Chapter 697: A Trillion-Dollar Gamble

[Breaking news:]

[Our country's renowned young entrepreneur, Vice President of the Shanghai Americas Club and CEO of Shanghe International Group, Mr. Shang Yanxiong, has announced that he will be expanding into the new energy vehicle sector and collaborating with a laboratory in the United States to develop autonomous driving technology...]

Several people in the office exchanged knowing glances.

Jin Lu immediately turned off the television.

"Actually... if you hadn't hoarded so much special steel, we wouldn't have chosen you."

Leicester shrugged bitterly.

Everyone burst into laughter.

To make Ji Changhai feel the pain, Zheng Qian had deliberately cornered the entire global supply of available special steel with terms that no one could refuse.

Aside from contracts already signed with other manufacturers, he had brought numerous inventories under his command.

This special steel was an important raw material for manufacturing automotive parts.

However, everyone knew he was just joking.

As the undisputed leader in global new energy vehicles, Tesla had of course signed order contracts with many manufacturers in advance.

These people wouldn't abandon their contracts to sell to Zheng Qian; at the very least, Zheng Qian didn't have that kind of clout yet.

"When our Tesla Motors was able to establish a factory in Shanghu, the former president of the Chunshen Club, Ran Xiang, helped a lot."

"If it weren't for her, things wouldn't have gone so smoothly back then. Furthermore, even though Shang Yanxiong's Shanghe International is currently one of the top suppliers of lithium battery raw materials in Jiuzhou and sells many materials related to new energy vehicles, well... as you say in your language, Mr. Musk is a very loyal person."

Leicester took a sip of coffee and said with a smile.

Mr. Musk, truly the man whose name was almost identical to Marx, was indeed compatible with Jiuzhou.

"I know Mr. Musk was one of the earliest investors in ChatGPT, and later had to withdraw from what was then open-source ChatGPT because he wanted to develop his own AI project. But... has he really made the decision to cooperate with us?"

After brief pleasantries, Zheng Qian got straight to the point and quickly entered the main topic.

Upon hearing this, Leicester considered it seriously for a moment.

He said thoughtfully, "We actually held reservations about the content that President Jin discussed with Mr. Musk previously. But after seeing the research capabilities of the Qianlu Research Institute at the press conference a while ago, he became very interested."

"It's not often that someone can make Apple Group and those old guys at the Patent Office eat humble pie."

"So he decided to take a gamble. I heard you are going to participate in this World Artificial Intelligence Algorithm Competition. If you can really place, it will be good for all of us. But... to be honest, I am not optimistic about it."

Leicester spoke about their current concerns without reservation.

The topic Jin Lu had found them to discuss was the cliché [autonomous driving model].

Currently, many institutions, organizations, and companies around the world claim to have achieved true autonomous driving. A certain company boss even live-streamed himself sitting in the passenger seat at a press conference, watching the steering wheel in the driver's seat turn on its own.

This alarmed the police, who immediately sent officers to intercept it.

After all, according to current regulations in our country, autonomous driving is not allowed on public roads.

The most embarrassing part was...

This guy's "AI driver" even merged across solid lines and committed multiple traffic violations.

Tesla is considered the big brother in this field, but they have also had many accidents. It is evident that they have not achieved the expected results for true autonomous driving, which is something that gives them a massive headache.

However!

Zheng Qian has a system!

Although he criticized Professor Ji Muxi quite harshly, that was only because he was flustered by concern and too anxious. Zheng Qian had already started thinking of ways to build momentum for Professor Ji Muxi to become the first president of the Artificial Intelligence Association, and had even thought of the paper titles—

"Artificial Intelligence Defeats World Rally Championship"

"A True Autonomous Driving AI Model"

There are still two months until the competition starts, and with the help of his system, there is plenty of time.

Moreover, Tesla has provided massive data support; there is no reason it wouldn't succeed.

"You know, when the policy allowed us to come to Shanghu to build a factory, while it was partly for investment attraction, the other reason was self-evident: the hope of stimulating the rise of domestic new energy vehicles."

