Tech Giants: Starting from Bankrupt Companies

344: Chapter 344 Graphics Card Nuclear Bomb: The Flint TrioNovember in Shenzhen, autumn is growing deeper.

In front of the Xinghe Ritz-Carlton Hotel, traffic is like a weave.

Security guards hold hands, struggling to maintain order.

Gamers who rushed from all over the country formed a line over a hundred meters long; some held homemade light signs, some wore cosplay costumes, and a few young people even spread picnic mats on the ground, preparing to queue overnight.

The launch hall was transformed into an e-sports stage.

Blue-purple laser beams intertwined in the darkness, and code jumped on the huge circular screen—those characters scrolled rapidly, like some mysterious ritual.

Heavy electronic music poured out from the subwoofers, shaking people’s chests until they were numb.

Downstairs, all three thousand seats were filled.

There were still hundreds of people standing in the aisles, with some even climbing onto the photography racks in the back rows.

There were programmers wearing plaid shirts, UP hosts holding cameras, gray-haired hardware enthusiasts, and executives from Asus, MSI, and Gigabyte.

Everyone’s gaze was focused on the place where the spotlight fell on the stage.

The lights dimmed.

The music stopped.

In the silence, Li Wanqing walked out.

The 38-year-old president of Xinghuo Chip was wearing a simple black suit, without flashy decorations or heavy makeup.

She stood in the center of the stage, the spotlight pouring down from above, casting a long shadow behind her.

”Everyone, today Xinghuo is releasing three chips.”

She paused, the corners of her mouth slightly raised:

”They share a common name—Butcher.”

In the audience, someone whistled.

The big screen lit up.

Flint-G1 Graphics chip

Architecture: Xingchen’s self-developed ”Nuwa” architecture

Stream Processors: 3840

Core Frequency: 1.8 GHz

Video Memory: 12GB GDDR6

Performance Benchmark: Nvidia RTX 2080

Power Consumption: 180W (RTX 2080 is 240W)

Lower Power Consumption: 25%

Price: 2999 rmb (RTX 2080 launch price 4999 rmb)

The moment the data popped up, the audience exploded.

A young man in a black T-shirt jumped up from his seat, waving his hands and shouting:

”Holy crap! 2999 for RTX 2080 performance? I’m going to sell my kidney right now!”

The person next to him grabbed him: ”Bro, calm down, there are still two more to release!”

But no one could calm down.

The executives from Asus, MSI, and Gigabyte had complex expressions.

They recorded something quickly on their tablets, their eyes filled with both shock and anxiety.

Li Wanqing waited for a few seconds, letting the cheering subside slightly, then continued:

”Don’t be impatient, there’s more.”

flint-t1 AI Training chip

Architecture: Xingchen ”Pangu” Tensor Core

Single Card Computing Power: 1000 TFLOPS (Nvidia V100 is 125 TFLOPS)

Memory: 32GB HBM2

Interconnect: Xingchen self-developed ”Xinglian” high-speed interface, 8-card cluster seamless expansion

Applicable Scenarios: Large model training, scientific computing, AI inference

Price: 19999 rmb (Nvidia V100 price is about 60000 rmb)

This time, the cheering turned into gasps of shock.

The representatives from data center operators had eyes shining like light bulbs.

Someone was already making a call: ”Boss, add three times the budget, we must get Xingchen’s T1!”

Flint-M1 3D Stacked Memory

Technology: 3D stacking (TSV through-silicon via)

Capacity: 128GB

Bandwidth: 1TB/s

Latency: 85ns

Applicable: Servers, supercomputers, AI training

Li Wanqing closed the folder and looked at the audience:

”These three chips are open for pre-order starting today.”

”The first batch of Flint-G1 will supply 1 million units, flint-t1 will supply 100,000 units, and Flint-M1 will supply 50,000 units.”

She paused, revealing a meaningful smile:

”Everyone, act fast.”

Asus Headquarters.

CEO Jerry Shen stood in the conference room, and on the big screen in front of him was the parameter comparison of the Flint-G1.

The 60-year-old Jerry Shen had worked at Asus for 35 years, rising from an engineer to CEO, experiencing countless technical iterations.

But at this moment, his palms were sweating.

”If Xingchen’s graphics card is 2999 rmb, and the performance is better than the RTX 2080 we sell, can Asus’s graphics cards still sell?”

In the conference room, a dozen people looked at each other.

Someone whispered: ”We could use Xingchen’s chips...”

Jerry Shen looked at that person, his gaze burning like a torch:

”You mean, betray Nvidia?”

That person gave a bitter smile:

”CEO, Nvidia can’t save Asus. Xingchen can. Asus needs to survive.”

Jerry Shen was silent for three seconds.

Then he picked up the phone:

”Book a flight, fly to Shenzhen.”

The same scene.

MSI CEO Charles Chiang sat in the office with the same data in front of him.

The 55-year-old Charles Chiang was technically oriented and more sensitive to performance parameters than anyone else.

He finished reading the last page and looked up: ”Send an email to Xingchen, saying MSI is willing to sign an exclusive cooperation agreement.”

The assistant was stunned: ”Exclusive? What about Nvidia...”

Charles Chiang interrupted him: ”Nvidia’s stock price has already fallen by 15%. Their era is over.”

Gigabyte CEO Yeh Pei-cheng was more direct.

He had already sent people waiting in Shenzhen.

