Daily Intelligence: Forced to Save the Beautiful President at the Beginning

211: Chapter 212 Western Media: Singularity Won’t Last 3 Months!On the fifth day after the supply chain blockade, the Western media’s pessimism reached its peak. The front page of the Wall Street Journal featured the headline ”Supply Chain Severed: The Fatal Crisis of a Chinese Tech Giant,” accompanied by a photo of the partially halted production base of Singularity Technology. The text was filled with schadenfreude: ”Losing the support of Qualcomm chips and ASML lithography machine components, Singularity Technology’s production lines have fallen into a state of semi-paralysis. According to internal sources, their core component inventory is only enough to last 20 days. Within 3 months, this former tech darling will be completely bankrupt.”

Forbes magazine even published three consecutive in-depth reports, citing predictions from ”anonymous industry analysts”: ”Singularity’s autonomous supply chain plan is merely talk on paper. Mass production of Photon Chips requires at least a year of technical refinement, and independent research and development of Sensors is even more of a fantasy. Their so-called ’mass production within one month’ is nothing but a lie to appease the market.”

Aivda CEO Mark Anderson, while attending a tech forum in Silicon Valley, once again publicly mocked: ”Without Western core technology and supply chain support, any so-called ’tech giant’ is just a flash in the pan. Did Singularity Technology think they could master Photon Chip technology just by acquiring a small German factory? How naive. Our chip technology is at least five years ahead of theirs; they will never catch up.”

These reports spread rapidly through overseas social platforms and financial media, and some domestic self-media followed suit, reprinting them with sensational headlines: ”Singularity in Peril! Under the Supply Chain Blockade, a Billion-Dollar Empire May Collapse” and ”Zhang Fan’s Gamble: Can an Independent Supply Chain Save Singularity?” The voices of pessimism rose one after another online, and some netizens even launched a poll to ”predict Singularity’s bankruptcy time,” with the majority choosing ”within 3 months.”

Inside Singularity Technology, although the core team remained steadfast in their confidence, the morale of the grassroots employees was affected. In the production base’s cafeteria, workers whispered while eating: ”I heard the inventory is only enough for 20 days. If things really stop, will we lose our jobs?” ”The Western media are all saying this. Is the company really unable to hold on?” ”My relatives back home even called to ask if I should start looking for a job in advance...”

Qin Xue saw this and felt anxious. Having just come off the production line with the smell of engine oil still on her, she immediately found Zhang Fan: ”Boss, the morale of the grassroots employees is a bit unstable. Although we’ve emphasized the progress of the independent supply chain many times, many are still worried about unemployment. Should we hold an all-hands meeting so you can personally explain the situation to everyone?”

Zhang Fan nodded: ”Alright, we’ll hold a global video all-hands meeting at 2 PM. Also, have the Human Resources department issue a ’Work Suspension Guarantee Policy.’ Even if a short-term production halt occurs, basic salaries and benefits will be paid as usual. There will be no layoffs, to stabilize everyone’s hearts.”

At 2 PM, the all-hands meeting convened on time. Zhang Fan appeared on the screen, with a real-time feed of the independent Sensor production line behind him—machines roaring and workers busy in production. ”First, I want to tell everyone some good news,” Zhang Fan’s voice echoed through the speakers to branches and production bases worldwide. ”Our independently developed Sensor production line officially went into production yesterday. Currently, the daily capacity is 1,000 units with a 98.5% qualification rate, fully meeting the production needs for AI Medical Equipment. Rhine Photonics’ Photon Chip mass production line has completed its acceleration upgrade. The first batch of 100,000 chips will arrive in Jiangcheng from Germany tomorrow.”

The screen simultaneously played footage of the Sensor production line and the transport of Photon Chips. Zhang Fan continued: ”Regarding inventory, our current core component stock is enough to last 20 days. But with the addition of our independently produced Sensors, the soon-to-arrive Photon Chips, and the replacement chips supplied by Huawei HiSilicon, we will not only avoid stopping production but also return to full capacity within a month. The pessimism of the Western media is merely their wishful thinking.”

