Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 643 The Valley Dog Team Visits!

Unlike the other office buildings in the headquarters of Zhiyun Group, which are filled with a large number of technical R&D personnel, this small office building does not have many technical personnel. Instead, many of the people in the building look quite energetic and robust.

People in security uniforms can be seen coming and going from time to time.

Because this place is the office building of the security department of Zhiyun Group!
As a behemoth with over 800,000 employees worldwide and operations spanning the globe, Zhuyun Group is not only massive in scale but also possesses countless trade and technical secrets.

In addition, many of the businesses they engage in are quite sensitive, and there are also a large number of classified projects internally, ranging from Project X to quantum computers and so on.

Therefore, Zhiyun Group has very high security requirements and a large number of security personnel. They need to provide regular security services for the group and its subsidiaries in various regions, as well as provide protection for senior executives and high-level scientists, protect confidential projects, and prevent and counter competitors from spying on secrets.

Recently, the security department of Zhiyun Group has been extremely busy... because after the information about the superconducting quantum computer was leaked, a large number of competitors have tried to probe the secrets of the superconducting quantum computer through various means.

In the first week of November alone, the security department of Zhiyun Group cooperated with relevant security agencies to arrest twelve people sent by competitors... and in October, it also cooperated with security agencies to arrest more than forty people from competitors.

This was discovered when there was evidence to lead to an arrest.

As for those who haven't been found yet, who knows how many more are involved...

Within the vast Zhiyun Group, there have long been people sent or bribed by competitors... The security department has also been investigating and cracking down on them.

However, this kind of thing can't be completely eliminated. You're arresting people, but they're sending more... it's endless.

It's been like this before, but the situation has become more severe recently.

In the office on the upper floor of the small building, Chen Qulin, the head of the security department, came downstairs with a recent report, then took a small electric shuttle bus inside the headquarters, and soon arrived at Building A of the headquarters park, which is the office building where Xu Shenxue usually works.

After entering the building, take the elevator all the way up to the 48th floor, which is where Xu Shenxue's office is located.

Building A of the Zhiyun headquarters campus can be said to be the core of power of the entire Xu Group. This office building is divided into many areas, with more than half of the floors being the office areas of the core departments of the Zhiyun Group, including the marketing department, legal and public relations department, administration department, finance department, etc. In addition, the core smart terminal business unit and other departments also work here.

In addition, many floors in Building A were rented to other companies under Xu Shenxue's name, so there are also branch offices or even company headquarters of other companies under Xu Shenxue's name here...

Companies such as Fairy Mountain Holdings, Hailan Auto, Nanmen Aerospace, Yihai Technology Group, Weiku Electronics Group, and Huaxing Technology have all established branch offices here.

Because the upper floors of Building A are occupied by Liuhe Investment Co., Ltd.... and Xu Shenxue's daily office is located in Liuhe Investment Co., Ltd.

On the 48th floor, a considerable area is occupied by Xu Shenxue's personal office, as well as the offices of the board of directors and general manager of Liuhe Investment.

The general manager's office is fine. Xu Shenxue had already restructured the secretaries in the general manager's office of Liuhe Investment. Now, the secretaries' main business is to handle Xu Shenxue's personal schedule. These secretaries are all workplace elites, and the requirements for their abilities and experience are very high... It's not the same concept as the previous personal secretaries.

Of course, Xu Shenxue also has a group of personal secretaries around him now, but they are all under a subsidiary of Liuhe Investment. This subsidiary is specifically used to provide various life services for Xu Shenxue and his family. However, no one mentions the company name, but usually refers to it as the logistics department.

There is a 'Logistics Secretary's Office' in the logistics department, which is personally managed by Lin Yaxian. All the secretaries there are young and beautiful.

Many of the women in Zhihai Garden came from this logistics and secretarial office.

However, the permanent office building of this logistics department's secretariat is not in the Zhiyun Group headquarters, but in Zhihaiyuan. How to put it, although the life secretaries inside do not yet have official titles, many of them are actually Xu Shenxue's women or reserves, so it is naturally not suitable for them to work in the company.

Only when Xu Shenxue comes to work or goes on a business trip will the logistics department's personal secretary occasionally accompany him.

