Chapter 653: Another Round of Begging

Nowadays, people blindly worship foreign things, thinking everything foreign is good.

Making such a choice is not unexpected.

Put bluntly, this is just a money‑sinking endeavor; you have to keep pouring money in until a cost‑effective lithography machine appears.

Don't talk about continuing to support R&D of more advanced machines—just look at the R&D cost of this thing and you'll know.

Without a market, we simply can't afford to support this kind of R&D.

Why? Because we're poor.

The decline of lithography‑machine R&D is inevitable.

Later R&D not only costs money, but also requires top‑tier technical support.

It is the crystallization of the world's top‑tier technology.

And those top‑tier technologies are blockaded against us by others.

They just need to chase after your product and attack it, and you'll suffer massive losses.

How can we keep playing with this thing?

You dare to play? This is clearly a bottomless pit.

Even the state can't afford it, let alone him.

If we want to catch up with their technology, we need to upgrade our manufacturing technology.

Only then can we develop products with sufficient cost‑effectiveness to break their schemes.

Yang Qing really can't afford to play.

Yang Qing wore a mournful, aggrieved face.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's not that I don't want to help; I simply can't. The current lithography‑machine R&D might cost only tens of millions to get results, but the R&D expenses for future machines will increase geometrically."

"If you don't believe me, ask Dean Xu."

Xu Duan Yi never expected Yang Qing to know all this.

Under everyone's gaze, he had no choice but to nod.

"The next generation will probably cost over a hundred million."

"If we can't sell the current machines, we simply have no funds to carry on the next round of research."

It's just that helpless—now the whole country needs money; who can pull out such a huge sum to support research that creates no market value?

Everyone looked at Yang Qing—this guy's got money.

Their eyes burned with intensity.

"Yang Qing, lithography machines are extremely important to our entire semiconductor industry."

"You supported an airplane—are you really going to watch our own lithography machine go to waste?"

Yang Qing truly has no way out—who can he reason with? Unless he goes to persuade the West to keep blockading Daxia, but is that possible?

It's completely impossible.

Have his own company purchase these machines?

That's outright suicide; business, plainly put, is a cost competition—whoever has lower costs, higher prices, good sales, and high profits gains the right to survive.

If you dare to build a bunch of machines with no advantage, others will quickly seize the opportunity.

The marketplace is like a battlefield; it cannot be won by sentiment alone.

He is utterly helpless.

But although he can't loophole, he can still give them some pointers.

"You might consider thinking of a way aimed at places insensitive to price and cost."

"For example, the military industry……"

"As of now, only they have a chance to want your stuff."

"As long as you can survive, finding a high‑cost‑effectiveness opportunity is your chance to regain pursuit."

"Right now, just staying alive is enough."

Yang Qing clearly doesn't want to wade into this muddy water.

"The state should understand the importance of lithography machines."

"In military affairs there's no room for luck; if we don't support you, and if a conflict erupts, they might suddenly stop selling, or remotely sabotage the machines—what would we do then?"

"For national security, they too must support you."

"This is the way out—find me and I'll resolve any problem."

"Our lithography machines can only wait—wait until we can produce a product with ultra‑high cost‑effectiveness, and wait until others stop selling to us."

"Otherwise, I can't think of any way out."

Yang Qing has already made it crystal clear.

These old-timers have also figured out the crux.

But they came to beg for alms; if they can't get any, how can they be resigned?

Still, Old Man Wang spoke first.

"Yang Qing, look, you also said we must survive."

"Look, Old Man Xu can't even survive now; as for the military‑industry matter, in a short while it probably won't get done."

"You should know, we're poor everywhere, and the army is even poorer."

"Once the Gulf War starts, it's poverty piled on poverty."

"After all, our equipment is outdated now; it needs updating, and the cost will be enormously huge."

"In a short while, who will have the leisure to look after Old Man Xu?"

"Now survival has become a huge difficulty."

You see, we can't watch Old Man Xu's team fall apart, right?

Yang Qing's mouth corner kept twitching.

This is, if you don't give money, you won't leave, right?

Yang Qing doesn't care about money, after all, Xiao Rizi and Damaoxiong have brought him huge profits.

A conservative estimate is over trillions of Hong Kong dollars.

He has a lot of money, but he doesn't know how many more people will come asking for handouts.

Moreover, each of them has a huge background; help one, and you offend another?

Besides, I'm in venture capital, not charity.

If we keep going like this, in less than two years Hongqing will collapse—what's the point?

I can't possibly ask my own son for money later—Yang Qing can't afford to lose face with that person.

Yang Qing frowned and looked bitter for a long time, and the faces of the group of old men weren't looking good either.

But soon Yang Qing came up with a plan.

He still has the Yang family treasure.

There's plenty of money in there; besides giving the antiques to his son, the other gold, silver, and jewels—since they're meant to be donated anyway—might as well donate them to them.

For this, I don't need to step forward myself; letting Comrade Xi Xian take the lead will do.

This time, I outwardly refused that group of old men; later, when others come asking for handouts, I'll also have a reason to refuse.

No need to offend people too much.

After all, these old men have already been turned away at the door; refusing them is only natural, right?

Thinking this through, Yang Qing saw everything clearly.

Looking at those old men with grim faces, Yang Qing decided not to speak for now.

He looked to Comrade Xi Xian.

"Gentlemen, I need to think about this matter; you also know I'm in venture capital, and venture capital itself is risky."

"If I give you more money, how can my company survive?"

"You all need to know: one leads to two, two leads to three; even if I had more money, I couldn't withstand this."

"Let me think, give everyone a little time."

"Who knows, maybe suddenly there will be a turn for the better?"

"Saying it sounds better than singing it—this is just a refusal, isn't it?"

"Old Man Wang still wants to keep lecturing Yang Qing about national righteousness."

"Old Man Xu, however, knows what he's getting into—this is a big pit, so it's normal for them not to agree."

"Moreover, they've already pointed out the way for him; continuing to pester would be inappropriate."

"Okay, Yang Qing needs to think about this—after all, this isn't just a few hundred or thousand; it's over a hundred million, even several billion."

"Yang Qing, then we'll take our leave."

"Sorry to disturb you today."

Yang Qing could see everyone's dissatisfaction, but he really had no way out.

He really couldn't bear it.

"Sorry for disappointing everyone—I really am just a small-time player with little wealth."

"But I believe the state will see how remarkable this is."