Chapter 415: Capital Revelry
On the other end of the telephone, that secretary was still talking endlessly about the next process.
However, Zhang Jianzhong couldn’t take in a single word; he even didn’t remember that secretary’s name.
The whole person was in a dazed state. At this moment, echoing in his mind was not the revelry of success, but those life-and-death difficult moments from the early days of entrepreneurship, as well as that bold statement of “relying on hard strength.”
As an outsider, one might think that Moore Threads was born holding a large amount of investment, and it couldn’t be considered difficult at all.
But only Zhang Jianzhong himself knew that entrepreneurship itself was a gamble, and there were countless examples of executives from large companies starting their own ventures and ultimately giving up halfway.
Even a rich second-generation like President Wang had not succeeded in entrepreneurship, and the reason he was able to persist, looking back now, was more due to luck.
And this time he won; he thought, it was probably due to his pure faith in technology. Making such a decision wasn’t because he was really a fanatic believer in technology, but because Zhang Jianzhong felt that Lin Ran was such a person. Only in this way could he move the other party; this was a psychological guess.
After receiving the call, he felt that he had bet correctly! This was the victory of his persistent pure faith in technology.
The next morning, when Zhang Jianzhong sat in Apollo Technology’s office, facing Li Xiaoman, what he thought was ruthlessly shattered.
After simple pleasantries, Li Xiaoman said softly:
“Mr. Zhang, do you know why we ultimately chose Moore Threads as our partner?”
Zhang Jianzhong answered cautiously: “Because our proposal is the best?”
Li Xiaoman shook her head: “No, among your four companies, we had already decided on Moore Threads long ago. As long as your proposal passed the passing line, we would choose your company.”
This sentence made Zhang Jianzhong very puzzled inside. Could it be that Shanghai Guosheng exerted effort? Helping them lock in the victory in advance?
He originally thought this was the victory of his hard strength, but unexpectedly, it was ultimately the strength outside the chessboard that decided the outcome? Damn it, still can’t do it!
Li Xiaoman saw his confusion and continued to explain: “Because Moore Threads is the only company among these four companies that has always insisted on making C-end products.
We cooperate with Chinese companies; I believe you are also very clear about how great the help is for you to be selected, not only at the technology and subsequent development levels, but also at the fame level. You will naturally gain support from China and Chinese people.
I have also seen some self-media bloggers analyze this competition among your four companies. One phrase was said very well: the ticket to a trillion market cap company. I think it’s very accurate. Cooperating with us, or in a track like the right brain chip, this is a ticket to a trillion company, and even the pricing unit is US dollars.
Can one proposal decide it?
Does a better proposal mean that the subsequent implementation and development will definitely be better?
Probably not. Intel was at its peak from the 1990s to before the 2010s, and now its market cap isn’t even one-tenth of Nvidia’s.
Even companies with huge revenue, leading technology, and thick moats are like this; one proposal doesn’t prove anything.
We choose partners not only to break Nvidia’s monopoly in the enterprise-level AI computing card field, but also in the personal graphics card field, we must break the monopoly of Nvidia and AMD.”
Zhang Jianzhong was rejoicing that he insisted on making C-end products when starting the company back then. After the subsequent artificial intelligence wave arrived, they did not give up this product line either, continuously investing from product to ecosystem.
Now this investment has yielded returns, inestimable returns.
“General Manager Li, understood. We will work hard and won’t disappoint you and General Manager Lin.”
Li Xiaoman waved her hand: “Alright, then the next thing is the future cooperation model.
Our cooperation has huge benefits for you. We will provide all-round support, the most important of which is General Manager Lin’s left-right brain architecture. Your chips will become the only domestic right brain chip.
I mentioned earlier that this is the ticket to a trillion company.
Of course, we also need to ensure that the cooperation between Moore Threads and us is stable enough, so we need to take a stake in Moore Threads. Apollo Technology hopes to become the largest shareholder of Moore Threads through capital increase and share expansion.
I looked at Moore Threads’ share structure. The largest shareholder holds 14 percent. We hope to hold 20% and become the largest shareholder.”
Zhang Jianzhong’s heart tightened. 20% shares—now Moore Threads’ largest shareholder is the company’s founder holding platform, and the second largest is himself, meaning his actual shareholding is still less than 20%.
