22: Chapter 22 Zhou Lei's Ambition

Lin Mei took the clothes, changed at her own home, and then returned to Gao Yuan's old courtyard!

Gao Yuan's eyes lit up...

He hadn't expected the petite Lin Mei to have such a good figure...

Especially with her fair skin and large eyes, she looked like a heroine stepping out of a sci-fi manga.

"Mei... I can't call you Maruko anymore. I'll call you Xiao Mei!"

"Brother Yuan..." Lin Mei was a bit shy!

Just then... Gao Yuan's phone rang!

Gao Yuan answered the phone with a look of annoyance. It was Li Qingquan calling to say that the car to pick him up was almost there...

Because tomorrow was the day of the Xiawei press conference...

As the main person in charge of Black Fish Technology, Gao Yuan definitely had to attend!

Now that Gao Yuan had money and equipment, attending this press conference was all about gaining attention...

Gao Yuan looked at Lin Mei: "I need to go out for two days and will be back the day after tomorrow at the latest. Please help me look after this old courtyard of mine!"

Lin Mei nodded: "I understand, Brother Yuan! Don't worry, I'll be here at home!"

At that moment, hearing those words, Gao Yuan felt like something wasn't quite right!

Soon, the Xiawei car arrived...

A Vice President from Xiawei's Strategy Department came in, his face full of apologies: "President Gao, our President Qin intended to come personally, but a situation arose at the press conference that required him to stay and handle it!"

"Actually, you didn't need to go to such trouble. I could have just booked a ticket myself. After all, we're simply business partners..."

"How could we do that? You are a benefactor to our Xiawei. President Qin has booked a welcome banquet for you in Qinjing tonight! All of our Xiawei executives will be attending... If you don't go, the press conference will lose its luster! This is an honor that belongs to you..."

Gao Yuan knew perfectly well that this Vice President was flattering him, but he couldn't refuse!

After saying goodbye to Lin Mei once more, Gao Yuan locked the back door and got into the car...

Along the way, having this Vice President talking beside him was quite interesting.

This Vice President was also a clever man; he had clearly done a lot of homework before coming and knew Gao Yuan's past experiences like the back of his hand. Gao Yuan had thought the car would drive straight to Qinjing...

But after getting in, before they had gone very far, Gao Yuan discovered that the car was heading toward Linzhou City...

"Vice President Liu, where are we going?"

"To location Airport. Xiawei has chartered a plane for President Gao!"

A chartered plane?

Gao Yuan was shocked. Xiawei had really spared no expense...

It must be said that this gesture made Gao Yuan feel very comfortable. However, Gao Yuan didn't quite understand what Xiawei was after... Shouldn't Xiawei be the protagonist of this press conference? Why was Xiawei pulling him along?

Gao Yuan felt he was overthinking... Perhaps Xiawei was just purely grateful.

And as the manufacturer of the Photolithography Machine, Gao Yuan was indeed very important!

The cabin wasn't large, but it was fully equipped with red wine, a feast, beautiful flight attendants, comfortable sofas, and even a gaming area where one could play games with the flight attendants...

Gao Yuan felt the flight was too short; a game of table football wasn't even finished before they arrived in Qinjing.

After getting off the plane, Qin Danian was waiting outside...

There were also some Xiawei employees who, upon seeing Gao Yuan come out, held up a banner: "Welcome President Gao back to the capital!"

Qin Danian walked over: "President Gao, we meet again!"

Gao Yuan nodded: "Yes, you've gone to a lot of trouble!"

"Don't say that. President Gao solved Xiawei's biggest problem. From now on, nothing can stop Xiawei from taking off!"

"Thank you, President Gao!"

The Xiawei employees shouted in unison.

This made Gao Yuan feel a bit emotional. If he hadn't returned to his hometown and discovered the door to the Future World...

Even if he were dead now, it probably wouldn't have made a splash.

