Chapter 207: The End of Hope is Despair

The news that ASML was running around everywhere in Long Country, only to hit a wall time and again and be shut out by Long Country chip manufacturers, spread for some unknown reason.

This not only allowed everyone to see the shift in ASML's market position but also let everyone witness the powerful deterrent force of Tianqi Core Technology.

And all of this led to ASML's stock price plummeting continuously over the course of a few days.

Just less than half a month later.

As international chip manufacturers one after another announced that they had reached procurement cooperation agreements with Tianqi Core Technology, ASML's stock price, which had finally managed to stabilize, entered a third round of plummeting.

Compared to a month ago, ASML's stock price had fallen by more than half.

Its market value evaporated by 140 billion Eagle Dollars!

Nearly one trillion Long Coins!

Even though the competition between ASML and Tianqi Core Technology had only just begun, in people's hearts, ASML had already been relegated to second-rate.

And Tianqi Core Technology was the new king.

Furthermore, the news that several high-level executives at ASML had resigned to take responsibility also caused a small stir in the industry.

Yet at this time, Su Xin was not paying attention to these things; ever since the release of Tianke No. 1, he had already handed over all operational and production issues of Tianqi Core Technology to Jing Mingdong to manage.

Among these, the planning for the production line had been requested long before the Lithography Machine was about to be completed and before engineers had even been hired, with various component supply companies expanding their capacity and clearing out corresponding production lines.

With such comprehensive planning capability, plus the various component suppliers being as obedient as an arm, and with perfect cooperation between them, Tianke No. 1 possessed an annual production capacity of about thirty units from the very beginning.

The only shortcoming remained the engineers.

But as their experience grew increasingly rich, coupled with Su Xin's irregular guidance, it was likely that completing the assembly and debugging of thirty Tianke No. 1 units in the first year would not be much of a problem.

And afterwards.

These three hundred and sixty engineers would be able to continue leading and training more talent, allowing the entire team to undergo fission-style expansion and perfection.

Starting from the second year, Tianqi Core Technology would have the confidence to occupy the vast majority of the high-end market.

In short, Tianqi Core Technology had already gotten on the right track and did not need Su Xin to worry.

At this moment, he was putting his main energy into the Cancer Eradication Drug and chip design.

Especially the former.

……

Beer Country, inside the New Energy Joint Laboratory.

More than twenty executives from major global automakers gathered in front of a laboratory bench, intently watching a flat, square, metal-like substance on the table, as well as the various wire harnesses and instrument equipment connected to it.

A man wearing a white lab coat stood in front of the table, pointed at the data on a display screen, and introduced it to everyone:

"Its energy density is 350Wh/kg; although it is still about ten percent lower than the Thor Battery, the difference is no longer very large."

"The conductivity efficiency is also fifteen percent lower than the Thor Battery, which means the charging speed is slightly slower."

"Other than that, the energy volume density, safety, service life, and low-temperature and high-temperature stability are no worse than the Thor Battery."

"We have preliminarily named it—"

"Zeus All-Solid-State Battery!"

"Good!"

The people present gave him a round of applause one after another.

Although the performance was slightly inferior to the Thor Battery, as long as it was a solid-state battery that thoroughly solved the several core problems of liquid batteries, it possessed the possibility of competing with the Thor Battery.

Especially in the domestic market, with the tariff gap and the support of local policies, defeating Long Country automobiles should not be a problem.

This made everyone present feel incomparably excited.

For more than a year, Long Country automobiles had been conquering territories all over the world, with sales repeatedly breaking historical records, and brand awareness becoming higher and higher, suppressing automakers of various countries until they could only struggle to survive.

By now, automakers like Junma would no longer talk about advantages like brand.

Because now, on a global scale, only the major Long Country automobile brands could represent high-end.

And all of this was because of the gap brought about by the Thor Battery and the Xiaozhi Driving System.

The former leveled the tariff costs.

The latter artificially created a gap.

Now that they had developed the Zeus Battery themselves, they no longer had to rely on the whims of Tianqi Energy, nor did they have to be treated differently by the Tianqi Energy Company; costs were easier to control, and they would be able to win the domestic market first through differentiated competition.

If they continued to optimize in the future and developed an upgraded version of the Zeus Battery, they could even turn the tables and suppress all Long Country automakers using the Thor Battery, winning back their original market position.

In short, with the Zeus Battery, their Nine Major Automakers had thoroughly cast off their shackles and regained infinite possibilities.