Once Apollo Technology gets 20% shares, with Lin Ran’s influence and strength, he could tell with his feet which side the shareholders would support: him or Lin Ran.
But could he refuse? Likewise, no.
For Lin Ran, since the proposal isn’t important, having been in the industry for many years and heard too many ghost stories from startup companies, Zhang Jianzhong was very clear: if he refused upfront, this woman in front of him, dressed like a typical workplace elite, would immediately call the next candidate.
Among the four companies, there would always be someone who couldn’t refuse.
As for using board of directors resolutions to delay time, it might work against a relatively strong side, but against such an absolutely strong side, it was completely useless.
Zhang Jianzhong could also understand why the other party wanted to do this. If he were Lin Ran, he would be even harsher; he would demand 20% shares, over 50% voting rights, to pursue actual control and ensure his control.
This is the way of giants, and also the privilege of giants.
“Good.” After Zhang Jianzhong said it, he felt unusually relieved inside: “General Manager Li, I have a small question. Why Apollo, not Deep Red? He also felt puzzled about this inside.”
Li Xiaoman explained: “Because Deep Red’s share composition is relatively complex, Apollo Technology’s share composition is simple, consisting of just General Manager Lin, state-owned capital, and employee option pool these three parts.”
Zhang Jianzhong nodded: “Understood. We are willing to accept your investment. Our company from top to bottom has the greatest sincerity to promote this cooperation.”
He didn’t say anything about discussing with investors or the team.
“Next is about the design of the right brain chip. Your company needs to start directly from 4nm, not 7nm, it’s 4nm.”
Zhang Jianzhong hurriedly said: “General Manager Li, you may not be engaged in technology research and development, so you might not know. Currently, TSMC and Samsung’s high-end processes do not provide services to us.
Our 7nm GPU and AI computing cards can only rely on domestic production capacity. Domestic 7nm capacity is very limited and supply falls short of demand; our shipments are very small.
7nm is already like this; 4nm is even more impossible to find a foundry.”
Li Xiaoman said indifferently: “Don’t worry, the 4nm capacity will be solved soon, soonest in one year, latest in three years.”
As soon as Li Xiaoman finished speaking, Zhang Jianzhong’s face was full of shock.
He instinctively wanted to retort, but the words reached his mouth and he swallowed them back.
As someone from a technical background, he knew the reality of chip manufacturing all too well.
4nm process—that’s a process that even Nvidia and AMD rely on TSMC’s top-tier technology to achieve.
Although the domestic chip foundry industry is developing rapidly, 7nm is already the ceiling of existing capacity for high-end processes; 4nm is simply a pipe dream.
Then he knew that someone of the other party’s identity definitely wouldn’t joke with him.
He didn’t know, which could only mean his level wasn’t high enough. Damn, EUV lithography machine has seen the light? Or even the prototype has been verified successfully, just waiting for production line verification? One to three years is indeed enough.
If it’s true, this would be the strongest voice of the era, the complete failure and total bankruptcy of America’s strategy.
He seemed to see a huge, invisible hand quietly changing the pattern of the entire technology industry.
When Zhang Jianzhong met Li Xiaoman, Moore Threads’ stock was firmly sealed at the daily limit within less than ten minutes after opening.
In the following several trading days, the company’s stock price kept rising without any sign of stopping.
Corresponding to it, Cambricon’s stock kept falling.
Those investment institutions that originally held a wait-and-see attitude toward Moore Threads now rushed to build positions at high prices regardless of the cost.
The company’s market capitalization more than doubled in just one week, leaping from a unicorn to a 500 billion-level industry giant.
Although not announced, capital isn’t stupid. Four institutions were invited to Apollo Technology, three didn’t get the news, plus Moore Threads internally promoting Apollo Technology’s investment, which requires going through processes—it’s impossible to hide.
The entire industry welcomed an unprecedented massive shock.
This revelry was not limited to Moore Threads itself.
Upstream supply chain manufacturers and downstream application developers with cooperative relationships with Moore Threads all rose generally due to the market’s optimistic sentiment.
