The Shanghai Stock Exchange originally wanted to make the launch of the wafer fab a big success and publicize it extensively.

Xing Baohua had read the plan, but this guy stopped him.

Rice has already become quite arrogant, attracting the attention of several major global organizations; to put it bluntly, it's already on their blacklist.

Otherwise, why send so many people into his company?

By combining rice and wafer fabs, a complete industrial chain is born, making self-reliance a certainty.

Don't be fooled by their friendly demeanor now; there are plenty of people who are secretly plotting against you. They don't want you to have a good life and will try every means to sabotage and disrupt it.

This is just the beginning. We'll sign a cooperation agreement, get the money, the talent, and the technology in place, build the factory, and produce the first wafer. Then we'll make a big news report about it.

What if, like with Starlink, Motorola invests money, the project is launched, and just when they're ready to use it, they're told they've been kicked out? You can imagine how frustrated they'd feel.

Whether it's Philips, Motorola, or IBM, if these tech giants all break up, Xing Baohua really won't be able to manage a wafer fab.

At that time, he needed to devote more energy to building the wafer fab.

From funding to management to product development, it might really drag him down.

Fortunately, the shareholders he invited all arrived at Shanghai Airport on time.

The first to arrive was the prince of the desert kingdom, who, as always, was extravagant and high-profile.

Xing Baohua and Director Min's team from Shanghai greeted them at the airport.

A red carpet beneath the suspended stairs, flanked by hostesses. We got into a large Hongqi car, followed by several Santanas.

Xing Baohua initially felt the Santana was a bit embarrassing, but what could he do? It was a government-owned vehicle. The government had originally planned to use this business meeting to do some advertising, and since it was a city-mandated system, there was nothing he could do about it.

However, the main welcoming vehicles were provided by Xing Baohua himself.

Philips also has an office in Shanghai and two joint ventures. The person who came was Davis, the president of the Asia region.

The one who arrived by motorcycle was an old acquaintance, Henry.

The only exception was IBM, which replaced its senior technology executive with a man named Madol Booker.

As for Lewells, the IBM technical director who had previously been in contact with him, Xing Baohua didn't want to mention him at all.

The welcome was quite lively. Upon arriving at the designated hotel, a small welcome party was held, where a senior official from the city politely shook hands with several foreign guests.

Reporters and television personnel were also present, but the reporting was suppressed; the presence of reporters was for the benefit of these foreigners.

The evening cocktail party was also nice.

It was a very Western-style restaurant, and the city even sent the city's song and dance troupe to perform a few shows for the foreign guests.

A singer performed a song called "Three Horses," which, although in Chinese, felt somewhat out of place.

Fortunately, the folk dance earned applause from the foreigners who had come along.

The party is over. Let them rest first. After all, it's their first day here. It's not easy for them to stay up all night, especially since they have to adjust to the time difference.

The next day, after breakfast, I took these foreign guests to the construction site.

We walked around the site twice to see how large the future wafer fab would be; it was indeed huge. After spending the morning there, we returned to the hotel, and the talks began in the afternoon.

Xing Baohua represents Huahong Group, while China Merchants Group represents domestic capital, along with the Shanghai Stock Exchange, a major player in the market. Foreign capital is represented by conglomerates from desert countries, Philips, Motorola, and IBM.

After counting them, it turns out that the China Merchants Group and the Desert Kingdom Consortium received the most money.

Huahong Group, along with Philips, Motorola, and IBM, invested in the wafer fab, adding some cash. Xing Baohua had previously negotiated the shareholding and cash terms with them, as well as the conditions and responsibilities. After reviewing the wafer fab's blueprint and model, everyone had no objections.

The only problem is with Philips, due to equipment limitations.

That's meaningless. Did Motorola not have the equipment, or did IBM not have the equipment? What did they say?

Although their equipment is outdated and can't keep up with Philips' new technology, they can't afford to have a glitch at this point.

Xing Baohua spoke with the other party separately, saying that the technology itself wasn't the key issue; the key issue was that they wanted a team service, and the question was whether this should be settled separately or included in the shareholding.

I didn't explain it clearly before, but now I need to make it clear.

In other words, Philips wanted to offer the same VIP service as the Japanese, where once the equipment arrived, it wouldn't be handled by Xing Baohua's people, but rather by Philips' technical staff.

This cannot be repaired without an engineer from the manufacturer. Instead, Philips handles everything from installation and production to repair.

How many people do we need to hire?

The thirty pieces of equipment ordered will require 1,200 people.

While it may seem like each machine requires forty people, that's not how it works. Out of thirty machines, it's good if ten can be started. The remaining machines are started gradually based on orders, but not all machines will be running at full capacity; backup machines are also needed.

On average, each piece of equipment requires more than a hundred technicians to operate simultaneously.

The equipment may not look very big, but it actually weighs over a hundred tons!

“Davis, this doesn’t fit the wafer fab I want to build,” Xing Baohua said privately to the Philips regional president.

“Xing, this is in Philips’ best interest. We can save you costs and time, and more importantly, remove many restrictions,” Davis said with a smile.

Upon hearing the restrictions mentioned by the other party, Xing Baohua realized that they were using some international treaties to restrict him.

I'm not comfortable with that. What if the red countries make some oversized chips and use them for something?

Philips was responsible for that line of defense.

If Xing Baohua kicks Philips out and uses Motorola and IBM equipment instead, the same thing will probably happen, though not as badly as with Philips, but it will still need to be monitored.

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