Therefore, there is no so-called logistics department in Building A, and there are no logistics and life secretaries on the 48th floor, only the workplace elite secretaries of the General Manager's Office of Liuhe Investment.

However, the General Manager's Office has only so-so authority, with little influence or real power. The real power and influence belong to the Chairman's Office... Strictly speaking, it should be called the 'Chairman's Office of Liuhe Investment Co., Ltd.'

This is a legitimate authority body. The senior assistants inside are all mid-to-high-level managers, top elites. Each of these assistants is responsible for a specific area of ​​business, providing Xu Shenxue with various consultations and advice...

The value of these assistants can be seen in Xi Wanqing!

What was Xi Wanqing's resume back then? A PhD from Tsinghua and Peking Universities, studying under top domestic economists, she was invited to participate in the interview for the assistant position in the board of directors' office, and ultimately won out from dozens of candidates to successfully obtain the position of assistant in the board of directors' office!
Why by invitation? Because the Board of Directors' Office never publicly recruits. When recruiting, they proactively send interview invitations to qualified candidates, and those who pass the interview are hired.

Those who receive interview invitations from the board's management office are all young and promising top business elites!

The office of the Director and Xu Shenxue are located on the same floor, the 48th floor!

When Chen Qulin went up to the 48th floor, his identity was checked before he could enter... This place was Xu Shenxue's office floor, and because of the presence of the Director's Office, there were too many confidential matters, so it was impossible to let just anyone in... Otherwise, if someone came in and overheard some snippets of conversation in the Director's Office area, they might be able to cause trouble in the stock market!
Many of the senior assistants in the board's office handle large projects worth hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars. Some details of these projects are enough to affect the rise and fall of an industry... These things cannot be leaked, much less known to ordinary people.

Even a security department head like Chen Qulin had to properly verify his identity upon arriving on the 48th floor, then bypass the Dong Jing Office's office area via a special passage, and finally wait outside the General Manager's office area for Xu Shenxue's reception.

Chen Qulin visited Xu Shenxue frequently, and given his special status as the head of security, he was also quite familiar with the director and deputy director of the general manager's office.

After receiving Chen Qulin, a deputy director of the general manager's office asked Chen Qulin to sit in the reception room for a while and have some tea, while he himself went to Xu Shenxue's office to report.

At that moment, Xu Shenxue was reviewing documents when the deputy director of the general manager's office pushed open the door and said, "Chairman Xu, Minister Chen from the security department is here to report on his work!"

Xu Shenxue said without looking up, "Okay, tell him to come in in five minutes!"

"Go on," he said, continuing to bury himself in the document... The document he was looking at was a recent sales report for a virtual device submitted by the marketing department.

According to the report, overall sales of virtual devices continue to grow, with a more significant increase in the domestic market. Sales in the third quarter increased by 8% compared to the second quarter and by 32% compared to the third quarter of last year.

This is a very good sign...

Like many other products from the Zhiyun Group, the domestic market is the most important market for virtual devices, accounting for 38% of sales. The continued growth of the domestic market can effectively drive the overall sales increase.

In terms of virtual device sales, the European market ranks second, accounting for 28% of sales.

Next is the US market, which accounts for about 14% of sales.

Then Japan has 6%.

Next are South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, as well as ASEAN and South American markets... These markets seem large, but due to limitations such as some countries having good economies but small populations, or having a large population but a weak economy, the actual sales volume is very low.

A similar situation exists in the field of intelligent robots, with the main market being China, followed by Europe, then the United States, and then Japan and South Korea, while sales in other secondary markets are not significant.

As for the reason, there's nothing complicated about it; it's simply because smart robots and virtual reality devices are relatively expensive, and these products aren't like cars—they're not necessities…

A consumer will not buy a smart robot or virtual device unless their family's financial situation is sufficiently comfortable.

Sales of these expensive, non-essential devices are heavily reliant on economically developed regions.

This is also why Zhuyun Group has been paying more attention to the US market in recent years... thinking of re-entering the US market.

Currently, the US market accounts for only 14% of virtual device sales... This is clearly inconsistent with the US population and economic situation. Many in the marketing department believe that the US market has great potential.

The problem is that the US market is currently subject to certain restrictions, and we can only use a gray area corporate leasing model. This is not only inconvenient, but it also makes the price of virtual equipment much higher in the US.

