Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 383 Randolph's Tale
Compared to the so-called "China experts" in Washington, Musk is the real China expert, in every respect.

Although he hasn't coached in Foshan, a third- or fourth-tier city in China, like Tim Walz, Kamala's vice-presidential nominee, his understanding of China is ongoing.

The China he understands is the China of 2024, not the China of the last century, not the China of ten years ago.

What we understand is the country's production capacity, manufacturing potential, engineering workforce, and consumer power—the essence of the country and the source of its unprecedented international competitiveness in recent years.

Musk is learning about a new China.

After landing in Shanghai and inspecting the Tesla factory, Musk sat in a Tesla car with his eyes closed to rest. In front of him, besides the driver, was Tom Zhu, the president of Greater China.

After a moment, he said, "Tom, this trip to China has been different from my trips in 2020 and 2023."

China is more confident now.

Musk, unlike those YouTubers who, after the 144-hour visa-free policy was introduced, have special forces soldiers visiting China and constantly raving about the skyscrapers in Shanghai, doesn't find anything particularly special about China's infrastructure.

He observes people.

The US has had skyscrapers for over a hundred years, and in core areas like Silicon Valley, the skyscrapers and technological sophistication are no less than those in China.

Musk senses the differences between people.

"Although salaries have not changed significantly compared to four years ago, we still adjust salaries annually in accordance with Tesla's global strategy to ensure that salaries are competitive in the local market, keep up with inflation, and provide our employees with basic benefits."

Many things haven't changed, but the Chinese employees are more composed than before; this kind of spirit can't be faked.

Musk is certainly a patriot, and he definitely loves America, not China.

China holds enormous commercial interests for him, but he would never entrust his life and fortune to China, not under any circumstances.

Therefore, no matter how well China develops, Musk's benefits from it are limited.

It might not even be a good thing for him; the development of China's new energy vehicle industry has led to a decline in Tesla's sales.

China's domestic telecommunications industry, protection of its domestic internet sector, and stringent domestic regulations on networks have all prevented Starlink equipment from entering the Chinese market on a large scale.

If China were like Europe, composed of many countries, wealthy but not united, with markets but no need to protect its domestic industries, such a China would be far more in his interest than the China it is now.

So, after observing the changes in this ancient country by focusing on the spirit and morale of the Chinese employees, he was filled with mixed emotions. He was glad that America had made the right choice and had not chosen Kamala.

Musk simply cannot imagine how America would compete with China in the current situation if Kamala became president of America.

Don't say that President America has little power. If you want to make changes, curb the deep state, and bring about reform, then President America's power is indeed very limited, and what she can do is very limited. She is often hampered by the entire massive civil service system.

But if you want to dance to the tune of Commissioners Smith and others, to drain the country, empty the congressional budget, and spend money on inexplicable things, you'll find that President America has unlimited power.

The entire civil service system will become your asset; you will be an omnipotent god.

If Kamala is elected, she will clearly be the latter.

A president whose influence comes entirely from the Democratic Party, his identity, and the inertia of the American system has neither the ability nor the will to do the former.

So what good would a president like Kamala do for America? Of course not. The problems that existed in the past would only become more serious, and even if she only served as president for four years, the problems would become too deep-rooted to be solved.

While T may be making changes, it's better to take action than to wait for death. This is the logic of strong people: proactively seeking change is far better than passively waiting to die. Musk also follows the logic of strong people and adheres to the thinking principles of strong people.

"Yes, I feel the same way. In the past, our employees have always been very proactive and enthusiastic about working in America."

"There are some internal transfer programs, offering jobs in America, even in traditional red states like Austin, Texas, or even in mega-factories in Mexico. They're very enthusiastic about it," Tom replied.

Tesla originally planned to build a Gigafactory in Mexico, 20 times the size of the Shanghai Gigafactory. However, the plan was forced to be halted because Tesla's campaign leader claimed that he would impose a 100% or even 200% tax on cars produced in Mexico.

Tom was referring to the past.

Then Tesla has factories in America, as well as Austin, Texas and Fremont, California. There is no doubt that California is much more friendly to minorities.

"But now, especially since last year, there has been a significant decline in enthusiasm."

The data from the backend also reveals a trend: in the past, when positions were offered in America, the application-to-acceptance ratio was generally above 30 to 1; now it's at most 15 to 1. More and more Chinese employees are choosing to stay in China.” Tom Zhu used data as evidence.

Musk still didn't open his eyes. "This is the change that expectations bring," his voice rang clearly in Tom Zhu's ears.

"Yes, a positive outlook is extremely important for a country and for a company."

"This means lower governance costs," Musk added.

Governance has costs.

For example, a positive outlook can slow down employee turnover. If you proactively lay off employees, they won't resign on their own initiative. You won't find yourself training employees only to have them immediately go out and demand higher salaries in the job market.

Employee stability is only a small part of corporate governance costs; other aspects include work focus, work performance, and work enthusiasm.

The positive effects of good expectations cannot be quantified with simple numbers.

Many things cannot be quantified with numbers, if everything could be quantified.

McNamara wasn't exactly in such dire straits during the Vietnam War, but its role was enormous.

This applies to businesses, and it also applies to nations.

To add to that, the relationship between the stock market and the economy is not actually that strong; the stock market is more of a barometer of whether there will be an abundance of funds in the future.

Tom Zhu didn't respond; he knew when to speak and when not to.

Musk then asked, "I'm meeting Randolph tomorrow. What do you think of him as a person?"

After a moment's thought, Tom Ju gave a general definition: "A very intelligent person, I think he is more like a politician than a businessman or a scientist."

"Politician?" Musk repeated the term.

"That's right. Considering his age and his achievements, he has shown very different qualities and behaviors in many things compared to his contemporaries."

