186: Chapter 186 Dragon Core Awakening, Technological Overtaking

"Th-this... this is impossible!" Smith shouted, his voice cracking. "What about the light source system? The dual-stage system? Lenses with this kind of precision... there isn't a factory on Earth that can manufacture them!"

Zhang Cheng looked at him as if he were looking at a country bumpkin who had never seen the world: "Mr. Smith, don't use your outdated knowledge to measure the future. You want to see data? I'll satisfy you."

On the giant screen, dense technical parameters began to scroll.

Exposure wavelength, numerical aperture, overlay accuracy... Every single data point was more than 30% better than ASML's most advanced High-NA EUV lithography machine! In particular, the light source power had reached an astonishing 1000W, solving the production capacity bottleneck that had plagued the industry for years!

"Fake! It must be fake! Data can be faked!" Jason was still being stubborn, but his trembling hands had already betrayed him.

"I knew someone wouldn't believe it." Zhang Cheng laughed, a somewhat cruel laugh. "Lithography machines are for making chips, not for exhibitions. Since you don't believe in the machine, then take a look at the 'children' it gave birth to."

He pulled a black graphics card from his pocket and held it above his head.

"Shuguang 'Longteng-100' GPU. It uses a 1nm process chip produced by 'Dawn-1'."

"To make it more intuitive for everyone, we aren't going to be 'PPT warriors.' Let's go straight to the machine for a live test!"

Two computers rose in the center of the stage. On the left was one equipped with Nvidia's current top-tier H100 computing card (although it's enterprise-grade, it's more convincing for comparison); on the right was one equipped with the 'Longteng-100'.

"Test item one: Large-scale AI model training."

At Zhang Cheng's command, both computers began running the massive algorithm model simultaneously.

On the giant screen, two progress bars began to race.

At first, they were neck and neck. But after just three seconds, the 'Longteng' was like a supercar shifting gears and accelerating, its progress bar instantly soaring!

"30%... 50%... 80%... Done!"

By the time the 'Longteng-100' finished, the Nvidia H100 had only just reached 45%!

"More than double?!" The tech media reporters in the audience went crazy, the sound of shutters becoming a continuous roar. "This is too exaggerated! This is the H100!"

"Don't rush, there's more." Zhang Cheng waved his hand calmly. "That was too professional; let's do something easy to understand. Game performance test."

The screen switched to "Cyberpunk 2077," set to maximum graphics, 8K resolution, and full ray tracing.

This was a game configuration known as the "graphics card killer."

On the left screen, even with the top-tier RTX 4090, the frame rate was a pitiful 30 FPS, with obvious stuttering, looking like a slideshow.

And on the right... Silky smooth! Extremely silky smooth!

On the frame rate monitor, that number was terrifyingly stable—144 FPS!

Not only that, Zhang Cheng had the staff open two other AAA games in the background for rendering. The frame rate only dropped to 120 FPS!

"This is impossible! This is definitely cheating!" Jason completely broke down. He rushed to the front of the stage and pointed at Zhang Cheng, roaring, "You must be using a backend server cluster to render this! A single card cannot do this!"

"Old K." Zhang Cheng couldn't be bothered to explain and tilted his head.

Old K walked over expressionlessly. In front of everyone, he ripped off the side panel of the computer case and even pulled the graphics card straight out—of course, this was in hot-swap demo mode.

The screen instantly went black. He plugged it back in, and the screen instantly restored.

"Did you see clearly?" Zhang Cheng looked at the ashen-faced Jason. "This is what we call strength. This is the thing created by the 'circus' you were talking about."

"Finally, the price announcement." A huge number popped up on the screen. 1999 USD.

The whole venue was dead silent.

You have to know, the RTX 4090, which has only half the performance, is already being scalped for over 1600 USD, and the H100 costs as much as tens of thousands of dollars per card!

"This is just the international price." Zhang Cheng paused, cast his gaze toward the Chinese press corps, and revealed a warm smile. "For our strategic partners, for those Chinese compatriots who have always supported us..."

The number on the screen changed. 9999 RMB!

"Boom—!"

If they were just shocked before, now it was madness! The live stream was completely paralyzed, and the server was flooded by hundreds of millions of "WTF" and "Adoptive Father" comments!

[9999?! Did I read that right? With this performance and this price, they are forcing Nvidia into a corner!]

[Zhang Cheng is awesome! Shuguang is awesome! From now on, I'm a die-hard fan of Shuguang!]

[Where's that guy who said he'd eat poop? Come out and walk a few steps!]

[This is our King of Northern Myanmar! This is our compatriot! So inspiring!]

Offstage, the Western reporters' faces were slapped red, their previous arrogance vanished, replaced by panic and urgency. They were frantically calling their headquarters, and some even wanted to rush onto the stage to interview Zhang Cheng.

But Zhang Cheng had already turned and left, leaving only a dashing silhouette behind.

"Want the goods? Go stand in line. Want the technology? Bring sincerity to trade."

"Oh, and tell Mr. Jin Mao Pu that his sanctions order, in my eyes, isn't even worth scrap paper."

This day was later known as "Shuguang Day." It marked the collapse of Western technological hegemony and the rise of an Eastern technological empire.

The day after the press conference ended, the world was in chaos. Washington, White House.

President Jin Mao Pu looked at the detailed review report on the "Longteng-100" in his hand, so angry that he swept the files on his desk onto the floor.

"This is fraud! This is theft!" Jin Mao Pu roared, his face turning the color of pig's liver. "How could that warlord possibly create something like this? What is the CIA doing? Why didn't they discover it in advance?!"

Secretary of Defense Esper looked grim: "Mr. President, the technical experts have analyzed it; that architecture is completely different from any existing system. Even if he stole it, there's nowhere on Earth for him to steal it from. This... this looks more like alien technology."

"I don't care if he's an alien or Satan!" Jin Mao Pu pointed at the Secretary of Commerce. "Immediately! Right now! Issue the highest-level ban! Prohibit any USA company from purchasing Shuguang's products! Prohibit any equipment containing USA technology from flowing into Myanmar! I want to ban him! Completely ban him!"

"But Mr. President..." The Secretary of Commerce looked bitter. "The CEOs of Intel and Dell were just calling me, saying that if they aren't allowed to use Longteng chips, their next-generation servers won't be able to compete with Chinese products equipped with Longteng at all. They will lose the entire market..."

"Make them shut up! National security is above all else!"

The USA's ban was issued very quickly, with harsh wording, claiming that Shuguang's products contained "serious security backdoors" that threatened national security, and calling on allies to boycott them together.

The UK, Australia, Japan, and several other ironclad lackeys immediately followed suit, one after another stating that they would "carefully consider" and "strictly review" it.

However, reality dealt them a resounding slap in the face.