The Birth of Shanghai's First Conglomerate

Chapter 706 Reactions and Daily Life

The release of the Tengfei AI phone has garnered considerable attention in the market.

From the smartphone boom that began in 10 to the end of the Smartisan phone, which was considered the industry jinx by Luo Yonghao, the smartphone boom also disappeared.

Almost none of them succeeded when they entered the mobile phone industry later.

Large capital firms are hesitant to enter this industry.

The main reason is that the domestic market has already been divided up, and the overseas market has already taken shape. Entering this industry again is much more difficult than it was during Xiaomi's time in 2010.

Tengfei AI phones will definitely go public independently in the future, and are currently 100% owned by Chen Pingsheng.

The purpose of launching this project is to revitalize Tengfei AI.

Otherwise, with so many years of continuous investment, the robots in the super factory alone wouldn't even be able to recoup 1/10 of the cost.

Not to mention that he also poured in 250 billion US dollars in one go.

In September, he donated another 10 billion yuan to Shanghai, but he put the money into the Tengfei Future Technology University.

For the next ten years, he will donate billions of dollars to the Flying Future University of Science and Technology every year.

This will be used to support the basic technological architecture of the entire Ascendas Group and to further improve talent development and models.

The Tengfei Future Technology University, with an investment of over 100 billion yuan, can accommodate more than 50,000 students at the same time.

It is undoubtedly the largest and most luxurious private university of science and technology in China, bar none.

It is currently undergoing the approval process and is preparing to connect outstanding students from various universities.

It has to be said that his investments in the technology sector have become increasingly large.

The initial investment of tens of billions of US dollars in employee housing is now gradually being recouped.

Given Tengfei Group's existing reputation, student recruitment shouldn't be a major problem.

Outstanding students from the University of Science and Technology will be given priority in being admitted to the Tengfei Group in the future.

The salaries and benefits offered by Tengfei Group have always been among the best in China.

However, the main focus of recruitment is on R&D talent, with particularly high requirements for academic qualifications and academic performance.

As for those basic manual components, they have gradually been replaced by robots.

When the mobile phone launch event ended, a high-level meeting within the Tengfei Group surprisingly proposed to enter the express delivery industry, and even the future food delivery industry.

As we all know, it is a great achievement for businesses to help increase the social employment rate.

However, Tengfei AI Group proposed that its entry into the food delivery and express delivery industries would be replaced by human robots.

What do you mean?

Through small-scale pilot projects, robots that provide the corresponding services are developed and then controlled by humans.

A technician at the group headquarters can control at least a hundred robots.

The project was rejected by Chen Pingsheng as soon as it was proposed.

Currently, the two sectors with the highest employment rates in China are food delivery and short videos.

Once these tech giants set their sights on these two groups for profit, they will be able to achieve their goals.

This will undoubtedly lead to significant social conflicts.

It's one thing for a company to manufacture robots for itself; that's perfectly acceptable, and nobody can say anything about it.

Even if those assembly line workers are laid off, at least 12 to 18 months' wages should be paid in full.

Once they enter the food delivery and express delivery markets, regardless of whether it's even feasible, the resulting social conflicts are undeniable.

Moreover, the goals of Tengfei AI Group should absolutely not be limited to the workplaces of ordinary people.

This will only amplify the destructive power of technology.

This could also lead the entire group into a misconception that if they want to make money, they should replace the vast majority of the workforce with robots.

This is absolutely not allowed.

Technology ultimately serves people, enabling them to work and live more efficiently.

Setting one's sights on massive basic industries would be a disaster.

Ordinary industries don't have the resources to invest hundreds of billions in research and development.

It is fair to say that if Tengfei AI were not restricted, it could eliminate more than 90% of novel authors within five years.

In the future, even small industries like novels will be completely replaced by AI.

Users only need to input the content they want to see into the AI, and it can generate a complete and fast result.

In terms of writing style, it's simply incomparable to that of ordinary aspiring writers.

Even novelists can be completely replaced, let alone food delivery and courier services.

Tencent Media's digital live streaming robots have also been developing quite well.

This was also due to these high-level discussions and their own concerns.

On October 21, Chen Pingsheng embarked on his global northern tour.

The general idea is to take the senior management team on a month-long tour of Ascendas' various AI industry R&D centers around the world.

