Tech Giants: Starting from Bankrupt Companies

155: Chapter 155 The Century-Long Handshake Between Aviation and AutomobileOn the morning of December 25, under the newly completed, massive steel dome of Chengdu Tianfu International Airport, Wu Yi had just stepped off the plane and could already feel the ambition of this southwestern hub. A giant billboard at the airport read: ’Chengdu, not just pandas, but also a dream of flight.’

The person there to pick him up was not a government official, but Zhou Weiguo, Deputy Chief Engineer of the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group—the veteran test pilot who had engaged in in-depth discussions with Wu Yi at the Yanliang workshop. He wasn’t wearing his work uniform today, but a dark blue jacket, looking like an ordinary technician.

’Director Wu, we aren’t taking the usual route today.’ Zhou Weiguo’s handshake was still firm. ’The General Manager of Hongqi Automobile is waiting for us in a secret workshop at the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group. He says that to see the true future, one must go to the place that best represents it.’

The convoy did not head toward the city center, but instead drove west along the newly built airport expressway, entering an industrial cluster known as the ’Aviation Corridor.’ Along the way, Wu Yi saw not just modern factories, but vast stretches of land that had already been cleared and leveled, stretching for kilometers like a giant sheet of rice paper waiting to be painted.

’A 30,000-mu aviation and aerospace industrial park is planned here,’ Zhou Weiguo said, pointing out the window. ’To the west is the new final assembly base for the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, to the east is the 611 Institute (Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute), and this empty space in the middle...’ He smiled. ’That guy Zhou Qingyu has had his eye on it for half a year.’

The car finally stopped in front of an unassuming gray building. It looked like a warehouse from the outside, but entering required three levels of security: fingerprint, iris, and voiceprint.

The moment the door opened, Wu Yi was stunned.

This was not a workshop; it was a massive holographic projection laboratory. A 3D model of a car was suspended in the center of the room—the next-generation concept car for the Hongqi H9, but its structure was dismantled layer by layer, from the outer skin to the frame and every connection point, all marked with light strips of different colors.

Zhou Qingyu stood in front of the console. The forty-year-old president of Hongqi Automobile wore a white shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a glimmer unique to technical fanatics in his eyes.

’Director Wu, welcome to the Future Automobile Laboratory.’ He walked over to shake hands. ’This is a confidential project jointly built by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, Red Flag, and the 611 Institute. What we are doing here is not improving existing models, but redefining what a car should look like in ten years.’

He clicked the console, and the holographic model began to change. The traditional steel structure of the car body gradually faded into transparency, replaced by a honeycomb-like silver structure, as light as a bird’s skeleton.

’This is a bionic skeleton designed using your Spark Materials metal matrix composites.’ Zhou Qingyu zoomed in on one of the connection nodes. ’The weight is only 45% of a traditional white car body, but the torsional rigidity is increased by 80%. More importantly—’

He pulled up the simulation data: ’In a 25% offset collision at 80 km/h, this structure can disperse the impact force along 128 preset energy transfer paths, reducing cockpit deformation by 70%. This means that in the same accident, the passenger survival rate increases from the current 65% to over 95%.’

Wu Yi walked closer to take a closer look. Inside those bionic structures, there were actually tiny fluid channel networks.

’This is...’

’The physical layer of the active safety system.’ Zhou Qingyu’s eyes lit up. ’Traditional car sensors and control systems are added on later, but in this design, safety is grown into the bones. These micro-channels can circulate functional fluids—for example, when an impending collision is detected, the liquid solidifies instantly, increasing local rigidity threefold; or, when turning, it adjusts the liquid distribution to change the vehicle’s center of gravity and improve handling.’

He turned to Zhou Weiguo: ’Engineer Zhou, do you have similar technology in the aviation field?’

Zhou Weiguo walked to the other side of the console and pulled up a model of an aircraft wing: ’This is the sixth-generation fighter wing we are developing. See these dense micro-actuators? They can change the airfoil in real-time according to flight conditions, improving the lift-to-drag ratio by 30%. The principle is similar to your active skeleton, but we use shape memory alloys and piezoelectric materials.’

The two engineers named Zhou looked at each other and smiled. Zhou Qingyu said: ’So our concept is—to fuse the intelligent materials of the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, the flight control algorithms of the 611 Institute, the vehicle integration of Red Flag, and the mass production technology of Spark Materials. This isn’t a car; it’s a ground aircraft.’

The three of them walked into the meeting room next door. A huge planning map hung on the wall: The overall plan for the Chengdu Tianfu New Area Future Transportation Industry Ecological Park.

’This area is 5,000 mu.’ Zhou Qingyu used a laser pointer to circle the center of the map. ’Demolition has been completed, and the land nature has been adjusted. If Spark Materials and Red Flag invest together, we can build the world’s first Aviation-Automobile Cross-border Innovation Base here.’

He zoomed in on the design drawing: ’The west zone is Red Flag’s intelligent car factory, designed for an annual output of 100,000 vehicles, all using Spark Materials. The east zone is the automotive materials R&D center and mass production base for Spark Materials. This building in the middle—’ He pointed to a unique building spiraling upward in the center of the plan, ’—is the Cross-border Innovation Center, where teams from the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, the 611 Institute, the University of Electronic Science and Technology, and Southwest Jiaotong University will move in to share laboratories and tackle key problems together.’

Wu Yi carefully examined the design details. The entire park was planned with dense unmanned delivery tunnels underground; the roofs were fully covered with solar panels, and the annual power generation could meet 30% of the park’s energy consumption; there was even a micro wind tunnel for vehicle aerodynamic testing—equipment that was previously only needed for aircraft design.

’To what extent does the government support this?’ Wu Yi asked the key question.

