170: Chapter 170 Manufacturing Our Own Equipment: Ambition for the Entire Industry Chain!

Outside the VIP passage of Hangzhou City's Xiaoshan Airport, a black bulletproof sedan sat quietly beneath the corridor bridge.

Lei Jun was waiting by the car in person, and upon seeing Zhou Fan exit the passage, he immediately went to greet him.

This public-facing helmsman of Fanmi Technology had slight dark circles under his eyes, yet he couldn't hide the excitement within. He reached out and patted Zhou Fan's shoulder. "I've finally looked forward to your return! Is everything settled over in Sea City?"

"The last lithography machine has finished debugging, with the yield rate stabilized at 87%. The mass production line has been handed over to Li Hui to watch over. Next is just production according to plan; nothing major left."

Zhou Fan took off his coat and handed it to Yang Tian, who had also returned with him. His voice carried a hint of fatigue, yet it was tinged with a lighthearted sense of relief.

"Great! Let's talk in the car. There's something I must discuss with you in person." Lei Jun's eyes lit up, and he pulled him into the vehicle.

The sedan drove smoothly away from the airport, merging into the early morning peak traffic.

Lei Jun unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and handed it to Zhou Fan, then went straight to the point. "About the new energy vehicles, Zhou Guangming's battery production line is already being framed out, but we've hit a hurdle—equipment."

He pulled a stack of documents from his briefcase, which were densely listed with various equipment models.

"The motor assembly line needs precision bearing machines from Germany, the battery packaging equipment requires vacuum machines from the Japanese, and even the spectrometers used for testing are a notch below in domestic precision. Furthermore, when we asked for quotes, as soon as they heard it was Fanmi, they flatly said their capacity was insufficient and they weren't taking orders for now..."

Zhou Fan flipped through the documents, his fingertips tapping on the paper. He paused at the line for 'vacuum machines.' "Even the subsidiaries are being blockaded?"

"You bet!" Lei Jun gave a bitter smile.

"Right now, almost all high-end manufacturing equipment in the world is monopolized by those few Western companies. If we want to buy, it's either an astronomical price or a direct refusal!"

"Zhou Guangming was complaining to me yesterday that just waiting for one imported welding machine takes half a year for delivery, and we have to sign a bunch of 'unequal treaty' commitment letters."

Skyscrapers of the Hangzhou City New District flashed past the car window, their glass curtain walls reflecting the rising morning sun.

Zhou Fan suddenly closed the folder and looked at Lei Jun. "Old Lei, have you ever thought about why we must buy from others?"

Lei Jun was stunned for a moment. "You mean..."

"Build them ourselves." Zhou Fan's tone was flat, yet it carried an unquestionable certainty.

"China's heavy industrial machinery manufacturing has developed so fast these past few years. Sany Heavy Industry's excavators are sold in Europe, and XCMG's cranes can lift a thousand tons. Why shouldn't we be able to build precision production equipment?"

He pointed at the equipment list on the document, analyzing it point by point. "Look, the core of these machines is nothing more than mechanical structures, sensors, and control systems!"

"For mechanical structures, we have old-school giants like CFHI and Erzhong. As for sensors, our 45nm technology is fully capable of making high-precision chips. Not to mention control systems—Lin Wenwu's team could even handle the system for a lithography machine; surely they can handle a packaging machine?"

Lei Jun's breathing gradually quickened, his fingers unconsciously tapping his knee.

This idea was like a bolt of lightning that split open his ingrained thinking. For a long time, domestic tech companies had been used to the mindset that "building is worse than buying, and buying is worse than leasing."

Especially with high-end equipment, there seemed to be a default conclusion that "domestic products aren't good enough."

But Zhou Fan's words woke him up: the country could even assemble a lithography machine; what else was absolutely impossible?

"But..." Lei Jun was still a bit hesitant. "How much investment will this take? Building an equipment production line is much more complex than making mobile phones."

"The initial investment is indeed large, but in the long run, it's worth it."

Zhou Fan looked at him with sharp eyes. "Equipment is the foundation of all physical manufacturing!"

"We're being held by the throat right now because the foundation isn't in our own hands. If we can make our own precision equipment, we won't just be able to use it ourselves, but also sell it to other companies. Think about it: what would it look like when all of China's new energy vehicle companies are using equipment made by Fanmi?"

He paused, his tone carrying a hint of heat.

"And we have an advantage. Fanmi's software capabilities are already there. By embedding the Industrial Internet and AI into the equipment, our machines won't necessarily be worse than imports. Plus, in our Internet of Everything Plan, the manufacturing of high-end precision equipment is also a vital link."

