Tech Giants: Starting from Bankrupt Companies

219: Chapter 219 A Hundred Billion OrderAt exactly 12:00 PM, inside a temporary conference room at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center.

The place resembled an aerospace control center, with real-time data streams displayed on a large curved screen. Over twenty analysts, engineers, and financial personnel sat before their control consoles.

Zhang Yang stood at the central command platform, his eyes fixed on the most critical screen—the Global Order Monitoring System.

“Countdown: 10, 9, 8...” The technical director stared at the clock.

When the minute hand jumped to 12:00 sharp, Zhang Yang pressed the red button.

“Release.”

On the homepage of the Xinghuo Electronics official website, all product pages refreshed instantly, and a massive red announcement banner popped up at the top:

【Historic Moment: Xinghuo Electronics’ first-day global pre-order sales exceed 100 billion rmb】

Detailed data unfolded item by item:

Domestic Channels (Total 38 billion)

Huawei Global Channels (32 billion)

ZTE Overseas Channels (18 billion)

Official Website Direct Sales (12 billion)

Total: 100 billion

A line of small text below: “Thank you for the trust of global consumers. All orders will be shipped according to payment order. The first batch of HX2 is expected to be delivered on May 15th.”

Cheers erupted in the conference room.

The Chief Financial Officer, Shen Nanpeng, was so excited his hands were shaking: “100 billion... in one day, 100 billion! The Apple iPhone 8’s first-day global sales were... let me check, about 80 billion rmb. We’ve surpassed them!”

Zhang Yang took a deep breath and picked up his phone to call the Production Department Manager: “All production lines are to enter full-capacity status immediately. Three shifts, 24 hours non-stop. Tell the workers that bonuses for this month will be tripled.”

“Understood!”

“Also,” Zhang Yang added, “notify the supply chain to increase all raw material procurement by 200%. Money is not an issue; what I want is capacity, capacity, and more capacity!”

At 12:05 PM, the news began to ferment.

First was the A-share market.

There were still 55 minutes before the 1:00 PM opening, but major stock forums were already exploding.

A pinned post on the stock bar: Xinghuo Electronics’ first-day sales hit 100 billion! What does that mean?》

The original poster calculated in detail:

“Apple’s 2017 fiscal year is expected to have an annual revenue of about 2.5 trillion rmb, averaging about 6.8 billion per day. Xinghuo hit 100 billion in one day, which is equivalent to half a month of Apple’s revenue.”

“But this is just pre-orders! After actual delivery, Xinghuo Electronics’ single-quarter revenue could exceed 3000 billion, with an annualized revenue over a trillion. The current market value is only 2.8 trillion, with a P/E ratio of less than 30 times—it’s seriously undervalued!”

The replies were frantic:

“Going all-in at the opening!”

“Xinghuo Electronics is going to hit 200 yuan!”

“The spring for tech stocks has arrived!”

At 1:00 PM, the A-share market opened.

Xinghuo Electronics’ opening price gapped up directly to 145 yuan, an increase of 7.2%.

But that was only the beginning.

Buy orders surged in like a tide, while sell orders were few and far between—almost all shareholders were reluctant to sell.

1:05 PM: 148 yuan.

1:10 PM: 150 yuan.

1:15 PM: 152 yuan.

At 1:28 PM, two minutes before the close, the stock price hit 154 yuan, a 10% increase, hitting the daily limit.

Locked-in buy order amount: 18 billion.

This meant there was 18 billion in capital trying to buy but unable to.

Xinghuo Electronics’ market value: 3.08 trillion rmb, officially breaking the 3 trillion mark.

The ripple effect was staggering:

The entire technology sector rose by 5.2%, and the ChiNext Index rose by 4.8%, hitting a new high for the year.

ZTE Corporation’s A-shares rose by 9.8%.

But not all companies benefited.

Sunny Optical, the lens module giant listed on the Hong Kong stock market, saw its stock price plunge by 4%. An analytical report pointed out: “Xinghuo’s self-developed camera technology leads the world and may compete with Sunny Optical in the future; Sunny will lose an important customer.”

Apple supply chain companies like O-film and Q Tech also generally fell by 2-3%.

The capital market voted with its feet: follow Xinghuo for the meat, follow Apple for the soup.

