Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 367 The Dramatic Shock in the Financial Markets

"We chose a structure that combines perovskite quantum dots with two-dimensional materials, with the goal of enabling each photon to excite more electrons while ensuring that the movement of electrons is not scattered by phonons."

At the forefront of the laboratory is a thin film deposition device in an ultra-high vacuum environment, as well as a state-of-the-art laser spectroscopy analyzer used to track the dynamic behavior of electron-hole pairs.

The experiment began, and the light source started emitting ultrashort laser pulses. The energy released per second lasted only on the picosecond level, but the instantaneous intensity was enough to excite electrons in the material.

Researchers stared intently at the screen, where data showed that exciton recombination was happening much faster than expected, and energy that might have been lost was now being efficiently converted into electric current.

But there are still hidden concerns behind this success.

Lin Ran said, "The photon transition path still suffers from thermalization. Although the efficiency is close to expectations, we still need to further optimize the matching of exciton recombination and electron transport."

A young scholar leaned closer to the screen, pointed at the image, and said, "Professor Lin, my suggestion is that we could start with ultrafast spectroscopy experiments and then look at the motion and scattering of excitons."

We need more precise control to ensure that every high-energy photon fully participates in electron generation, avoiding any energy loss.

After a month, the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the material has steadily reached 52%.

Although this achievement is not yet ready for industrialization, it has proven that the leap from mathematical theory to single-chip devices is feasible.

The next step is to move from single-chip devices in the laboratory to industrial mass production.

The biggest challenge is how to transform single-chip devices from the laboratory into stable, mass-producible photovoltaic modules.

"Our next challenge is to ensure that these photovoltaic modules can operate stably for at least 25 years in extreme environments, based on low-cost, large-scale production."

"The first step is to scale up the production of materials. Our quantum dot films can be manufactured over large areas by solution deposition, but we must ensure that the material properties are consistent for each batch."

Stability and weather resistance are factors we must consider.

In particular, the stability of perovskite materials is a problem; only by solving it can we move on to the next stage.

Every step of the production process is meticulously designed under digital guidance: temperature, humidity, light, and thermal cycling tests are conducted, and each photovoltaic module undergoes at least 5000 hours of weather resistance testing to ensure its 25-year lifespan.

Despite occasional defects in early batches, the team eventually overcame these technical bottlenecks by continuously adjusting process parameters.

Meanwhile, the photoelectric conversion efficiency remains above 50%, and repeatability is greatly improved.

“I always thought Professor Lin was planning to follow Musk’s path, starting from the fields of aerospace and artificial intelligence. When I saw in the news that Professor Lin had acquired Weibo, I wouldn’t have been surprised. I would have just thought, ‘This has finally happened.’”

These young people work very hard. Whether you have a degree or not, whether you have taken the first step from youth to scholar and obtained a permanent job, everyone here is treated equally. We are all working hard for the same goal.

"Unexpectedly, the crimson was just a smokescreen, or rather, in the professor's work sequence, the breakthrough in photoelectric conversion was more important than artificial intelligence."

Jiang Tailiang sighed as he returned to his dormitory that evening.

Crimson's progress is similar to GPT, but it exhibits stronger characteristics, better responses, and lower illusions than GPT.

It is stronger than GPT, and it is far ahead in the country, truly far ahead.

The existence of Crimson has led to Nvidia no longer allowing the sale of customized, downclocked graphics cards in China, whereas previously they were able to do so.

This is to limit the development ceiling of artificial intelligence in China.

China's lunar cryogenic superconducting chip is a solution, but that's in the future. America is focused on the present. GPT urgently needs to win, and America's capital markets need the present to continue telling this story.

As for sacrificing Nvidia's interests, so be it.

Therefore, from the outside perspective, Lin Ran has always been busy with two things: aerospace and artificial intelligence.

In the realm of space exploration, Musk came first, and Lin Ran followed.

In the field of artificial intelligence, Lin Ran came first, followed by Musk's XAI.

Only the young cattle and horses who are in seclusion here know how meaningful what they are doing is, and how Lin Ran was able to draw the entire map from scratch.

