Chapter 531: Encirclement and Breakout

November 18, 2013, Shenzhen.

Li Yaozong sat in the meeting room, and on the projection screen in front of him was a world map. Red arrows pointed from all directions toward China, toward Shenzhen, toward the small icon of Wanxiang Dasha.

Fang Wenshan stood before the screen, his laser pointer pointing at Washington.

"The U. S. Department of Commerce just updated its Entity List, and Wanxiang Group has been added. From today on, any product using U. S. technology cannot be sold to us."

The laser pointer moved to Brussels.

"The European Union followed suit. ASML in the Netherlands sent a notice, suspending indefinitely the maintenance contract for the lithography machine we had previously agreed on."

Then it moved to Tokyo.

"The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced that export of semiconductor materials to China requires separate approval. Our inventory will last only three months."

The meeting room was so quiet you could hear the air conditioner humming.

He Xiaoxian spoke up.

"The automotive side is affected too. Bosch's ECU and ZF's transmission need to be renegotiated. They say parts containing U. S. technology cannot be supplied."

Chen Feng took over.

"On the wafer fab side, TSMC has notified us that it will stop foundry services starting next month. Our inventory of Fenghuang Chip V can last at most six months."

Li Yaozong listened, then lifted the tea cup in front of him and took a sip.

"Is that all?"

No one spoke.

He set down the tea cup.

"Then let's discuss what to do."

Zhao Ming was the first to raise his hand.

"On the phone side, our 5G models are still selling. Do we have domestic substitutes for the key components—sensors, memory, and screens?"

Liu Yang thought for a moment.

"We can produce screens ourselves. Sensors have domestic versions, though a bit less precise, but usable. Memory… that's the toughest. Domestic production is still catching up, and capacity falls short."

Li Yaozong looked at him.

"How long can the memory last?"

Liu Yang did the math.

"Current stock will last six months. After that, if domestic production hasn't started, we'll face a cutoff."

Li Yaozong looked at Chen Feng.

"What about wafer fab outsourcing?"

Chen Feng shook his head.

"The most advanced domestic foundry is SMIC at 28 nm, but our Fenghuang Chip V is 14 nm, which they cannot produce."

He paused.

"Unless we redesign it for 28 nm, but performance would drop by thirty percent."

The meeting room fell into silence.

Zhou Ye raised his hand.

"There's also a problem on the software side. We've been using Google's Mobile Services, but now they say new phones can't come preloaded with it."

He looked at Li Yaozong.

"Overseas users are used to Google Maps, Gmail, and YouTube. Without them, phones won't sell."

Li Yaozong stayed silent for a few seconds.

"What about doing it ourselves?"

Zhou Ye blinked in surprise.

"Do what ourselves?"

"Maps, email, video. Replace the whole Google suite with our own."

Zhou Ye opened his mouth.

"Boss Li, this… the workload is too huge. Mapping needs data collection, email needs servers, video needs licensing. It can't be done in a year or two."

Li Yaozong looked at him.

"Then let's start now."

Wang Bo raised his hand from the side.

"Boss Li, the live‑streaming side is affected too. Overseas users make up thirty percent; if phones don't sell, that share will drop as well."

Li Yaozong nodded.

"Understood."

He stood up and walked to the window.

Outside the window, Shenzhen's sky was dull and gray. In the distance, the outline of Fenghuang Mountain loomed faintly through the mist.

He stood there for a long time.

Then he turned around.

"Chen Feng, for the wafer fab side, redesign it for 28 nm—performance loss is acceptable as long as it works."

Chen Feng nodded.

"Liu Yang, handle the memory side by coordinating with domestic suppliers. Give them whatever support they need, and we'll provide it. If capacity is insufficient, we'll fund expansion."

Liu Yang nodded.

"Zhou Ye, set up a dedicated team for the software side—maps, email, video—tackling them one by one. Start with the domestic version, then roll out overseas."

Zhou Ye nodded.

He Xiao, on the automobile side, all domestic parts must be re‑certified. Bosch and ZF ones, replace them if possible; if not, redesign.

He Xiao nodded.

Fang Wenshan, on the public‑opinion side, explain the situation clearly. We're being besieged, but we're not doomed. Let users know that Wanshang is still here.

Fang Wenshan nodded.

Li Yaozong looked around.

"In three months, I want to see progress."

A month later, Chen Feng appeared in Li Yaozong's office carrying the new chip design proposal.

"Director Li, Fenghuang Chip V has been revised."

He spread the drawings on the desk.

"From 14 nm to 28 nm, the area increased by 40 %, power consumption rose by 20 %, and performance dropped by 28 %."

Li Yaozong looked at the diagram.

"Can it be manufactured?"

Chen Feng nodded.

"SMIC has already been coordinated. Trial production next month, mass production three months later."

Li Yaozong nodded.

"Thanks for your hard work."

Chen Feng shook his head.

