Cutting-edge technology: Starting with individual stealth equipment

Chapter 102 The Cooperation Model Advocated by Lin Chuan

Upon hearing this, everyone present turned to look at Lin Chuan.

The head of Three Gorges Energy immediately asked curiously, "What kind of cooperation model?"

Lin Chuan did not answer him, but instead looked at the peers and competitors of DeepBlue Technology who had direct business competition with him.

"After visiting in person, our valued customers should already have their own answers."

The competitors looked at each other, wondering what the young man meant by that. Was he trying to show off in front of them?

"The technological gap is undeniable, and I'm not going to mince words," Lin Chuan said calmly. "To put it bluntly, even if you had ten years to catch up, you probably still wouldn't be able to."

Lin Chuan continued, "Even if we catch up, Deep Blue Technology will not stand still. We have successfully navigated this new path and broken through the ceiling."

He added with a smile, "This means that we can continuously improve the photoelectric conversion efficiency towards 100%. By the time our competitors have caught up to 30%, we may have already achieved a conversion efficiency of 60%."

Lin Chuan's words made the business partners present blush and feel quite uncomfortable.

Young people have no emotional intelligence at all. How can they criticize someone to their face? And then you can't even refute them, which makes it even more frustrating.

Although not a single word explicitly stated that you were doomed, every sentence conveyed that meaning.

Lin Chuan further stated bluntly: "Frankly speaking, DeepBlue Technology's latest breakthrough in innovation has already given it a strong technological monopoly in the industry, and it's only a matter of time before it eats up the market share of its competitors."

The competition is getting even more heated, and some companies are already thinking of just getting up and walking away.

At this moment, Lin Chuan suddenly changed the subject again: "However, I don't want to ruin or bankrupt all of you fellow businessmen here."

Upon hearing this, competitors were like: Huh? What does that mean?

Lin Chuan smiled and said, "This is what I wanted to say, the cooperation model I want to advocate: DeepBlue Technology will license its technical solutions to our peers and partners here today."

He looked around at his peers and said, "You guys do it, and DeepBlue Technology is willing to give up some of the profits. Let's all make money together. It's better to share the joy than to enjoy it alone. Each link should take a share of the profits they deserve, so that everyone can live well and the products can be launched and deployed quickly."

The competitors and downstream manufacturers present were all greatly surprised by Lin Chuan's words.

However, competitors quickly realized what was happening.

One of his colleagues immediately retorted, "Doesn't that mean we've all become contract manufacturers for Deep Blue Technology?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Chuan immediately retorted, "Do you mean your company intends to directly compete with Deep Blue Technology?"

Then he spread his hands and said, "I have no objection at all. DeepBlue Technology is not afraid of market competition at all. Let's let our abilities speak for themselves."

The other party was speechless on the spot: "Uh—"

The heads of several downstream manufacturers were trying not to laugh at the scene. DeepBlue Technology was not a direct competitor of them, but rather a potential customer. Naturally, they were just watching the drama unfold.

But those who are competitors of DeepBlue Technology are not laughing at all right now; they are not chuckling at all.

Lin Chuan looked around at everyone and said, "If everyone works together and divides the work, and our fellow companies make some adjustments and upgrades to their own production lines, I roughly estimate that we should be able to start production by the end of this year without any major problems."

The downstream manufacturers present were immediately impressed and, after a moment's thought, realized that this model was quite good.

Not only can they supply goods quickly, but more importantly, they can sit down and negotiate with upstream companies regarding existing contracts without having to pay penalties for breach of contract.

Otherwise, they would have to bear the breach of contract and could not continue to purchase the already identified outdated production capacity.

Downstream manufacturers can easily understand this; they would rather breach the contract and turn to DeepBlue Technology than continue purchasing subsequent products.

As a result, all the downstream manufacturers present tacitly sided with DeepBlue Technology.

"I must say, Mr. Lin is young, but his vision is truly admirable."

"Yes, I think Mr. Lin's proposal is excellent and beneficial to everyone."

"I completely agree; this is a win-win situation."

"It may not sound pleasant, but I'd like to be blunt: the technology of your respective companies is far behind that of DeepBlue Technology. If we were to compete head-to-head in the market, I can't speak for other competitors, but our company would most likely choose to embrace new technologies."

"Old Zhao, not only your company, but we will also definitely choose DeepBlue Technology's technical solution."

"We're the same. With such a huge gap, there's no need to hesitate. We just vote with our feet."

