The river breeze carried a chill, blowing away the vanity of last night.
After getting up, Liu Yutong held a steaming cup of coffee, stood on the hotel balcony, and stared blankly at the scenery outside.
After parting ways with those internet tycoons yesterday, she had been thinking about the most critical candidate for the Longxin project. When she learned that an extremely important figure was about to join Huahong EC, she knew the time was ripe.
The preliminary preparations for Longxin were almost complete.
Abroad, Ji Zhe had already reached preliminary agreements with several internationally renowned investment banks. Coupled with the domestic investors they both pulled from their respective circles of friends, raising five billion in funds was not a major problem.
On Liu Yutong's side, Pearl Capital, Yunshan Capital, and Wanlong Capital had also prepared their funds.
On the policy front, she believed Uncle Li wouldn't be stingy either.
In short, with the funds, policies, and the group of allies she had just brought in last night, everything was basically ready. The only thing missing was the core stabilizing force, a commander-in-chief who could truly take charge of the overall situation and transform the paper plans into an actual production line.
This person must not merely be a top academic guru. He must have rich experience in every aspect, from project initiation, site selection, and factory construction to equipment introduction, process debugging, and final mass production. At the same time, he must also have experience working under different cultural and work systems in the East and the West, able to deeply understand international rules while leveraging domestic advantages to solve pain points.
In addition, he needed top-tier technical vision, as well as strong engineering management and team-building capabilities.
More importantly, he must have enough ambition and drive, daring to challenge a new project from scratch.
Through her investigations during this period, combined with memories from her past life, Liu Yutong found that at this point in time, the person with the best chance and who best met her requirements seemed to be only one person: Qiu Ciyun.
This legendary figure, respectfully called Master Qiu in the industry, was currently in a transition period.
Qiu Ciyun graduated from UC Berkeley in his early years, possessing a profound background in semiconductor physics and devices. His career spanned America, Taiwan, and the mainland. He was an early technical backbone of Taijidian, personally participating in and witnessing Taijidian's critical climb from struggling to catch up to leading the industry. He had invaluable first-hand experience in the introduction and mass production of advanced processes.
Later, he was invited by Zhang Rujin to join Zhongxin as Senior Vice President. During his time at Zhongxin, he relied on his outstanding abilities to personally build two wafer production lines, and was also responsible for the operation and technical research and development of multiple important factory areas. He was one of Zhongxin's founding heroes.
About three years ago, due to ideological differences on company operations and management with founder Zhang Rujin, he eventually chose to resign.
Liu Yutong also specially hired a headhunter to conduct a comprehensive investigation on him. This heavyweight was currently in the Magic City and had already resumed contact with Huahong.
If nothing unexpected happened, he would soon take over as the CEO of Huahong.
Huahong was also having a hard time right now. It seemed that due to problems with their capital chain, the 12-inch project they were working on had fallen into a semi-stalled state. Qiu Ciyun was highly likely going there to put out fires.
From Liu Yutong's perspective, he didn't need to put out fires at all. Huahong's biggest problem at present was a shortage of funds; attracting investment was the top priority. It would be hard for Qiu Ciyun to sort things out there in a short time. He might as well join Longxin, where he could truly maximize his value.
Just as she was thinking about this, her assistant Su Mansu, who had come over last night, knocked on the door and came in to report the situation.
Boss, everything is arranged.
According to your instructions, we contacted Huahong headquarters in the name of an inspection by Wanlong Capital, indicating that we have a long-term investment interest in the semiconductor manufacturing field and hoping to visit Huahong's current production lines, especially their 12-inch project. The other party has now replied and agreed, scheduling the inspection for the day after tomorrow.
Liu Yutong nodded. Don't forget to notify President Ma.
To be honest, among the many internet tycoons, only Pony Ma showed a genuine interest in semiconductor manufacturing, which surprised her a bit.