His gaze became firm: ”I promise you all that the company will never lay off employees because of the supply chain blockade, nor will we let any employee lose their job. On the contrary, our independent supply chain needs more talent. Next, we will expand our recruitment scale to provide everyone with more development opportunities. This supply chain blockade is not a crisis for us, but a turning point—it will allow us to completely break free from our dependence on the West and become even stronger.”

After the meeting, the employees’ morale clearly stabilized. The workers at the production base returned to their posts, their anxiety replaced by determination. An old worker said with emotion: ”Since President Zhang has said so, what do we have to worry about? Following the company is definitely the right choice!”

Meanwhile, Zhang Fan was holding a secret video conference with Zhou Yurou, Liu Ruyan, Song Zhiwei, and Gu Jingshen to discuss the final closing of the Rhine Photonics acquisition in Germany. ”Tianming Group is indeed up to no good,” Song Zhiwei’s screen displayed a set of data. ”Through an offshore company, they offered the former shareholders of Rhine Photonics a 50% price increase, attempting to intercept our acquisition. Additionally, they contacted German local regulatory agencies, reporting us for a ’hostile takeover of a core technology enterprise,’ trying to delay the closing time.”

”They are a step too late,” Gu Jingshen added. ”Our overseas intelligence team detected their plan in advance and had the former shareholders sign an ’irrevocable acquisition agreement.’ Furthermore, through the German legal team arranged by President Song, we submitted all compliance documents to the regulatory agencies, proving that this acquisition fully complies with German law. Tianming’s report has been dismissed, and the closing will be completed tomorrow.”

Zhang Fan nodded: ”Very good. Once the closing is finished, immediately transfer Rhine Photonics’ core technical team to China. At the same time, establish a research and development center in Jiangcheng to accelerate the development of the next generation of Photon Chips. Also, have Gu Jingshen arrange personnel to protect the safety of the technical team and prevent Tianming from using extreme measures like assassination or kidnapping.”

”Understood!” Zhou Yurou, Liu Ruyan, and the others responded in unison.

Just then, the system suddenly popped up an alert: [New movement from Tianming Group detected! They have contacted the organizers of the International Technology Summit, attempting to set up a ’Technical Questioning Session’ at the summit, inviting several ’industry experts’ to publicly question the technical authenticity of the Photon Chip; meanwhile, they have bribed a technical manager at Singularity’s overseas branch to steal core data of the Photon Chip during the summit.]

”A summit?” A cold smile curled at the corner of Zhang Fan’s mouth. ”They certainly chose the right timing. It’s just as well; we can use this summit to let the whole world see what true independent core technology looks like.”

He looked at Gu Jingshen: ”Old Gu, contact the authorities to see if we can arrest that bribed technical manager and find evidence of his contact with Tianming. Don’t make it public for now; keep it as a ’surprise’ for the summit. Also, have the technical team prepare a ’Photon Chip Technology White Paper,’ publicly disclosing some non-core technical parameters in detail to respond to the doubts with strength.”

”I’ll contact the authorities immediately.” Gu Jingshen acted at once.

As the night deepened, the lights at the headquarters of Singularity Technology remained bright. The advancement of the independent supply chain was proceeding in an orderly manner, the closing of the Rhine Photonics acquisition was nearing completion, and preparations for the international summit were in full swing. The Western media’s pessimism continued, but Zhang Fan and his team were ready—they were going to stage a stunning reversal at this globally watched summit and silence all the doubters.

Meanwhile, far away in Switzerland, the ”Bishop” of Tianming Group was still gloating over his ”clever scheme.” Looking at the pessimistic reports from the Western media on the screen, he said to his subordinates: ”Let them enjoy their triumph for a few more days. Once we expose the Photon Chip ’hoax’ at the international summit and then reveal the evidence of their stolen technology, Singularity Technology will be completely discredited. By then, no matter how advanced their independent supply chain is, no one will dare to cooperate with them.”

A contest between light and shadow centered around the International Technology Summit had quietly begun. Zhang Fan knew clearly that this would be their key battle against Tianming Group. If they won, they could completely break the Western technical blockade and become leaders in the global technology field; if they lost, all their previous efforts might be in vain, and they would fall into an irrecoverable situation. But he had no fear because he held the strongest trump card—independently controllable core technology and a united team.