Reborn in 2011, 985 missing from two copies

Chapter 717: BAT combined are not enough to defeat Xingyi Technology!

Old Huang's eyes widened in fury: "Starlight Graphics Cards is going all out, launching a full-scale attack on Nvidia!"

"Yes, Chairman, we must retaliate as soon as possible, or the consequences will be unimaginable."

Old Huang nodded: "A counterattack is necessary!"

Before they could even begin discussing how to retaliate, another person rushed in:
"Chairman, something terrible has happened! Sales of our NVIDIA Shield Tablet have plummeted, and returns are surging!"

"!!!" Old Huang's mouth twitched, and he was completely stunned: "Because of the newly released Starry Sky Tablet 2 Ultra?"

“Yes, Chairman,” the subordinate replied. “Previously, our NVIDIA Shield Tablet was touted as the most powerful tablet, and it sold out for a month.”

"But now, with the release of the Starry Night Tablet 2 Ultra, everything has changed."

"The Starry Night Tablet 2 Ultra has double the performance, and even without the XOS system, it still crushes us."

The previous Starry Night Tablet 2 Pro used the Kunpeng 902C, a flagship processor from 2013.

It's certainly not as good as Nvidia's flagship tablet processor, the Tegra K1, which was just released in October 2014!

The Tegra K1 boasts impressive performance but also high power consumption, making it ideal for tablets. Naturally, it outperforms the Kunpeng 902C from a year ago.

Nvidia tablets were once best-sellers due to their powerful performance.

But ever since the Starry Sky tablet switched to the Kunpeng 910V, everything has been completely different, and NVIDIA's performance advantage is gone.

"The Kunpeng 910V also has an independent image quality chip, so its image quality far surpasses ours," the subordinate said.
"In other aspects, they were already ahead of us, and as a result, the sales of the Nvidia Shield Tablet were immediately affected. Not only did sales drop by 80%, but customers who had already placed orders started returning them, leading to a surge in returns!"

"Returns have skyrocketed? Sales have plummeted by 80%?" Old Huang's face was ashen. "How could things be so bad?"

He predicted that Nvidia's Shield Tablet would be affected, with sales plummeting or even halved.

But I didn't expect it to fall so drastically, losing 80% of its value!

This is absolutely terrible!

The marketing director said with some helplessness: "Chairman, our NVIDIA Shield Tablet and Starry Night Tablet 2 Ultra are priced similarly, and previously had a performance advantage. Now, however, its performance, picture quality, system, and every other aspect are completely outclassed. Naturally, consumers would prefer to buy the Starry Night Tablet 2 Ultra."

"Especially in the Xia Guo market, Douyin Mall directly launched a 12-month interest-free installment plan. The Xingyi Tablet 2 Ultra, which costs 3999, only requires a payment of 300 or so."

Old Huang sighed: "I see. Stronger performance, higher picture quality, better design, better system, faster charging, completely outclassing our NVIDIA Shield Tablet, plus 12-month interest-free installments... With so many benefits, as a consumer, I would buy the Starry Night Tablet 2 Ultra!"

"Yes, Chairman. The biggest problem is that Nvidia tablets were selling like hotcakes before, and we just added more tablet production lines and increased our capacity. We were planning to make a big splash, but now sales have dropped by 80%, which will result in a large amount of inventory..."

"!!!" Old Huang's lips twitched.

This is extremely serious!

We just increased production capacity here, and now there's a sales slump there!
What's the difference between this and discovering on your wedding night that the bride is actually a man?
Damn it!
"Hey, what do you guys think we should do?" Old Huang was unsure what to do.

"Chairman, I suggest we cut our losses immediately and shut down the newly added production line. Otherwise, the consequences of a backlog of inventory will be unimaginable."

But other senior executives objected: "No, the new production line cost a lot of money. If we stop now, we'll lose everything."

"That's right, the production line can't stop; it has to keep producing."

"If we continue production, we simply won't be able to sell them; they'll just rot in the warehouse?"

"If it doesn't sell, lower the price. If it doesn't sell at 3999, lower it to 3499. It will eventually sell!"

"Heh, it's so much worse than the Starry Night Tablet 2 Ultra, even if the price drops to 3499, it still won't sell!"

"Then let's lower it to 2999!"

"It might sell for 2999, but there won't be much profit. What's the difference between that and losing money to gain publicity?"

