346: Chapter 346 The Great Data Center Migration

December in Beijing was bitingly cold.

In front of the China National Convention Center, the Red Flag banners snapped in the wind.

Media reporters from all over the country, wrapped in thick down jackets, lined up at the security checkpoint.

Their camera lenses reflected glittering light in the morning sun, and everyone was eager to enter the venue.

The grand hall, which could accommodate three thousand people, was packed to capacity.

Seated in the front row were the executives of the country's internet giants—Baidu, ByteDance, Meituan, JD.com, Pinduoduo... Half of China's internet industry was present.

In the back rows were founders of data center operators, cloud computing service providers, and AI startups from across the nation.

The stage backdrop was a massive LED screen with only one line of text: "Computing Power Autonomy: China's Choice."

The lights dimmed.

Tencent Cloud President Qiu Yuepeng and Alibaba Cloud President Zhang Jianfeng walked onto the stage together.

The forty-five-year-old Qiu Yuepeng wore a dark blue suit and rimless glasses, looking like a university professor.

Fifty-year-old Zhang Jianfeng wore a black Zhongshan suit, his hair meticulously combed, looking more like a high-ranking official from a government department.

The two stood still, exchanged a glance, and then turned to face the audience simultaneously.

Qiu Yuepeng spoke first, his voice steady and powerful: "Tencent Cloud announces the purchase of 500,000 Xingchen flint-t1 AI chips over the next three years for data center training."

A low gasp rippled through the audience.

Zhang Jianfeng followed, his tone equally calm, but every word struck like a nail into wood: "Alibaba Cloud announces the purchase of 800,000 flint-t1 chips over the next three years."

He paused. "A total of 1.3 million units."

In the press section, someone had already started frantically tapping on a calculator. The flint-t1 was priced at 19,999 yuan; 1.3 million units meant...

Someone gasped and whispered, "260 billion."

This number spread rapidly among the reporters, and the sound of shutters suddenly intensified; the flashes nearly turned the entire hall into daylight.

Qiu Yuepeng continued, "This is not a commercial choice. This is technological sovereignty. China's data, using China's chips."

Zhang Jianfeng nodded: "In the past, we relied on Nvidia and the American supply chain. Today, we have our own choice. Xingchen's chips offer higher performance, lower prices, and more stable supply."

He looked at the audience: "This is not just Tencent and Alibaba's choice. It is the choice of the entire Chinese internet industry."

Thunderous applause erupted from the audience.

Among the executives of the internet giants, some applauded, some nodded, and some scribbled quickly in their notebooks. The applause lasted for a full minute.

December 8th, Seattle.

AWS headquarters was a massive glass building located in Seattle's South Lake Union district, overlooking the city's entire skyline.

At this moment, in a laboratory on the second basement level, there were no windows, no sunlight, only the humming of server cooling fans.

Twenty servers were neatly arranged, their indicator lights blinking with blue light in the darkness.

AWS Chief Hardware Engineer James stood in front of one of the servers, staring at the data on the screen.

Forty-five-year-old James had worked at AWS for fifteen years, rising from a junior hardware engineer to chief, having handled countless server architectures.

But right now, his hands were trembling slightly.

On the screen, the data was fluctuating: Xingchen flint-t1 vs. Nvidia V100.

Performance: +40%

Power Consumption: -35%

Cost: -60%

The project manager stood beside him and asked in a low voice: "Can we make this public?"

James shook his head and smiled bitterly: "The Department of Commerce will kill us."

The project manager was silent for three seconds: "Then what do we do?"

James thought for a moment and said: "Buy a batch first and put them in Canada. Use a third-party shell. Don't let anyone know that AWS is using them."

The project manager nodded and recorded quickly on a tablet.

Outside the window, the Seattle sky was overcast, and a storm was brewing.

At the same time, Redmond.

Microsoft's headquarters was a vast complex of low-rise buildings located in Redmond, in the eastern suburbs of Seattle. The Azure hardware lab was hidden in one of the inconspicuous gray buildings.

The same scene, the same servers. The same data, the same silence.

The Azure Chief Hardware Engineer looked at the numbers on the screen and whispered to his colleague: "This thing is even better than our own chips."

The colleague smiled bitterly: "The problem is, we can't use it."

"Why?"

"Politics."

The two looked at each other, speechless.

Seven days later, Washington. The Department of Commerce headquarters was a massive gray building located in downtown Washington, D.C. In the hearing hall, the atmosphere was so heavy it felt like it could drip water.

On the high wooden dais, seven Department of Commerce officials sat in a row. Below, dozens of reporters crowded into the gallery, the red lights of their cameras flashing incessantly.

AWS CEO Andy Jassy sat in the witness stand.

Fifty-year-old Andy wore a dark blue suit, his tie tied meticulously. His expression was calm, but his palms were sweaty.

The Department of Commerce official spoke, his voice cold and hard: "Mr. Andy, is AWS testing Xingchen chips?"

Andy was silent. Three seconds. Five seconds. Ten seconds.

"Please answer yes or no."

Andy took a deep breath: "Sir, AWS tests many chips. I cannot confirm every single one."

The official sneered. He pulled a document from a folder and held it up: "Then let me help you confirm—December 8th, AWS Seattle headquarters, second basement level, twenty servers, all equipped with Xingchen flint-t1 chips."

Andy's face changed.

In the gallery, reporters were frantically taking notes.

The official continued: "This is a national security issue. Chinese chips may contain backdoors and could steal American data. As the leading American cloud computing company, AWS is secretly testing Chinese chips. How do you explain this?"

Andy was silent, and the entire room was quiet. Only the sound of camera shutters, click-click, like some countdown to judgment.

7:00 PM, Seattle.

James sat in his office, looking at a news notification on his phone.

"Department of Commerce Investigates AWS: Is It Using Chinese chips?"

He clicked on the news and saw a photo of Andy at the hearing. His face was full of helplessness. James put down his phone and looked out the window.

In the night sky of Seattle, an airplane was slowly flying by, its red tail lights blinking in the darkness. He wondered if there were any Xingchen engineers on that plane. He wondered what they were thinking at this moment.