What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 452 Frontier
By April, not only Today Capital, but also Zhejiang Industrial Investment and Qiming Venture Partners had expressed their interest in the development of Carbon Silicon Data Company.

This wasn't because Carbon Silicon Data encountered any problems; it was simply because a major internet event had caught everyone's attention—Alibaba officially announced the formal launch of its US listing process.

Since Alibaba's B2B business was delisted from Hong Kong, everyone knew this day would come sooner or later. However, no one expected that a strong confrontation would occur between Alibaba and Tencent, and that Alibaba would forcefully take a piece of Tencent's core business.

Alibaba's upcoming IPO has generated considerable buzz in the industry, with many analyzing its upcoming financing and expected market capitalization.

It is said that this IPO is likely to raise at least $150 billion, and may even break the record for the largest financing by a tech stock, which would mean that it can compete with globally renowned companies such as Facebook and Google in terms of market capitalization.

In comparison, JD.com, which is expected to be listed in May, appears much less impressive. Its valuation is estimated at two to three hundred billion US dollars. Of course, this number is still huge, but it has indeed been overshadowed by Alibaba.

Yu Xing heard similar comments from investors and was somewhat impressed. He privately told Liu Wanying, "Alibaba's IPO was aimed at two or three hundred billion US dollars. They really know how to do things right."

"What? You think going over the mountain peak is just a small fry?" Liu Wanying understood what Boss Yu meant, and glanced at him sideways. "How many Alibabas are there in the world? How many Facebooks? And how many short sellers can cause a drop of one or two hundred billion dollars in a short period of time?"

As she said this, she suddenly pretended to realize something: "Oh right, short selling is really nothing special. I still have a few suspected cases."

Yu Xing laughed and said, "I just feel that things are in turmoil. What you have can no longer be called suspected. The fraud by Volkswagen and Renault is too easy to replicate."

“Yes, more and more problems have also emerged with the materials tested by Kobe Steel. It seems that its situation is not accidental or an isolated case.” Liu Wanying said, then changed the subject, “But I’m not talking about them when I say suspected. I plan to study the clues I’ve screened after this automotive industry event is over. Companies like Toshiba and HTC seem to have some merit.”

After posting my email address, I received many seemingly plausible but ultimately false messages. Most of them were easily identified as useless after simple analysis, and a few were not problematic after careful scrutiny. However, some of the messages were quite well-organized, which required more time to verify.

For Toshiba, Liu Wanying commissioned a third-party industry research institution to conduct a preliminary study under the guise of "a case study of real industry conditions." Overall, the study was not very effective, and many parts were just perfunctory. However, some details are worth discussing.

For example, Toshiba's nuclear power plant supporting projects in Japan have a gross profit margin of 18%, while similar projects have a margin of around 10%. At the same time, Japanese media also reported that this project suffered cost overruns due to rising raw material prices.

In addition, Toshiba just released its financial report for last year a couple of days ago. Liu Wanying cross-checked it with the abnormal retained earnings and found no such impairment reflected in the report, which further raised Toshiba's rating.

The devil is in the details.

However, whether it's a minor devil, a medium-sized devil, or a major devil requires further investigation.

No company is perfect; what's needed to overcome the challenges is to become a powerful force capable of driving down stock prices.

“HTC has been involved in patent litigation for the past two years.” Upon hearing these two names, Yu Xing’s first thought was about HTC’s current situation. He then chuckled and added, “Is Toshiba also a suspect? I received a WeChat message from Lao Xiong the day before yesterday, saying that the Japanese media gave Guo Shanfeng the nickname ‘Short-Selling Immortal.’ Are you really going after him?”

Liu Wanying pressed her right hand against her waist and smiled coldly: "Having slaughtered a million soldiers in Jiangnan, the blood on the sword at my waist is still fresh."

Yu Xing remained silent. This was not an immortal, but a demon lord.

Japanese media, unaware of the true demon lord, only incessantly ask for his name.

He pondered the confirmed, the impending, and the doubted, and after a moment said, "Japanese corporate culture isn't as good as it's advertised. If Toshiba really has problems, I suspect it's a long-term, systemic kind of fraud, similar to Mitsubishi's."

It's not a day, a month, or a year, but rather three, five, or even ten years, similar to Mitsubishi's approach.

Liu Wanying smiled slightly: "Is President Yu going to become a business philosopher? After a scam occurs, you can always analyze various reasons, but cross-validation of scams makes them much simpler."