Our first stop was Akinayama Center in Guangzhou.

Tengfei AI has a total of eighteen R&D centers worldwide with investments exceeding 10 billion yuan.

Among them, Guangzhou Qiumingshan is one of the larger ones, with an investment of over 180 billion yuan.

It covers an area of ​​approximately 790 acres and is connected to numerous research and development buildings by an internal miniature train.

It has a total of over 12,000 AI R&D engineers.

The Akinayama R&D Center primarily serves the Tengfei AI mobile phone.

The goal is to develop AI-powered mobile phone projects that offer more efficient and user-friendly services.

In addition to the R&D center in Guangzhou, there are also R&D centers in Shanghai, Beijing, and Xi'an, all dedicated to mobile phone development.

One of the most important research and development projects is the Tengfei AI system.

This project has been under development for over five years, and the basic version has already been released.

It simply can't compare to Android, which has been around for so many years, let alone rival Apple.

Developing its own mobile AI system is not too difficult for Tengfei AI Group, which invests over 50 billion yuan in R&D every year.

The challenge lies in rivaling Android, including Apple's operating system.

If it can no longer compete with these two systems, it's better to stick with Android, at least it offers high stability.

This project is also the core R&D project of Tengfei AI mobile phones.

It seems that it will take at least two or three more years before it can truly rival Android and achieve extremely high stability.

In addition, they are also developing the Tengfei AI chip, and only the design process needs to be developed.

Chip manufacturing is completely outside their scope.

Once they can complete these two parts, their Tengfei AI phone will be considered a complete hardware and software integration.

It ranks among the top in the world, at least second only to Samsung and Apple.

He not only visited the professional and R&D sites related to the mobile phone industry, but also visited the R&D sites related to smart homes and future AI robots.

In the AI-related field and industry alone, Tengfei Group invests more than 50 billion yuan in research and development every year.

If we include Tengfei New Energy Vehicles and Tengde Times Battery, the annual R&D expenses alone are at least 1200 billion yuan.

With over 100 billion yuan spent on R&D each year, there's certainly a lot that can be done.

This also makes every day an opportunity for the entire Tengfei AI Group.

Patents of all sizes cover various industries, which shows that there are so many opportunities.

Giving up is clearly wiser than taking up.

After this global northern tour concluded, Chen Pingsheng clearly defined the future of Tengfei Group as the vast universe.

Instead of using technology to eliminate ordinary people as a strategic goal.

He also stated directly that for the next five years, Ascendas AI Group does not need to have any profit targets, nor should it care about financial losses.

All you need to do is focus on developing the Tengfei AI mobile phone system and AI chips, and also unleash your imagination.

Think of things that talented people can't even think of, and even imagine developing AI robots for traditional Chinese medicine.

We must stop targeting ordinary people's livelihoods; that's a dangerous thing.

All he could do was use the robots he developed to upgrade his family's super factory.

It can also enable AI technology to achieve better autonomous driving.

However, they absolutely disagree with the idea that Tengfei Group would use this technology to eliminate all Didi drivers.

Even if they could do it, it wouldn't work even if the industry had a promising future.

They should learn from Musk and create some wildly imaginative technologies.

He has the funds himself, so why can't he go and make it happen?

They're using R&D spending exceeding 300 to 500 billion yuan to target ordinary employed workers.

This is simply outrageous behavior in the tech world.

They can disrupt some industries, such as the traditional smart home appliance sector, but they absolutely cannot take away the livelihoods of ordinary people.

Especially delivery drivers.

Perhaps it is because the annual losses of Tengfei AI Group are too exaggerated that some executives are racking their brains to try to disrupt those traditional basic industries through existing technologies.

This allows them to make exorbitant profits.

This is completely opposite to Chen Pingsheng's idea of ​​working on AI.

What he wants to do is a business that no one is doing now, a big business that will be available ten years from now.

It is definitely not the basic industries we have now.

Therefore, he simply announced that Ascendas AI Group would not need to make any profits for the next five years.

We must concentrate all our efforts on developing core technologies for the future.

By the time he returned from his trip around the world, it was already mid-November.

After returning to Shanghai, he set off for Guangzhou.

……

Guangzhou, Baiyun University.

In the blink of an eye, An'an has been at university for almost three months.

The TV series "Fu Hao", starring her, has also been officially launched on major video websites and platforms.

