Chapter 165 All Efforts for Introduction
Not only did Director Zhang not want to charge for the land—he even wanted to tighten his belt to give Yuanxin some money.
But here lay the problem: Yuanxin didn't lack money at all.
This young man was sitting on more than two billion U.S. dollars in cash—so much that even the notoriously stingy foreign exchange regulators acted as if they hadn't seen it.
After pondering for a long time, Director Zhang decided to speak directly to this young man, as one engineer to another.
"Would Yuanxin be willing to accept an equity investment from the Shanghai municipal government?"
"Hmm?"
Su Yuanshan immediately understood what was happening.
He glanced at Chen Jing; the two of them exchanged a look and smiled simultaneously.
Frankly speaking, the real reason Su Yuanshan had chosen Shanghai in the first place was because he valued Shanghai's government support for the semiconductor industry—more precisely, its unwavering support for wafer fabs.
They truly did everything: giving land, giving money, giving resources.
Therefore, even before selling the EDA division, Su Yuanshan had made two preparations:
One, if funds were insufficient, he would pull Shanghai's government in as an investor.
Of course, that would have introduced a lot of unpredictable variables.
However, with the successful sale of EDA, after all the equity swaps and related operations, Yuanxin's account balance now sat close to three billion U.S. dollars in cash.
That amount was more than enough for Yuanxin to independently build a fab.
Still, after spinning off EDA, Yuanxin had suddenly lost a steady income stream worth several hundred million dollars per year.
Thus, this pile of cash still needed to sustain Yuanxin's ongoing R&D expenses—until their mobile phone manufacturing division could successfully start generating profit.
In short, even the richest landlords sometimes didn't have much grain in reserve.
"Of course we're willing to accept!" Su Yuanshan said immediately.
Director Zhang nodded and smiled.
However, Su Yuanshan quickly added,
"But for now... we still have to wait for TI's final response.
Our top priority is to ensure that equipment and technology can be smoothly introduced."
The implication was clear:
If the U.S. government approved the Shanghai government's investment, great—everything could proceed.
If not, then they would have no choice but to decline politely.
In fact, to prepare for this, Yuanxin had even put its long-planned virtual stock option program on hold.
The goal was to keep Yuanxin's shareholding structure—and thus ownership—clear and straightforward.
Yuanxin presented itself to the outside world as a pure, unadulterated private enterprise.
You could discriminate against them if you liked, but you couldn't claim they were a government entity in disguise.
Their fab project was purely a business-driven endeavor, aimed at staking a claim in the Chinese market—nothing more.
This was the narrative they intended to sell to the Western governments.
Director Zhang nodded slowly. "Understood."
"So... when can we get the land?"
"Once we convene a government meeting. You should also start preparing a more detailed construction plan.
It'll help us handle resettlements and demolition work.
Oh, and by the way—you'll have to build the access roads yourself."
"...Alright," Su Yuanshan said with a laugh, nodding.
"Also, just personally curious," Director Zhang said, smiling. "Could you tell me a little about Yuanxin's current structure and projects? Everyone says you have black technologies, and you're even working on servo motors... Maybe you didn't know—I started my career as a motor engineer."
Su Yuanshan laughed heartily. "Sure, let me explain..."
Since Yuanxin was not a publicly listed company and remained entirely privately held, they were under no obligation to disclose anything—not even to the government.
(Of course, they still filed necessary financial reports with the tax authorities.)
Thus, almost nobody knew exactly how many divisions Yuanxin had or what each division was working on.
Perhaps the central authorities might have some idea, but certainly not Director Zhang in Shanghai.
After sending Su Yuanshan and Chen Jing to the door, Director Zhang returned to his sofa and sat down heavily.
The secretary cleared away the old tea and made a fresh pot.
Director Zhang absentmindedly tapped his wide palm on the coffee table, then suddenly smiled and asked,
"Xiao Chen, do you think it's actually possible for us to achieve full industrialization in 25 years?"
Xiao Chen was startled, mind racing over how best to answer.
But Director Zhang waved his hand and said to himself,
"Forget it. You're not from the industrial sector."
"If it really happens in twenty-five years... that would truly be a miracle."
Xiao Chen smiled lightly, "Maybe President Su was just speaking casually."
Director Zhang shook his head and said seriously,
"You're not a technical person. Don't jump to conclusions."
Xiao Chen immediately straightened up. "Yes, sir."
"This Su Yuanshan... he's really an extraordinary talent," Director Zhang mused aloud.
"His father is one of China's top microcontroller experts.
And from all the reports, Su Yuanshan's achievements in the field of integrated circuits are unparalleled domestically."
"So talented that after gaining admission to UESTC without taking the entrance exam, he actually chose to study physics instead—self-studying at that!"
Director Zhang remembered the tales he'd heard during earlier government meetings about Yuanxin's founder.
"Calling him a genius isn't exaggerating at all.
A technical genius, predicting the future based on technological trends... how could someone like that just talk nonsense?"
Director Zhang smiled and sipped his tea, then got up and returned to his desk.
...
At the Hilton Hotel.
Su Yuanshan, Chen Jing, Li Mingliu, and Jiang Tao sat together in the café.
"I plan to head back first tomorrow," Su Yuanshan said, sipping his coffee. "Sister Jing, you'll stay here for now...
I estimate we'll get the final approval within three days. Director Zhang has a lot of power regarding land allocations."
He paused, then added,
"Of course, if you want to go back too, that's fine—but you'll have to come back here very soon."
Chen Jing thought for a moment and said, "I'll stay. Flying back and forth is a hassle."
"Good," Su Yuanshan nodded. "Once the land is secured, construction must start immediately—no time to waste."
"This 2,250 mu," he continued, looking at Li Mingliu and Jiang Tao, "half of it will be for future research centers."
"In other words... your turf."
"Pay attention," he said meaningfully.
Li Mingliu smiled lightly, "We tech people... how do we pay attention to that? All we can offer is moral support."
Jiang Tao, on the other hand, looked very excited.
"Does that mean we get to return to Yuanxin directly?"
Currently, Yuanzhong Microelectronics was still technically a fully-owned subsidiary of Zhongxin—meaning it was like Yuanxin's 'grandchild.'
Su Yuanshan chuckled,
"We'll see when the time comes.
For now, just focus on developing aggressively."
"Yuanxin doesn't even have a commercial IC design department right now...
Among other enterprises, nobody can really compete with you at the moment, right?"
Jiang Tao nodded with a smile, but he still looked a bit regretful.
Given his current qualifications and experience, returning to Yuanxin would immediately make him a first-level department head—on par with veterans like Tian Yaoming.
How could he not want that?
"Also," Su Yuanshan reminded them,
"make full use of Shanghai's advantage in the Yangtze River Delta region.
Pull in all the surrounding talent."
Li Mingliu nodded seriously.
Then he suddenly asked, "When will we move into Beijing?"
"You know that's where the densest, most concentrated pool of domestic talent is."
Su Yuanshan was slightly startled, then smiled and said,
"Very soon. Probably next year."
"We'll move one step at a time.
Right now, based on our current R&D project distribution model,
it's still hard to justify a huge R&D center in Beijing."
Hearing Su Yuanshan talk about "moving step by step," everyone laughed.
After all, "step by step" sounded so unlike Yuanxin's usual style.
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