The Hong Kong stock market continued trading in the afternoon.

ZTE Corporation soared by 18%, its market value returning above 200 billion HKD. Investors suddenly realized: although ZTE was sanctioned by America, it had hitched a ride with Xinghuo and instead turned a misfortune into a blessing.

Huawei concept stocks rose by 12%; the market was optimistic about their channel cooperation with Xinghuo, especially since Huawei owns 50% of Huaxing Mobile Phone shares.

But the most dramatic part happened after 4:00 PM—when US stock pre-market trading began.

At 4:05 PM Beijing time, Apple (AAPL) pre-market quote:

Opening price: $185 (Yesterday’s close was $195.2)

It instantly dove to $184.1, a 5.7% drop.

Market value evaporated: approximately $62 billion (about 400 billion rmb).

The financial channel broke in with urgent news:

“Apple’s stock price plunged pre-market, possibly due to market concerns caused by the Xinghuo HX2 phone. Analysts have generally lowered Apple’s future quarterly revenue expectations.”

Following that, Samsung Electronics (US ADR) fell 4.8%, and GoPro plummeted 21%.

On Twitter, GoPro investors wailed:

“GoPro is finished! Xinghuo’s Lingmou 4 only costs 3,999 yuan, its specs crush GoPro, and it even has AI editing! How can GoPro compete?”

“Liquidating GoPro, buying Xinghuo concept stocks!”

Interestingly, Tesla (TSLA) rose 3% against the trend.

Analysts interpreted this as: “Tomorrow Xinghuo will release power battery technology, and the market expects Tesla might cooperate with Xinghuo. If Xinghuo’s solid-state batteries go into mass production, Tesla’s range weakness will be bolstered.”

Musk himself posted on Twitter:

“Congratulations to Xinghuo on today’s successful launch event. Looking forward to tomorrow’s battery technology showcase. Innovation is always worth applauding. #TheFutureBelongsToThoseWhoDareToDream”

This tweet received over a million likes.

Many interpreted this as Musk showing goodwill to Xinghuo and seeking cooperation.

Cupertino, California, USA, Apple Headquarters.

In Conference Room One, the atmosphere was as heavy as a funeral.

The large screen on the wall displayed the detailed specs of the HX2, as well as the news of Xinghuo’s 100 billion sales.

Marketing VP Sarah Johnson, 45 years old, had worked at Apple for fifteen years, experiencing the glory of the iPhone and the Waterloo of the iPad. But today, she felt an unprecedented sense of powerlessness.

“Our autumn launch event...” she smiled bitterly, “we originally planned to release the iPhone XS and XR. But now, the HX2’s specs have completely surpassed the expectations for the XS. What can we even release? Higher prices? Fancier slogans?”

Hardware Engineering VP David shook his head: “The problem isn’t marketing, it’s technology. The benchmark scores for the Flint 3 chip are 20% higher than our A12 engineering samples. Their 14nm process actually achieved a 95% yield—this defies the laws of physics.”

“But they did it.” CEO Tim Cook finally spoke, his voice calm but heavy, “Xinghuo took three years to finish the path we took ten years to walk. This isn’t an accident; it’s a systemic technological breakthrough.”

He turned to Chief Designer Jony Ive: “Our foldable screen project, what’s the progress?”

Jony hesitated: “The prototype is still in testing. The hinge life is only 50,000 cycles, far from commercial use...”

“Accelerate it.” Cook interrupted, “Next spring, I must see a mass-producible foldable iPhone. No budget limits, no staffing limits.”

He then looked at the supply chain head: “Contact Samsung and ask about their foldable screen progress. Also, contact Xinghuo... ask if their OLED screens are for sale.”

The entire room was stunned.

“Tim, we’re going to procure screens from a competitor?”

“If their screens are better, why not use them?” Cook asked back, “The core of Apple is the experience, not self-developed parts. If Xinghuo’s screens can make the iPhone better, we’ll use them.”

He paused: “But be careful during negotiations. We can’t let them have us by the throat.”

Huaxing Mobile Phone’s screens and camera modules were so much better than Apple’s current technology that Apple was forced to consider procuring components from Xinghuo. This was Xinghuo’s victory under American sanctions.