"Clearly this goal has been achieved. Shang Yanxiong is a very ambitious person; he is no longer satisfied with just engaging in the low-end supply chain. On one hand, he wants to squeeze us out of Shanghu, and on the other, he proposes building a joint venture company, or even wooing Mr. Musk."

Before he could finish, Zheng Qian laughed.

He said meaningfully, "But, Mr. Musk withstood the pressure from the 'organization,' didn't he? Otherwise, he wouldn't have provided Starlink services to that poor region even under such strong protests from The Jews."

"Not only that, even the 'X' software he just acquired is one of the few platforms that hasn't blocked keywords related to that region."

X is equivalent to the Western version of Weibo.

The water, electricity, and internet in the Gaza region are all controlled by Israel.

Now that it is suffering from heavy bombardment, the water, electricity, and internet are naturally all suspended, and the role of Mr. Musk's Starlink is self-evident.

It is almost the only channel for the blockaded region to make its voice heard.

Without Starlink, people would not know anything that is happening there.

Perhaps everyone would only realize it after they had all been exterminated.

But if everyone is dead, what's the point?

However, Zheng Qian was not blindly praising Mr. Musk's Starlink. He flicked his fingernails and continued, "But then again, this is just a win-win cooperation for now. In the future, in various tracks, we might still be competitors."

"Hahaha, that is implied. Besides, this is the most we can do, isn't it?"

Leicester blinked and answered with a smile.

After speaking, he suddenly changed the subject, "Before I left, the boss also said that regarding this project of the Qianlu Research Institute, we can invest capital, share all data, and provide any help we can.

"There is only one requirement: that is to own shares in this AI project."

"The kind with significant voting rights."

Before he could finish, Jin Lu ruthlessly refused.

"Impossible. Owning shares is out of the question, let alone having voting rights? If this is the prerequisite, then I can only say that Mr. Musk is not such a loyal person, which disappoints me."

Leicester frowned, weighing the pros and cons.

He couldn't help but say, "Then what do we get? An AI model that has a 99% chance of failure? And then use this damn model to provide autonomous driving services for our car owners? Hell!"

Jin Lu smiled very confidently.

She gently tapped the table with her fingernail and said, "Just like the agreement Mr. Musk proposed earlier, we can sign a betting agreement. If this project fails, we are willing to compensate Tesla with 100 billion USD."

100 billion USD.

Jin Lu's words were resonant and forceful.

Even representing the wealthy Tesla Group, Leicester shut his mouth.

He believed that the handsome man and beautiful woman in front of him could come up with it.

TSMC's market value at its peak even exceeded 300 billion USD.

And after the last press conference, Qianlu Research Institute had quietly made a name for itself. Being able to manufacture over 8,000 high-end flagship phones in a very short time, not to mention having the capability to independently develop top-tier Semiconductor Chips.

Just looking at this aspect, its valuation far exceeds 100 billion USD.

Not to mention industries like Qianlu Bank...

So, they could afford it.

"Fine, I will send someone later to sign the betting agreement! Damn... President Jin, you really are worthy of being Ms. Ran Xiang's sister; you are even more aggressive than her, and much more generous. To be honest, we need that 100 billion more right now."

"Both of you, I look forward to hearing the news of your experiment's failure."

Leicester said with a bitter smile.

Jin Lu glanced at Zheng Qian, then held up a finger, "In one month, we will complete the production of this model, and it will be a finished product ready for commercial use. After it is born, we are willing to provide it to Tesla for free for five years."

"You are truly crazy!"

Leicester was stunned for a moment, then shook his head in astonishment.

OpenAI spent 3 years developing its first language model, and only launched versions 2.0 and 3.0 a few years later. Even after being acquired by Microsoft and receiving a 10 billion USD injection, it still took several months to become the world-leading entity it is today.

They actually said, only one month?

After Leicester left.

Zheng Qian suddenly became very interested.

He couldn't help but hold Jin Lu in his arms and whispered, "We had an unfinished activity at the Chunshen Club before. Today... I want to finish it. So..."

"Madam President, can I ask for your help? Please turn around and lie on the table."

"Yes, arch it up, very good!"