"To put it bluntly, those of you who acted as contract manufacturers for DeepBlue Technology can at least make ends meet. But if you directly compete head-on, I think you'll most likely go bankrupt. In three to five years at most, how many of you here will survive? Or will none of you survive?"

Downstream manufacturers spoke out one after another, which made those competitors of DeepBlue Technology look very unhappy and feel extremely uncomfortable.

These were originally their major clients, but they immediately sided with DeepBlue Technology.

You can't blame them for that. As the saying goes, business is business. The difference is so big. Using DeepBlue Technology's technical solutions can generate more than double the benefits.

Downstream manufacturers don't need to rack their brains to figure out how to choose; it's a question they can answer with their eyes closed.

Finally, Lin Chuan smiled and said, "Good things come to those who wait. Our fellow businesses can go back and think it over carefully, discuss it thoroughly, and study it before making a decision. If you are interested, we can sit down again and discuss the specific details of the cooperation."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a downstream manufacturer representative present said, "You all had better make a decision as soon as possible; we also want to get the goods as soon as possible."

The unspoken meaning behind those words was clear to our competitors.

If you keep dragging your feet and can't come to a conclusion, downstream customers and manufacturers will just place orders with DeepBlue Technology and ask the company to build production lines and start mass production as soon as possible. They won't wait for you forever.

After a while, the visit and research came to an end.

The major manufacturers did not linger and all hurriedly returned to report.

As industry insiders, everyone knows that the photovoltaic new energy sector is absolutely about to undergo a major transformation this year.

Around noon, the news spread.

Cailian News Agency pushed out a midday news flash:

Leading companies from upstream and downstream of the photovoltaic industry gathered at DeepBlue Technology for inspection and research. According to sources, DeepBlue Technology's subsidiary—

The actual photoelectric conversion efficiency of the linear fission module reaches 42%, and its power output per unit area is more than double that of traditional photovoltaic panels.

This breaking news was pushed out as a pop-up notification on various market data platforms. At this moment, the A-shares market is in its midday break, with more than fifty minutes remaining before the afternoon opening.

This caused a sensation among investors, and DeepBlue Technology's popularity and attention soared.

Many investors had already placed orders to buy at the limit-up price, and the conversion rate of 42% can be said to have far exceeded expectations.

Large funds not only obtain information faster but also more comprehensively, especially institutions that made a special trip to DeepBlue Technology for research and investigation today.

When the market opened at 13 p.m., DeepBlue Technology's intraday chart showed a sharp, upward surge, like a spring rising from the ground.

The stock price easily climbed to 45.68 yuan, a gain of 9.99%, hitting the daily limit. The company's total market value rebounded to 2891.08 billion yuan.

Meanwhile, the colleagues who came to visit and conduct research also returned home.

Director Sun of LONGi sat in the back seat of the car, holding his phone in his hand, the screen displaying the more than twenty photos he had taken at the demonstration site.

He flipped through the pages one by one, from the appearance of the components to the details of the junction box, from the bracket structure to the inverter model.

With each picture he looked at, his expression grew darker.

After a while, Director Sun made a phone call.

"Mr. Li, the situation is more serious than we thought."

The voice on the other end of the phone was that of the company's chairman: "Speak."

Director Sun immediately replied, "Their demonstration efficiency actually reached 42% photoelectric conversion efficiency, and their actual power generation is 122% higher than our modules. This gap cannot be described as a difference of one or two percentage points; it is a generational difference."

He added, "Furthermore, I suspect Deep Blue Technology may have been holding back; they mentioned 35% at the previous press conference."

It seems they deliberately underestimated the figure; is it even possible it's more than 42%?

DeepBlue Technology's technology has broken through the ceiling, shattering the traditional Shockley-Quiser limit that "one photon can produce at most one exciton".

Since quantum yield has broken through the 100% limit, a high-energy photon can be converted into two low-energy excitons.

Having mastered this technological path, DeepBlue Technology could very well transform it into three, four, five, or even N versions.

This allows the photoelectric conversion rate to continuously approach 100%.

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.

"Mr. Li, there's one more thing. Lin Chuan proposed a cooperation plan on-site, saying that he could license the technology to us, and DeepBlue Technology would collect patent fees. Frankly speaking, if we follow his plan, we'll become DeepBlue Technology's contract manufacturer. He said—"

Even if you had ten years, you still wouldn't be able to catch up.

"Your exact words?"

"The exact words."