Zhou Weiguo took over: ’The Sichuan Provincial Committee has held three special meetings. First, these 5,000 mu of land are allocated as scientific research land, and the land price is one-third of industrial land. Second, five exemptions and five reductions for taxes—fully exempt for five years, and halved for the next five years. Third...’ He paused. ’The provincial government has set up a 2 billion Cross-border Innovation Fund specifically to support technical breakthroughs in this park. Whoever achieves the results gets the funding, regardless of whether they are an enterprise or a university.’

Zhou Qingyu added: ’More importantly, Chengdu Customs has given a special policy—products exported from this park have their customs clearance time compressed to 4 hours, which is one-tenth of the national average. Why? Because the starting station of the Chengdu-Europe Express is right next door. If our cars are sold to Europe, they can be loaded onto the train directly from the production line, arriving in Germany in 15 days, which is twice as fast as sea freight.’

He pulled up a market analysis report: ’Director Wu, the Southwest region is not just a consumer market, but a hub for the Belt and Road. Red Flag is already discussing KD (knock-down kit) cooperation with Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Serbia. If we use Spark Materials to reduce the total vehicle weight by 8%, rail transport costs can be reduced by another 15%—this means we can sell high-end cars manufactured by Red Flag to the hinterland of Eurasia at a lower cost.’

Wu Yi mused. He thought of the Golden Waterway he saw in Wuhan, the railway network radiating across the Central Plains he saw in Zhengzhou, and now he saw this railway artery penetrating deep into the heart of Europe. China’s transportation network is restructuring the global logistics landscape, and if Spark Materials can secure these key nodes...

’There is also a secret weapon.’ Zhou Weiguo suddenly lowered his voice. ’Do you know why we chose to have you come today?’

He looked at his watch: ’In half an hour, a group of special guests will arrive.’

Half an hour later, three minibuses drove into the park. The doors opened, and it wasn’t officials who stepped out, but more than twenty foreigners dressed in various styles—some with European faces, some with Middle Eastern faces, and some with Southeast Asian faces.

Zhou Qingyu stepped forward and introduced them in fluent English: ’Everyone, welcome to Chengdu. This is Mr. Wu Yi, Chief Scientist of Spark Materials.’

A Middle Eastern man with a beard stepped forward and shook hands firmly: ’Mr. Wu, I am Khalid from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority in the UAE. We watched your company’s press conference in Riyadh, and it was very shocking. We want to know—can your materials be used on supercars?’

Wu Yi was stunned. Zhou Qingyu smiled and explained: ’Prince Khalid is a member of the UAE royal family and also an investor in top global supercar brands. His secret visit this time is to discuss the possibility of using Spark Materials to develop the next generation of electric supercars.’

Another blonde European continued: ’I am Schmidt, head of the Porsche Future Technology Center. We have tested samples of your company’s materials, and the performance data is... incredible. If a breakthrough can be achieved in lightweighting and safety, range anxiety for electric vehicles will become a thing of the past.’

For the next hour, Wu Yi felt as if he were attending a mini-UN meeting: representatives from Volkswagen in Germany wanted to discuss mass production cooperation, representatives from Italian design firms explored the aesthetic possibilities of the materials, and investors from Singapore Temasek asked about the feasibility of technology licensing...

’These people...’ Wu Yi asked Zhou Qingyu in a low voice during a break.

’They are all potential partners for Red Flag, and also examiners I specifically invited. If a cooperation is reached, we will proceed secretly, bypassing US sanctions, and we can export parts or license technology.’ Zhou Qingyu smiled. ’I want them to see for themselves to what extent Spark Materials’ material science has reached. More importantly, I want them to understand—in the next ten years, the high ground of the automotive industry will not be in Stuttgart, nor in Detroit; it will be here, in Chengdu.’

He pointed to the foreign representatives who were discussing heatedly: ’Director Wu, if we can impress them today, there will be tens of billions of international orders tomorrow. And the prerequisite for all of this is—Spark Materials must be here to establish a world-class material production base.’

At dusk, after sending off the foreign guests, the three of them stood on the open ground in the center of the park. In the distance, the sunset of the Chengdu Plain was sinking into the rolling Western Mountains, and the afterglow dyed the whole land gold.

Zhou Weiguo lit a cigarette—it was the first time Wu Yi had seen him smoke.

’Director Wu, I have flown planes for thirty years, from the J-7 to the J-20.’ The veteran test pilot’s voice sounded weathered in the twilight. ’I know best that a country’s industrial strength is not measured by how many factories you have, but by how many cutting-edge technologies you can turn into products that ordinary people can use.’

He exhaled a puff of smoke: ’Aviation technology is too high-end; ordinary people can’t touch it. But cars are something everyone can feel. If we can use the materials from the J-20 on Red Flag cars, and let every Chinese family drive a car that is safer and smarter than a Mercedes-Benz or BMW, that is the true strong nation.’

Zhou Qingyu added: ’So, this is not a commercial investment; it is a mission of the era. Director Wu, Chengdu is ready, Red Flag is ready, and the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group is ready. Now, it depends on whether Spark Materials is ready to turn the miracles in the laboratory into the routine on the assembly line.’

Wu Yi looked at the land waiting to be developed in front of him, looked at the lights already lit in the Tianfu New Area in the distance, and looked at the almost pious light in the eyes of the two Directors Zhou.

He took out his notebook and wrote on the Chengdu page:

Not just a factory, but an elevation of industrial civilization.

Not just a park, but a network connecting China to the world.

Not just an investment, but a promise from one generation to the next.

After writing, he closed his notebook, reached out, and held the two hands tightly.

Three hands, in the evening breeze of Chengdu, formed a solid triangle.