What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 394 Unknowable

Compared to the relaxed and amicable year-end meeting of Silicon Carbon Data Company, the meetings of Silicon Carbon Group are much more serious.

Not only was it serious, but the meetings lasted for two consecutive days. In addition to the internal issues and summaries from scratch, there were also various situations in the external supply chain.

Yu Xing needs to conduct a comprehensive review of the electric vehicle project's progress. Similarly, institutional shareholders need to have a more detailed understanding of the vehicle manufacturing situation in order to prepare for the next round of financing.

only……

Xu Xin received the documents from the Silicon Carbon Group on January 10. She studied them from her office to her home, and eventually sat on the sofa, lost in thought.

Li Song has been in high spirits lately. He was initially hesitant about his wife's suggestion, since his Zhenai.com business wasn't completely ruined. However, a situation that was used as an analogy successfully persuaded him.

"Don't tell me your Zhenai.com can't go public. Look at Yu Xing. Baixiaosheng is a listed company, but he can still entrust it to the right people to enter another field. He still does projects unrelated to his background. You, a PhD in finance..."

Because Yu Xing was someone the two of them had watched grow up, and he had even worked as an employee at Zhenai.com for a period of time, Li Song often heard similar comparisons.

This time, he finally stood up for himself and agreed to this project that suited him, expressing his true character: "Short selling is nothing else. Don't be fooled by Yu Xing's ability to build cars. Try letting him short sell. Does he have the guts to fight in the financial market? My wife and I are a perfect match this time!"

Stimulated by finding a new direction, Li Song has been busy and thinking these days, and has also tentatively discussed with his wife a few companies that seem to have problems.

Seeing Xu Xin's silence, and after circling the sofa twice, he couldn't help but sit down next to her, pointing to the documents on the coffee table and asking, "How's it going? How's Yu Xing's project progressing? Any unusual activity?"

The word "abnormal" is a label that the two have been using frequently in their recent communications.

Xu Xin sighed softly, "I don't know."

Li Song was stunned: "You don't know? How could you not know?"

Xu Xin shook her head: "I don't understand, I really don't understand."

Li Song picked up the document, unconvinced, and after flipping through two pages, he saw the first key development described by the Silicon Carbon Group—electric motors.

Silicon Carbon Group and Inovance Technology jointly developed the required motor. By drawing on the HSM motor technology of BRUSA that Inovance had already introduced, and combining it with their own experience in electric control, they chose the permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) as the technical approach.

The current electromagnetic design uses a V-shaped permanent magnet arrangement to optimize the air gap magnetic field distribution and reduce the cogging torque, with the goal of less than 5% of the rated torque. The stator winding adopts the Hairpin flat wire process. However, due to the lack of mature equipment for Hairpin winding processing, a joint development with Suzhou Jufeng Electric was chosen.

The motor's thermal management employs a dual-circulation oil cooling system. The stator windings have built-in cooling channels, while the rotor uses indirect oil cooling. Through ANSYS Fluent simulation, the winding temperature rise is ensured to be less than 80K.

Li Song frowned as he read, and couldn't help but flip through a few more pages, where he saw a description of the first prototype test at the end of December.

——2012年12月13日完成首台100kW电机装配，12月28日启动台架测试。

Preliminary test results indicate that the 95kW power output target was not achieved, and the controller parameters need to be optimized.

— Efficiency 94.5%, with the main losses coming from iron loss and mechanical friction.

—The winding temperature rises to 120 degrees Celsius, which exceeds the design value, and the oil cooling flow rate needs to be adjusted.

Li Song continued reading until he saw the document stating, "Adjust the magnet thickness from 3mm to 4mm to increase the back electromotive force to 380V." He couldn't resist flipping through the document quickly, his eyes filled with various data.

He finally understood why his wife "didn't understand" and "didn't know".

Li Song paused for a moment, then pointed out, "Their motors didn't meet expectations."

“How can such research and development be successful right away?” Xu Xin replied. “They have also provided specific adjustments and optimizations, and we will conduct small-batch verification in the first quarter of this year.”

Li Song actually understood this principle. Looking at the closed document in his hand, a thought popped into his mind: Yu Xing dared to break into the new energy project like this; his courage might not be any less than mine.

Xu Xin sighed, "The problem is, we really can't figure out what this progress means. They've given us information on not only the motor, but also the development of electric drives, batteries, and other technologies. But... I can't just take it to BYD for evaluation, can I? And BYD doesn't follow this technology route."

The project is presented, the documents are provided, and the goals, parameters, optimizations, and validations are all listed, but so what?

