Chapter 437: Sweeping Down the Butcher's Knife

“Looks like… we'll have to hire an armed escort.” Du Yuanhang rubbed his aching temples.
“Yes, although the cost is terrifyingly high, if this continues, these pirates will definitely empty our cargo.”
“Sigh… what a run of bad luck. Even these movie characters have come out to join the fun… How’s the damage to the ships?”
“When those pirates got close, they were like mad dogs, spraying bullets with heavy machine guns. The hull is riddled with holes.
Now we can only tow them to the nearest port for security checks and repairs.”
“Those damned bastards!” Du Yuanhang cursed.
“Contact the local government immediately, offer a reward! Make them find these pirates!
Also, double the size of the armed escort! No, triple it! Money is no object!
Arm our shipping lanes to the teeth! Make those pirates avoid us like the plague!”
“Yes! But… Mr. Du, there’s another very tricky aspect to this situation.
The cargo carried by those attacked ships… happens to be the very shipment ordered by the ‘Aaron’ Group.”
The moment the name “Aaron” was mentioned, Du Yuanhang’s already contorted face fell even more deeply.
“Aaron? Wait… is that the… mega-order we signed a while ago?”
“That’s right. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of goods are now all stuck at sea, completely immobilized!”
The Aron Group is a commercial behemoth with a market capitalization of trillions of dollars, practically the Godzilla of online retail.
Their “Member Preferred” service dominates the market with its rapid delivery speed, and their online store is raking in huge profits.
And this time, to host an unprecedented global mega-sale, they’re on a shopping spree across Eurasia.
“If this shipment can’t be delivered on time… what will the consequences be?” Du Yuanhang’s voice was somewhat hoarse.
"A huge penalty for breach of contract. To cooperate with their big promotional event, all goods had to be in the warehouse by a specified date.
Now that we've messed up, they're bound to come after us."
"...Is there a solution?"
"No. We can only wait."
"This is fucking infuriating!" Du Yuanhang grabbed his already thinning hair in frustration.
If it weren't for those damned pirates interfering, this shipment would have arrived comfortably and ahead of schedule.
"Now that's the case..."
The chip supply chain was already precarious, and now this huge contract with Asia has gone wrong.
This is beyond his control; he must report it immediately.
In an instant, Su Hao's seemingly harmless face, always sporting a warm smile, clearly appeared in Du Yuanhang's mind.
He could almost foresee Su Hao saying in his signature flat tone, "There's a reason for everything, it's understandable, it's alright."
But if... if what Lin Fan said yesterday was true, then this "it's alright" probably wouldn't truly be "it's alright"!
***
Fang Huan Investment Conference Room.
"Pirates?"
"Yes, Chairman Su. The surge in shipping volume has also fattened those desperados.
This time, several of our company's cargo ships became their targets."
"Were there any casualties?"
"Fortunately, there were no casualties. However, some cargo was stolen, and the ship was severely damaged. It has been towed to port for repairs."
Su Hao nodded, his tense nerves relaxing slightly. As long as everyone was safe, that was good.
Cargo can be rebuilt, ships can be repaired, but lives lost can't be recovered even with "Ctrl+Z".
"According to reports, the cargo on these ships was all for the upcoming large-scale promotional event held by the Asia Group."
"Oh? So, if there's a delay, Asia Group will be in trouble?"
"Yes. Although it's the pirates' fault, we still can't deliver on time, and we'll likely have to pay penalties."
This was indeed unlucky, but it seemed there was no other way.
Who could have predicted that the pirates were going out to boost their sales today?
Su Hao pondered for a moment, then decisively ordered:
"Notify the shipping company to increase the budget for escort and security fivefold, with no upper limit. Safety is the top priority.
Also, tell Du Yuanhang that this was an accident, and tell him not to blame himself too much.
And regarding the port strike, we can't let it escalate. If necessary, have our team get involved and find a way to quell the unrest as quickly as possible."
"Understood, Chairman Su."
"Next topic."
"Chairman Su, this time it's about the chip business."
Su Hao nodded, knowing the main issue had arrived.
"Is it a production capacity problem?"
"Yes. The pandemic, coupled with the previous cryptocurrency mining craze, has pushed chip demand to unprecedented levels.
Although we've done our best to expand production capacity, we still can't keep up with the rate of order growth. Right now, even with the production lines smoking, we can't keep up."
The pandemic has created huge demand for working from home and entertainment, while the mining craze has turned high-end chips into consumables.
These two powerful forces converged, elevating the humble chip to a phenomenal level, inflating demand to unbelievable proportions.
For Fanghuan Investment, booming chip sales were naturally a boon.
However, the immediate problem was that orders were far exceeding their production capacity.
"What's worse, we're now coinciding with a global server upgrade cycle.
Our current production capacity simply cannot meet the needs of all our customers.
Right now, the company most in dire need of chips is Fanghuan itself!
Our servers aren't just undergoing maintenance; they require massive expansion!"
Unlike ordinary companies reliant on cloud services, Fanghuan's size and business acumen dictated that it must possess its own data barriers.
Initially, they had used cloud services, but with the group's rapid expansion, the amount of sensitive information they processed increased exponentially. Su Hao had already decided to establish their own data centers around the world.
"The report shows that our existing server cluster is no longer sufficient. Traffic peaks are repeatedly breaking records, and there is a constant risk of overload and crashes."
"Isn't a new data center under construction?"
"Yes, but it's still not enough! Especially since we recently acquired FaceWeb, their massive user data has brought even more pressure on our servers."
This meant that Fang Huan had to make trade-offs and reallocate its limited chip resources.
“Chairman Su, the technical department's advice is that, no matter what, Fang Huan's own needs must come first.
Even if it means paying some penalties, to ensure the expansion, upgrades, and stable operation of our servers, we must reserve enough chips for ourselves.”
“Then, how much should we reduce our external supply?”
“The data is here.” Liu Bo handed over a thick document.
It meticulously listed all of Jiang Jin and Fang Huan's current chip suppliers, clearly outlining each company's quarterly quota.
“…”
Su Hao took the document without saying a word. His fingers flew across the long list.
He didn't engage in complex business pros and cons analysis, but waited for his familiar intuition to guide him.
As long as his intuition gave the signal, he would not hesitate to wield the knife against that name.
His fingers moved, turning page after page of the list.
"...?"
However, surprisingly, he flipped through almost the entire list, but his intuition remained unresponsive.
Just as his finger was about to trace the edge of the paper, stopping at the last name, that familiar electric current finally surged within him!