"Once we build them, it won't be us begging to buy from others; it'll be others coming to beg us for technology licensing!"

Lei Jun slapped his thigh hard, nearly knocking over the water bottle. "Let's do it! That's the plan!"

The hesitation in his eyes was instantly replaced by fervor. "I'll have the investment department check right away to see if there are any suitable domestic machinery factories we can acquire! Ideally, one with a technical foundation but lacking funds and direction. We can directly inject capital and overhaul it—saving time and effort!"

"That's the spirit." Zhou Fan smiled.

"A blockade isn't a bad thing; it forces us to patch up our shortcomings. Once we've built a full industry chain, who will be able to hold us back?"

The sedan turned off the elevated highway and headed toward the industrial park in the suburbs.

From a distance, a massive construction site was in full swing, with the steel arms of tower cranes tracing arcs in the morning mist.

"We're here. This is our new energy vehicle base."

Lei Jun pointed out the window, his tone proud. "It covers 1,200 mu, several times larger than the Fanmi headquarters."

As soon as the car stopped, the construction site manager wearing a hard hat ran over, holding a progress chart.

"President Lei, the steel structure of Factory Building No. 1 has been topped out. The purification system for the No. 2 Battery Workshop is being installed, and the exterior walls of the No. 3 R&D Building are being painted... According to the plan, everything will be completed in two months, and equipment can begin entering for debugging."

Zhou Fan followed Lei Jun into Factory Building No. 1. The empty workshop was filled with the scent of cement and steel.

Sunlight streamed through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating the crisscrossing pipelines in the air as several workers were debugging the crane tracks.

The sound of metal clashing echoed through the space.

"This is the final assembly line, planned with thirty-six workstations. It uses a flexible production model, capable of producing both sedans and SUVs." The manager pointed to the yellow markings on the floor. "Over there, we've reserved positions for intelligent machines to assist manual labor. When the time comes, heavy tasks like welding and painting will be entirely handled by machines."

Lei Jun walked over to a large planning map and pointed to the "Powertrain Zone."

"Zhou Fan, look. This is the space reserved for batteries and motors. Once the equipment is in place, we can achieve full self-sufficiency from batteries and motors to the entire vehicle."

Zhou Fan nodded, his gaze sweeping across the corners of the workshop.

Several pieces of disassembled imported equipment were piled there, with "Made in Germany" printed on the parts.

"What are these?"

"Prototypes that Zhou Guangming had disassembled; he wanted to do some reverse engineering." Lei Jun smiled. "It seems like you two were thinking along the same lines."

The two smiled at each other, their eyes sparkling with visions of the future.

Just then, Yang Tian suddenly approached Zhou Fan and whispered, "President Zhou, there's a tail southeast of the production area. Someone is secretly taking photos with a telephoto lens."

Zhou Fan pretended to be casual and looked in the direction Yang Tian indicated, but he saw nothing.

He asked calmly, "Did you see who it is?"

"They don't look like regular media. They're being evasive, though their equipment is quite professional." Yang Tian's hand was already reaching for the communicator in his pants pocket.

"Should I handle it?"

"Mm." Zhou Fan nodded, continuing to discuss the production line layout with Lei Jun as if nothing had happened.

Yang Tian walked to a secluded spot and dialed an encrypted number, saying only three sentences: "Fanmi New Energy Base, southeast direction, two suspicious individuals."

Less than five minutes after hanging up, three black sedans without license plates drove silently into the construction site.

Several men in black T-shirts walked straight toward the northeast corner of the base and soon came out with two people.

Those two were wearing work uniforms. Their cameras had been confiscated, and their faces were full of panic.

The entire process was as fast as a gust of wind; except for a few workers, almost no one noticed.

Lei Jun happened to see this and raised an eyebrow. "Your bodyguard's efficiency is quite something."

"They're not my people," Zhou Fan said indifferently. "They should be from National Security."

He looked at Yang Tian, who gave a slight nod in confirmation.

Lei Jun understood. While surprised, he felt a heavy sense of gravity.

What Fanmi was doing now was no longer just corporate activity.

Every step drew the gaze of too many people—there was expectation, prying, and even hostility.

"Let's go take a look at the battery workshop."

Lei Jun patted Zhou Fan's shoulder, his tone returning to a relaxed one. "Zhou Guangming said he's come up with a new battery formula that can increase energy density by another 15%. He's waiting to report to you."

The two walked side-by-side toward Workshop No. 2. Behind them were the rising steel factory buildings; before them was an increasingly clear future.