Chapter 229: An Insurmountable Barrier

“In the short term, those domestic and international competitors shouldn’t be able to catch up, right?” Su Hao asked.
“Chairman Su, you’re too modest. Not just in the short term, I think they’ll never have a chance!”
Liu Bo’s tone was filled with fervent admiration.
“The cost of user migration is very high; we’ve already completely monopolized the market!
Meanwhile, those competitors can’t even get their hands on the servers!
By the time they finally manage to get their hands on the servers, it’ll be too late; the gap between us and them will be an insurmountable chasm!”
Su Hao nodded: “Then, the only variable now is how President Emily will act.”
“Yes. That woman is a powder keg; nobody knows from which angle she’ll explode.”
He was distracted by other things before and didn't have time for us. Now that he's free, who knows what kind of trouble he'll cause.
'Could this be the reason my intuition warned him to try and bring those people from Xia Lian Group together?'
Su Hao pondered to himself: 'I wonder if Qin Han and that Chairman Liu have reached an agreement yet.'
However, things have already gotten out of his control.
Is he supposed to turn back now and give that crippled chip company a chance to survive?
It's too late.
Even if he were willing, a chip company that's been through so much trouble wouldn't recover for at least a year or two.
The key to the problem is no longer in Fang Huan Investment's hands.
There's no other way but to wait.
As Su Hao pondered, he casually flipped through a stack of reports sent by the research department.
These reports were vast and varied, lacking a specific theme, covering everything from global economic dynamics to the slightest moves by major companies.
'Hmm… nothing particularly noteworthy…'
As he turned to the next page, a name suddenly caught his eye like a firefly in the night.
“Digital Jump?”
His first reaction upon seeing the name was that he assumed it was some newly emerged Bitcoin-related company.
But upon closer inspection, he realized the company had absolutely nothing to do with Bitcoin; it was actually a domestic social networking company.
“Oh, Digital Jump,” Liu Bo leaned closer for a glance. “Chairman Su, this company is incredibly popular in China right now.”
“Really? I’ve never heard of it.”
“It’s normal not to know Digital Jump.
But Digital Jump owns an app called ‘Douyin,’ which is currently the most popular short video social media platform in China.
You must have heard of that.”
“Oh, you mean ‘Douyin,’ then I know.”
But at this moment, the company’s name presented an extremely strange “color” in Su Hao’s eyes.
It wasn’t the gold symbolizing wealth, nor the black or red representing crisis, nor the blue symbolizing opportunity.
It was a… indescribable, multicolored, chaotic hue, as if countless colors were mixed together, yet containing some kind of infinite possibility.
“Investigate this company thoroughly for me. See if there are any investment opportunities,” Su Hao ordered in a deep voice.
***
Meanwhile, in the conference room of Jiangjin Group, the atmosphere was stifling, as if all the oxygen had been sucked out.
Jiangjin Group's business had always been smooth sailing.
But doing business is like sailing; after a long period of calm, you'll inevitably encounter a stormy sea capable of capsizing everything.
And now, that "wave" was coming.
"How's it going?" Qin Han's voice carried a barely perceptible tension.
"Well..." The executive reporting swallowed hard, paused for a moment, and then spoke in a tone of relief:
"North America... finally nodded.
They agreed to a multi-party cooperation between Jiangjin, Xialian, and AMC to resolve the chip production capacity issue as soon as possible.
Weiyinda initially disagreed, but it seems that North America exerted direct pressure, and they ultimately agreed to join the cooperation."
"Phew—"
Qin Han let out a long sigh of relief, the breath seeming to blow away the dust from the ceiling.
The other executives in the conference room also relaxed.
"Honestly, it's a miracle we've only been reprimanded now after causing such a commotion,"
a vice president said, still shaken.
"The chip shortage preventing large-scale server expansion is no longer a business issue; it's a security issue."
Another executive nodded in agreement:
"Yes, this was truly a close call. Luckily, we connected with Xia Lian Group in time to share the production capacity; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
We essentially offered them a solution they couldn't refuse just before their execution!"
“I still don’t understand,” the executive frowned.
“Why would the Americans let us off the hook after we partnered with Xia Lian Group, a domestic competitor? Shouldn’t they be more wary?”
“That’s because the only thing the Americans are currently concerned about is that their own tech companies are on the verge of collapse!
The global chip shortage means that Silicon Valley giants can’t build their servers, their data centers are becoming scrap metal, and their digital hegemony is being shaken!
Therefore, the chip shortage itself is the ‘excuse’ that the North American powers are using to take action against us!”
The executive continued to explain:
“And Su Hao’s move was a stroke of genius!
He had us proactively partner with Xia Lian Group, sending an incredibly clear signal to the major powers:
We are not maliciously monopolizing the market; on the contrary, we have partnered with companies in the industry and are actively and responsibly resolving the global supply chain crisis!”
He's completely undermined us! He's removed the 'excuse' the Americans had to use to take action!
Now that the chip issue is being resolved, the US won't be targeting us again, at least not in the short term.
We've transformed from a 'troublemaker' into a 'problem solver.'
That's a brilliant move!
The conference room fell silent.
"But then again, since Su Hao could foresee this, why didn't he have us cooperate with Xia Lian from the beginning?
Why push things to the brink?"
A vice president voiced the question on everyone's mind.
Qin Han had also found it strange before.
Later, he made some inquiries in private and finally understood the reason behind it, which made him feel a chill run down his spine.