After these words, there was another moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

Then, Chairman Li simply replied, "We'll talk about it when you get back."

At the same time, Vice President Wang from another competitor was also on the phone.

"Chairman, I suggest the company hold a strategy meeting as soon as possible. Deep Blue's technological breakthrough is not an incremental improvement at all, but a complete disruption. If we don't cooperate with them, we will lose all our market share within three years, and the company may not survive five years."

A sigh came from the other end of the phone: "What does cooperation mean? It means we'll become contract manufacturers, you want me to bow down and do OEM for others?"

Vice President Wang was silent for a few seconds: "Chairman, the price of not bowing down might be even greater. They can authorize us, or they can authorize someone else. If we don't accept, someone else will—"

The breathing on the other end of the phone became heavier, followed by a long sigh.

"Come back, come back first, then we'll talk."

The person in charge of the third manufacturer, who went to DeepBlue Technology for investigation and research, also made a phone call to the headquarters on the way back.

He sent back the photos from his phone, each one labeled with key details.

He then focused on one of the power generation curves of a single-linear fission module, saying, "This is data from the demonstration site, based on 59 consecutive days of actual testing. Our module, with the same nominal power, actually generates less than half the power of theirs."

"half?"

"A 42% photoelectric conversion rate, Chairman, this is not a gap we can catch up with just by working hard and gritting our teeth. We've invested so much money in our new technology products, and we haven't even made a splash yet, while they've already broken through the ceiling and reached a height that we simply can't reach."

At the other end, the chairman of the company headquarters couldn't help but look out the window at the factory buildings, row upon row, all of which were production capacity built with real money.

If DeepBlue's technology is fully deployed, these production lines will become piles of scrap metal within three to five years.

"What else is going on?"

-

The person in charge then recounted the cooperation plan that Lin Chuan had mentioned on site, including technology licensing, production line transformation, and production by the end of the year.

"Wouldn't that make us just a contract manufacturer for DeepBlue Technology?" the CEO said, echoing the sentiment.

"Chairman, if we don't do this, we might not even be able to work as contract manufacturers anymore. Our super customer has already expressed his stance on-site today. General Manager Zhao and the others were very direct. The gap is so huge, it's obvious even with our eyes closed. We'd rather breach the contract than switch to DeepBlue's technology."

The atmosphere was equally solemn at GCL's headquarters building the following day.

The chairman called several vice presidents and technical directors into the conference room. As soon as they entered, he asked, "How old is Lin Chuan?"

""

"28 years old, by the traditional Chinese age reckoning," someone replied.

The superhumans present were speechless. A super young man under 30 years old had suddenly used a technology to rewrite the entire industry's rules.

The technical director stood up and projected the data he had recorded on site onto the screen.

"Overall, DeepBlue Technology's supercrystalline silicon technology has an overwhelming advantage over all competitors in terms of efficiency, cost, and weight. Our supercrystalline silicon products have no chance in terms of performance. Although I don't want to say it, it is an objective fact."

The meeting room fell silent; no one knew what to say.

Finally, the head of the strategic investment department broke the silence: "So, should we still invest in building the new production line? Investing would be a waste of money, but not investing might leave us behind."

No one answered.

After a long silence, the chairman finally spoke: "What do you think of Lin Chuan's proposed cooperation plan?"

The vice president said in a deep voice, "The cooperation is just to act as an OEM manufacturer. They'll modify our production lines, and DeepBlue will take the lion's share of the profits. Moreover, we will lose our voice in this industry and will have to depend on DeepBlue Technology from now on."

The CTO stated, "If we don't cooperate, we'll have to do our own R&D. But the gap is just too big. It will take at least five years to catch up. In five years, the market will be in a very difficult situation. By then, we'll have to bow down, and others may not even want us anymore."

The meeting room fell silent again.

His words were quite blunt: not cooperating would most likely lead to a dead end, ultimately trapping him in a corner.

If we cooperate, we might be able to survive.

However, the price is that one must accept losing the right to speak, becoming someone else's OEM, losing the ability to develop technology independently, becoming dependent on others, and being replaced at any time.

All the attendees felt a profound sense of powerlessness.

That feeling of powerlessness is that you're still running on a straight track when suddenly an opponent appears and gets on a high-speed train.

"Prepare a detailed over-assessment report. Before next week's board meeting, I need to know what the cooperation and competition, the three-year, five-year, and ten-year over-financial models are, and calculate them clearly."

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