251: Chapter 252 Ignoring the White House's supply cut-off, they directly built the contract factory in South Korea to ensure supply.

In the winter of 2014, inside the President's Office at the headquarters of Jiyuan Technology.

The Chief Financial Officer placed two verified annual reports on the desk.

He opened the last page containing the summary data and gently pushed it toward Shen Du's fingertips.

"Mr. Shen, the year-end financial reports of all branch offices have been fully compiled."

The Chief Financial Officer pointed at the core data above, his tone carrying unconcealed joy:

"After this roller-coaster year, the annual total revenue over at Meituan has already reached the hundreds of billions level."

"More importantly."

"Relying on Meituan's business lines, we have directly or indirectly provided over three million jobs across the domestic upstream and downstream sectors."

Shen Du uncapped his fountain pen, his gaze falling upon the various data points on the report.

"How are the profits for Jiyuan Technology's headquarters?" he asked casually.

The Chief Financial Officer opened another document:

"Thanks to the complete opening of the European market, Jiyuan Technology's total market value on the Hong Kong Stock Market has officially broken through the trillion-yuan mark."

"After deducting various costs and early investments, the company's net profit this year is around eighty-three billion."

Shen Du nodded slightly, holding the pen and signing his name at the bottom of the report.

Subsequently, his pen tip did not pause.

Directly in the blank space of the profit distribution plan, he wrote down a percentage.

"Allocate thirty percent out."

Shen Du capped his pen and handed the document back:

"Distribute the cash flow of over twenty billion proportionally to partners at all levels, and stuff the remainder entirely into the year-end welfare pool for the company's employees."

The Chief Financial Officer took the document, looked at the annotations on it, and hesitated slightly:

"Mr. Shen, directly distributing thirty percent of the eighty billion profit—do we need to go through a formal process to explain it?"

"No need, just distribute it directly."

Shen Du leaned back against his chair, his tone extremely calm: "Money left in the company's accounts is just a string of dead numbers."

"Since we earn a lot ourselves, we cannot swallow it all up."

"Only by distributing this real money and silver into the hands of employees and partners, turning it into solid purchasing power, can we drive social and economic development."

"Go make arrangements."

"Understood, I will go handle it right away."

The Chief Financial Officer nodded, put away the document, turned around, and exited the office.

Just as the Chief Financial Officer left, General Manager Chen Shengqiang walked into the office holding a tablet computer.

"Mr. Shen, the progress of domestic 4G infrastructure and the latest data on the overseas mobile phone market are out."

General Manager Chen Shengqiang pulled out a chair and sat down opposite the desk, handing the tablet over.

Shen Du took it and glanced at the summary charts on the screen.

"Because we have our own Cold Etching Machine semiconductor foundry to provide a safety net."

"Now the advancement of domestic communication infrastructure completely does not need to look at the expressions of overseas sanctions."

When General Manager Chen Shengqiang reported, his tone revealed a sense of grounded reassurance:

"Without the quota restrictions on international chips, coupled with hardware costs being pressed to the lowest by us."

"The speed at which major operators are laying 4G base stations is growing exponentially."

"As of now, the online users of domestic smart terminals have officially broken through the thirty to fifty million mark."

Shen Du's finger swiped across the screen, and the page switched to the statistical sheet of global smartphone shipments.

Ranked in first place was impressively Samsung.

"On the surface, our chip orders exported outside of Europe all go through Samsung's channels."

General Manager Chen Shengqiang pointed at the data at the very top of the report:

"This time, Samsung has completely acted as our 'white glove' to launder products and sell them to the North American continent."

"Taking advantage of our Cold Etching Machine chips' performance and cost advantages."

"Their sales volume in the smartphone field has just officially surpassed Apple, taking the seat of world number one."

Shen Du looked at Qualcomm's clearly declining market share curve below and asked casually:

"Are there any moves over at Qualcomm?"

"Very quiet."

General Manager Chen Shengqiang shook his head, his brow slightly furrowed:

"Their plan to seize the global market by binding themselves to the Android camp was torn open into a huge gap this time by Samsung's betrayal."

"However, Qualcomm has been unusually silent during this period, stopping even routine commercial pressure and public relations statements."

Shen Du put down the tablet in his hand, his gaze falling upon Qualcomm's icon on the screen.

In commercial games.

When a giant of this scale suddenly falls into silence, it is often not because of conceding defeat.

But rather because there is a larger mastermind behind the scenes brewing a formation change.

Just as General Manager Chen Shengqiang was about to continue reporting the next agenda item, the black satellite phone in the corner of the desk suddenly rang.

This encrypted phone could only be dialed directly by a very few core partners.

General Manager Chen Shengqiang immediately stopped his words and sat quietly in his original place.

Shen Du picked up the handset: "Hello."

"Mr. Shen, it's me."

The slightly muffled voice of Chairman Lee from Samsung came from the other end of the phone.

Without pleasantries, he cut straight to the point:

"Over in the United States, they have already detected that we are secretly helping Jiyuan Technology ship goods."

Shen Du's expression remained unchanged, his gaze still lingering on Qualcomm's downward-falling curve on the tablet computer:

"Did they make a move?"

"Yes, and their playstyle has completely changed."

Chairman Lee's speaking speed was a bit faster than usual, revealing a hint of urgency:

"Ever since the last incident, the White House has readjusted its strategy."

