Tech Giants: Starting from Bankrupt Companies

209: Chapter 209 The ”Billion-Dollar Manifesto” of Life SciencesApril 20th, 10:00 AM, Zhangjiang, Shanghai.

This is China’s ”Pharma Valley,” home to one-third of the country’s biopharmaceutical companies. Today, the area in front of two brand-new R&D buildings is crowded with media and guests.

The building on the left: Xingchen Biomedical.

The building on the right: Xingchen Medical Devices.

Between the two buildings are shared gardens and laboratories, symbolizing their synergy.

Su Chen stood on a temporary podium, behind him ten gray-haired scientists—all of them Academician-level figures.

”Everyone, today the Xingchen system welcomes two new members,” Su Chen began. ”Xingchen Biomedical and Xingchen Medical Devices. The initial investment for each is 20 billion, totaling 40 billion.”

Gasps rippled through the audience.

40 billion was a massive investment even in the biopharmaceutical field.

”Many people ask me: Su Chen has already done chips, battery communications, automobiles, materials, military industry, and aerospace; why do biopharmaceuticals as well?” Su Chen said. ”My answer is: the ultimate meaning of technology is to improve the human condition.”

He turned toward the large screen:

[Three Major Directions for Xingchen Biomedical]

Innovative Anticancer Drugs

First Target: EGFR Triple Mutation Resistance in Lung Cancer

Technical Path: AI Drug Design Platform + High-throughput Screening

Goal: Enter clinical trials within 3 years, market within 5 years

CXO (Outsourced R&D and Manufacturing)

Building Asia’s largest biopharmaceutical CDMO base

Capacity: Annual production of 1 million doses of antibody drugs

Serving global pharmaceutical companies, but prioritizing domestic demand

Vaccines

mRNA Technology Platform

Developing the next generation of broad-spectrum coronavirus vaccines

Partner Institutions: China CDC, Academy of Military Medical Sciences

[Three Major Directions for Xingchen Medical Devices]

High-end Medical Imaging

7T Ultra-high Field Magnetic Resonance (current mainstream is 3T)

Photon-counting CT (80% lower radiation than traditional CT)

Goal: Break the GPS (GE, Philips, Siemens) monopoly

Surgical Robots

Precision Neurosurgery Robots

Accuracy: 0.1 mm (human hand is about 1 mm)

Applications: Deep Brain Stimulation, Precision Tumor Resection

Molecular Diagnostics

Portable Gene Sequencer

Detection Time: Results in 30 minutes

Price Goal: Reduce to the thousand-yuan level

Su Chen concluded: ”I know these fields have extremely high barriers to entry, long investment cycles, and high risks of failure. But some things simply must be done. If Chinese patients have to use drugs three years later and five times more expensive than in America, or if our hospitals have to use equipment twice as expensive as abroad, then we will be the ones to step up.”

He looked at the scientists beside him: ”Fortunately, we are not alone. Today, ten top scientists join Xingchen. They have given up generous treatment abroad to return. Why?”

Chief Scientist Shen Qingyuan took the microphone.

This 55-year-old dual Academician from China and America spoke with a steady voice:

”I spent thirty years in America doing new drug R&D, participating in over a dozen projects. For the drugs that finally made it to market, Chinese patients, on average, used them three years later than those in America and at prices three to five times higher. Why? Because of patents, because of approvals, because of market strategies.”

He paused: ”Three months ago, President Su came to me and said, ’Academician Shen, I’ll give you the resources to let Chinese patients use the best drugs at the first opportunity.’ I asked him: this might lose money, it might fail. He said: I’ll bear the losses, and if it fails, we start over.”

Shen Qingyuan’s eyes reddened slightly: ”I couldn’t refuse. Because I am also Chinese; my parents, siblings, and friends could all fall ill. I don’t want them to be unable to access the best medicine.”

Thunderous applause broke out.

Many guests wiped away tears.

This was the sentiment of scientists and the responsibility of an entrepreneur.

At 2:00 PM, on CCTV Finance Channel’s ’Dialogue’ program.

Today’s topic: Is Xingchen’s massive foray into biopharmaceuticals a strategic layout or blind expansion?

Four guests:

Wang Feng (Conservative Analyst): ”Su Chen has spread himself too thin! chips, aerospace, and now biopharmaceuticals—each one is a gold-swallowing beast. The management span will go out of control, and the capital chain might break!”

Li Na (Optimistic Fund Manager): ”But look at the logic of his layout: every track targets the pain point of ’import substitution.’ In medical devices, GPS monopolizes 80% of the high-end market; in innovative drugs, the top ten pharmaceutical companies are all foreign. This is a trillion-level market for domestic localization.”

Zhang Wei (Data-driven Researcher) pulled up a chart:

China’s medical device market size: 600 billion, with a 20% annual increase.

Domestic localization rate of high-end equipment: less than 10%.

”If Xingchen Medical can take a 10% share, that’s 60 billion in revenue. Given their investment is 40 billion, the return is considerable.”

Chen Ming (Think Tank Chief, who had been silent) finally spoke slowly:

”You are discussing commercial returns, but Su Chen is building a closed-loop ecosystem.”

He walked to the whiteboard and drew four circles:

Information Layer: chips, communications, AI (Computing Power Foundation)

Energy Layer: batteries, materials (Power Foundation)

Space Layer: rockets, satellites (Expanding Boundaries)

Life Layer: biopharmaceuticals, medical devices (Serving the Root)

”chips provide computing power, AI drives drug research, materials support medical equipment, and rockets might even be used for space-based pharmaceuticals or biological experiments in the future,” Chen Ming said. ”This isn’t diversification; this is the skeleton of a technological empire—covering all dimensions of human existence and development.”