The future was bright!

It is worth mentioning that this New Energy Joint Laboratory was spearheaded by Junma Automobile and jointly established by eight top automakers from around the world.

Everyone had invested a significant amount of capital, plus each company's R&D personnel and technical patents, as well as many top industry experts hired continuously later on, which allowed this laboratory to possess an incomparably rich foundation.

A few months ago, the Yingjiang Country automaker Lates, which had originally rejected their invitation, also applied to join as a partner of the New Energy Laboratory after experiencing setback after setback.

After multiple discussions, Lates successfully joined with a capital of 1 billion Eagle Dollars and the input of various relevant patented technologies and R&D personnel, becoming the ninth partner.

Lates was indeed worthy of being the original leader in the new energy track; with their addition, the New Energy Laboratory could be described as having wings added to a tiger.

Now.

The New Energy Laboratory had finally produced results.

The initiator of the joint laboratory, Junma Automobile president Keleqi, could not stop the smile on his face as he looked at the other executives around him.

"Everyone, since we have a new solid-state battery, our development strategy must have major adjustments. Why don't we discuss together how to defeat the monopoly of the Thor Battery?"

Another person laughed:

"The Thor Battery is still very powerful and is a great pressure for us. We must continue to cooperate in the future to develop better."

Keleqi looked at the Lates president Niusike on the other side and said with a smile:

"Niusike, I said back then that only by uniting would there be a future. This shouldn't have disappointed you, right?"

Niusike shrugged and laughed: "Alright, alright, it was my vision that was too short-sighted back then, and I almost missed the best opportunity to rise again. I should thank you. I'll treat you to a meal later; I heard there's a restaurant nearby with very good foie gras."

Keleqi let out a loud laugh.

As the group turned to walk out, Keleqi suddenly turned his head back and instructed the man wearing a white laboratory coat:

"Keep the news about the Zeus Battery confidential for now; remember to instruct all researchers about this."

"I understand."

The man nodded earnestly.

After Keleqi and his party left, they soon arrived at a spacious conference room to sit down and discuss the mass production of the Zeus Battery.

"Due to the continuous mass production of the Thor Battery, the production chain for solid-state batteries has been cultivated to be very mature; we can purchase both equipment and materials directly."

"There is no problem with the production lines, and the production process only needs to be discussed and tested for a period of time."

"That certainly saves us a lot of trouble."

"Even at the start of mass production, the production cost shouldn't be much higher than the Thor Battery."

"Added to that are import tariffs; in our respective domestic markets, we will definitely possess a much stronger price advantage than the automakers of Long Country."

"Therefore, I suggest we all start from our domestic markets and take back the market step by step."

"Then let's build factories simultaneously in our respective countries; next, let's discuss the issue of continued capital injection, as the money in the New Energy Company's account is certainly not enough to build so many factories at once."

The Nine Major Automakers are all shareholders of the New Energy Company, and the New Energy Laboratory belongs under the name of the New Energy Company; the patent rights for the products developed naturally belong to the New Energy Company.

The factory construction is also under the name of the New Energy Company.

At this moment, one of them asked:

"By the way, regarding the debut of the Zeus Battery, do we need to hold a press conference?"

Keleqi shook his head:

"Better not."

"Although it could boost market confidence, if Su Xin fears our competitive pressure and cuts off our supply of Thor Batteries before the Zeus Battery is mass-produced, that would be a huge problem."

"It is better to wait until the factories are built and we are ready to start mass production before we make a public announcement."

"By then, even if the Thor Battery supply is cut off, we can use our own Zeus Battery to take over."

The others thought about it and all agreed with his opinion, deciding to keep it confidential for now and first inject capital together to directly build twelve factories specifically to supply the Zeus Battery to the nine automakers.

Planning according to an annual production capacity of 30GWh per factory, that makes a total of 360GWh.

That is 360 million kilowatt-hours of electricity.

Calculated at an average of 60 kilowatt-hours per battery, it can supply six million vehicles.

With the current sales volume of the nine automakers, this capacity is just about enough to satisfy them.

And most crucially, the Nine Major Automakers really cannot come up with any more money to build factories.

The budget for these twelve battery factories alone reached over five billion Eagle Dollars.

Converted, that is 36 billion Long Coins.

Even spread across the nine automakers, and without needing to pay it all at once, it is still very difficult given their current operations and financial status.

