Chapter 537: No one understands economics better than me

Clearly, Zakaria is exactly that kind of person.

After finishing negotiations with Xu Qingzhou, he was waiting for an opportunity.

In the best-case scenario, major laboratories around the world would achieve significant results, and substitutes would emerge one after another; by then, perhaps he could acquire the technology in Xu Qingzhou's hands for 150 million.

Or rather, he was also gambling.

He was gambling that Xu Qingzhou would be unable to produce commercial-grade superconducting thin films with performance exceeding 3.0×10⁴ A/cm² in a short time. Judging from the current development data of the superconducting thin film industry, he had at least an 80% chance of winning.

If going from industrial-grade superconducting thin films to commercial-grade is a hurdle, then every numerical change above commercial-grade is also a hurdle.

To put it more vividly, if preparing superconducting thin films is like climbing Mount Everest, they have only just reached the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. This is the law of economics.

If nothing goes wrong, the Goddess of Luck will still be on my side.

The secretary silently added from the side, saying: "Zakaria's exact words were, 500 million to buy GE's future is not a loss."

"I can only say that GE chose a greedy gambler as its vice president."

Kaikesi laughed, secretly thinking that Zakaria had made a foolish move, but upon careful thought, he felt it was quite normal. After all, this guy was competing for the position of president and desperately needed new achievements.

They had been rivals for decades; now, he was already the company's executive president, while that guy's office door still had a "Vice President" sign hanging on it.

He took a sip of coffee and asked about business: "So, what is the situation at the Franz Laboratory now?"

The secretary replied: "News just came in this morning that the latest round of experimental results is very good. We expect to achieve 2.2×10⁴ A/cm² before April, and there is hope of entering the 3.00×10⁴ A/cm² ranks within this year."

As giants, whether it is Siemens or GE, they actually have their own laboratories or specifically invest in certain laboratories. Siemens' own experimental team is working on cyclic annealing magnetron sputtering technology for superconducting thin films.

Unfortunately, they ultimately cannot keep up with old-school laboratories like Princeton and MIT.

March 13th, an office in the southeast corner of MIT.

The "Least Reliable Project" team is holding a team meeting.

After summarizing the experiments of the past few days, Xu Qingzhou looked at Carson and said in a deep voice: "The experimental plan for quantum dot precision doping technology is already out. Carson, you must ensure precise control of quantum dot size and distribution within two weeks."

"No problem." Carson nodded.

Ma Ersi nodded solemnly and said in a deep voice: "Don't worry, Professor, leave it to us."

Xu Qingzhou looked at this guy's serious appearance and couldn't help but say: "Hey, Ma Ersi, it's already been four days, you should be calmer."

After receiving the letter of intent, he announced this matter within the team on a small scale.

"I'll try my best," Ma Ersi giggled.

Over these few days, they had already calmed down a bit.

Take Carson, for example; according to the original contract, he could receive a 5% bonus from the advance payment.

Calculating it, that would be 25 million US dollars.

When Xu Qingzhou first proposed the 5% bonus, he hadn't taken it to heart, just holding a gambling mentality.

500 million.

Whenever they thought of that huge sum of money, everyone felt a sense of unreality.

Jealousy? No, it was worship.

The laboratory's achievements today are 99% due to Xu Qingzhou.

Xu Qingzhou covered all experimental funding; besides that, the entire experiment was almost pushed forward by Xu Qingzhou, and they were merely executing experiments according to Xu Qingzhou's instructions.

Let alone them, any guy with hands and feet could do it.

As for Sun Simin and Ma Ersi, let alone them, they were even more fearful and trembling.

For an undergraduate to enter such a research group was already a surprise. When Xu Qingzhou marked a 0.5% bonus in the terms, they hadn't taken it seriously at the time.

Now, besides learning a large amount of knowledge, everyone has 2.5 million.

They felt a bit guilty taking this money.

After arranging the laboratory tasks, Xu Qingzhou went around the lab, checked the equipment operation, and didn't stay here, getting up to go home, preparing to continue constructing subsequent improvement experiments.

The simplest problem, quantum dot agglomeration or sparse distribution caused by uneven precursor diffusion during the ALD process, was left to Carson to solve; as for the rest, he needed to go back and think carefully about how to do it.

As for Song Yao, she is currently still docking with Maples Group to register Zero Point Technology. In addition, she also plans to entrust Maples Group to register a wholly-owned subsidiary in Singapore.

US companies paying royalties to overseas entities are required to pay a 30% withholding tax by default, which means at least 150 million in tax payments.

For every policy from above, there is a countermeasure from below.

The best method is to use a third-country transit structure, utilizing the tax treaty between that country and the United States to achieve a zero tax rate. This is also a common method; for example, cross-border IP transactions by companies like IBM and Microsoft use similar methods.

Of course, this sounds simple, just transit and there's no tax, but the whole process is quite troublesome; for example, the company in the Netherlands must have economic substance requirements.

Specifically, it means proving that obligations exist, such as offices, business activities, meeting minutes, and stamped documents, etc.

Xu Qingzhou has lived in the United States for many years and understands even better that once funds are involved, those people from the IRS will come sniffing around.

Just the operating steps sent over by Maples Group are over 100 pages long.

Fortunately, Xu Qingzhou has not yet officially signed a contract with General Electric, so there is plenty of preparation time.

Apartment.

March 15th.

As soon as Xu Qingzhou entered the door, he found Er Miao squatting on the shoe cabinet, looking at him eagerly.

"Out of cat food?"

Xu Qingzhou looked at this silly cat being so enthusiastic today and guessed that it probably had nothing to eat. He took off his down jacket, held the meowing tabby cat and walked over, and sure enough, saw that the automatic feeder inside was empty.

"That's good, consider it dieting."

Xu Qingzhou teased, went to the cabinet to take out the cat food, pinched one, and after Er Miao meowed affectionately several times, he handed it to its mouth.

After teasing the cat for a while, he also got up and turned on the computer.

The precise control of quantum dot size and distribution can be adjusted through experimental data, but the problem that follows is the real challenge.

For example, interface stress and lattice mismatch; the lattice mismatch (≈8%) between WS (layered structure) and NBC (cubic structure) leads to interface cracks.

It can be anticipated that after adding new precursors, fluctuations in ALD/PE-CVD multi-step process parameters will lead to performance differences between batches, with JC deviation >15%.

Furthermore, there is the balance between doping concentration and superconducting performance; excessive YO doping (>5at%) leads to NBSN lattice distortion and a decrease in critical temperature (Tc).

The superconducting thin film has already been formed, and changing any single variable means that problems may arise in the whole.

This is like trying to adjust a finished, completed building—adding new materials to improve the building's quality, such as earthquake resistance, wind resistance, stability, etc., involving adjustments to the foundation and the main structure; the difficulty is imaginable.

One careless move, and the entire building could collapse; it truly counts as pulling one hair and moving the whole body.

(Taking leave to adjust the outline. Thank you all for reading, bowing.)

(End of chapter)