"Not hard. Redesign is a small matter; what follows is the trouble."

He looked at Li Yaozong.

"On the new‑material side, we need to speed up. If the graphene progress can be advanced, we can bypass silicon‑based chips."

Li Yaozong was silent for a few seconds.

"What do we need?"

"People. Researchers who can turn our lab results into products."

Li Yaozong nodded.

"Recruit them. Recruit globally. Money isn't an issue."

News also came from Liu Yang's side.

He took a few people and made a trip to Yangtze Memory.

After returning, he went straight to Li Yaozong's office.

"Director Li, it's settled."

He placed an agreement on the desk.

"Yangtze Memory is willing to give us priority supply. The condition is that we fund their capacity expansion."

Li Yaozong took the agreement and flipped through it.

"How much?"

"Three billion. Payable in installments over three years."

Li Yaozong closed the agreement.

"Sign."

Zhou Ye's special task force was established.

He pulled a hundred people from various departments, dividing them into three squads: Mapping, Mail, and Video.

At the first project meeting, he stood on the stage facing those young faces.

"Everyone, what we're building, Google has been doing for over a decade. We only have three years."

He paused.

"If we can't finish in three years, then five. If not in five, then ten. As long as we keep working, we haven't lost."

Someone in the audience raised a hand.

"Director Zhou, where does the mapping data come from?"

Zhou Ye was already prepared.

"We cooperate with the National Mapping Bureau. They provide data, we supply the algorithms."

Another person raised a hand.

"Is the mail system secure?"

Zhou Ye nodded.

"Secure. We write the code ourselves, it's closed‑source, we don't use external libraries."

Yet another person raised a hand.

"What about video copyright?"

Zhou Ye thought for a moment.

"We'll start with user‑uploaded clips, not long videos. Copyright issues can be dealt with later."

He Xiao's side was even busier.

The automobile production line stopped for two days just to replace parts.

The original Bosch ECU was swapped for a domestic one. The original ZF transmission was replaced with an in‑house design. The original German sensors were exchanged for domestic ones.

Problems arose during testing.

The newly swapped domestic parts didn't match.

He Xiao personally supervised, guiding the engineers to tweak each parameter one by one.

After three days and three nights of tweaking, it finally ran through.

He made a Telephone call to Li Yaozong.

"Li, it's done. Performance dropped by five percent, but it's usable."

Li Yaozong hummed.

"Thanks for the hard work."

He Xiao laughed on the other end of the Telephone.

"Not hard. In this line of work, there's never a problem‑free day."

Over at Fang Wenshan's side, the public opinion war was fierce.

Online, messages flooded the internet.

"Wanshang is sanctioned; is it about to shut down?"

"Quickly sell the Fenghuang Phones in hand; there'll be no parts for repairs later."

"Domestic products can't cut it; at critical moments we still rely on foreign ones."

Fang Wenshan had people monitor the backend data.

The proportion of negative comments rose from five percent to eighteen percent.

He didn't rush to respond.

Instead, he had three documents prepared.

One was the progress on redesigning the chips.

Another was the agreement on domestic memory production.

The third was the test report on domesticizing automobile parts.

After the documents were ready, he gave Li Yaozong a Telephone call.

"Li, can we release it?"

Li Yaozong thought for a moment.

"Release it. Let them know Wanshang isn't dead yet."

After the documents were sent out, the comment section's tone began to shift.

"So the chips can be redesigned, memory has domestic versions, and parts can be substituted."

"What's wrong with twenty‑eight nanometer? It's sufficient."

"Do those who said it would shut down feel embarrassed?"

Fang Wenshan stared at the backend data.

The proportion of negative comments fell from eighteen percent to eleven percent.

He sent Li Yaozong a message:

"Stabilized."

Li Yaozong replied with a single character:

"Good."

At seven p. m., Li Yaozong sat alone in the office.

Several reports lay on the desk.

Chip redesign was completed.

Domestic memory production was settled.

The Software Special Project Team was established.

Automobile parts substitution passed testing.

Public opinion was stabilized.

He flipped through page by page.

Reaching the last page, he paused.

It was a handwritten note, in Chen Feng's handwriting:

"Li, the graphene progress is faster than expected. A sample can be produced next month."

He stared at the note, silent for a few seconds.

Then he stood up and walked to the window.

Outside, Shenzhen's night was deep.

In the distance, the Nanshan R&D Center shone brightly. In the underground Workshop, the lithography machine was still being tuned. In the New Materials Laboratory, the young people were still working overtime.

He knew this encirclement had only just begun.

More blockades, more supply cuts, more challenges would follow.

But he also knew that each blockade would force out a new technology.

Each supply cut would spawn a new industry.

Each challenge would cultivate a batch of new talent.

He stood for a long time.

Then he turned and walked back to his desk.

He opened the computer and began reading the graphene progress report.

Outside, the city's lights shone like dawn.