"They found that simple blockades are useless."

"Now they have directly opened national-level policy support, planning to smash all resources into the industry."

The voice in the handset was extremely clear in the quiet office:

"Intelligence shows that they are preparing to forcibly put advanced processes from the laboratory stage into mass production in 2015."

"The goal is to directly leap into the 48 to 28-nanometer process."

"They want to suppress Jiyuan Technology's current 68-nanometer process with solid generational gaps."

Regarding the upcoming technological suppression, Shen Du didn't have much of a reaction after hearing it, only simply asking:

"I know what I'm doing regarding the process."

"How is the operation situation on your end right now?"

Chairman Lee on the other end of the phone paused for two seconds and sighed:

"Starting a few hours ago, Samsung has been completely excluded from the original supply chain."

"Hindered by the various restriction orders they just issued, we currently cannot buy any raw materials capable of manufacturing chips."

"The production lines are facing shutdowns."

"If not resolved as soon as possible, the channels we managed to spread out overseas will immediately face a desperate situation of having no goods to sell."

Listening to Chairman Lee's report from the other end of the phone, Shen Du's expression remained calm.

Since the US side had already cut off the material supply from the source, pursuing the details of the sanctions or complaining about the situation was already of no use.

"Chairman Lee, since you chose to cooperate with Jiyuan Technology and pioneer the market for us in the front."

"I will not let you have no goods to sell on the international board."

Shen Du's tone was steady, giving the most direct solution:

"Starting from now, this unrestricted domestic complete semiconductor industry chain is your most reliable supply rear."

On the other end of the phone, Chairman Lee's breathing calmed down slightly, but the worry in his tone still existed:

"But Mr. Shen, now that raw materials are comprehensively blocked, our local production lines simply cannot spin up."

Shen Du raised his head, glanced at General Manager Chen Shengqiang sitting opposite him, and continued speaking into the microphone:

"Since raw materials can't get in, then we will directly build the factory over there."

"Rest assured, I will immediately arrange for Fu Zhaonan to lead a team and take a chartered flight to South Korea."

"General Manager Fu is coming personally?" Chairman Lee was somewhat surprised.

"Yes."

Shen Du gently tapped the tabletop with his knuckles, setting the tone:

"Have him lead a team over to survey the foundations on-site, and directly set up a brand new Cold Etching Machine chip foundry over there."

"Technology, equipment, and infrastructure will be handled by us."

"You only need to clear the joints for the site and related procedures locally in South Korea."

Facing the sanctions, Shen Du did not choose to beat around the bush.

Instead, he directly used a most hardcore factory-building plan to forcibly provide a safety net for Samsung.

Hearing this practical and feasible safety-net promise, Chairman Lee's hanging heart finally dropped to the ground.

"Thank you, Mr. Shen."

Chairman Lee's voice recovered the composure and crispness that a multinational enterprise head should have:

"I will personally negotiate the land and all green lights here in South Korea, awaiting the arrival of General Manager Fu's team."

"Good, keep in touch at any time."

After speaking, Shen Du hung up the satellite phone.

Shen Du put the satellite phone's handset back on the desk phone, and General Manager Chen Shengqiang's expression opposite him had already become somewhat solemn.

The intelligence that Chairman Lee mentioned on the phone just now was heard extremely clearly by General Manager Chen Shengqiang sitting in front of the desk.

"Mr. Shen, regarding the trouble of Samsung's supply cut, General Manager Fu leading a team to build a factory can indeed resolve the immediate emergency."

General Manager Chen Shengqiang leaned forward and began to speak:

"But the US side forcefully pushing 48 to 28 nanometers on the process next year—that is the truly tricky part."

"The Cold Etching Machine in our hands currently mass-produces at 68 nanometers, and there is a solid physical generational gap missing in between."

"Once the opponent's advanced processes stock goods in large quantities, the performance gap in hardware will cause us to suffer a huge loss in the high-end market."

Shen Du picked up the water cup on the desk and took a sip, then picked up the tablet computer again and closed the market report on the screen.

"There is no need to fight to the death with them on process numbers."

Shen Du's tone was peaceful, without the sense of urgency that General Manager Chen Shengqiang had:

"If they want to forcibly push across generational gaps, they have to smash massive amounts of capital and trial-and-error costs into it."

"Our primary task right now."

"Is to use the existing 68-nanometer cheap chips to completely fill up the baseline of the sinking market and conventional applications first."

General Manager Chen Shengqiang listened to Shen Du's arrangement, his brow still slightly furrowed:

"But by next year, once the market's appetite is spoiled by advanced processes, our product line will appear outdated."

Shen Du put the tablet aside and looked toward General Manager Chen Shengqiang.

"It won't take that long."

Shen Du crossed his hands on the desktop and explained the upcoming core trends:

"Have the team pull back their energy and keep a close eye on the progress of listing in Europe."

"As long as we complete the listing in Europe, yield the profits that should be shared, and completely weld shut the interest chains over there."

"The remaining matters will not need to be solved by relying on processes."

Looking at General Manager Chen Shengqiang's somewhat puzzled gaze, Shen Du did not give too much explanation, only simply pointing out:

"This set of 68-nanometer production lines is merely a transition."

"Once the European general market is settled, the new things in Jiyuan Technology's laboratory can officially be brought out."