Could it be that Pony Ma sensed a crisis? Did he feel that his Penguin Empire might be impacted by the Wanlong Association, and thus came to enhance their friendship?
By the way, Boss, are we really going to invest in Huahong?
No investment, just an inspection.
Also, leak the word that we have ample funds on hand and are looking for potential semiconductor manufacturing projects in the country for strategic capital injection. Keep the tone as vague as possible, but the impact must be strong enough, Liu Yutong said.
Understood.
Su Mansu caught her drift. I'll handle it right away. I will definitely make Huahong's top management take it seriously enough, and ensure that everyone who needs to know hears the news.
Liu Yutong nodded again. The sooner, the better.
..............
Two days later, at Huahong headquarters.
When Liu Yutong and Pony Ma arrived, Huahong indeed gave them an extremely high-level reception. Not only did the current vice president personally welcome them at the door, but several deputy managers and technical directors were also all present.
Obviously, the rumor about an investor with heavy funds intending to invest had already reached the ears of these people.
After the financial crisis, in fact, not only Huahong, but other semiconductor companies were also fundamentally severely weakened, including another company also located in the Magic City, Zhongxin.
Zhongxin was also in a very difficult situation now. Coupled with external lawsuits, it was unknown whether Zhang Rujin could continue to helm Zhongxin this year.
Liu Yutong had actually considered Zhang Rujin, but the other party was deeply mired in various problems. If she poached him over at this time, it would probably bring a lot of trouble instead.
After thinking it over, Qiu Ciyun was still the most suitable.
After simple pleasantries, the group followed Huahong's top management into the factory area for a tour.
Liu Yutong was not very proficient in the semiconductor manufacturing field, so she specially had Su Mansu temporarily hire a knowledgeable expert to accompany them.
From yield data and equipment utilization rates to breakthroughs in key technical nodes, research and development investment ratios, and the status of that stagnant 12-inch production line, Liu Yutong asked detailed questions about everything.
Similarly, this also let the people at Huahong know that although this girl looked young, she was not easily fooled.
She was very astute.
Throughout the entire tour, it was almost entirely Liu Yutong asking questions. Pony Ma acted like an invisible man the whole time, hardly speaking at all, just quietly following by her side.
After touring the production line, the crowd finally arrived at the conference room.
Just as Huahong's vice president was preparing to start detailing their financing needs, a knock came at the conference room door.
A person looking like a secretary walked in and whispered a few words in his ear.
The vice president's face immediately broke into a smile as he said to Liu Yutong and Pony Ma, "President Liu, President Ma, what a coincidence. Huahong's specially invited industry consultant, Dr. Qiu Ciyun, happens to be in the company today doing some preliminary research. I wonder if it would be convenient for the two of you to have a chat with him? Dr. Qiu is a leading authority in the industry, and his insights will definitely be of great help to your investment decisions."
Liu Yutong felt a sense of certainty in her heart; the fish had indeed taken the bait. She showed just the right amount of surprise on her face: "Is it really Dr. Qiu Ciyun? It is truly our honor to meet him at your company. Of course, it's convenient."
A moment later, a figure walked into the conference room.
Qiu Ciyun was in his fifties, slim in build, wearing a simple dark down jacket and a pair of casual pants, along with rimless glasses. He perfectly fit the image of a technical expert in science and engineering.
"Engineer Qiu, this is President Liu from Wanlong Investment and President Ma from Da'e, who are here to inspect the company today," the vice president introduced warmly.
Qiu Ciyun's gaze fell on Liu Yutong, clearly a bit surprised by how young she was. It was truly rare for someone of her age to be interested in the semiconductor industry. However, he still politely reached out his hand.
"President Liu, a pleasure to meet you!"
"President Ma, a pleasure to meet you!"
Liu Yutong stood up and shook his hand: "Dr. Qiu, I've heard so much about you!"
Pony Ma also stood up: "Engineer Qiu, I've heard so much about you!"
