Chapter 38: Ant vs. Elephant

"We have already reached agreements with several component suppliers; Yangcheng Tianhua Electronics Company will manufacture the Silver Mink mouse for us, and once the process matures, the initial daily production capacity is expected to reach about one thousand units!"

Hu Zi, who had just returned from Guangdong Province, didn’t even rest before heading straight to Li Dongling’s office.

"However, some components still need to be procured through companies in Hongcheng from Japanese firms!"

Hu Zi drank the tea Li Dongling poured for him and said.

Li Dongling showed no reaction to this; although America had been pressuring Japanese semiconductor companies since seven or eight years ago, Japan’s semiconductor capabilities still remained among the world’s top.

Most domestic electronics and appliance companies actually source chips, memory, and other components from Japan, Europe, America, or even neighboring Korea; for example, Wan Yan, which invented the VCD and became wildly popular this year, claims to be the world’s largest VCD manufacturer, yet its core patents, decoders, and VCD processing chips are all controlled by foreign companies.

Wan Yan’s decoder chip is controlled by America’s Yishi and Sigao Bai, while its VCD chip is sourced from Philips and Sony; as long as these four companies wish, they could easily support a second, or even ten or eight more Wan Yans without any problem—they’re just selling chips, and selling to any company doesn’t affect their profits at all!

Dongling High-Tech’s Silver Mink mouse is no exception; fully domesticating all its components is currently unrealistic, and even using domestic parts would likely cost significantly more than buying foreign ones.

This is precisely why the notion of “it’s better to buy than to make” has become popular: foreign products are mature, technologically advanced, and cheap; domestic companies expend tremendous effort to develop their own, yet still fall behind and can’t sell them—over time, such labor-intensive, unprofitable endeavors simply stop being attempted. This isn’t something one person’s words can change.

But when Wan Yan stumbles on the VCD market and is jointly outmaneuvered by Yishi, Sigao Bai, Philips, Sony, and others—who sell decoders and VCD chips to dozens of companies to compete against Wan Yan—it will finally make some people realize how critical it is who controls the technology.

Li Dongling certainly didn’t want Dongling High-Tech to suffer the same fate as Wan Yan, seeing it on the verge of becoming a giant only to be easily destroyed; yet escaping dependence on others couldn’t be achieved overnight—at least Dongling High-Tech hadn’t yet reached the point where such concerns were urgent; right now, survival was the most important thing.

"The Guanxing satellite dish is completely unsellable; total sales of the Guanxing satellite dish have reached about 750,000 units!"

Li Dongling also revealed to Hu Zi that the satellite dish market had collapsed completely, with prices plummeting; over the past six and a half months since last year, nearly 750,000 Guanxing satellite dishes had been sold, with total transaction value exceeding 200 million!

But the era of exorbitant profits was over; now, selling satellite dishes, making a profit was out of the question—just avoiding losses was already a win. Even the Shangguan Town Yuanqi Factory had entered inventory-clearing mode, meaning Dongling High-Tech could no longer earn any revenue from the satellite dish project.

It might seem like earning 200 million in half a year was wildly profitable, but after taxes, Dongling High-Tech’s share of the profits was roughly 26 million.

If the Silver Mink mouse and digital cordless phones couldn’t be sold, Dongling High-Tech would soon be burning through its reserves.

"Gao Peng is currently negotiating with domestic computer companies like Great Wall, Langchao, and Qixi; if we can secure mouse orders from these companies, Dongling High-Tech will have firmly established itself in China’s mouse industry..."

Dongling High-Tech’s cooperation with these computer brands was essentially as a contract manufacturer—the mice produced would carry the computer companies’ own logos; there was no alternative, as Silver Mink’s brand recognition was far too low, and no one knew how many retail customers would buy it, while the big manufacturers wouldn’t easily collaborate with Dongling High-Tech to co-develop mice.

Even this level of cooperation only happened because Dongling High-Tech proactively approached them, offering to produce at nearly cost price, and only then did they agree to a trial batch.

"For this collaboration, I still think we need to consider carefully—there may be opportunities for future cooperation!"

In Yangcheng, Gao Peng had nearly finalized talks with the purchasing director of Qixi Computer; all that remained was signing the contract to secure an order for 10,000 Silver Mink mice—when someone entered and whispered something to the director, who immediately changed his tone, dropped a single sentence, and left.

Gao Peng was stunned, unsure what had happened; he tried to chase after him, but the director avoided him as if he were contagious.

Not just Qixi Computer, but all the other computer manufacturers Gao Peng had been negotiating with had suddenly changed their attitudes, refusing even to meet Dongling High-Tech’s representatives again.

Just as Gao Peng was baffled, the reporter from the newspaper that had previously advertised Silver Mink called him, launching a furious tirade: "I really believed your lies—do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused our newspaper? You’re a knockoff, and you dare run ads in the paper?"

