Chapter 183 Two Out of Three
Su Yuanshan looked calm on the surface, but inside, he was panicking.
Since his rebirth, every "negotiation" he had been involved in had gone exceptionally smoothly.
In the eyes of others, he seemed like a natural-born negotiator—one who only needed to open his mouth for the other side to obediently agree.
But only Su Yuanshan himself knew the truth.
It wasn't like that at all!
The reason he had always been so successful was either because he had overwhelming asymmetric information on his side or because he possessed an absolute technical advantage.
In many negotiations, he even had both advantages at once—
If he still couldn't win those, then he really had no business playing this game.
But now, facing the Texas Instruments board, Su Yuanshan had no such advantages.
In fact, he was at a severe disadvantage.
This wasn't even a case of multiple-choice anymore—the other side didn't even seem interested in posing a question at all.
In his previous life, companies like Bell and Motorola had entered the Chinese market relatively early,
but TI?
TI acted like China didn't even exist.
They happily ran circles around Southeast Asia but stubbornly refused to step foot into China.
Right now, Su Yuanshan's only advantage was...
He had a bit of money.
And he knew TI was financially strained after recently building a fab in Singapore and investing heavily in other ventures.
Su Yuanshan quietly observed the board members' expressions.
When he caught a few of them exchanging discreet glances, his heart finally relaxed.
MMP!
If you're broke, just say so!
After gathering the board members' silent consensus, Vincente finally spoke up.
"But Mr. Su," he said slowly, "please answer one question."
"Go ahead," Su Yuanshan said, bracing himself.
"Is your eagerness to establish a wafer fab because your homeland assigned you this mission?"
The moment he said it, all eyes turned to Su Yuanshan.
Su Yuanshan immediately shook his head.
"Of course not!
Every decision made by Yuanxin is aimed purely at advancing technology," he said firmly.
He took a deep breath and looked at them seriously.
"The technology we intend to introduce will be used exclusively for civilian applications.
Mr. Vincente, you've been to my homeland—you've seen firsthand the lives of the poor farmers there.
They have needs too.
They deserve dignity too.
They shouldn't have to spend an entire year's worth of hard labor just to afford a television."
The room fell silent again.
Some board members looked surprised—it was hard for them to imagine that buying a television could cost a whole year's income.
Then Addison asked, "And how can you guarantee that?"
Hearing this, Su Yuanshan relaxed further.
"That's easy," he said.
"If Yuanxin ever uses TI's technology for military applications, we will bear all legal consequences.
We can put that into the contract."
Vincente continued,
"Can you guarantee that no government capital will be involved?"
"…Yes," Su Yuanshan said, after a slight pause.
Finally, Vincente looked at Addison, then shook his head and said,
"Mr. Su, we can give you 8-inch technology now.
But the 0.5-micron process...
We're truly sorry.
No matter what, it's impossible.
It's not that we're unwilling—it's because the U.S. Commerce Department simply won't approve it."
Su Yuanshan sighed lightly.
"Then," he said, "I insist on having Dr. Zhang Rujin to oversee our fab construction.
That is my final bottom line."
Vincente hesitated for a moment, then nodded slowly.
"Agreed."
...
In Zhang Rujin's office, he and Chen Jing were having a lively conversation.
Of course...
He had no idea that Chen Jing had done extensive background research on him.
For instance, when asked why she was joining Yuanxin, Chen Jing didn't say it was because she admired Su Yuanshan or thought Yuanxin had great potential.
Instead, she claimed it was because she saw the backwardness of her homeland and wanted to contribute.
When talking about Su Yuanshan, she said that both Su Yuanshan and his father were pure academics.
Despite being billionaires, Professor Su Xinghe still lived in an old university dormitory,
and Su Yuanshan himself ate in the school cafeteria every day, dressed poorly, wearing whatever cheap clothes he could find.
Hearing this, Zhang Rujin laughed heartily.
As a devout Christian and a man of strict personal discipline, he deeply appreciated Su Yuanshan's humble lifestyle.
("Zhang Rujin: The Power of Faith"—worth reading.)
"I truly hope you'll come to Shanghai to oversee our fab construction," Chen Jing said with a sweet smile, her dimples especially charming.
Without hesitation, Zhang Rujin smiled and replied,
"If the cooperation succeeds, I will give it my all."
"And if the cooperation fails?" Chen Jing asked playfully, tilting her head.
Since this was a private meeting, she had long dropped her usual CEO formality.
"Then..." Zhang Rujin fell silent.
Ever since Su Yuanshan called him, specifically asking to wait until he returned to Texas before visiting TI,
Zhang knew how much importance Su Yuanshan placed on him.
Even while building the Singapore fab, Zhang had kept an eye on the potential collaboration.
He had thought about it too—
If cooperation with TI fell through...
How would Yuanxin build its fab?
Yuanxin didn't lack money.
What it lacked was technology, experience, and above all—connections.
Building a wafer fab wasn't like twenty years ago.
You couldn't just cobble together a few machines and pull a few all-nighters to whip up a working process.
With ever-advancing nodes, the technology had become fragmented and monopolized.
Different companies and individuals held different pieces of the puzzle.
Without the right people, Yuanxin would be forced to follow the old "import + train technicians" model—
meaning they'd become another Hua Jing Semiconductor at best.
But if Zhang Rujin personally led the project, he could cultivate a true research team capable of developing new processes—not just training assembly line workers.
At that moment, there was a knock on the door.
Sheng Guangfeng appeared, smiling politely.
"Sorry to interrupt.
Dr. Zhang, the president requests your presence."
"Ah, alright," Zhang Rujin smiled apologetically at Chen Jing, then hesitated.
"What's it about?" he asked.
"Probably... deployment to Shanghai," Sheng said with a meaningful glance at Chen Jing.
Chen Jing responded with a smile of her own.
And subtly clenched her fists under the table.
"Ultimately, we still ended up having to make a choice,"
Su Yuanshan murmured as the plane climbed into the sky again.
He closed his eyes, a little regretful.
"But it's already a great victory," Chen Jing said, smiling to comfort him.
"Out of three possible outcomes, we won two."
"The real problem is the Commerce Department," Su Yuanshan said, rubbing his forehead.
"One day, when I build something truly world-class...
I'll make them beg me for it."
"Pfft..." Chen Jing couldn't hold back a laugh.
"You always leave yourself a backup plan. No need to worry."
For now, they had chosen 8-inch, 0.8-micron technology.
But they had secured Zhang Rujin.
Once the fab was operational,
0.5-micron tech would no longer be out of reach.
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