Chapter 239 Twin Swords
"Around September, we'll be setting up an R&D center in Russia. I might have to go over personally."
The two of them were strolling slowly along the lakeside, hands now casually let go.
Ye Rudai hummed in acknowledgment.
"Does it have to be you personally?"
"Not necessarily. Senior Brother Wang Rui will scout things out first. If he runs into trouble, then I'll go."
"You know," Su Yuanshan continued, "they have some incredible mathematics over there. If we want computing to reach higher levels in the future, mathematical ability will be the ceiling. And Senior Brother Xi was right about one thing: breakthroughs in computer science, especially in complex algorithms, can't be achieved just by manpower. They need years of flashes of insight from top mathematicians."
"Mhm… President Xi is focusing on neural networks now.
They say once computational power catches up, neural networks will bring real artificial intelligence?"
"Heh, take out the word 'real'," Su Yuanshan laughed, bending down to pluck two foxtail grasses from the roadside, handing one to Ye Rudai.
They started twirling the grass around their fingertips like little kids.
"But neural networks will indeed achieve deep learning," Su Yuanshan said. "They'll come close to human thinking and judgment. And that day isn't far off—you and I should both live to see it."
Ye Rudai looked dreamy.
"I wonder what the future will be like... flying cars? Space colonization like in sci-fi?"
"Haha, that's still a long way off.
But I do believe the future's main terminal will be a small device—like a phone."
Su Yuanshan pulled out his Vidoo phone and handed it to her.
"Look at it now. In the future, the screen will get bigger and bigger, the buttons will disappear, and the whole front will be glass.
You'll control everything by touching the screen."
Ye Rudai's eyes widened in amazement.
"How would that even work?"
"Actually, IBM just launched one this year," Su Yuanshan explained. "It's called the Simon Personal Communicator. It's eliminated physical buttons in favor of a big LCD touch panel."
"That's so advanced. As expected of Big Blue," Ye Rudai sighed in admiration.
"Yeah... but Yuanxin isn't small either.
It's just that right now, we have no domestic technology for this. Even LCD panels are fully imported."
Su Yuanshan sighed.
"I hope the phone sells well. Then I can invest in starting an LCD manufacturing company."
Talking about LCDs was a painful topic.
Liquid crystal display technology had started in the U.S., but Japan had developed it through humble products like calculators.
With the rise of pagers, mobile phones, and laptops, LCD panels had also risen.
And by now, Japan dominated the industry.
Currently, globally, there were eighteen LCD production lines—sixteen of them were in Japan.
(Real historical note: by 1996, there were 25 LCD lines globally, 21 of them Japanese.)
Japan hadn't just built a lot of factories; it had locked down the entire supply chain—every part, from substrates to polarizers, had at least one Japanese supplier.
They were completely self-sufficient.
That was very Japanese.
Meanwhile, mainland China had no concept of LCD manufacturing yet.
And the U.S.? Surprisingly passive—they just sat back and watched.
Taiwan and South Korea, however, had already started studying TFT-LCD panels five years ago.
It would be a few years before South Korea would break through and begin challenging Japan's dominance in LCDs through monitors and TVs.
Japan's response was to rope in Taiwan, transferring technology and patents, leading to a future three-way market struggle.
For the next decade, Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese LCD firms would "defend their turf" while collectively suppressing China's domestic electronics industry.
It wasn't until the 2008 global financial crisis, when LCD prices collapsed, that the situation changed.
In 2009, BOE (Beijing Oriental Electronics) invested 20 billion yuan to build an 8.5-generation LCD line—
A thunderclap that ended foreign domination of LCD manufacturing.
Within ten days, Sharp (Japan), Samsung and LG (Korea), and Chi Mei and Quanta (Taiwan) all announced they would abandon their technology blockade and invest in building high-generation LCD lines in China.
—Yeah. It had been that suffocating.
And that shameless.
...
Snapping back from his thoughts, Su Yuanshan clenched his fist.
"No.
Even if the phones don't make money, I'll still invest in LCD."
Ye Rudai didn't understand all the technicalities, but she knew one thing:
If Su Yuanshan thought it was important, then it must be important.
She smiled softly.
"Then let's hope it sells like crazy."
She handed the Vidoo phone back to him.
"Keep it," Su Yuanshan said, hands in his pockets. "I was thinking of engraving something cheesy on the back cover, but… pulling that trick on you feels pointless."
"Pfft..."
Ye Rudai couldn't help laughing.
"You make me feel like I'm old."
"No," Su Yuanshan said seriously.
"You're just special."
Time flowed slowly under the summer sun.
By late July, good news came from the Internet R&D Center.
Zhang Xiaolong—worthy of the title "father of Foxmail"—had arrived in the Special Zone and quickly taken over the email client team that Ding Lei had built.
Even though he had Su Yuanshan's backing and Ding Lei's support, he still encountered some resistance.
Most of the people at the Special Zone branch had been personally recruited by Ding Lei and Pony, growing from a dozen staffers to over 300 now.
Many of them had never even visited Yuanxin's headquarters.
In their eyes, the HQ was this mysterious, god-like entity.
There was a feeling of "imperial power doesn't reach the countryside."
From their perspective, Zhang Xiaolong looked like an outsider sent to reap the fruits of their labor.
But Zhang Xiaolong didn't care.
In tech, respect comes from ability.
He had the education, the skills, the backing of HQ, and the endorsement of leadership.
If he couldn't win over skeptical subordinates through his own ability, then he didn't deserve their respect.
So within a week, Zhang Xiaolong had the team completely under control.
Within two months, the new email client was finished.
At the same time, the EM messaging platform also completed final testing.
On July 28th, EM and Email—nicknamed the Twin Swords—were officially launched on the international internet.
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