Chapter 56: Cooperation
“Wait a moment first, wait for my call!”
Inside the Kyoto Optical Instruments Research Institute, Yan Wentai hung up the phone with a serious expression.
The sudden call from his disciple brought news that really shocked him.
The lithography machine equipment modification project cannot be solved just by talking and investing tens of millions or billions.
One machine costs 2-5 billion at cost price, and if damage occurs during the modification process, it would easily require doubling the investment.
Xinghai, as an emerging enterprise, why dared to be so bold and aggressive on this project.
Because of secrecy reasons, Ke Fengyun did comply, but this gave his master a headache.
After thinking for a moment, Yan Wentai picked up the phone and dialed.
“Hello, this is Yan Wentai from the Optical Institute. Is this General Manager Luo of Guo Xin Technology?”
“Hello Director Yan, this is Luo Yong. You can just call me Little Luo.”
Yan Wentai cleared his throat and continued: “It’s like this, I heard there’s a company called Xinghai Technology. Have they consulted with you about lithography machine procurement matters?”
Domestically, Guo Xin Technology is the only company qualified to sell lithography machines.
Yan Wentai believed that anything involving lithography machine equipment could not escape Guo Xin Technology’s eyes.
Their research institute is the technology provider for Guo Xin Technology, and in a certain sense, although Luo Yong’s position is higher than his, his status in the industry is absolutely inferior to Yan Wentai’s.
So asking this way was not abrupt at all.
Sure enough, after Luo Yong said “hold on,” his voice came through again shortly after.
But there was a hint of doubt in his tone.
“Director Yan, sorry to keep you waiting. It’s like this: I just checked, and I don’t know if you know that just a few days ago, this Xinghai Technology ‘fortunately’ made it onto the Baiyue Alliance’s high technology equipment embargo list.”
“Ah? Are you sure it’s Xinghai Technology?”
This couldn’t help but surprise Yan Wentai; he had a general understanding of this technology company. Although it hadn’t been established long, it had extremely outstanding contributions in the radio and battery domains, as well as industry status.
But these two are always advantage technology projects of China, generally only China embargoes the Baiyue Alliance, so how did the Baiyue Alliance suddenly include Xinghai Technology on the embargo list.
Luo Yong was also very puzzled and subconsciously nodded: “Yes, it’s Xinghai Technology in Linhai City, with a legal representative who’s a young man named Fan Ren who graduated just over a year ago, right?”
Yan Wentai was not surprised that the other party knew little about Xinghai Technology, after all, they were not in the same domain at all.
He immediately said: “It’s this company. Why were they included on the embargo list? That doesn’t make sense.”
As he spoke, he simply explained to Luo Yong the general information about Xinghai Technology.
“It’s like this, Director Yan. I might have guessed something. This company communicated with us half a year ago about the procurement cycle for 14-nanometer process lithography machines, but it came to nothing later.
But just three days ago, the day after the Baiyue embargo list was released, Xinghai Technology called us again, inquiring about procurement matters for lithography machines of that process, and on the phone, there was an implication of being willing to pay more to shorten the procurement cycle.”
“No way!”
Yan Wentai let out a surprised sound, and Luo Yong smiled and continued: “Based on my guess, they are probably developing chips on their own. Impressive young people, just…”
Hearing this, Yan Wentai couldn’t help but be speechless. He knew what Luo Yong meant by what he didn’t say, and without saying anything else, he exchanged a few pleasantries and hung up the phone.
“What a Xinghai Technology. Are you fearless because of ignorance, or…”
He sat in the office, pondering the demands his disciple mentioned, muttering to himself as his voice trailed off.
Then he picked up the phone and called his disciple back.
“Is General Manager Fan next to you? Give him the phone.”
Ke Fengyun was stunned for a moment, then a hint of excitement appeared on his face. He opened the door and handed the phone to Fan Ren who was still on the sofa.
“My master, the director of our institute, surnamed Yan.”
He wasn’t stupid; since his master wanted to talk directly to General Manager Fan, it proved that cooperation was promising. After introducing in a low voice, he quietly stood aside.
“Hello, Director Yan.”
“Hello General Manager Fan. It’s inconvenient over the phone, so I’ll get straight to the point.”
Fan Ren nodded, inwardly sighing that sure enough, people in technology were straightforward in communication, and said: “Please go ahead, I’m listening.”
“General Manager Fan should know about the relationship between our institute and Guo Xin Technology. After learning about Xinghai’s recent situation from them, I think I can guess the project Xinghai Technology is currently undertaking.
Of course, don’t misunderstand; due to the nature of our institute, we conduct this kind of qualification review when seeking cooperation partners.
I personally welcome the cooperation model you proposed. If convenient, General Manager Fan, you can bring the relevant review information to our institute in the next couple of days.”
Yan Wentai spoke at length before stopping.
“Okay, no problem. I’ll head to Kyoto tomorrow.”
“Alright then, hanging up.” Fan Ren’s response was also extremely concise.
Seeing this, Ke Fengyun took back the phone, his face already showing an excited expression. He knew this meant his master had preliminarily agreed to the cooperation between both sides.
Otherwise, with his master’s temper, many investors couldn’t even meet him.
General Manager’s Office of Xinghai.
“It’s like this: delay the procurement with Guo Xin Technology for a few days. If we can reach cooperation with the Optical Institute, I think within half a year, we can use a more precise and efficient upgraded 14-nanometer lithography machine.”
Fan Ren simply shared his thoughts with Jin Qiaoying. As the company’s investment direction, Jin Qiaoying had to know first.
“Wouldn’t the money spent this way be no less than directly procuring a lithography machine?”
There was some concern in Jin Qiaoying’s eyes. Fan Ren shook his head and explained: “The investment will definitely be much higher than procuring a single lithography machine on our own, but considering the ability to procure at cost later, plus the many advantages of the new lithography machine, overall, it can significantly reduce our chip costs in future production.”
After saying this, Jin Qiaoying had no reason to hesitate and immediately agreed.
They still had a dividend from Xingyun Manufacturing not yet transferred, and nearly 10 billion in patent income each month.
Since they had decided to make the graphene chip project happen, they could completely trust Fan Ren on the technology side.
She immediately nodded and said: “Alright then, if you negotiate it tomorrow, try to give me a rough investment figure so I can prepare the funds in advance.”
Hearing this, Fan Ren sighed that this was the benefit of having dedicated people handling company affairs; he only needed to control the general direction, and nothing else required his worry.
