Chapter 117: Into Chips

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 salary 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 kept laughing and jumping.

“Sure, sure.” Zhen Xiao Qin patted her daughter’s shoulder, tears of joy flashing 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 Long laughed, and he could be heard crying within his hysterical laughter.

Not easy. Not easy indeed. It was just as the journey from seeing hope to accomplishing 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. The component 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 would completely change this fact.

“Good, marvelous!” Chen Jin was also extremely elated. 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. He layed down on a single bed, turned his head, and within a mere second, he was on the way to dreamland.

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 single component 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 accumulated 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 flash 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 core components! 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 planned to prepare an “umbrella before the rain” and abolish any problem that resided within before it really happened. The core hardware components that were required to make the intelligent learning machine was as follows:

Screen

CPU

AI chip

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Flash and memory chip

Camera module

From these core components, the screen would not have any problems with supply; local companies 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 occurring in the CPU supply was relatively low; local companies such as Teng Xun corporation, Mossy Electric corporation from Treasure Island, Lian Fa Technologies, and Qualcomm from M nation, as well as Samsin from Coldrea, were all designers and manufacturers of CPU. The competition 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 flash and memory chip, with the government’s support policies, Rivery Corporation, Purple Ray Technologies, and other companies 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 a large 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 core components, 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 core component was still in high risk of supply issues.

The AI chips! The reason being that local companies focused more on design than production. The chips were of good quality, but production heavily relied on the foundries located on Treasure Island. This could not be the case. Chen Jin would never seal the fate of the “intelligent learning machine” project in such a place.

Therefore, he had two plans.

First, invest 500 million in establishing his own AI chip R&D department, seek collaboration 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 foundry company 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 two companies 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 their latest and most advanced 14-nanochips. It could be said that with such a location advantage, Zhong Xin International without a doubt became the most preferred company for partnership.

…

On July 21st, after cooperative intentions were confirmed in advance, Chen Jin personally led the company’s negotiating delegation which consisted of the company’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 their company.

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, your company 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 exchanged compliments, 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?”