Capital began to pour crazily into the industrial chain related to Moore Threads, hoping to get a piece of the pie in this technology feast.
Zhang Jianzhong looked at these crazy numbers, but his mood was unexpectedly calm.
He knew that all of this was not his personal achievement, but the intersection of era and fate.
And the promise from Li Xiaoman’s mouth that 4nm process could be achieved in one to three years would be even more world-shaking news.
For a full week, Moore Threads’ board secretary’s office was exceptionally busy.
They submitted the announcement draft to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange for pre-review.
In this special period, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange’s review process was greatly simplified and accelerated.
Under the push of national will, all links turned green.
Within half an hour, the approval notice came back.
Moore Threads’ official website and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange information disclosure platform simultaneously released an announcement titled “Regarding the Company’s Major Strategic Cooperation and Introduction of Apollo Technology”; Moore Threads halted trading.
This announcement was rigorously worded, but the information revealed between the lines completely confirmed the past market rumors.
“Damn! I thought it was a ghost story, but it’s real? Cambricon actually didn’t beat Moore Threads? I thought it was fake news deliberately released by capital to smash Cambricon’s stock price, wash out retail investors, and then restart, but it’s real? This daily limit is going to break through the ceiling. I sold Moore Threads to pick up Cambricon’s bargain! I now wish I could slap myself hard twice.”
“Are you sick? Fool pretending to be smart? Moore Threads’ market cap tripled; do you know how exaggerated the capital cost is? Just to wash retail investors out of Cambricon?”
“I’m dumb. I was still hesitating last night whether to sell, good thing I didn’t move. Now directly financial freedom? First time chasing high and making money.”
“Everyone calm down. Apollo Technology entering means the company’s nature has changed. Although backed by Ran Shen, future operational efficiency and decision flexibility might be affected. In the long term, this may not be a good thing.”
“Still trying to deceive, huh? Want to trick us out and wash out the chips?”
The stock bar was in chaos, directly pushing Moore Threads to the top of the hot list, replacing Longi Green Energy.
The core content of the announcement was concise and clear:
“The company has reached a strategic cooperation agreement with Apollo Technology: Apollo will invest funds in Moore Threads through capital increase and share expansion.
Fund use: All for the research and development and industrialization of the company’s right brain chip project.
Equity change: After the capital increase, the fund will become Moore Threads’ largest shareholder, with approximately 20% shareholding.
Management stability: The company’s existing management and technical team will remain stable and continue to be responsible for the company’s operations and technology research and development.”
Zhang Jianzhong’s office was playing “Y.M.C.A.”.
“.Young man there’s a place you can go”
Chen Hongyi was dancing on the open space in the office, jumping **march.
While jumping, he said: “Old Zhang, I indeed didn’t misjudge you! This will be my most successful investment.
Actually able to board General Manager Lin’s big ship.
This is the real behemoth, the core cruise ship of our technology breakthrough, a fiercer big ship than Huawei.
You’re set now. In the future, Moore Threads will also be one of the very few in big A that is truly a Lin Ran concept stock.
In the future, every time Ran Shen has good news, your company will rise.
Think about it, how many benefits are waiting for you in the future? Moon superconductivity, moon base, Deep Red artificial intelligence.
Plus the market for the right brain chip itself—Deep Red will use it; if there are general models, won’t other internet companies use them?”
Chen Hongyi had gone completely crazy.
This investment would also be the most brilliant one in his career.
“General Manager Lin is such a good person, only asking for 20% of our shares. Too upright.”
Zhang Jianzhong wasn’t so excited. After knowing that 4nm was about to break through, he felt more pressure.
They hadn’t even accumulated enough experience with 7nm, and now they had to design a product like the right brain chip, which is completely different from traditional GPUs, and it had to use 4nm technology. Could they really do it?
For Apollo Technology, if they didn’t achieve it, and they brought in another one, then Moore Threads wouldn’t be the only one.
Chen Hongyi seemed to see Zhang Jianzhong’s worry and asked: “Worry my ass.
Since General Manager Lin chose us, that proves we can do it!
Besides, even if there’s a problem with the right brain chip design, don’t you know to consult General Manager Lin?
By the way, did you meet General Manager Lin this time?”