Because of Zhao Liying's participation, it became an instant hit upon release.

Countless people flocked to various platforms just to catch a glimpse of Zhao Liying's debut short drama.

As it turns out, with Zhao Liying's involvement, the quality is still quite good.

An'an and the other girls in the dormitory watched the show together, and also had some peanuts and melon seeds on the table.

It was quite a spectacle to watch.

An An is quite skilled; she has had a foundation in martial arts since childhood.

The action scenes are quite exciting, and since this is a big production, the scale is also quite grand.

This is definitely not comparable to the old days when three or five extras wielded swords and spears in a chaotic manner.

There is a growing trend of long-form dramas moving towards shorter formats.

An'an was still in the dormitory when she performed a set of Mantis Boxing in front of everyone.

This is an unparalleled martial art that she has practiced since she was a child.

He could easily grab a weapon and then strike; his fighting was absolutely spectacular.

The girl with the turtle-like appearance was the first to stand up excitedly, clapping and saying, "An'an is so amazing!"

The short-haired, spirited girl also said, "You're really amazing. I didn't expect you to have such good martial arts skills. An'an, do you know how to do Tai Chi? Can you teach me?"

"I definitely know a little bit of Tai Chi, just not much."

An'an is also very skilled at Tai Chi health preservation, and can master it with ease.

The girl next to her, Turtle, said, "An'an, you're acting in such good short dramas now. Are you going to be a big star in the future? A lot of people in our school will definitely see it. If they know it's you, a lot of boys will probably come after you."

Will this happen?
Many boys came to pursue her, and An An laughed exaggeratedly with her hands on her hips.

She has absolutely no airs of a wealthy heiress.

She doesn't actually enjoy being pursued by many boys; she's just never had that experience before.

"That's all for now. To celebrate the hit broadcast of my first short drama, it's my treat tonight. You can choose any place you like!"

"Great! An'an's treating, we have to rip her off!"

After a pause, the turtle girl suddenly asked, "An'an, are you quite familiar with Zhao Liying? Could you help me get her autograph? I really like her, and my family likes her too."

"Ask her for an autograph, no problem. I'll get you two next time I run into her."

For An An, this was a trivial matter. She doesn't follow celebrities and would never ask any star for an autograph.

Four girls went out for a meal together. An'an walked briskly across the university playground with her hands behind her back, and she was in a very good mood.

There are many food courts outside the university, mainly catering to the consumption needs of university students.

Because of the temperature in Guangdong, it's still in the twenties even in November.

All you need when going out is a light jacket.

An An found a Korean BBQ restaurant; the prices were reasonable and the food was pretty good.

It's very popular with the girls in her class, and she herself is a frequent customer.

The four girls sat there for a while when suddenly two boys came over to pay the bill.

There's no need to ask; it's obvious he's here to pursue Jiang Tang.

Ginger candy is visually appealing, so it naturally has no shortage of admirers.

Surprisingly, someone else actually wanted to get An An's autograph.

I guess I watched her short drama and recognized her!
It was the first time in her life that An An had signed an autograph, and she was quite excited.

The phone in her pocket rang. An'an answered it and heard that her father had returned from overseas.

"Dad, where are you?"

"I'm at Taiyi Mountain Villa. Do you have time to come back tonight?"

"Yes, is there something you need?"

"It's nothing much, let's talk about it when you get back!"

After hanging up the phone, Chen Pingsheng chatted with Zhang Wanyi and Chu Qiuyan.

TikTok has done quite well overseas; its globalization has been very successful.

His current 2% stake in TikTok is worth approximately tens of billions of US dollars.

He wasn't in a hurry to cash out, but Tengyou Media wanted to acquire the shares.

It has officially become one of the top five shareholders of Douyin Group.

This could be very beneficial for its future stock price, since Tencent Media is fundamentally dependent on the Douyin platform for its growth.

If it becomes a major shareholder of Douyin Group, it will greatly benefit its influence in the industry.

The same applies to future stock prices.

Chen Pingsheng personally doesn't really need these shares anymore; even if he cashes out billions of US dollars, they won't be of much use in the next few years.

He called An'an back because he hoped that during her university years, while pursuing her interests, she wouldn't abandon her mission and identity.

You can't really make acting your main job!

(End of this chapter)