"Your company is going to be sued by Microsoft—I’m ruined because of you!"

Before Gao Peng could respond, the caller hung up; Gao Peng rushed to a newsstand, flipped through several newspapers, and found that tech and economic publications were all reporting the news: "Silver Mink Mouse Copies Microsoft’s Design."

"Hey, are you buying or not? You’ve been staring for ages—do I get to do business or not?" the newsstand old man grumbled at Gao Peng.

Normally, Gao Peng would have argued with the old man at length, but today he had no patience; he tossed down a bill, didn’t wait for change, grabbed the newspapers, and ran toward Yangcheng Airport, preparing to fly back to the provincial capital, then head to Pingyang.

Dongling High-Tech also received word at once, as reporters had already arrived in Pingyang to interview the company.

"We’re reporters from the Provincial Economic Weekly—we’d like to ask why your company copied Microsoft’s latest product?!"

In Dongling High-Tech’s conference room, the reporter from the provincial capital pressed aggressively; reporters in this era were extremely assertive; the Provincial Economic Weekly wasn’t state media, but this was exactly the kind of story they loved to jump on—eager to dig up a major scandal.

Yao Luoying raised her elegant eyebrows, her face darkening with anger: "Our company did not copy Microsoft; the Silver Mink was developed entirely by us—patents and technology belong entirely to Dongling High-Tech!"

"You mean Microsoft copied you?!"

The reporter became even more excited upon hearing Yao Luoying’s words, immediately instructing someone to record it; she had expected to arrive and find the Silver Mink company’s representatives weeping and begging for forgiveness to avoid being sued and jailed by Microsoft—but instead, Dongling High-Tech was surprisingly bold.

As for Microsoft copying Dongling High-Tech? That claim would make anyone laugh themselves silly—what level of entity was Microsoft? What was Dongling High-Tech? Who would believe such a thing? They’d probably be seen as insane.

"Assistant Yao!"

Li Dongling entered the conference room, stopping Yao Luoying from continuing the argument, and glanced at the reporter from the Provincial Economic Weekly.

"Dongling High-Tech will issue a response tomorrow."

"We’ll be back—until the truth comes out, our newspaper will continue to follow this story closely!"

Watching the reporter, who regarded herself as a righteous crusader, walk away with her head held high, Li Dongling stared at her back for a moment, then rose and returned to his office.

After nightfall, the lights on the second floor of Dongling High-Tech remained on; Gao Peng, who had returned overnight to Pingyang, along with Hu Zi, Yao Luoying, Li Dongshan, and others, gathered in Li Dongling’s office.

"A tech company that seeks shortcuts through plagiarism—even if it achieves temporary success—will inevitably fail. Japanese companies have spent thirty years steadfastly upholding craftsmanship to establish themselves in an industry, while others want to leap to the top in one step, covering in one year what others took thirty years to achieve—they will inevitably fall off the cliff!"

"This applies to companies, to individuals, and to nations as well..."

Li Dongling looked at the newspaper Gao Peng had brought back—the New Tech Express had been running nonstop coverage of this story for several days; Lin Shiman, who wrote the reports, had risen to fame and was hailed as the only female journalist in China’s tech industry who dared to speak the truth.

Lin Shiman had written a series of scathing articles, blasting companies like the Silver Mink developer for their blind plagiarism, even elevating the issue to a societal level—she might as well have called Dongling High-Tech a rotten apple poisoning the nation.

After reading the newspaper, Li Dongling had finally grasped Lin Shiman’s literary talent.

"The problem now is that no one is willing to believe us!"

Gao Peng said angrily; tech media outlets had almost unanimously turned against Silver Mink and Dongling High-Tech; as for the truth, they seemed to already know it—they wouldn’t allow Dongling High-Tech to defend itself, only waiting for them to break down and beg for forgiveness.

Gao Peng paced restlessly, Hu Zi looked deeply troubled, Yao Luoying was furious, Chen Tao and Li Dongshan sat silently, and Li Dongling observed everyone’s expressions.

Tapping his fingers on the table, Li Dongling recalled Laozi’s saying: "Misfortune is where fortune leans; fortune is where misfortune hides." Again, crisis was also opportunity.

"Dongling High-Tech cannot sit idle—we must sue!"

"We should sue the New Tech Express—they reported without any investigation..."

Yao Luoying clenched her teeth in anger: "It’s exactly those who falsely accuse you who understand how unjust it is!"

"We must sue the New Tech Express, but to wash away the dirt smeared on Dongling High-Tech, suing the New Tech Express alone is far from enough—we must also sue Microsoft!"

Yao Luoying, Hu Zi, and Gao Peng all stared at Li Dongling in shock.