"I just feel like the devil is always one step ahead of the saint. After this, the emission standards for cars will definitely change," Yu Xing sighed. "Speaking of which, Vanilla's Pearson still hasn't apologized."

Liu Wanying offered a strong interpretation: "Pearson may have initially wanted to apologize, but after seeing how many competitors the 'Over the Peak Camp' exposed, he changed his mind and might now be thinking about keeping his CEO position."

Yu Xing was both amused and exasperated; perhaps this was indeed close to the truth.

Liu Wanying thoughtfully brought up another matter: "After these few times, no one has said that we're only targeting Chinese concept stocks anymore. Domestic leads are actually easier to verify..."

“Ms. Guo Shanfeng, tone down your murderous intent, it’s giving me goosebumps.” Yu Xing’s thoughts jumped around, “You just mentioned Toshiba. If Toshiba really has problems, it’s probably inseparable from its home appliance business, which has been severely impacted in recent years.”

He still remembers the prosperity of Japanese home appliance brands when he was a child, but now he is increasingly affected by China and South Korea, including in consumer electronics.

If we speculate from this perspective, Toshiba does indeed face urgent pressure to change. In addition, the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan that was involved in the 2011 earthquake and accident was jointly built and managed by Toshiba, which must have been a heavy blow as well.

"Haste makes waste," Liu Wanying commented simply, then changed the subject, "You're not in a hurry to build cars, though."

Yu Xing couldn't help but sigh: "I'm anxious too, but when I think about how senior companies in the automotive industry like Mitsubishi, Renault, and Volkswagen are willing to help, I think it's okay to go it slow."

Liu Wanying walked up behind Yu Xing with a smile and gave him a massage on the shoulder: "I believe that the Carbon Silicon Group will definitely succeed."

“There’s no such thing as certainty.” Yu Xing patted Xiao Ying’s hand in return.

"There's no certainty, but I believe that a company founder who has personally witnessed and orchestrated the exposure of a car company's fraudulent practices would be more assertive in upholding quality," Liu Wanying stated objectively.

Yu Xing was not modest at all: "That's for sure. It's called choosing the good and following it, and correcting the bad."

……

On the first weekend of April, the Silicon Carbon Group, located in Lingang, welcomed a guest from Baidu.

As the vice president of Baidu's Institute for Deep Learning (IDL), Yu Kai set his final target for entrepreneurial exploration outside the company as Silicon Carbon Group.

IDL was conceived two years ago and established last year. It is the first deep technology research and development institution in China established according to the highest international standards, belonging to the forefront of China's internet industry. The dean is none other than the head of the company, Li Yanhong. Regardless of its research and development strength on paper or the importance given to it by the company, it is quite impressive.

However, from last year to this year, Yu Kai has increasingly felt that Baidu is not very interesting. What he wants to do is artificial intelligence, deep learning, and the joint optimization of software and hardware, from software to chips.

However, Baidu's main focus here is on enhancing its advertising revenue function.

Therefore, Yu Kai had the idea of ​​starting his own business outside. After much thought, he decided to focus on intelligent driving solutions and even came up with a name for the company: "Horizon Robotics".

He wanted to resign immediately, but having just helped Baidu poach Andrew Ng, a big name in the field of artificial intelligence from the United States, he felt too embarrassed to turn around and leave. So he could only use the weekend to visit domestic car companies first.

From Changan and Great Wall to Geely, GAC and BYD, Yu Kai visited several representative companies, but the more he visited, the more disappointed he became. By the time he reached the last company, Silicon Carbon Group, which he had initially placed high hopes on, he had lost much of his interest.

Intelligent driving solutions are still too advanced in China.

Comparatively speaking, Baidu, which established an autonomous driving exploration team last year, has shown foresight. Of course, this also reflects its awareness of the research directions of foreign companies such as Google.

When Yu Kai arrived in Lingang, he couldn't make an appointment with Mr. Yu from the Silicon Carbon Group. He originally planned to go straight back to Beijing, but there were former colleagues from Baidu at the Silicon Carbon Data Company in Lingang, so he met with them and waited another day before the head of Silicon Carbon finally arrived.

His first impression of President Yu was that he was young and handsome, and he felt that he was somewhat similar to his own President Li.

"Mr. Yu, are you also interested in trams?" Yu Xing exchanged simple pleasantries, unsure of the other party's purpose. He had originally intended to have someone else entertain him, but after being recommended and introduced by Zhai Yifei on WeChat, he took the time to come and meet him.

