Tech Giants: Starting from Bankrupt Companies

223: Chapter 223 Industrial Earthquake: Giants Bow Down2:17 AM, Cupertino, California, Steve Jobs Theater at Apple headquarters.

This was usually the rehearsal venue for new product launches, but at this moment, it was packed with Apple’s top management.

Disassembly reports, parameter comparison charts, and several HX2 phones that had been taken apart were scattered across the oval conference table.

The lights made everyone’s faces look deathly pale.

David Wang, the 53-year-old Vice President of Hardware Engineering, was of Chinese descent and had worked at Apple for twenty-two years.

He pointed at the electron microscope image on the projection screen, his fingers trembling.

”This is the die shot of the Flint 3 chip.”

David’s voice was hoarse. ”We have reverse-engineered the architecture.”

”Their CPU uses a tri-cluster heterogeneous design—one 3.2 GHz ultra-large core, four 2.4 GHz large cores, and four 1.8 GHz efficiency cores.”

”Our A12 design has two performance cores and four efficiency cores.”

He pulled up the performance comparison data:

CPU Multi-core Benchmark

Flint 3: 408,000 points

A12 Engineering Prototype: 321,000 points (estimated)

A11 (used in iPhone X): 253,000 points

GPU Performance

Flint 3 Xihe Gark Wild Life: 3800 points

A12 estimated: approx. 2500 points

A11: 1900 points

”The GPU performance is 150% of ours,” David said with difficulty. ”And they support a simplified version of hardware-level ray tracing.”

”This means that in gaming and AR applications, the experience will be a generation ahead.”

The conference room fell into a dead silence.

Sarah, the Vice President of Marketing, broke the silence: ”Consumers don’t understand these parameters.”

”They only know that the HX2 is faster than the iPhone, takes better photos, has longer battery life, and is 2,000 yuan cheaper.”

She pulled up the pre-order data from the Spark official website: ”Six hours after launch, HX2 pre-orders exceeded 5 million units.”

”Our iPhone X global sales on the first day of launch were... what was it again?”

”About 3 million units,” the supply chain director said in a low voice.

”So, their single-day pre-orders exceeded our first-day global sales,” Sarah smiled bitterly. ”And this is while their production capacity is limited and the market only covers a few countries.”

CEO Tim Cook had been silent, but now he finally spoke: ”David, what is the progress on our A12 mass production?”

”Mass production can start in October, but the performance...” David shook his head. ”It can’t catch up to the Flint 3. To catch up, we have to wait for the A13, which won’t be until next September.”

”One year,” Cook repeated. ”We are a year behind.”

He stood up and walked to the window. Outside was the night view of the Apple campus; those design-rich buildings were as quiet as usual in the night, but Cook knew that the storm had already arrived.

”Contact Spark,” he turned around. ”Ask them for their OLED screen procurement price, and ask about the battery procurement price. If the price is reasonable, we will purchase them.”

The whole room was stunned.

”Tim, we are going to use our competitor’s parts?”

”If their parts are better, why wouldn’t we use them?” Cook asked back. ”Remember, Apple’s core is integration capability and user experience, not that every single part must be self-developed.”

”We use Samsung’s screens, Qualcomm’s basebands, and Sony’s cameras, and didn’t we still make the best iPhone?”

He paused. ”But negotiations must be careful. We cannot be strangled; we need backup suppliers.”

”What about the chip?” David asked. ”The chip is our soul.”

”Launch ’Project Titan 2.0’,” Cook said. ”The original plan was to invest 5 billion USD in R&D for proprietary chips; now we’re doubling it to 10 billion. Within five years, I want to see Apple’s chips completely surpass Spark.”

The assistant took notes.

”One more thing,” Cook said finally. ”Contact TSMC. Ask about their 3nm process progress. If Spark is already researching 7nm, we must jump directly to 3nm.”

”But the R&D cost for 3nm...”

”Money is not the problem,” Cook interrupted. ”The problem is whether we can still maintain our high-end status.”

In the conference room, everyone felt a chill.

This was the first time in Apple’s forty-two-year history that it had been completely surpassed in a core technology field.

And it was by a Chinese mobile phone company that had only been established for 2 years. (Huaxing was established in 2016.)

At the same time, in Seoul, South Korea, the family conference room of Samsung Group.

Lee Jae-yong, Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics and the actual controller, stared at the Spark battery parameter preview on the big screen.

Tomorrow, May 2nd, the power battery special event.

”They are even going to crush us in batteries,” Lee Jae-yong’s voice was cold. ”Samsung SDI, the third largest in the global battery market share, is technologically behind CATL, and even further behind Spark.”

Samsung SDI President Choi Young-ho lowered his head: ”Chairman, our 21700 battery energy density is only 260Wh/kg, while Spark’s announced third generation might exceed 300. And their charging speed...”

”I know,” Lee Jae-yong interrupted. ”Now is not the time for review; it is the time for decision.”

He pulled up three plans:

Plan A: Price War

Cut prices by 20% to maintain market share.

But profits will plummet, potentially leading to losses.

Effective in the short term, but waiting for death in the long term.

Plan B: Shift entirely to the Spark supply chain.

Purchase Spark batteries to use in Samsung phones and electronic products.

Benefits: Product competitiveness immediately improves.

Risks: Lifeline handed over to a competitor.

Plan C: High-stakes Gamble

Launch ”Project Transcendence”.

Invest 50 billion USD over five years to conquer 7nm chips and solid-state batteries.

Goal: Surpass Spark in five years.

Choi Young-ho smiled bitterly: ”Chairman, Spark is already researching 7nm. By the time we catch up, they might already be working on 3nm. And 50 billion USD... the group’s annual net profit is only 30 billion.”

”Then borrow money, issue bonds, and use all resources,” Lee Jae-yong slapped the table. ”Samsung cannot lose. If we lose the battery, we lose our phones, our home appliances, and our future.”

He remembered his father Lee Kun-hee’s legacy: ”Samsung must be number one in the world; it cannot be second.”

But today, Samsung is already second, or even third, in many fields.

”Execute Plan B first,” Lee Jae-yong made his decision. ”Contact Spark and purchase batteries. At the same time, initiate Plan C, but keep it secret. In five years, we will use our own self-developed technology to take the market back.”

”But what about America...”

”America?” Lee Jae-yong sneered. ”Americans only care about their own interests. Spark’s technology is better, so we will use Spark’s. This is business, not politics.”

”In the face of survival, political correctness must take a backseat. I don’t believe that because of cooperating with Spark, America will sanction Samsung or Korea. The European Union has already set the example for us; we can just copy their homework. It’s not like we are the ones leading the cooperation.”