They went all the way to Xiawei's headquarters. Xiawei's founder, Ren Yuanzhi, had already retired, but he still came out to meet Gao Yuan.

Although he was in his seventies, he was in high spirits. Seeing Gao Yuan, he said with a smile: "President Gao, you are young and promising!"

Gao Yuan waved his hands repeatedly: "I wouldn't dare. Compared to President Ren, I'm far behind! President Ren is the true entrepreneur!"

"By being able to produce a Photolithography Machine, you are a hero of Xia Country..."

Gao Yuan smiled: "Each gets what they need! I look forward to more cooperation with Xiawei in the future!"

"Good, good. Let's go! The banquet is waiting for you..."

At the welcome banquet, Gao Yuan received Xiawei's highest level of reception. However, Gao Yuan knew that eating wasn't the goal; Xiawei making such a big scene definitely meant they had something to ask of him.

Sure enough, after dinner, the current President of Xiawei, Zhou Lei, sat opposite Gao Yuan.

"President Gao, what is your impression of Xiawei?"

"Xiawei is a responsible company with a great attitude, a model for Xia Country's enterprises! That's also why I chose Xiawei for the Photolithography Machine!"

As someone in the business world, Gao Yuan naturally knew what to say.

He was waiting for Zhou Lei to reveal his true purpose!

"President Gao has vision! Our Xiawei is indeed currently facing a few small problems, but our overall business is expanding! The mobile phone business is just a very small part of Xiawei's operations!"

Gao Yuan nodded. This was indeed true, but many people only knew about Xiawei starting from Xiawei mobile phones.

Previously, Xiawei had been too low-key...

"President Gao, it's like this. I wonder what the production capacity of President Gao's Photolithography Machine is? Would you be interested in cooperating with Xiawei to set up a Photolithography Machine manufacturing plant..."

Gao Yuan gave a hollow laugh! Xiawei was calculating well; they wanted to control the Photolithography Machine from the source! Is this another move after seeing that joint R&D didn't work?

Gao Yuan didn't know that Xiawei's strategy had always been this: first joint R&D, then joint production... The Photolithography Machine was too important, and Xiawei wanted to try every possible way to get involved. That was why they gave Gao Yuan such a high-spec reception this time, and even Ren Yuanzhi showed up!

Because based on its current performance, Gao Yuan's Black Fish X-01 Photolithography Machine was bound to become the mainstream of the future semiconductor industry, completely crushing traditional Photolithography Machines!

Being tied to Gao Yuan for joint R&D and joint production was equivalent to controlling chips from the source!

But Gao Yuan wasn't buying it at all! He didn't want to play the cooperation game...

"President Zhou, the market demand for Photolithography Machines isn't that large. There are only a handful of manufacturers worldwide capable of designing and producing chips. Is there really a need for mass production?"

Zhou Lei knew it wouldn't be that easy!

He looked at Gao Yuan: "President Gao, I don't know if you've noticed, but currently in the international market, chips are in short supply. Many companies lack chips for cars, computers, mobile phones, and even some smart devices! We at Xiawei have chip design capabilities, but we don't have production capacity. As soon as we go into production, new chips will be designed very quickly!"

"Currently, chip production is mainly controlled by companies like Yuandian, Gaotong, Yinte, and Nine Stars! These companies are all, without exception, under the control of the United States... We at Xiawei not only want to achieve chip self-sufficiency but also want to supply chips to the whole world..."

Gao Yuan understood...

Xiawei was not only considering future risks but also wanted to be the first to stick its neck out, disrupt the international chip market, and redistribute the cake in the chip field!

Even, Gao Yuan thought a bit further. When Xiawei took over the chip market with more advanced processes, better designs, and cheaper prices...

Other companies would definitely be impacted, or even go bankrupt! Once Xiawei controlled the chip market, it could completely do to the United States what the United States had originally done to Xiawei...

By suddenly announcing a supply cut, the semiconductor industry in the United States would likely suffer a major blow.

Zhou Lei's ambition was not small...