For example, an entry-level virtual machine that sells for 260,000 RMB in China would cost around 320,000 RMB in Europe after adding tariffs, local advertising, marketing, operating, and after-sales costs… more expensive than in China, but not by much. In the US market, in addition to the usual overseas sales costs, there are additional costs such as the profit from resellers, ultimately bringing the price of an entry-level virtual machine for permanent rental to 400,000 RMB!
The price is very high!
This price also significantly reduced the sales volume of Zhiyun Group's virtual equipment in the US market... If the price is too high, it won't sell that many units, after all, the number of wealthy people is always limited...

More importantly, although consumers spent more money, Zhiyun Group did not earn more money, since the US market is a special case due to the ban.

The Wisdom Cloud Group gets offshore wholesale prices and can't directly intervene in the retail market. And the American customers who purchase virtual equipment are different from traditional distributors... Their enterprise customers purchase directly and then rent it out.

This is actually exploiting a loophole... because the ban prohibits Zhiyun Group from selling products or providing services to individual consumers in the United States, but the purchase of parts, production equipment, and enterprise services by enterprises are not subject to the restrictions!
Zhuyun Group has too many businesses; even the United States cannot simply cut them off...

Therefore, these companies import virtual equipment under the guise of production equipment, and then provide virtual services to individual consumers under the model of providing enterprise services.

So strictly speaking, at least from a legal perspective, these companies are not selling virtual devices to consumers, but rather providing virtual internet access services... Virtual devices are merely a device carrier for providing virtual internet access services.

As for why customers can take the virtual devices home after paying a one-time purchase lease... there's no rule saying customers can't take the virtual devices home!
It's all about exploiting loopholes!

Of course, any company that dares to openly sell these virtual devices will definitely be fined until it goes bankrupt.

This complex process, which operates in a gray area, not only makes local consumers spend more money, resulting in limited sales, but also means that the extra money spent by local consumers is swallowed up by local secondhand dealers.

Similarly, intelligent robots face the same problem in the US market.

Otherwise, Xu Shenxue wouldn't have made the ban on the sale of intelligent robots and virtual devices to individuals in the US market a major negotiating demand in this round of negotiations on superconducting quantum computers!
If we can reach an agreement and sell directly to individual consumers, the prices of virtual devices and smart robots in the US market can be reduced significantly, thereby increasing sales volume... It's possible that sales in the local market could even double.

After Xu Shenxue finished reading the third-quarter sales report for virtual equipment, the deputy director of the general manager's office also brought Chen Qulin in.

"Chairman Xu, this is the recent security work report!"

“Recently, quite a few people have tried to sneak in. During the screening of social recruitment interviews, we have identified many suspicious targets.”

"For several targets with solid evidence, we have already handed over the relevant information to the security agencies!"

Xu Shenxue glanced at the security report. Ever since the information about the superconducting quantum computer was leaked, there have been a lot of people coming to pry into the secrets...

However, it's not so easy for them to steal the technology... First, they need to infiltrate the Zhiyun Group, a process that requires passing background checks.

Even after joining, given the sheer size of the Zhuyun Group, with its numerous business departments and subsidiaries across various regions, it wouldn't be easy for these infiltrators to be assigned to key technology departments.

Even if you get into a key technology department, it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be in the superconducting quantum computer project team.

To enter a key technical department, especially a department like the superconducting quantum computer project group, requires undergoing a very rigorous vetting process.

Furthermore, once inside, they will be subject to comprehensive surveillance... One of the important tasks of the Zhiyun Group's security department is to prevent technology leaks; they will monitor all technical personnel involved in confidential projects.

If someone has access to a large number of confidential core technical personnel, then they will be protected and monitored in all aspects... In this case, there will be no regard for personal privacy. The mobile phones, computers and other electronic devices used by such core personnel who have access to a large number of confidential information must be company assets and personal devices are not allowed.

Moreover, security departments openly install surveillance software in these devices.

Of course, employees can refuse, but if they refuse, they won't be able to enter these core confidential departments... To enter a highly confidential core R&D department like the superconducting quantum computer project group, the prerequisite is to voluntarily accept comprehensive monitoring.