The host asked: ”What about the risks? Doing so many fields simultaneously makes talent, capital, and management all major challenges.”

Chen Ming nodded: ”The risks are huge. But Su Chen’s advantages are: first, he has execution power—Xinghuo’s speed has already proven that. Second, he has capital—Xinghuo Electronics raised 400 billion upon listing, and the parent company has over 100 billion in cash on hand. Third, he has strategic alignment with the country—he is doing exactly what the nation needs.”

He concluded: ”If successful, Xingchen will no longer be just a company; it will be the platform carrying the nation’s technological strength.”

After the program aired, the phrase ”Skeleton of a Technological Empire” became a trending search.

Many people began to understand: Su Chen wasn’t investing blindly; he was playing a grand game of chess.

That evening, in the conference room of a global pharmaceutical giant.

Basel, Switzerland, at a pharmaceutical company’s headquarters.

CEO Emergency Meeting: ”It’s confirmed, Shen Qingyuan took all the data for the lung cancer project. We invested 800 million USD into that target, and it’s already in Phase II clinical trials!”

”Can we sue?”

”The data was legally obtained before he resigned, so suing will be difficult. Besides... Xingchen is in China, and judicial jurisdiction is complicated.”

Munich, Germany, at an imaging giant.

The stock price dropped 3.5%.

During an investor call, the CEO was questioned: ”Xingchen Medical announced the development of 7T MRI. Our 3T has only been on the market for two years, and 7T is still in the lab stage. How did they do it?”

”Possibly... a technological breakthrough.”

”Then what about our stock price?”

Silicon Valley, America, at a surgical robot company.

An internal email was leaked:

”The Chinese market accounts for 30% of our revenue and is growing the fastest. If Xingchen Medical’s neurosurgery robot succeeds, we will lose this market. Even more terrifying is that their precision is rated at 0.1mm while ours is 0.5mm—if true, it’s a generational gap.”

The company’s stock price fell 8% after hours.

Panic was spreading.

But what terrified them most was the recruitment page on Xingchen Bio’s official website.

Job Listings:

Protein Folding Prediction AI Algorithm Expert (Requirement: Familiar with AlphaFold2, experience with improvements)

Gene Editing Delivery System Engineer (Requirement: Familiar with CRISPR-Cas9, experience with in-vivo delivery)

Single-cell Sequencing Data Analyst (Requirement: Experience processing million-level single-cell data)

Synthetic Biology Platform Architect (Requirement: Designed fully automated cell factories)

There are fewer than a hundred top-tier talents globally in these directions.

And the compensation Xingchen offered: starting annual salary of one million USD, project bonuses with no upper limit, and stock options.

Overnight, R&D departments of major pharmaceutical companies received resignation letters.

The night of April 20th, Shenzhen.

Su Chen stood by the floor-to-ceiling window of his office, holding a glass of water.

Outside were the city lights; behind every light was a family, a life.

He thought of what Shen Qingyuan said during the day: ”Let Chinese patients use the best drugs at the first opportunity.”

He also thought of the tasks the system released today:

[Civilization Level Assessment Update: Life Technology branch unlocked.]

[Long-term Task: Increase average human lifespan to 120 years by 2040 (currently 77).]

[Main Task 1: Land on Mars by 2030]

[Main Task 2: Build a lunar base by 2025]

[Main Task 3: Build an independent space station and complete a space outpost by 2020]

[Main Task 4: Complete 10 commercial rocket launches in 2018, with over 500 satellites in orbit.]

This system was becoming more and more like a civilization’s navigator.

It didn’t just want him to build chips and rockets; it also wanted him to extend human life and expand living space.

”chips are to make machines smarter, medicine is to make people live longer,” Su Chen whispered to himself. ”Rockets are to make people go further. This is what a complete ’progress’ looks like.”

His phone vibrated.

It was a message from Shen Qingyuan: ”President Su, the first batch of AI drug screening has started. Within three months, we will have the first batch of candidate molecules.”

Su Chen replied: ”Good. If money isn’t enough, just say so; if people aren’t enough, hire more. There is no budget cap for this.”

Putting down his phone, he looked at the world map on the wall.

Morning Star’s layout was already marked on the map:

Shenzhen: chip, AI, communications, electronics

Shanghai: Biopharmaceuticals

Command Center: Aerospace

Guancheng: Precision machine tools, electrical, materials

Huizhou: chip manufacturing

Wuhan: Automobiles, materials base

Chengdu: Automobile manufacturing, materials production

Xian: Automobiles, materials, military base

Changchun: Automobiles, military

Hangzhou: Artificial intelligence, robotics

Munich, Paris: European R&D centers

Points connected into lines, lines wove into a web.

This web covered information, energy, space, and life.

And at the center of the web was him.

Su Chen suddenly remembered three years ago, when he had just taken over Xinghuo, the night he stayed up in the office dealing with the xinghuo no. 1 drone having its chips cut off.

Back then, all he thought about was creating Xinghuo’s own chips so they wouldn’t be held by the throat.

Now, he thought about pushing human civilization forward by a small step.

His ambition had grown, and his responsibility had become heavier.

But the road must still be traveled.

Outside, in the night sky of Shenzhen, a few rare stars could be seen.

Those stars might become stations for humanity in the future.

And what he had to do was build the stations and pave the way there.

It was difficult.

But it was worth it.