On the other end of the phone, the secretary reported: ”Mr. Yeh, our people are at the Ritz-Carlton, and Xingchen’s signing hall opens tonight.”

Yeh Pei-cheng nodded: ”Tell him, no matter the conditions, sign it first. We don’t have time to haggle.”

Representatives from Asus, MSI, and Gigabyte arrived at the same time.

Li Wanqing received them personally.

Jerry Shen spoke first, his voice a bit hoarse—caused by the long flight and tension: ”Ms. Li, Asus is willing to launch the ’Xingchen Series’ graphics cards. The first batch order—Flint-G1 chips, 500,000 units.”

The MSI representative followed up: ”MSI, 400,000 units.”

The Gigabyte representative: ”Gigabyte, 300,000 units.”

Li Wanqing smiled.

There was no smugness in that smile, only a calm sense of control: ”Everyone, no rush. Production capacity can be negotiated. The key is—are you willing to promote the ’Xingchen Series’ as your main product?”

The three looked at each other.

Jerry Shen took a deep breath and said: ”Ms. Li, gamers only care about performance and price. With Xingchen’s chip at 2999 rmb beating the 2080, gamers will make their own choices. What Asus needs to do is follow the gamers’ choices.”

Li Wanqing nodded: ”Then let’s sign.”

10:00 PM, NGA Forum Graphics Card Section.

A post was pushed to the homepage within ten minutes: ”Xingchen Graphics Card 2999 rmb! Performance equals 2080! No need to grab mining cards in the future!”

The comments flooded in: ”Holy crap, my 2080 was a mining card I bought for 5000, now I want to cry.”

”Nvidia’s stock is going to drop tonight, it’s already -15%.”

”I’ve already placed my order, waiting for shipment.”

”Brothers, can Xingchen’s cards mine?”

”Mine my ass, I want to play games!”

”Asus, MSI, and Gigabyte have all signed, will graphics cards be renamed ’Xingchen Brand’ in the future?”

”Call it whatever, as long as it’s cheap.”

The next morning at 10:00, Shenzhen Bay No. 1.

Downstairs at Xingchen Headquarters, a black Mercedes-Benz pulled up slowly.

The car door opened, and a man in a black leather jacket stepped out.

Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia.

The 55-year-old stood in front of the building, looking up at the silver-gray structure.

The sunlight reflected off the glass curtain wall, making him squint.

This was his first time coming to Shenzhen.

Last time, he came to attend a press conference and accept reporter interviews.

This time, he came to beg for help.

10:30 AM, private conference room.

This conference room was on the 30th floor, and one could see the entire Shenzhen Bay from the window.

The seawater shimmered in the sunlight, and the Hong Kong skyline was faintly visible in the distance.

Su Chen sat in the main seat, wearing a simple white shirt.

Jensen Huang sat opposite, his black leather jacket still on.

No pleasantries, no polite conversation.

Jensen Huang got straight to the point: ”Mr. Su, Nvidia hopes to jointly develop the next-generation GPU with Xingchen.”

Su Chen did not speak.

Jensen Huang continued: ”We can open up some patents and share market channels. The condition is—Xingchen’s graphics chips will only be used in the Chinese market and not exported.”

Su Chen smiled.

That smile was very faint, but meaningful: ”Mr. Huang, are you saying, let Xingchen give up the global market in exchange for Nvidia’s ’cooperation’?”

Jensen Huang was silent.

Su Chen looked at him and asked: ”Mr. Huang, is Nvidia willing to open up the CUDA ecosystem?”

Jensen Huang’s expression changed instantly.

CUDA.

That was Nvidia’s lifeline.

Twenty years of accumulation, millions of developers, hundreds of billions of dollars in market value, all built on CUDA.

If CUDA were opened, Nvidia would no longer be Nvidia.

Jensen Huang said: ”CUDA cannot be opened. But we can authorize Xingchen to use it.”

Su Chen shook his head: ”Mr. Huang, Xingchen does not need authorization. Xingchen has its own ’Pangu’ ecosystem. Although there are few developers now, it will grow slowly.”

He stood up and walked to the window.

”Mr. Huang, Nvidia is a great company. But the times have changed. Twenty years ago, you used CUDA to defeat everyone. Today, Xingchen uses cost-effectiveness to defeat you.”

Jensen Huang looked at his back and was silent.

After a long while, he stood up and walked towards the door.

The door closed behind him.

2:00 PM, Nasdaq opened.

Nvidia stock price: -15%.

AMD stock price: -18%.

Intel stock price: -10%.

Bloomberg News headline: ”The Xingchen Three Musketeers: Silicon Valley’s Nightmare.”

In Li Wanqing’s office, the assistant handed over a report: ”Ms. Li, the orders from Asus, MSI, and Gigabyte have been entered. The first batch of Flint-G1 is 1.2 million units, the first batch of flint-t1 is 80,000 units, and the first batch of Flint-M1 is 40,000 units. The total amount is about 30 billion rmb.”

Li Wanqing nodded: ”Can production capacity keep up?”

”We are expanding production. The Huizhou factory has added two production lines, and production capacity will double next month.”

Li Wanqing looked out the window, the Shenzhen skyline shimmering with golden light in the sunset.

In the distance, an airplane was landing, trailing a long contrail.

She didn’t know if the person sitting on it was the next one coming to beg for cooperation, or a client coming to sign a contract.