Every breakthrough at any key stage demonstrates masterful mathematical modeling and understanding of physical properties.

In other words, the knowledge they acquire here alone is enough to dominate the field of science for the next twenty years.

This is also why Jiang Tailiang said that; he felt that Lin Ran's energy in photoelectric conversion far exceeded that in artificial intelligence.

With domestic manufacturers and international companies like OpenAI, Google, and Meta as benchmarks in artificial intelligence, the feeling of being the only one standing out is not strong.

Photovoltaics are different.

They often talk about solving fundamental problems that limit photoelectric conversion efficiency.

The fact that the Shockley-Quyther limit has existed for over 60 years proves its difficulty to break.

Finding a solution through experiments alone is no less difficult than finding a needle in a haystack.

"Whether it's Musk or Bill Gates, haven't they always said that energy is the key in the age of artificial intelligence?"

Breakthroughs in photovoltaics may also be laying the foundation for artificial intelligence.

Just like the professor's lunar base, who would have thought before that the ultra-low temperatures on the moon could be used to build a superconducting semiconductor computing center on the moon?

Is it possible that photovoltaics are for the sake of artificial intelligence, and that spaceflight is also for the sake of artificial intelligence?

Whether it's related to artificial intelligence or not, nobody knows.

The truth may simply be that photovoltaic technology is the easiest of all existing technologies to break through, and once broken through, it is the technology most likely to change the world order.

Brain-computer interfaces are not yet mature, artificial intelligence requires breakthroughs in underlying semiconductor materials, and room-temperature superconductivity is too far-fetched. Only photovoltaic energy can be solved by brute force from a mathematical problem.

Springtime in New York City hadn't fully thawed; the chill and New Year's atmosphere hadn't completely dissipated, but the atmosphere in the markets was quite different.

Jack Stewart is a trader at Goldman Sachs. Although he is just a junior trader, he fought his way up from the Ivy League to get a job on Wall Street with a view of New York's iconic buildings.

He sat at his trading desk as usual, his computer screen displaying real-time data from global financial markets.

Suddenly, crude oil prices fluctuated abnormally, a small jump that startled Jack Stewart. "What's going on?" he muttered to himself, quickly moving the mouse to switch between multiple market data screens.

Crude oil prices jumped from $76.90 a barrel to $77.40 a barrel in just ten minutes, before quickly falling back to $76.80.

Such fluctuations are usually triggered by geopolitical conflicts or sudden market news, but there is no major public news at the moment.

The screen displayed little news information, only some general "inventory data" and "America Oil Production" updates.

Jack Stewart rubbed his temples, pondering the true cause of this unusual fluctuation.

Suddenly, several unfamiliar names flashed through my mind: China, photovoltaics, shorting crude oil.

Jack Stewart is a Reddit enthusiast, and it's quite rare for an elite white man like him to frequent Reddit.

What's even more unusual is that he not only enjoys browsing Reddit, but also enjoys browsing sections on Reddit related to China, yet he himself has never set foot on Chinese soil.

Jack recalled seeing posts on Reddit from three American students studying in China who said their professor had disappeared for a long time.

He found this very interesting; China was undergoing tremendous changes, and even the slightest change could trigger a dramatic market reaction.

China's breakthroughs in aerospace and artificial intelligence have become the focus of hype on America TV.

Despite the backdrop of Big T's attempt to make a comeback, this serves as a way to demonstrate China's strength and how poorly the current White House has performed.

But more importantly, the seeds of innovation and the idea of ​​prioritizing science and technology that China has cultivated over decades are beginning to blossom and bear fruit.

This made Jack, who was already paying attention to China, even more concerned. He specifically sent private messages to every Chinese student who mentioned this matter, asking them who their professor was and preferably sending him a Google Scholar page.

Two of them posted, and after reading them, his impression was that both of them focused on areas related to photovoltaics.

This recent memory, if not for the fluctuations in crude oil prices, would not have reminded Jack, and would have gradually sunk into the sea of ​​memories, never to be found again.

