Musk's helplessness 2

Musk was all too familiar with everything that was happening before his eyes.

NVIDIA's stock price experienced seemingly normal fluctuations in the first few days after the market opened, maintaining a high price above $140.

Then, just before the weekend market closure, there was a small dip, with the stock price nearing the $140 line.

Following that, the two-day weekend closure was used to brew panic.

By this time, Musk had already organized people to test the performance of DS-R1, so he was very certain: those bloodthirsty jackals had already set their ambush.

During those two days of market closure, various news reports about DS were flying everywhere, so much so that even the common people in Dragon Country were somewhat stunned, because The Other Shore was hyping DS like crazy.

At this time, many people in Dragon Country still didn't understand DS; in fact, it could be said that the source of information for many in Dragon Country about DS came from The Other Shore.

Overnight, DS seemed to become a great entity capable of directly challenging OpenAI.

Musk knew very well why those people were operating the news machinery so diligently to promote a powerful competitor's product: because there was profit to be made.

And it was indeed true; on the Monday after the weekend, NVIDIA's stock price fell by about 17% in a single day, and over 500 billion US dollars vanished into thin air.

Although stock prices are inherently just paper figures, the Eagle Nation currently relies entirely on these paper figures to maintain its facade.

But NVIDIA evaporated over 500 billion in one day; most countries on this Earth don't even have that much GDP in a year.

A certain little hegemon, once claiming to be the third largest in the world and unwilling to be confined to Southeast Asia, had an annual GDP of only just over 400 billion, meaning that NVIDIA alone lost an entire year's GDP of a third-rate small country in one day.

Under this influence, the entire AI sector lost over one trillion US dollars on that day.

Early stage publicity, using market closure to brew panic, and immediately after opening, collaborating with a group of authoritative institutions to release heavy test results—this is a common and unfailing tactic of those financial jackals on Wall Street.

Musk, by secretly shorting this wave, also made a killing.

A market value of one trillion US dollars—how many people's wealth suddenly shrank significantly on that day.

So, why are those people so enthusiastic about finance? Because even bandits and warlords would shed tears; it's a civilized, legal robbery without knives or guns, everything within the legal framework, and even morally irreproachable.

Of course, this kind of morality is packaged.

Lin Yuan also made a fortune this time.

With a ten-fold leverage, NVIDIA's 17-point stock price loss earned him 1.7 times his investment, and he used an account Musk opened for him.

After NVIDIA's sharp decline that day, Lin Yuan decisively redeemed the borrowed shares and stopped trading just before the market closed.

There were many reasons for him to do so.

Firstly, he had already earned enough; entering with 100 million US dollars and exiting with 270 million, he made 170 million in one day.

He finally understood why powerful and influential people loved the Eagle Nation so much: because as long as you had access to information, it was simply too exhilarating.

Secondly, it was because of his understanding of the Eagle Nation's current overall national policy, as the survival of companies like NVIDIA in the AI sector actually concerned the Eagle Nation's major strategic future, so the Eagle Nation would not let it go unchecked, it was just a matter of timing when to intervene.

Finally, and most importantly.

DS-R1's lethality against NVIDIA lay in its significantly lower demand for GPU computing cards compared to OpenAI's ChatGPT.

However, to destroy the Eagle Nation's AI strategy, DS chose to go open source.

The benefit of open source is that the whole world can participate in the AI field, which is similar to tearing down the threshold of AI.

Since there are more participants in AI, even if the demand for GPU computing cards from a single participant decreases, the total volume will actually increase.

Therefore, even if the Eagle Nation's AI industry is to be finished, NVIDIA's GPU computing cards will still mostly be in a bullish trend in the long run.

This was not Lin Yuan's first time playing the stock market; he knew very well that NVIDIA's GPU computing cards were the industry leader, so those short-selling institutions would eventually use this point to turn around and go long again.

In the long run, NVIDIA's 17-point drop in one day was already shocking enough.

Lin Yuan's view was based on a simple understanding—in the long run, after AI open source becomes widespread, the demand for GPU computing cards will definitely increase exponentially, and the Eagle Nation will not let NVIDIA's stock price collapse.

Furthermore, NVIDIA would not encounter a formidable competitor in the short term.

So, after DS stabbed the Eagle Nation's AI sector, in the long run, it might even benefit NVIDIA.

The software represented by OpenAI might die, but the hardware represented by NVIDIA might usher in new opportunities.

Based on this understanding, after Lin Yuan redeemed his shares, he immediately went all-in and bought NVIDIA stock with 270 million US dollars.

Although Lin Yuan was not sure if NVIDIA's stock price would continue to fall, he believed that the price would eventually rebound, and besides, his original 100 million principal was a reward from Musk, so he was completely in a playful mood.

When a person trades stocks without caring about losing money and purely for fun, he often makes the most correct decisions.

Musk, who shared a similar view with Lin Yuan, also chose to go all-in and buy NVIDIA before the market closed that day.

That night, Musk spoke with Lin Yuan.

"Lin, now that I think back, your shorting of NVIDIA doesn't seem to be for fun.

Did you know something in advance?"

"Uh, maybe, who knows," Lin Yuan said evasively.

"Thank you for not screwing me over.

If you had told me DS-R1 was trash when I asked you to test it a few days ago, I really would have believed you.

You truly are a good person."

"Yes, at least I still consider you a friend.

I put the choice of fate back into your own hands; I don't like to dig pits and bury people.

Fortunately, my friend, you didn't choose wrong."

Musk was silent for a moment, "You have an old saying in Dragon Country: 'To kill a person is to punish their heart.' What you're doing now seems to be just that."

"Punish the heart? Did I?"

"Didn't you?"

"Well, if you think so, then so be it."

"You've uncovered our biggest wound here.

Making me lose money won't cripple me, but you've forced me to commit suicide."

"Suicide? I don't understand what you're saying."

"Lin, you know how much I wanted to build up OpenAI, how much I wanted to push it back to open source.

But now I'm forced to ally with those people and short our country's AI industry together.

Although this can make me money, frankly, I made a huge fortune today; I earned tens of billions.

Just in one day, I had tens of billions more in cash.

Together with those people, I severely cut into the funds from all over the world, and I got a good share of the pie.

But you and I both know that this will exhaust credit.

Although we don't have much credit left..."

"Haha, you're quite honest," Lin Yuan was amused by Musk's sudden self-deprecation.

The tone on the other end of the phone was helpless, "Besides the exhausted credit, our AI industry will also be widely questioned because of this..."