Xu Xin used a very apt phrase to describe this situation: "blind men touching an elephant."

Li Song put down the document, casually pulled out a tissue, and wiped his forehead.

Xu Xin was taken aback when she saw this: "You're sweating?"

"Huh? No, uh, well..." Li Song subconsciously denied it, then quickly suggested, "Since you Capital Today invested in this tram, shouldn't you form a team with professional backgrounds to follow up on it?"

Xu Xin glanced at her husband: "You think there's no group?"

Li Song was startled.

Xu Xin shook her head again: "Today Capital specifically hired three people to work on this. They first looked at the documents provided by Silicon Carbon Group, but then they were unable to assess the progress."

Li Song frankly commented: "They were quite honest; they didn't try to fool you."

Xu Xin nodded first, then shook her head: "If they try to fool us, aren't you worried that Yu Xing will bring people to confront us directly? It's not like he's incapable of doing that."

Li Song finally understood the current situation: Capital Today simply did not have the capacity to assess the progress of Silicon Carbon Group.

He reached for the documents on the coffee table again, flipped through them for a while, and said with a wry smile, "Even if you hire people with professional backgrounds, it won't work. This millimeter-wave radar on it uses the CFAR detection algorithm and develops a multi-target correlation algorithm based on the Hungarian algorithm. This project is unique in China, isn't it?"

Li Song recalled that his wife had mentioned the Silicon Carbon Group's investment in a millimeter-wave radar project many times, and that there were supposedly corresponding pilot policies to pave the way for this research and development.

Xu Xin nodded: "It should be unique, or at least one of the most advanced. They've explored the very edge of the domestic industry. Where else can you find someone to give accurate insights?"

Li Song pondered deeply, then suddenly said, "There's another problem. Right now, you don't know exactly what he's accomplished, but even if he does, will he be able to succeed in the market?"

Xu Xin had already thought of this, but hearing her husband say it so bluntly still made her heart beat faster.

Not knowing or understanding something is a bit like randomly picking a stock in the stock market with your eyes closed—it's impossible not to feel uneasy.

The couple fell silent on the sofa.

Because of this newly started business, I feel quite frustrated, as if I don't know where to begin with a goal.

After a long silence, Li Song quietly offered his sincere advice: "Why don't you call and ask Boss Xiong? After all, he's a top-notch horse."

Xu Xin remained calm and readily accepted the suggestion: "Well, let's ask him what he thinks. IDG has also set up a small team with an automotive industry background, with 10 people, which is quite a lot. They've also invested in some upstream and downstream projects."

Compared to Capital Today, IDG has been more aggressive in its search for opportunities in the new energy industry after investing in Silicon Carbon Group.

Xu Xin took a couple of sips of herbal tea, cleared her throat, and then called Xiong Xiaoge, getting straight to the point by asking for his opinion on the overall progress of the silicon carbon group. There was a brief silence on the phone before the other person's voice came through.

"Uh……"

This hesitation immediately caused Xu Xin and Li Song to exchange glances, both noticing the smiles appearing on each other's faces.

Xiong Xiaoge gave his evaluation: "It's alright."

It's "uh" and "ba" again...

Xu Xin snorted inwardly; even a top-class horse was just so-so.

She pressed further, "Mr. Xiong, what is the basis for your assessment?"

Xiong Xiaoge answered without hesitation: "I asked President Yu, and that's exactly what he said. That's exactly what he said. I was afraid you would misunderstand, so I didn't change a single word."

— Well, it's alright.

Xu Xin could almost hear Yu Xing's voice.

She said, both amused and exasperated, "You just believe what he says?"

Xiong Xiaoge asked with a rare hint of helplessness, "Then what should we do? I don't quite understand."

Xu Xin criticized, "Is this how you become a top-tier horse?!"

Xiong Xiaoge scoffed: "Then what do you mean by calling me? Don't tell me you can figure out the current situation of the Silicon Carbon Group."

"Forget it, there's nothing to say to you. I might as well just ask President Yu directly." Xu Xin chose to end the call, but did not call Yu Xing back after hanging up.

At this moment, Li Song suddenly offered a very constructive suggestion: "How about this! Let's get Silicon Carbon Group listed as soon as possible. If we know in advance that things aren't going well, we'll find an opportunity to short it and hedge our position!"

Xu Xin frowned and pondered, "This is insider trading, isn't it?"

Li Song immediately said, "So, if we really have to do that, we absolutely mustn't let it get found out."