But now, he remembered this incident and Jack quickly connected it to the fluctuations in crude oil prices on the screen: "Yes, my gut feeling tells me that the two might be related, and something bigger might be going on behind the scenes."

He quickly switched to a Goldman Sachs report on the global energy market, which contained no particularly noteworthy points regarding the latest developments in China's photovoltaic industry.

Whether it's production capacity, technology, planning, or financial subsidies, it's no different from what he knew in the past.

Jack Stewart used a small amount of capital to buy a large number of crude oil put options and sold all of his oil-related ETFs.

After he completed this operation, he received a call from his boss: "Now, immediately buy all the crude oil put options and sell all oil-related assets!"

The boss only issues instructions and never explains why.

Jack Stewart knew he had made the right move.

His ability to obtain the information meant that the entire trading hall would gradually receive it, and he had already taken a small step ahead, which was enough to earn him a good return.

Sure enough, after he completed the operation, a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) was frantically forwarded by other traders in the Line group, with the title: "Breakthrough in Chinese Photovoltaic Technology: Progress towards 50% Photovoltaic Conversion Rate".

This news was not fully made public; it appears to have been leaked through internal channels. Shortly afterward, China's official energy forum also began to expose the news.

At the International Energy Forum held in Guangzhou, the Chinese government officially announced a breakthrough in photovoltaic technology, with the photoelectric conversion efficiency expected to reach 60%. The related paper will also be published in the latest Nature special issue. Photovoltaic modules based on the new technology are expected to be mass-produced in 2024. This achievement will completely change the global energy market landscape.

This sudden news triggered immediate turmoil in the global energy market.

The global energy market reacted sharply, with crude oil futures prices falling by $2 within 30 minutes, and oil price volatility exceeding the average level of the past few months.

America's energy futures market has seen an unprecedented wave of short selling, with the downward trend in oil prices becoming increasingly apparent.

Amid the market's sharp reaction, crude oil futures prices fell by more than 4% in just one hour, breaking through $73 per barrel.

As the news spread, global energy fund managers and traders began to closely monitor the impact of China's photovoltaic breakthrough.

Panic is becoming increasingly apparent in global capital markets.

Oil stocks saw a significant drop in market capitalization over the following week, particularly large oil companies like Saudi Aramco and Shell, which rely heavily on heavy oil exports, with their share prices plummeting by nearly 15%.

Meanwhile, photovoltaic-related stocks in China, such as LONGi and Tongwei, experienced a surge in the stock market, with their share prices soaring by more than 20% in just a few days.

China's financial team successfully reallocated funds in the photovoltaic sector and made a hefty profit from the US in the crude oil market by mobilizing capital in the capital market.

"This time, they've recouped all the losses from Crude Oil Treasure, including principal and interest, right?"

In 2020, Huaguo Bank suffered a loss of 315 billion RMB, including principal and interest, due to the Crude Oil Treasure product.

"You still need information gaps. Trading with information gaps is so much fun. Just follow the information from the national team, and you don't even have to think too much."

"This year alone, our bank will have an extra 40 billion yuan in profit. I wonder how much the entire national team has made from the capital market."

"Actually, thinking about it, it's quite a rip-off. Old Wu just mentioned Crude Oil Treasure. Back then, Crude Oil Treasure lost investors' money. Now, we're operating with the bank's own funds, and the profits won't be given back to the investors from back then."

"Otherwise? Retail investors are destined to be exploited in the financial market; it's just a matter of who exploits them."

The dialogue that took place at the Chinese bank is just the tip of the iceberg of China's gains in this financial battle.

Jack Stewart at best got a tiny scrap of this cake.

After a short-term plunge, the global crude oil market has entered a period of consolidation.

Crude oil prices have found a new equilibrium point amid dramatic changes in global supply and demand.

But everyone knows that as the commercialization of new photovoltaic technologies accelerates and oil demand is expected to decline, once the global energy supply chain structure is rewritten, it will never return.

Because it was China, not other countries, that achieved the technological breakthrough.

In the hands of Industrial Cthulhu, the power it can unleash is far beyond what any other nation can match.

(End of this chapter)