there's really no need to panic about money. And if we really run into trouble, Yuanxin can always bring in foreign capital."
Chen Jing shot him a glare. She knew he held a sizable amount of Xinghai stock, which had just come out of its lock-up period. He could cash out hundreds of millions without even denting the share price.
This guy really could afford to be so casual—it was all that money talking.
"Let's vote," Chen Jing said, not wanting to argue further. She looked at Jiang Qingchuan and added gently, "President Jiang, don't worry. HQ will fully support you in building out all the required systems and structures."
"Thank you, President Chen." Jiang let out a long sigh of relief.
Chen Jing and Su Yuanshan were the last to leave. Instead of heading to the cafeteria, they went to her office.
After instructing her assistant to close the door, Chen Jing didn't bother with pleasantries. She leaned on her desk, arms folded, staring at Su Yuanshan.
"Are you really this naïve, or just pretending? The foundry's cash flow is a big deal."
"I know," Su Yuanshan replied, helping himself to her water cup.
"That's my cup."
"I don't mind."
"…."
He took a sip, set the cup down, and grew serious. "The true mission of the industrial park isn't just to bring Yuanxin revenue or profit. Its purpose is to march forward, unstoppably, toward becoming the world's largest foundry. In fact, it's no less important than the wafer fab itself."
"You've seen the development reports from the Special Economic Zone these past two years, right? Then you'll know—thanks to the park's pull, tech manufacturing enterprises there have grown explosively. It has historical significance. We can't delay its rise just to safeguard cash flow."
"And think about this: if a crisis really hits, we might need to pump in money just to keep it growing."
When Su Yuanshan started speaking at a higher level, Chen Jing sighed softly. Her expression turned complicated as she looked at him.
"You really want to play the national hero card?"
"Pfft—no, no," Su Yuanshan sputtered, waving his hands. "Let's not get carried away."
"But seriously, we do need to put some pressure on certain departments."
"Agreed," Chen Jing said calmly. "You said it."
"…."
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Chapter 570: The Distributor Showcase Conference
Shanghai,
Zhangjiang Industrial Park.
Inside Deyuan Semiconductor's cleanroom, a group of visitors in protective garments carefully followed the tour path. Leading them were He Wei, head of marketing for Yuanxin's CPU division, and Chen Jianguo, a senior technical supervisor at Deyuan. The group was there to observe the production line of the Tenglong series CPUs.
"What you're currently seeing is one of the main stages of chip production: Physical Vapor Deposition. Earlier we saw photolithography, Chemical Vapor Deposition, and channel etching. As you've probably noticed by now, these processes are not performed once and done—they must be repeated many times before a wafer is fully processed."
"Physical Vapor Deposition creates the internal metal layers that interconnect the already-formed transistors on a chip. Currently, the mainstream method still uses aluminum wiring. But copper wiring has already become the next global benchmark. And I can say with complete confidence—our copper process is the most advanced in the world. Even IBM has to cooperate with us and accept our lead on the matter."
Chen Jianguo spoke with a touch of pride.
The group murmured in excitement. One person asked quietly, "Dr. Chen, what's the advantage of copper wiring?"
"Lower resistance, which means less heat. That allows for higher frequencies."
Chen Jianguo gave a modest smile and led the group to the next section of the fab.
…
In the CPU division's main office, Gao Xiaodi was in an uncharacteristic suit today. Sitting at his desk, he repeatedly checked the time on his watch.
His secretary, noticing his nervous demeanor, couldn't help but tease, "President Gao, they're already on the way. Should be here in five minutes max."
"You don't get it… someone tipped me off—apparently President Shan roasted us pretty hard at yesterday's board meeting… damn it!" Gao Xiaodi rolled his shoulders, clearly irritated. "That guy never shows up himself, just tosses all the hard work our way."
"When this deal is sealed, I swear I'm going to use it to smack him right in the face."
His secretary said nothing, just gave a helpless smile.
Of course, she knew the truth—President Gao and President Shan were practically like brothers. Rumor had it they used to play video games together in university labs. Gao Xiaodi might talk tough, but if anyone dared criticize Su Yuanshan in public, he'd be the first to fight back.
Just a while ago, Gao had gotten into a heated argument on an overseas tech forum. When someone questioned whether Su Yuanshan was truly a "genius," Gao spent two hours arguing in defense, even threatening to track the guy down through his IP address.
That's the kind of relationship they had.
Today's "grand" tour was the result of He Wei's two-month deep-dive into the CPU market after being temporarily reassigned from the mobile division. She had analyzed Yuanxin's CPU performance, compared it against competitors, and studied market perception.
The conclusion was clear: the biggest challenge facing the Tenglong CPU series was trust.
The market didn't trust it. More critically, the "professional clients" didn't trust it.
By "professional clients," she meant the established network of CPU distributors entrenched in the domestic PC market.
So He Wei decided to act. She invited all of them for a visit.
Normally, such tours would start at the chip design center before heading to the fab. But He Wei flipped the script—start with the fab, end at design.
"Let them see the production before they sign," she had said.
Three minutes later…
"President Gao, they're here." The secretary pushed open the door.
"Good. Grab the NDAs. Let's go." Gao Xiaodi adjusted his tie, straightened his back, and marched out with a confidence that made him look like he was leading a battalion.
…
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is President Gao Xiaodi of Yuanxin's CPU division." He Wei gave her most professional smile as she introduced him, then turned to President Gao and began naming each guest one by one.
Honestly, it was a delicate job.
Gao Xiaodi struck a perfect balance—polite without being overly warm, and not the slightest bit arrogant. Just another business reception, nothing too formal. Once everyone was seated in the lounge, he motioned for his secretary to hand out non-disclosure agreements.
"NDAs again?" joked Xu Yang from Xujiahui. "President Gao, don't tell me every department makes us sign one."
Xu Yang and Gao had met through a mutual friend. Since then, they'd kept in touch. Xu Yang was one of the rare distributors willing to commit to Yuanxin's CPU products.
"Hehe, well, our CPU division and the fab are technically separate systems. And anyway, even I don't fully understand what happens in the fab." Gao Xiaodi gave a shrug. "Seriously—I couldn't explain half of it."
Laughter spread through the group.
They were all IT people. They could recite CPU specs—clock speed, bus width, microarchitecture, manufacturing process, instruction sets—like a mantra. But when it came to the actual production steps? It might as well have been alchemy.
If there was one takeaway from the tour, it was this: chip manufacturing was insanely complex, and Deyuan Semiconductor was seriously impressive.
"But what we're going to show you next isn't just design process—it's the future architecture and roadmap of the Tenglong series. That's where things get sensitive. So I must ask that everyone take the NDA seriously."
Seeing how serious Gao was, everyone signed without hesitation.
He Wei exchanged a look with Gao, then said with a smile, "I'll leave you in President Gao's capable hands. I need to prep for tonight's event."
…
As she left the lounge, He Wei made her way quickly to the marketing department conference room. Waiting there were her handpicked team from the mobile division, Yuanxin's core marketing staff, and the CPU division's own salespeople.
A dozen people in total, already seated and ready.
He Wei walked straight to the head of the table, rolling up her sleeves. She didn't sit. Instead, she planted both hands on the tabletop and looked around with gleaming eyes.
"Alright, everyone—our fish are in the net. Once President Gao finishes baiting them with his presentation, it's time for us to hook them."
"We have two hours. Go over the contracts one last time. Check for any loopholes or inconsistencies. Think through every possible question the clients might ask. For the next two hours, I want you to think like a distributor—imagine you're here to sign."
Then she raised her fist high.
"Let's crush it."
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