Tech startup: I really do make mobile phones!

Chapter 236 You Are In Me
Shared meeting center, 10th floor, Building B, Yuancheng Building.

The afternoon sunlight streamed through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, casting a slanted shadow on the long conference table, making the projected words "Zhicheng Centralized Procurement 2012 Shareholders' Meeting" appear somewhat unreal.

The figures of the attendees intertwined in the light and shadow, creating a subtle and quiet atmosphere.

Zeng Baifang, the general manager of Zhicheng Procurement, stood in front of the main seat, wearing a sharp dark gray suit, holding a neatly bound report in his hand.

His gaze swept over the representatives from all sides present, his voice clear and steady.

"Thank you all for taking the time to attend the meeting!"
Today's meeting has three main agenda items: reviewing last year's performance, clarifying the profit-sharing plan, and voting on the addition of new members.

As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand to switch the projector. A set of concise yet powerful data was displayed:

"Last year, the total order amount of our four members through the Zhicheng centralized procurement platform reached 43.44 billion yuan."

Zeng Baifang paused, letting the number settle in the air.

Behind this is the implementation of 62 unified standards for Zhicheng, the internal free sharing of 126 public version technologies, and the circulation of more than 6800 million core components that meet the unified procurement standards.

The overall profit margin remained at 4.2%, with net profit reaching approximately 1.82 million yuan.

The soft sounds of pages turning and pens scratching filled the conference room.

Gong Yun from the logistics department of Orange Technology carefully circled the "62 standards" in her notebook.

The Asia-Pacific purchasing manager of Pingguo Company leaned back slightly in his chair, his fingertips tapping lightly on the smooth tabletop unconsciously. His gaze swept over the numbers without any ripples, as if this was just an insignificant daily routine.

Tesla's CTO was looking down, quickly converting currencies on his phone, a barely perceptible smile playing on his lips.
This profit, converted into US dollars, is indeed not even a ripple in Tesla's grand business empire.

"Regarding the allocation of funds," Zeng Baifang's voice drew everyone's attention back.

"We have initially set aside 2730 million yuan as operating and R&D costs for the platform this year."

Of the remaining 1.547 million yuan in profit, half, or about 7735 million yuan, will continue to be invested in strategic investment and preliminary research on key materials in the upstream of the smartphone industry chain.

Ultimately, the funds available for shareholder dividends were determined to be 7735 million yuan.

He read out the allocation plan clearly, word by word.

"Based on shareholding ratio."
Orange Technology holds 40% of the shares and received a dividend of 3094 million yuan.

Pingguo Company holds 30% of the shares and received dividends of 2320.5 million yuan;

BubuGao Group holds 20% of the shares and received a dividend of 1547 million yuan.

Tesla holds a 10% stake and received a dividend of 773.5 million yuan.

Upon hearing this, Gong Yun nodded slightly and wrote down the string of numbers in her notebook.

The senior vice president of Bubu Ointment raised his eyes and whispered to his assistant to confirm the amount.

The person in charge of Pingguo simply gave an indifferent "hmm". For him, the core value of Zhicheng's centralized procurement lies in helping the fruit chain to stably procure components that meet the stringent standards of the orange industry.

This small dividend is more like a piece of candy picked up on a whim—sweet, but not enough to truly excite you.

"Next, let's look at this year's order requirements!"

Zeng Baifang turned to the next page of the report, his tone becoming slightly serious.

"Zhicheng's centralized procurement system implements a shareholder member order commitment system."

In 2012, each member's minimum purchase amount on the platform was no less than US$1000 million, equivalent to approximately RMB7000 million.

Please make sure you pay attention to this and complete it.

After announcing this mandatory rule, Zeng Baifang turned to the side and looked at the two new faces sitting at the end of the conference table.

"Now, please allow me to introduce two prospective members."

This is Mr. Lin Bin, co-founder of Wheat Company, recommended by Orange Technology;

This is Mr. Lu Zuohu, Vice President of Green Factory, recommended by Bubu Gao.

According to Zhicheng's centralized procurement charter, the admission of new members requires a vote by the existing four shareholders, with approval granted by more than two-thirds of the shareholders.