But at the thought of the bright future the Zeus Battery could bring, the Nine Major Automakers gritted their teeth and ultimately decided to decisively inject capital into the New Energy Company.

And so.

Without attracting outside attention, twelve large-scale power battery factories began construction in full swing in Beer Country and other places.

In order to get rid of the Thor Battery as soon as possible, the Nine Major Automakers constantly accelerated their progress.

Time passed quietly.

In the blink of an eye, it was September.

In a high-end private room of a five-star hotel in Beer Country.

Keleqi and the others gathered together once again.

"Everyone, tomorrow is the official press conference for the Zeus Battery; this is our first step toward breaking free from Tianqi Energy, and also our first step toward returning to glory."

"This is the merit of us all!"

Keleqi raised his wine glass, a smile on his face, looking at everyone present, and said warmly:

"Let us toast to a new beginning!"

Currently, the twelve power battery factories under the New Energy Company located around the world have all been completed, various production line equipment has been purchased and put in place, and employees have already begun to be recruited.

In order to buy as much time as possible, they only prepared to hold the official press conference for the Zeus Battery at this time.

As soon as tomorrow's press conference ends, they can directly hold the ribbon-cutting ceremonies for the various power battery factories.

Then they will trial-produce, study the process, prepare for the mass production of the Zeus Battery, and simultaneously release various brand-new vehicle models equipped with the Zeus Battery.

Even if Tianqi Energy really cuts off their supply, the previous orders must still be delivered, which is enough to allow them to maintain stable production for two or three months.

They will be able to transition smoothly.

Therefore, it was only today that the senior management of the Nine Major Automakers gathered together, which could be considered holding a simple celebration banquet first.

The others also raised their wine glasses one after another.

"Cheers!"

Everyone had a bright smile on their face.

But just as the atmosphere was joyful and enthusiastic, a figure suddenly pushed open the door to the private room and rushed in with large strides.

Before the group could get angry, that person said urgently:

"It's bad, the official website of Tianqi Energy Company has released an announcement; they have developed a new generation of Thor Battery, which will go online in two months!"

"What?!!"

Everyone present was shocked.

Keleqi put down his wine glass; some of the dark red wine in the glass accidentally spilled onto the back of his hand and his trouser leg, but he was completely unaware.

Looking at his capable subordinate, he could not bother to fuss over the other's rudeness and hurriedly asked:

"What is going on? How are the various parameters of the new generation Thor Battery?"

The young blond man who had rushed in caught his breath for a moment before saying:

"Performance has improved across the board; energy density has increased by fifty percent, charging speed has increased by thirty percent, yet the price has not changed at all..."

Listening to his words, Keleqi was already completely stunned, not hearing a single word that followed.

They had spent such a long time and paid such a high price to painstakingly develop a Solid-state Battery that was only slightly inferior to the Thor Battery.

They had also nearly emptied the company's coffers, injected further capital, and worked overtime to finally build twelve power battery factories.

For the sake of the Zeus Battery, the Nine Major Automakers could be said to have exhausted all their resources.

Yet, on the very day before they were prepared to officially announce it to the public, Tianqi Energy Company also released an upgraded version of the Thor Battery.

Originally, the Thor Battery was already clearly stronger than the Zeus Battery, but the gap was not particularly large; relying on price advantages brought by tariffs and other factors, they had a chance to compete through market positioning.

In the past, such a competitive strategy would certainly have been scoffed at by the Nine Major Automakers.

But now, having suffered endless setbacks and blows, they had set aside their inner arrogance and decided to humble themselves, focusing on competing through price advantages.

Yet even so.

Tianqi Energy would not even give them a chance!

To think they would release an upgraded version of the Thor Battery at this time, and with such exaggerated performance improvements—it was simply a dimensionality-reduction strike against the Zeus Battery they were about to release.

To say nothing else, with such a large gap in energy density, the Zeus Battery had absolutely no competitiveness in front of the upgraded Thor Battery.

With the same weight and the same volume, the upgraded Thor Battery had double the power capacity of theirs!

Or conversely, with the same power capacity, the upgraded Thor Battery was only half their volume and half their weight, which would bring many, many hidden advantages to the Thor Battery.

The key was that the price had not changed.

This made the Zeus Battery an obsolete product the moment it hit the market, which also meant that all their investments during this period had essentially gone down the drain.

"It's over! We are all finished!"

This thought flashed through Keleqi's mind.

Immediately, his vision went black, he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, and his entire body fell backward.