Tech Giants: Starting from Bankrupt Companies

273: Chapter 273 Breaking the Blockade, Ascending the Throne of IndustrySu Chen leaned back in his chair.

This was the first time in seven days that he had sat down for more than fifteen minutes.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the lights of Shenzhen stretched to the horizon. The office buildings in the Futian CBD were still lit up, the overtime workers in the Nanshan Science and Technology Park hadn’t finished work yet, and flights at Baoan Airport were still taking off and landing.

Tonight, countless people in this city were discussing the ”263 billion.”

Lin Wan pushed the door open and walked in, carrying two cups of warm water.

”The global media has gone crazy.” She placed her tablet on the table. ”CNN says this is the ’Versailles moment of industrial civilization.’ BBC’s headline is ’The Oriental Giant’s Technology Parade.’ Germany’s Der Spiegel—”

She paused and pulled up the page.

”When Made in Germany Is No Longer Number One”

Su Chen took the cup, not bothering to look at the comments.

”What about the Department of Commerce?”

”The US Department of Commerce is holding an emergency meeting tonight.” Lin Wan pulled up the intelligence. ”The European Union Competition Commissioner has issued a statement, demanding an investigation into ’whether this constitutes a market distortion.’”

”What about Japan and South Korea?”

”Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is holding a ’Semiconductor and Industrial Equipment Industry Strategy Review Meeting’ tomorrow. Samsung has announced an emergency freeze on all new production line investment plans, with a three-month evaluation period.”

Su Chen smiled.

”They learn fast.”

He put down the cup.

”Ten years ago, when we made home appliances, they called it dumping. Ten years later, when we make the highest-end products—engines, lithography machines, humanoid robots, 16MW wind turbines—they call it market distortion.”

He stood up and walked to the window.

”Let them investigate.”

”Once they finish, they will realize—they rely on Xingchen’s technology more than we rely on their market.”

Lin Wan didn’t respond.

She stood half a step behind Su Chen, watching his reflection in the floor-to-ceiling window.

Outside the window, the lights of Shenzhen Bay stretched to the horizon.

Further away, in Washington, Berlin, Tokyo, and Seoul across the Pacific Ocean, countless conference rooms were brightly lit.

The seven days of Xingchen had ended.

But the real war had just begun.

His phone began to vibrate.

It wasn’t a call; it was countless news notifications flooding the server simultaneously. Lin Wan’s three screens lit up with information alerts at the same time—it wasn’t a technical glitch, it was an information tsunami.

She looked down, scrolling quickly, and then stopped.

”Mr. Su... you might need to see this.”

Munich, Germany, Siemens Headquarters

Klaus Richter did not go home.

This President of Siemens Digital Industries had been sitting in the business intelligence room for six hours. Surrounded by twelve screens, each one scrolling through the technical parameters of the Xingchen press conference, the signing scene, and every word Su Chen had spoken.

”Has the inference speed of Zhulong been confirmed?” His voice was hoarse.

The Technical Director shook his head: ”We called upon all available computing power and ran the reproduction test three times. Their 18-second drug design... it’s not a demo animation; it’s real. Our AI department needs 23 minutes for the same task.”

”That’s a 76-fold difference.”

No one in the room replied.

”Issue an announcement,” Richter finally said. ”Cut the prices of the entire Siemens Industrial AI platform by 30%, effective immediately.”

”But our gross profit...”

”Let’s survive next year first.” Richter closed his eyes. ”Notify the board of directors; I am drafting a technology cooperation proposal with Xingchen. If they are willing to open Zhulong’s API, we can concede 20% of the Chinese PLC market.”

This was the first time since Siemens was founded in 1847 that it had actively offered to concede a core market to a non-Western company. The once arrogant Siemens had to bow its head in the face of technology.

Nagoya, Japan, Fanuc Headquarters

Tanaka Koji had just flown back from Shenzhen and was dragged into the conference room without even changing his suit.

The conference room was full of white-haired technical veterans—Fanuc’s CNC systems had dominated the global machine tool industry for forty years and had never encountered such a challenge.

The large screen was frozen on a screenshot of the operating interface of Xingchen’s ”Xingchu OS.”

”They say... it supports four language interfaces: Chinese, English, German, and Japanese.” President Yamada Masato pointed to the screen. ”Japanese is the fourth priority.”

”What about the technical parameters?”