Lin Bin and Lu Zuohu immediately straightened their backs, their faces bearing just the right smiles, their eyes a mixture of anticipation and caution.

As soon as Zeng Baifang finished speaking, Gong Yun took the lead in raising her hand. Her movements were decisive, and her fingertips landed steadily on the edge of the table, indicating Orange Technology's stance.

The vice president of Bubu Ointment raised his hand at almost the same time, and the two men's eyes met briefly in the air, a knowing smile flashing across their faces.

This was clearly a tacit understanding that Chen Mo and Shen Yiwei, the two big shots, had communicated beforehand.

Zeng Baifang's gaze swept over the representatives of Pingguo and Tesla: "Which other shareholders agree?"

The person in charge of Pingguo frowned almost imperceptibly, quickly calculating in his mind: oranges (40%) plus step-by-step ointment (20%) already accounted for 60%, which was more than half. Even if he and Tesla objected, they could not change the result.

He glanced at Tesla's technical director next to him, who shook his head almost imperceptibly.

The two quickly reached a consensus: rather than needlessly offending their partner, they should do him a favor.

So, almost the next second, both hands were raised one after the other.

"Unanimously approved!" Zeng Baifang announced with a smile.

Lin Bin and Lu Zuohu immediately stood up and bowed slightly to the four shareholders to express their gratitude.

Lu Zuohu added in a loud voice, "Thank you for your trust! After Green Factory joins, we promise that our annual orders on the platform will never be less than 1000 million US dollars!"

Lin Bin also followed suit and expressed his opinion.

"The wheat company also solemnly promises!"

"Regarding equity dilution, I would like to give you a brief explanation here."

Zeng Baifang presented the updated equity structure table.

"The newly added wheat and green factories will each hold 10% of the shares, and the shareholding ratios of the original four shareholders will be diluted by the same coefficient."

具体为：橙子科技从40%降至32%，平果从30%降至24%，步步膏从20%降至16%，特斯啦从10%降至8%。

The relative shareholding positions of all shareholders remain unchanged, with Orange Technology remaining the largest shareholder.

After the meeting, Gong Yun, holding detailed meeting minutes, quickly walked to Chen Mo's office to report.

Chen Mo sat on the comfortable sofa, stroking a simple and elegant small celadon cup in his hand. After listening to Gong Yun's report, he nodded gently.

"This is a good start!"

He paused, his gaze seemingly piercing through the wall, looking out the window at the ever-growing industrial park.

"Although we will gradually lose our absolute dominance in Zhicheng's centralized procurement as more peers join, this is to be expected."

Most of the generic technologies circulating on the Zhicheng platform originate from our Orange Group.

Our initial intention in creating it was never to make money from dividends. Its purpose was simply to help Orange Group sell more components and establish a de facto standard – that's enough.

He picked up a technical document about mobile phone batteries from the table and gave Gong Yun an example: "Look, it's like the mobile phone batteries we have now."
Zhicheng's unified procurement has established 16 public standards, 12 of which are based on the shape and interface standards of our Yuancheng New Energy's 'gas-state lithium' batteries.

This means that whether it's Apple, Bubugao, or the newly joined OPPO, as long as they adopt the SmartCheng standard, their mobile phone hardware design must be adapted to our battery specifications.

Conversely, other battery suppliers who want to enter these companies' supply chains must also comply with the battery standards we have set.

A calm and confident smile appeared on Chen Mo's lips.

"The real profit prospects and strategic value of intelligent centralized procurement have never been in the centralized procurement business itself, but in the ubiquitous standard patents built through these components."

Pingguo and Tesla don't care now simply because they think we lack the foundation to develop a continuous stream of exclusive technologies, and that one day we will be surpassed or left behind.
By the time they realize this and try to start from scratch, they will find that our standards have already taken deep root in the global mobile phone industry, like tree roots. When they try to cut us off, it will take at least half their lives! "Yes! In some areas that Chen Mo may not have fully anticipated, Orange's standards are indeed quietly embedding themselves into the global supply chain in another way, and not just in the mobile phone industry.