In such a situation, even if an employee who knows the core secrets wanted to leak the confidential information, it would be very difficult... The security department's big data security system monitors 24/7, from personal electronic device usage records to consumption records, travel records, and so on, all monitored by an artificial intelligence system.

Any abnormality will trigger an alarm immediately.

Such tight technical confidentiality is why Zhuyun Group has not experienced any leaks of key technologies over the years.

The leak of information about the superconducting quantum computer wasn't due to any traitor in the technical department, but rather to an employee in an operations role at a second-generation integrated computing center.

This person, who was an operations and maintenance staff member at the computing center, knew that the computing center had a superconducting quantum computer. One day, while chatting with a classmate, he couldn't help but show off and said that his workplace had a superconducting quantum computer.

Then, while that classmate was online, he happened to see a post discussing quantum computers and replied in the comments that he had a classmate who worked at Zhiyun, and that Zhiyun Group had already started using superconducting quantum computers.

This information immediately sparked discussions among netizens, and eventually attracted the attention of external competitors... Then, illegal individuals from the US sent people to use various threats and inducements to bribe the operations staff of this computing center, and obtained some basic information about the superconducting quantum computer from him... This employee has now been fired and arrested, and will face many years in prison!

Of course, while employees in the operations roles of such computing centers may know of the existence of superconducting quantum computers, they cannot possibly know the detailed technical aspects.

Therefore, the outside world only knows that Zhiyun Group has a superconducting quantum computer, but it is still unknown what performance it has achieved or what technical route it has taken. It can only be speculated.

But soon, they no longer needed to guess... because Zhiyun Group would proactively invite them to view the YCL-52 superconducting quantum computer: a weakened version of the superconducting quantum computer that Zhiyun Group specifically designed for external sales.

By then, they will know some specific performance details, and even some technical details. Of course, knowing these details doesn't mean they can actually do it.

The core technology underlying the most fundamental quantum prediction and intervention algorithm is artificial intelligence, which they cannot handle.

Many things cannot be done simply by knowing some technical routes or principles...

Zhiyun Group's intelligent robots have been on the market for several years, and no one has been able to imitate or replicate them!

A few days later, the headquarters of Zhiyun Group welcomed a visiting team from an important client: Google!
The CEO of Gugou Company personally led the team, which included their quantum computing technology experts and artificial intelligence technical experts!
Their purpose in coming here was simple: to see the legendary superconducting quantum computer with their own eyes!
Let's see if this superconducting quantum computer is worth the huge price they're paying... You know, that bastard Xu Shenxue didn't ask for a low price!

When important clients visited, Xu Shenxue also took the time to accompany them and show them the YCL-52 quantum computer!
When the visiting Google team saw the YCL-52 superconducting quantum computer, they were not surprised at all... It just looked like a super big cabinet, nothing strange about it.

But when they saw the engineers from Zhiyun Group begin demonstrating the specific performance of this superconducting quantum computer, they were finally filled with astonishment...

How is this possible? How is it possible to have more than five thousand controllable qubits?
Furthermore, why does the combination of this superconducting quantum computer and the APO graphics card system result in such a significant increase in total computing power, and why is the training efficiency for big data models so high?

All of this was beyond their comprehension!

Meanwhile, the CEO and other senior executives of Google, seeing the shocked expressions on their scientists' faces, already knew it was true.

Since it's true, we must carefully consider the conditions and strive to acquire this superconducting quantum computer!

According to the demonstration, this so-called integrated computing power system provides more efficient support for artificial intelligence, which can train better artificial intelligence!

The sheer scale of the increase in total computing power and the reduction in cost per unit of computing power are enough to secure victory...

According to engineers from Zhiyun Group and calculations by their own team of scientists, if future new computing centers adopt Zhiyun Group's integrated computing center combining superconducting quantum computers and APO graphics cards, it can effectively reduce computing costs while significantly increasing computing power, thereby training better artificial intelligence.

This will effectively reduce the operating costs of Google's various AI services, while improving the user experience of these services, thereby increasing user stickiness, increasing user engagement time, and ultimately boosting revenue and profits.

The Google team wasn't the only ones with this idea; delegations from Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, and other companies also came and made similar judgments.

We absolutely must get our hands on this superconducting quantum computer!

Even if it comes at a certain cost!

(End of this chapter)