He demonstrated extraordinary restraint in a wide range of areas. Generally speaking, Chinese entrepreneurs believe in having it all. When they lack advantages, they compete and strive to win. When they have advantages, they use those advantages to crush their competitors and monopolize the profits.

Take BYD as an example. It has technological advantages, so it chooses to gradually extend its reach to the entire industry chain, either by acquiring shares or by establishing its own subsidiaries, in order to maximize its share in the entire industry chain. For suppliers that are still needed, it adopts the BYD Chain approach to increase their capital costs, so that they can occupy more working cash for one more day, instead of just half a day.

They embody the plunder of classical capitalism.

Even Tencent, one of Randolph's core partners, went through a long process of "I want it all," being warned, named, and disliked by users, before finally changing to a more flexible approach of investment and equity participation to expand its business.

Randolph is completely different from them. Crimson is comparable to OpenAI's GPT on a global scale, and even outperforms GPT in some areas. They can fully leverage this application to build an AI-based ecosystem.

I believe that Randolph only needs to have this idea, and money, people, and resources will naturally be provided to him.

Randolph didn't do that. He saw Crimson as a tool, a tool that anyone could use. Since Tencent and I had a pleasant working relationship in the past and there was no animosity between us, he decided to give this tool to Tencent.

What he seeks is influence, influence within the vast system of China.

Tencent is his leverage, his tentacles; so are state-owned enterprises in China.

He bears no resemblance to any Chinese entrepreneur or scientist; his qualities are entirely different from theirs.

Therefore, from my perspective, "politician" would be a more accurate label.

Tom Zhu then brought up the matter of Lin Ran's father taking over as deputy director of the Center for Advanced Technology. After giving a brief account of the situation, he said quietly, "This matter did not cause a ripple on the Simplified Chinese Internet. Everyone thought it was just a trivial matter."

The Chinese public was very tolerant of Randolph's unusual display of selfishness in this matter.

However, from the perspective of some grassroots and mid-level civil servants I've encountered in Shanghai, this is an awareness that only seasoned veterans who have been in officialdom for many years possess.

This is the sensitivity shown by top politicians.

Musk asked, "Could this be his own selfish motive? Your speculations are a bit too much."

Tom Zhu explained, "No, Elon."

A master in the field of mathematics, Randolph has never made a mistake since founding Apollo Technology. Even Jack Ma has his moments of arrogance, but Randolph never said anything wrong, not even on the moon, and never showed his arrogant side.

I don't think it was intentional.

Moreover, this can also be seen from another perspective as a carefully planned scheme: his parents divorced early in life, and Randolph's relationship with his father was not good. From an emotional point of view, Randolph did not need to compensate his father in this way; on the contrary, his father should compensate him.

When someone who never makes mistakes suddenly makes such an obvious error, there's only one possibility: it was intentional.

After Tom finished speaking, the car fell silent again.

Musk thought to himself, "A politician? Interesting."

He has met many of China's new generation of wealthy people, including some who have taken unconventional approaches, such as Sun Ge, whom he has heard of.

But this is the first time I've heard of a young Chinese tycoon labeled as a politician.

Politics is an art.

Lin Ran's art wasn't honed in 2020, but in the White House in 1960.

The group included Cold War politicians such as the Kennedy brothers, Lyndon Johnson, and Nixon, as well as Kremlin figures like Nikita, Leonard, and Kosygin, all trained through a combination of verbal instruction, personal example, and practical experience in confrontation.

White House politicians are teachers, Kremlin politicians are practical opponents.

Lin Ran gradually developed this style under the influence of mathematical masters.

"Randolph, I've long admired your name."

Lin Ran and Musk met at the foot of the Apollo Technology Building, witnessed by numerous reporters.

First-hand information from the scene was simultaneously posted on Weibo and Twitter.

"Hello, Elon," Lin Ran said as he shook hands.

If at the beginning some people might have called Lin Ran China's Elon Musk, such voices gradually disappeared after Apollo Technology successfully landed on the lunar south pole. Now that the lunar base has been built to its current scale, such voices have vanished completely on the Simplified Chinese internet.

Even on foreign websites, some people think this way. The deeper thought in their minds is, how can Chinese people be better than white people? They use this kind of talk about being a Chinese traitor to elevate the object of comparison.

"It's a pleasure to meet Elon. Today's meeting with Elon will consist of a closed-door meeting and a public dialogue program, which will be broadcast live."

"This is a closed-door meeting. Please wait in the meeting room for a moment." Lin Ran said to the reporters before turning and leaving.

Apollo Technology staff guided Musk to Lin Ran's private office.

Musk's security team waited outside, just like the reporters.

“Elon, just as the broker told you, I hope to make a deal with you,” Lin Ran said.

Musk naturally understood the subtext: Yanjing wanted to make a deal with Washington.

“Please speak,” Musk gestured.

"America has loosened restrictions on the export of semiconductor technology from Japan. We hope to acquire Japanese semiconductor-related technologies in bulk. In exchange, China's lunar laboratory will be open to America's companies, and the semiconductor technology we have accumulated from past observations on the moon will also be made available."

We need to acquire the purchasing rights related to Neon Semiconductor Technology.

In addition, as a gesture of goodwill, China will limit the expansion of its lunar base to the lunar south pole over the next ten years.

Everything else is superficial—lunar technology, lunar cryogenic laboratories—are these valuable? Of course they are.
However, compared to China acquiring Japanese semiconductor technology and being completely freed from constraints in the semiconductor field, the bargaining chips are simply unequal for both sides.

For America, it was merely icing on the cake; for China, it was a lifeline, removing another constraint America could have imposed.

So these are just extras; the real value lies in the last point.

But this is less of a bargaining chip and more of a threat.

(End of this chapter)