The landscape of the global optical glass industry is currently undergoing subtle but significant changes.

North American Kangning is making a big splash, investing billions of yuan to build a factory in China, leveraging its capital advantage to massively seize the lower-tier market, and constantly launching attacks on the mid-range market.

Deguo Xiaote, relying on its century-old technological foundation, dominates the high-end optical glass market and often transfers some "outdated" technologies to "undercut" the mid-range market.

Neon Asahi, once the dominant player in the mid-range market, has been facing increasing pressure from both above and below in recent years, with its survival space constantly being squeezed. Its technological and production capacity upgrades have always lagged behind, putting it in a difficult situation.

Earlier this year, Masao Kobayashi, executive director of Asahi Shimbun, met with Ming-Che Chou, technical director of Orange Microelectronics, in Tokyo through the introduction of Kenichi Tanaka, chief technology officer of Mori Crystal.

When Masao Kobayashi saw the rough optical glass blank of Orange Glass, named "Phoenix Glass FH Series," with his own eyes, and its exaggerated performance parameters, it was as if he saw a ray of light in the darkness.

The two hit it off immediately.

Xuxiao provides the brand and distribution channels, while Chengke provides the core technology and rough blank production.

Thus, a "CX series" optical glass blank, based on OrangeTech's "Phoenix Glass FH-2.0" technology and upgraded with a new look, was born.

Although it is still slightly inferior to the latest products from Kangning and Xiaote in terms of absolute top-level parameters, its excellent cost performance and balanced performance immediately reversed the decline of Xuxiaozi in the mid-range market.

This "CX series" preform retains the chemically strengthened substrate and excellent optical properties of Phoenix Glass FH-2.0.

After arriving in Japan, Asahi Shimbun, based on its accumulated technology and the needs of the mid-range market, carried out subsequent grinding, polishing and coating finishing to form a unique standardized product.

It focuses on two main areas: consumer electronics (mobile phone camera lenses) and automotive optics (ADAS driver assistance lenses).

The core parameters show balanced performance:

The visible light transmittance reaches 91%, which is less than the original FH-2.0's 93%, but far exceeds the 88% of traditional glass.

After chemical strengthening, the flexural strength reaches 400MPa, which fully meets the durability requirements of mid-to-high-end equipment.

More importantly, its production yield is far higher than that of Asahi's old product line, with a 50% increase in daily output per mold and a significant reduction in costs.

The market response was explosive.

The CX series enabled Asahi Shimbun to achieve a "comeback".

In its first month on the market, shipments exceeded 1200 million units, a 210% increase month-on-month, quickly regaining some lost ground.

Its share of the global mid-range optical glass preform market rebounded from 8% to 15%, regaining its place among the top three in the industry.

What customers value is its "cost-effectiveness".

Its performance is sufficient to meet the needs of mid-range products, but its price is only 75% of that of Kangning and 80% of that of Xiaote.

The brand reputation of Chengke's "Phoenix Glass" has thus begun to take root in the international mid-range market.

What truly unsettles global optics giants is OrangeTech's higher-end "Phoenix Glass FH-3.0" blank.

After purchasing FH-3.0 blanks at a high price, Deguo Xiaote, with its unparalleled chemical strengthening and precision pretreatment processes, maximized the potential of this "rough gem".

The process was then handed over to optics giant Zeiss for nanoscale grinding, exclusive multi-layer coating, and optical precision calibration.

The final high-end optical components (used in professional SLR lenses, automotive LiDAR, and industrial high-resolution imaging mirror core components) have achieved a generational performance breakthrough.

Optical transmittance is approaching the theoretical limit.

The average transmittance in the visible light band is 99.8%, with a peak transmittance as high as 99.92%.

The near-infrared transmittance remains stable at over 98.5%.

This means that when used in SLR cameras, the amount of light entering the camera at night is increased by 15%;

When used in lidar, the detection range is extended from 200 meters to 280 meters, and the signal loss rate is reduced by 40% in adverse weather conditions.

Mechanical strength that defies expectations:

Its flexural strength reaches up to 680MPa, surpassing that of some high-end sapphire glass;

It has excellent impact resistance and can adapt to harsh environments such as industrial testing and outdoor exploration.