Yu Kai nodded, his initial excitement long since worn down by the current situation, and said calmly, "Yes, Mr. Yu, there aren't many companies in China that are seriously making electric cars, so I'm very curious about the situation at Silicon Carbon Group."

He meant it sincerely, which is why the Silicon Carbon Group was the last target on the list to be visited.

"Haha, we are indeed very serious, Mr. Yu. Come on, let me take you for a ride in our car." Yu Xing invited the visitor to experience the prototype car as usual.

Yu Kai was curious about the electric car from the Silicon Carbon Group, but he had experienced Tesla when he was in Silicon Valley. Although he was somewhat surprised by the level of completion of "Jiuzhou", he was not really excited.

After wandering around twice, his recent enthusiasm for investigation completely faded, and he firmly decided to continue supporting Andrew Ng and other overseas returnees through Baidu.

Yu Kai thanked President Yu, and as they returned to the office building, he suddenly noticed a group of staff members busy on the roof of a prototype vehicle. He casually asked, "President Yu, what kind of equipment are they installing?"

Yu Xing glanced at it and casually replied, "They're testing our supplier's products, they make lidar."

Yu Kai stopped in astonishment, looked at President Yu, and repeated four words: "LiDAR??"

“Yes, but that’s just a prototype.” Yu Xing, knowing Linggang Company’s progress in developing lidar, explained briefly, “We’re still in the exploratory stage right now, and mass production isn’t possible yet.”

Yu Kai's emotions were starting to surge, and he pressed on, "What are you going to do with lidar?"

Yu Xing replied succinctly, "It's for testing travel plans."

"No, Mr. Yu, you..." Yu Kai didn't expect to suddenly hear about the field he had been pondering recently. He was stunned for a while before organizing his thoughts and asked directly, "Carbon Silicon Group is interested in intelligent driving? You make LiDAR for that? Which company makes this LiDAR?"

“This is not a product we are currently looking to mass-produce, but intelligent driving is definitely a future direction.” Yu Xing was a little surprised by Yu Kai’s reaction. “Baidu and we have the same idea? I know Baidu has been exploring this area.”

“Baidu…” Yu Kai hesitated for a moment before saying, “Mr. Yu, to be honest, I am interested in intelligent driving solutions and am considering starting a business in this area. Specifically, I am thinking of making chips for intelligent driving.”

Yu Xing was even more surprised, digesting the information in those words.

Even though Yu Kai had only seen the lidar and hadn't heard anything more, he felt a sense of regret for not having met it sooner. This was something he had only encountered after traveling all over the country!

He continued, "I think electric cars have a bright future, and intelligent driving will be an important direction. Similarly, intelligent robots are the same. I hope to try to be the Intel of the intelligent and robotic era."

Yu Xing nodded and said sincerely, "It's a bit difficult, but it's very good."

At that moment, Yu Kai felt an urge to hug President Yu.

He finally couldn't help but mention the reaction he encountered when describing this career direction to Baidu: "Mr. Yu, I talked about these things at Baidu, about going from software to chips, and about doing software and hardware optimization solutions, but they didn't understand. Damn it, they think Baidu's current business model is very good, the software is OK, the software is too damn OK, and going to do chips and get involved in hardware is a boring thing!"

Yu Kai's pent-up frustration erupted into a torrent of words, and he bluntly pointed out: "I've talked to Robin several times, and he's unwilling to get involved in the arduous and exhausting manufacturing industry. Your Silicon Carbon Group... how come you're getting involved in this area now?"

Robin is Li Yanhong's English name.

“Electrification and intelligentization will be the two major directions for the future.” Knowing the current situation, Yu Xing was not so excited. He carefully said, “President Yu, we have only just started and have not yet achieved any results. Moreover, judging from the current performance of LiDAR, there are great difficulties in the signal fusion and processing between it and the camera.”

After thinking for a moment, he said seriously, "On the contrary, millimeter-wave radar and camera processing are very complementary."

Upon hearing this, Yu Kai was even more surprised.

At that moment, a strong sense of regret welled up inside him. Oh no, he'd made a mistake! He shouldn't have recruited Andrew Ng for Baidu; he should have recruited him for Lingang…

Yu Kai sighed sincerely. No, President Yu and President Li are nothing alike.

After a few seconds of hesitation, he blurted out, "President Yu, your Lingang should establish a deep learning research institute. I support you in creating a new deep learning academy..."

(End of this chapter)