"So what's the difference between just dismantling the production line and losing money to gain publicity?

Hearing the two groups arguing and neither willing to back down, Old Huang had a terrible headache: "Alright, everyone quiet down!"

"The tablet business was just a trial venture, so let it be if it loses money."

"First, reduce the number of production lines to cut losses in time. At the same time, lower the price to 3499 to promote sales and clear inventory."

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent.

But I understood in my heart that Lao Huang was going to give up the tablet business.

Nvidia's tablet business was originally a peripheral business. It was only because Nvidia's mobile chips were not selling well that it had to turn to tablets.

Now, with the Starry Sky tablet hitting us hard, it's basically the only generation left, there won't be any more in the future!

Old Huang sighed:

"The most important thing right now is how to solve the graphics card problem!"

"Yes, Chairman, we accept the losses in tablets. Graphics cards are our core business."

"Yes, the tablet is the key!" Old Huang nodded, looking around at everyone: "What are everyone's thoughts?"

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent, but no one spoke.

"Speak up, whatever your thoughts are!"

"Chairman, I have some ideas." It was a long silence before someone finally spoke.
"We are in a very passive position right now, especially with low-end graphics cards. The previously released GTX 750 Ti and GTX 760 are no match for the Starry RTX 950. This will put us in a very passive position. With such a huge difference in energy efficiency, price reductions won't help. We can only launch the GTX 950 as soon as possible and release it ahead of schedule."

Huang nodded: "Okay, GTX 950 will be fully accelerated and launched ahead of schedule! What's the earliest it can be launched?"

"Chairman, push it forward with all your might, and we can launch it ahead of schedule in April!"

"Alright, let the Starry Sky RTX 950 sell well for two or three months first!" Old Huang said helplessly.

"Furthermore, the GTX 960 is no match for the Starry RTX 960. 128-bit is no match for 256-bit. I suggest quickly launching the GTX 960 Ti, upgrading it to 256-bit, to compete with the Starry RTX 960!"

Old Huang pondered for a moment: "That makes sense, but there's no need to redo it. Don't we have some defective GTX 970s in stock? They're not selling anyway, they're just sitting in the warehouse. Why not limit the clock speed with an algorithm and make a GTX 960 Ti to compete with the Starry Sky RTX 960 4G version!"

"As for the 2G version... forget it, we have to use up all those GTX 960 GPU chips that we've already mass-produced, so let's just continue to make them 128-bit and sell them!"

The subordinate instantly understood: "Okay, Chairman, the GPU chips already in mass production can continue to be sold as GTX 960s. The remaining GTX 970 GPU chips can be made into GTX 960 Tis; that's not a problem. But what about the GTX 970s?"

“GTX 970…” Old Huang frowned: “There’s no other way. Retail channels will also directly launch the repaired, non-faulty GTX 970 to compete head-on with the Starry RTX 970!”

"Yes, Chairman, we should push forward with bold and decisive measures; only then will Nvidia have a chance to survive!"

The subordinates were extremely excited.

He had mentioned these ideas before, but Nvidia was hesitant and indecisive at the time.

There are always concerns that the GTX 970 will be downgraded and sold, resulting in significant losses and impacting the sales of the GTX 960.

There's always a concern that releasing a flawless GTX 970 would lead to a frenzy of protests from users of defective 970s, leaving unsold inventory of defective 970s. A perfect 970 would also negatively impact GTX 980 sales!
Now look what's happened: the GTX 960 has been completely outclassed by the Starry Sky RTX 960, resulting in dismal sales.

The GTX 970 flopped, resulting in dismal sales.

The GTX 980 was surpassed by the RTX 980, which also affected its sales.

Even the best-selling GTX 750 ti and 760 have seen their sales plummet due to the sudden emergence of the Starry RTX 950!
With Nvidia's entire product line collapsing, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang no longer needed to hesitate and decided to make a large-scale investment.

After all, this is already the worst-case scenario; it can't get any worse, so what's there to worry about?
Why not take a big step and launch a fierce counterattack!

Unfortunately, Nvidia's series of counterattacks will also take time.

The GTX 950 was originally planned for release in June, but nothing is ready yet. If it wants to be launched ahead of schedule, tape-out, mass production, distribution, and sales will all take time!
Even if the disastrous GTX 970 is modified and made into a GTX 960 ti, it will still take time.