Optical uniformity and imaging accuracy reach the "diffraction limit".

The refractive index deviation is extremely small, the wavefront distortion value is only λ/20, and the surface accuracy error is almost zero.

It can completely eliminate edge chromatic aberration during photography, meeting the high-precision requirements of semiconductor inspection.

It has excellent environmental adaptability: temperature range of -60℃ to 2850℃, corrosion resistant, anti-glare and anti-fouling.

Ensures stable performance in extreme environments and greatly extends service life.

In short, FH-3.0 is currently the most perfect optical glass blank in the world. It becomes stronger under pressure and can shine with the highest level of brilliance in the field of human optics in the hands of top players such as Schulte and Zeiss.

Therefore, Chase and Xiaote, who were initially hesitant, quickly reached a consensus, with Xiaote taking the lead in a deep collaboration with Orange Technology.

Another high-end optical glass blank, the "XC" series, based on FH-3.0 optimization processing, has been produced. The brand belongs to Xiaote, while Chengke serves as the "OEM" for the core technology and the blank.

For Orange Technology at this moment, being able to sell Phoenix Glass to top giants and secure substantial orders and revenue sharing is far more important than competing for a mere brand name.

This product, jointly developed by Sulte and Zeiss, has been recognized by industry authorities as marking the birth of the fifth generation of high-end optical glass due to its comprehensive breakthroughs in material substrate, processing precision, and application scenarios.

This is undoubtedly the highest affirmation of OrangeTech's basic materials research and development capabilities by the "eye of God"—Chase.

Orange Optics has finally made its mark in the global high-end optics field, becoming the lens in the eye of God.

Seeing Xuxiaozi's comeback in the mid-range market, and the Xiaote-Zhes alliance gaining a strong foothold in the high-end market with Orange Technology's rough blanks, North American Kangning couldn't sit still.

Although Kangning has its own complete industrial chain, Chengke's FH-1.0 series has shown a high cost-performance ratio in the lower-tier market, which has made it feel threatened.

Kang Ning's negotiators adopted a tough stance: Kang Ning could outsource 30% of its annual orders for optical glass blanks in lower-tier markets to Orange Technology.

But the condition is...
Orange Technology must promise that it will never enter the finished product sector of the optical glass market on its own!

This is tantamount to asking Orange Science to cripple itself and be forever trapped in the low-value-added links of the industrial chain.

Orange Company naturally refused outright.

The situation escalated during the second round of consultations.

Kang Ning directly brought together representatives from three global optical glass giants—Xiaote, Xuxiaozi, and others—to gather in Chongqing for a "four-party negotiation" with Chengke that would determine the future landscape of the global optical glass market.

The performance of the FH series raw blanks mastered by Orange Technology is so outstanding that the giants had to sit down and try to make this disruptor abide by the rules of the game they set in the name of "market rules" and "business positioning".

After intense discussions, Orange Group also decided to participate in the negotiations.

They are keenly aware of their own shortcomings.

Although it possesses world-class roughing technology and preliminary finishing and coating technologies...
However, Orange Science lacks state-of-the-art precision processing equipment and a sufficient number of experienced and skilled technical workers.

This has resulted in the inability to consistently achieve stable production of mid-to-high-end FH series finished products in subsequent high-end finishing and coating mass production stages, leading to high costs.

Should we insist on self-reliance across the entire industry chain, or cooperate with giants for a certain period of time and leverage their resources to expand overseas?

This requires extremely high intelligence and negotiation skills.

For a time, the three major international optical glass giants gathered in Chongqing, just to negotiate with a newly established company, which in itself caused a huge stir in the domestic optical manufacturing industry.

Orange Technology's optical business, which has been "blooming outside the wall but fragrant inside," has finally stood at the center of the international optics stage amidst the astonishment and inquisitive gaze of its domestic peers.

If the four parties reach a cooperation agreement, who will be the one to suffer?
Of course, it's still the original third in the world!

Korean company, Sanjing MX Optics: ? ? ?
(End of this chapter)