181: Chapter 181 Hardcore Technology

After a night of sudden torrential rain, the air in Jiangcheng was clear and bright, spotless and pure.

The morning light passed through the panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows on the thirty-seventh floor of the Changjiang International Center, pouring down gently and casting a cold yet luxurious gilded halo upon the cool-toned Italian gray marble floor.

Jiang Chen leaned back behind his large CEO desk, the sleeves of his black shirt casually rolled up to his forearms. He had shed the sharp, intimidating edge he usually displayed when manipulating capital, replacing it with a touch of the relaxation and indifference unique to the early morning.

He picked up an exquisite bone china teacup and took a sip of the slightly cool, sweet Longjing tea. With his other hand, he picked up his phone, unlocked the screen with a fingerprint, and clicked on his daily exclusive Wealth Intelligence with fluid movements.

The opportunities pushed over the past few days had only been small-scale, short-term ones. The profit per transaction was no more than one or two million—mundane and ordinary, not worth much concern.

He had assumed today would be another such insignificant, small-scale arbitrage.

But when his gaze fell upon the newly refreshed intelligence content, his calm eyes suddenly constricted, and his fingertips froze above the screen, not descending for a long time.

Shock never came from staggering profit figures.

This time, the intelligence was no longer a short-term trade or a quick-in, quick-out capital arbitrage. Instead, it was a top-tier, hardcore trend capable of shaking the entire new energy industry landscape and monopolizing a core sector.

[Today's Exclusive Wealth Intelligence]

[Target: Jiangcheng Xingtu New Material Technology Co., Ltd.

Core Barrier—Unique and Unrepeatable Full-Chain Hardcore Technology]

Xingtu New Materials was incubated and born from a top key research group in materials science at Jiangcheng University of Technology, founded by a core 'Iron Triangle' trio.

Professor Chen Ji, the head of technology; Dr. Han Dong, the chief process engineer; and Xu Mingzhou, the industrialization operator. They are the earliest scientific research team in China to delve deeply into Hard carbon anode materials, having dedicated eight full years to painstaking research and development.

The company holds a complete matrix of hard carbon anode patents with no ownership disputes or defect risks. Totaling seven items, these construct an airtight, completely closed-loop technical moat for the industry.

• Three Invention Patents:

“A High-Stability Hard Carbon Anode Precursor and Its Preparation Method,” Patent No. CN2023108XXXXX.X

“Process and Equipment for Preparing Hard carbon anode materials via Low-Temperature Sintering,” Patent No. CN2023109XXXXX.X

“Modification Method for Cycle Stability of Hard Carbon Anodes for Sodium-Ion Batteries,” Patent No. CN2024101XXXXX.X

• Two Utility Model Patents: Covering continuous processing equipment for mass-produced precursors and high-precision temperature control modules for sintering kilns.

• One PCT International Patent: Simultaneously entered into the layouts of the United States, Europe, Japan, and South Korea, covering core preparation processes and fast-charging adaptation systems. Full authorization is expected within twelve months.

The entire set of patents strikes directly at industry pain points, overcoming three world-class challenges in the industrialization of hard carbon anodes in one fell swoop: high precursor costs, sudden performance drops in low-temperature environments, and significant capacity decay during long cycles.

The measured field data is extremely impressive: Xingtu's self-developed hard carbon anode maintains a discharge capacity retention rate of over 78% in extreme cold environments of -40°C. After 3,000 cycles at room temperature, capacity retention remains higher than 85%. Large-scale production costs are 22% lower than mainstream imported products.

This is by no means idealized laboratory data, but a mature industrial technology that can be directly implemented for mass production and possesses top-tier global competitiveness.

Currently, sodium-ion power batteries, large energy storage stations, and high-end automotive batteries all have a rigid demand for hard carbon anodes. The global annual effective production capacity gap exceeds 120,000 tons. In China, there are no more than four companies holding mature, closed-loop patents for mass production.

The technical route of Xingtu New Materials happens to be stuck at the most scarce and irreplaceable core lifeline of the global new energy supply chain.

Founder Chen Ji's team has spent their lives buried in scientific research, with zero experience in market-oriented financing and even less understanding of capital operation tactics.

Over the past three years, they exhausted their personal savings, emptied specialized research funds, and used up all government support subsidies, pouring it all into the construction of a pilot production line and the procurement of precision equipment.

They finally managed to build a standardized pilot production line with an annual capacity of 1,200 tons, completed the full-process verification, and successfully passed sample testing by leading enterprises. However, the company's cash flow has completely dried up, reaching a dead end.

Final payments for equipment have been overdue for a long time. Suppliers have sent two warning letters and are about to freeze the entire set of equipment through legal channels. Banks have refused to renew loans due to insufficient collateral and have initiated loan recalls, freezing all of the enterprise's liquid funds.

Core R&D personnel have only received their basic salary for two consecutive months. Top industry headhunters are hunting them day and night, and the entire technical team is on the verge of collapse and disintegration.

To make matters worse, two industry giants have long been secretly plotting to suppress them, maliciously cutting off upstream raw material supplies while testing acquisition intentions with extremely low prices.

They don't want a win-win cooperation; they only want to buy out all core patents at a low price and then permanently shelve them to stifle any potential future threat.

Chen Ji, facing this desperate situation, had already set a bottom line: the technology can go to the market, but it must never fall into the hands of capital that seeks to stifle the industry.

Non-negotiable principles: No foreign controlling interest, no mergers or acquisitions by industry competitors, and absolutely no splitting or selling of core patents.

He only sought a sum of life-saving capital to keep the R&D team, preserve the complete pilot production line, and ensure the continuation of eight years of scientific research efforts.

To this end, he was willing to hand over all control of the company and even transfer ownership of all patents. As long as the technology could survive and develop, he was willing to be left with nothing.

This dead-end situation happened to leave an excellent entry opportunity—unknown to others, uncontested, and exclusively monopolized—for Jiang Chen, who held the prophetic intelligence.

Optimal Acquisition Plan—Wholly acquire core patents, take full control of the target company, and simultaneously increase long-term investment for mass production.

According to the precise calculations of the intelligence system: Xingtu New Materials has a book net asset value of 120 million yuan. However, under the impact of multiple crises—cash flow rupture, debt default, litigation risks, and brain drain—the founder's psychological valuation has continued to crash, and his bargaining power is almost zero.

This acquisition should be swift and decisive, reaching the goal in one step. It will focus on intellectual property M&A, with full control as the ultimate goal, and subsequent large-scale production capital increases as a guarantee of sincerity to deeply bind the core technical team.

1. Wholly Buy Out Intellectual Property: Jiang Chen's side will use 68 million in cash to acquire all 7 invention patents, utility model patents, international PCT patents, all technical achievements, process parameters, testing systems, and core pilot data of the company.

Global ownership, usage rights, commercial operation rights, and cross-border licensing rights of the patents will all belong to our side, completely eliminating ownership risks and firmly locking in the industry's technical barriers.

2. Wholly Control Enterprise Equity: Simultaneously increase capital by 40 million in cash, for a total investment of 108 million yuan, to hold 100% of all equity in Xingtu New Materials and master the final decision-making power for all company affairs.

3. Subsequent Mass Production Additional Investment: After the transfer of patents and equity is completed, immediately invest no less than 50 million yuan in specialized expansion funds. This will be used for production line upgrades, raw material reserves, customer certification docking, and global market expansion, completely solving the enterprise's subsequent funding problems so the research team no longer needs to scramble for livelihoods and financing.

Our side will have clear rights and responsibilities, fully respecting the research team. We will not interfere with technical R&D and will only serve as a solid capital backbone.