”Positioning accuracy of 0.001 mm, repeated positioning of 0.0008 mm.” Tanaka Koji’s voice was bitter. ”Our best α-iB series can reach 0.0015 mm in a laboratory environment, but mass production can only guarantee 0.002 mm.”

”What about the price?”

”Heavenly Work Extreme sells for $640,000. Our machine tool of the same specifications has an export price of $820,000.”

The conference room fell into a long silence.

Finally, the eighty-year-old Chief Consultant Suzuki Shigemitsu spoke: ”In the 52nd year of Showa, we surpassed Germany to become the world’s number one machine tool power.”

He paused.

”In the first year of Reiwa, we have been surpassed.”

No one refuted this.

At 1:00 AM, the Fanuc board of directors passed a resolution: to open the technology license for five-axis CNC systems to a Chinese company for the first time, in exchange for Xingchen ”not suppressing the export price of the Heavenly Work Extreme series to Japan below $600,000.”

The era of technical blockades ended with a letter of surrender. The era of technical dividends was over; the future market would be a red ocean, a close-quarters knife fight, competing on technology, price, and after-sales service.

Hsinchu, Taipei, TSMC

Zhang Zhongmou had not appeared in the office at midnight for fifteen years.

Tonight, he came.

There were three reports on the table:

Third-party teardown analysis of the Spark 16nm FD-SOI chip—transistor density 31.2 MTr/mm², power consumption 35% lower than TSMC’s 16nm

Spark 7nm roadmap—mass production in Q1 2019

2020 chip procurement forecasts for Huawei, Xiaomi, and OV—Xingchen’s market share will jump from 0% to 47%

”We have no accumulation in FD-SOI.” The Technical Vice President said in a low voice, ”If we start catching up now, it will take three years and an investment of at least $8 billion. By then, Spark will have already entered the 5nm node.”

”Three years from now, all we will catch up to is their shadow.”

Zhang Zhongmou didn’t respond.

He slowly took off his glasses and wiped them with a velvet cloth.

This was the longest thirty seconds since he retired from Intel and founded TSMC thirty-one years ago.

”Notify the Ministry of Economic Affairs,” he finally said. ”We need policy support—R&D tax credits, talent introduction, land concessions. Also, send a delegation to Shenzhen.”

”What to discuss?”

”Discuss cooperation.” Zhang Zhongmou put on his glasses. ”If we can’t lead, at least don’t fall behind.”

Washington, White House Intelligence Analysis Room

The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs placed an 87-page assessment report on the table.

Cover title:

”The Seven Days of Xingchen: A Structural Challenge to American Technological Hegemony”

”Gentlemen, the summary is as follows.” The Chief of Staff didn’t engage in small talk. ”Seven days of orders worth $263 billion—exceeding the total of all our arms sales to allies in 2017.”

”This is not a commercial event; it is a strategic turning point.”

The core conclusions of the report were projected onto the large screen:

Power sector: The WS-500 turbofan, with a price 30% lower than GE’s and a performance advantage of over 20%, directly threatens US regional aviation industry exports. If Xingchen’s next-generation high-bypass turbofan enters mass production in 2025, Boeing and Embraer’s market share in China will drop to zero.

Intelligent sector: The Chixiao humanoid robot has broken Boston Dynamics’ technological monopoly and achieved commercial use at 1/10th the cost. For the ”Squad Support Robot” project currently being evaluated by the US military, a Chinese option has suddenly appeared as the only supplier.

Energy sector: The 16MW wind turbine will shift global offshore wind power pricing power from Europe to China. In the next decade, clean energy tenders in countries along the ”Belt and Road” will no longer reference quotes from Siemens or Vestas.

The most dangerous part is: all of Xingchen’s core technologies—engine blades, lithography machine light sources, robot joints, wind turbine main bearings—have a localization rate of over 95%.

”This means we have no effective sanctions nodes.” The Secretary of Defense said in a low voice, ”They don’t need our software, equipment, or materials. What they need is... our market.”

Silence.

Three years ago, the US Department of Commerce placed Huawei on the Entity List, and Huawei’s mobile phone business almost went into shock.

Three years later, Xingchen stood on the stage, with orders lined up from 342 companies across 58 countries behind it.

”Notify the European Union, Japan, and South Korea,” the President finally said. ”Next Monday, convene an emergency meeting of the G7 Trade Ministers in Paris.”

”Agenda?”

”One,” he paused. ”How to deal with China’s shift from ’overcapacity’ to ’technological generation gap’.”