Xu Xin relaxed her brow. Indeed, insider trading that wasn't uncovered wasn't insider trading.

Now that things have come to this, there's nothing we can do but stick together and move forward together.

……

Lunar New Year's Eve in 2013 was on February 9th.

Because of the complexity of R&D and projects involved in the Silicon Carbon Group, Yu Xing was very busy even after the meeting. In addition to exchanging progress with everyone and summarizing gains and losses, another important task before the end of the year was to budget different R&D projects for the new year.

Yu Xing still had some money left from pledging Baixiaosheng shares, and the Carbon Silicon Group had also received a total of $5000 million in investment support from Zhang Chaoyang, Ding Lei, Alibaba, and Tencent, making its accounts more financially secure than expected.

The Silicon Carbon Group's internal staff and supply chain partners were aware of this $5000 million financing and hoped to secure more investment or grants for their own projects and R&D.

With the Lunar New Year approaching, there were naturally no rebates or subsidies, but small gatherings of local specialties and toasts to express goodwill quickly became frequent.

It's Chinese New Year, and since we're already here, we shouldn't be rude to someone who's smiling at us. Everyone has their own version of events...

Yu Xing was so busy with these things that he gained two pounds.

As of January 23, with the holiday approaching, the budget arrangement was barely satisfactory to everyone.

Well, I still want to thank our internet peers for their strong support of the Silicon Carbon Group.

On the 25th, after Yu Xing gave everyone a big red envelope, the acquisition deal between Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors finally came to a close.

Nissan acquired a 34% stake in Mitsubishi Motors for $20.74 billion, becoming its largest single shareholder. This also signifies that the Renault-Nissan Alliance will become the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, and marks the third coronation for the automotive tycoon Carlos Ghosn.

Based on this transaction, Mitsubishi Motors' overall market value is $61 billion, which is 3% cheaper than its $88.2 billion value before being shorted.

Therefore, Nissan saved $9 million by making a single cut across the mountain peak, which can be considered a huge profit.

This acquisition has many interesting aspects. For example, the 34% stake gives Nissan a shareholding of just over one-third, granting it veto power in major decisions while avoiding the obligation to make a full takeover offer.

It can be said that Ghosn's calculations were spot-on, acquiring Mitsubishi Motors at almost minimal cost, and perhaps he can once again achieve the synergistic effect of the automotive alliance and continue to create new glories.

Yu Xing and Liu Wanying had repeatedly studied Ghosn's decisions and ideas, and they knew what was going on when they saw the final disclosed acquisition information.

However, the final outcome of this automotive alliance remains to be seen, but Mitsubishi Motors' funding has finally been arranged to be disbursed gradually as the stock rebounded after the acquisition was completed.

With the year-end approaching, at least the mountain peak's payment has not been delayed.

Yu Xing and Liu Wanying both breathed a sigh of relief, finally able to complete the short-selling process and wait for the profits to come in.

With the support of veteran internet companies and the assistance of new seniors in the automotive industry, the design was finalized, the three-electric system was promoted, and the radar was optimized. Well, that's how it is, everyone has a satisfactory outcome.

Yu Xing felt a pang of emotion, and resolved to carry on in the new year, carrying everyone's expectations and the illusion of deception together.

However, the impact of Nissan's acquisition of Mitsubishi is not limited to Japan; it has also affected manufacturers in China.

Tan Yongze was living a comfortable life as the deputy general manager of GAC Mitsubishi, but he never expected that his position would be suddenly adjusted to be in charge of automotive-related matters as the Spring Festival approached.

Car accessories?
He was utterly astonished and went to the general manager to question the reasons for the adjustment.

"Old Tan, Mitsubishi has made a move. They're demanding that we integrate our operations as well. I can't do anything about it. The Japanese are going to send in more people, so you'll have to go and get used to it first."

Tan Yongze became agitated: "What am I supposed to adapt to? What the hell is this 'car-related stuff'? What am I supposed to do?"

The general manager said coldly, "Then you can choose not to do it. The Japanese side has parachuted in, what can I do? The number of joint ventures in China has reached a certain level, and we still need to integrate them later. If it really doesn't work out, you can take a break. It's almost Chinese New Year, so you can go out and make connections and see if there are any better opportunities. That's all fine."

According to policy, foreign-invested automobile companies can only establish two joint ventures in China, and GAC Mitsubishi and Southeast Mitsubishi may still have some plans.

Upon hearing this, Tan Yongze felt as if he had been doused with a bucket of cold water, and could only helplessly accept reality.

This time, the automotive industry has really gone too far...

(End of this chapter)