Even the non-failure version of the GTX 970 will take time to be released through retail channels, since the previous mass production was all for OEM orders from computer manufacturers, and a retail version was not initially considered!

Now we have to start all over again and resell everything!
Moreover, Nvidia is very busy producing so many new and modified graphics cards at once.

Especially driver optimization, all of which require re-adaptation.

The GTX 950 driver hasn't been adapted yet, and the GTX 960 Ti's clock speed has been changed, so the GTX 970 driver can't be used and needs to be re-adapted.

Even the perfectly repaired GTX 970, with its 4.0GB high-speed video memory, still requires parameter adjustments...

It's fair to say that everything needs to be rebuilt from scratch.

That makes things much more difficult.

In addition, foreign employees are good at slacking off, so having so much work all at once is really overwhelming.

As a result, Nvidia's various departments were extremely busy for the next few weeks, and a series of conflicts frequently occurred!

Especially in the second half of the year, the GTX 980 ti will be produced. The tape-out, mass production, driver optimization, etc. of the 980 ti will all take time and require key personnel.

This made Nvidia even busier, plunging them into a chaotic period. However, the busier they were, the more mistakes they made, and there were also problems with the production line arrangements for chip mass production, forcing the release dates of several graphics cards to be postponed…

On the other hand, Xingyi Technology was in a strong position and the situation was very favorable.

Not only were they selling well during the Lunar New Year shopping season in January, but they continued to sell well in February as well.

All products are selling like hotcakes!

In particular, the fact that the domestically produced RTX 980 graphics card surpassed Nvidia's flagship graphics card has made domestic graphics cards proud!
With the addition of interest-free installments of 12 months via Alipay, the sales of the RTX 980 are exceptionally good.

Within a month of its release, 40 copies were sold through retail channels alone, setting a record!

10 copies were also sold through OEM channels.

The RTX 980 GPU chip also sold 15 units.

It can be said that in one month, the total shipment of RTX 980 reached 65 units.

This result is, to put it mildly, alarming.

Even Huang (referring to Huang himself) was envious and jealous, while AMD was even more envious.

It can be said that Xingyi Technology had a very good year.

All departments achieved outstanding results, and all employees received a generous bonus!

I had a wonderful New Year.

But competitors like Nvidia, AMD, Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu are feeling uneasy.

Shareholders, watching the stock price plummet, cursed day and night.

Senior leaders are under immense pressure and are unable to sleep at night.

The employees below also had meager incomes due to poor performance.

Forget about a raise, I didn't even get half of my usual year-end bonus, or even any bonus at all.

This isn't just true in the semiconductor industry; it's the same in the e-commerce industry.

The worst hit was the Tmall business unit!

From 618 to Singles' Day, then to Black Friday, then to Double Twelve, and then to the Chinese New Year shopping festival, Tmall's business unit has suffered repeated defeats and has been surpassed by Douyin Mall, with the gap widening.

Jack Ma was furious. He withheld all year-end bonuses from middle-level managers and only paid one-fifth of the year-end bonuses to frontline employees.

The top leaders not only withheld their year-end bonuses, but also began a major purge and layoffs!
Forget about year-end bonuses, many people can't even keep their jobs and are directly laid off, receiving N+1 in compensation.

Even the head of the Tmall business unit has been replaced!

Other senior executives were also thoroughly purged!
Similarly, both Taobao and Alipay business units have begun sweeping reforms and salary cuts/layoffs.

While the year-end bonus won't be completely deducted, a 50% reduction is inevitable.

Even other business units have seen a sharp reduction in year-end bonuses, with some cut by 30% and others by half.

Unfortunately, Alibaba was dealt a heavy blow by Xingyi Technology. Not only did its social networking business fail, but its payment business also collapsed, and now its e-commerce business is in danger.

Under these circumstances, Alibaba's revenue has plummeted, profits have crashed, and its IPO seems a distant prospect.

The entire group had to tighten its belt to survive, and had no choice but to lay off a large number of employees and cut salaries drastically!
It's fair to say that everyone at Alibaba had a miserable year.

Not only did revenue plummet, but more importantly, it made people feel that Alibaba was on the verge of collapse and had no future.

Many people even started to have certain thoughts, and some began to form small groups to discuss the matter:
"If Alibaba's social networking collapses, then its payment system collapses; if its payment system collapses, then its e-commerce system collapses. I have a feeling that things are going to go under?"

"Ahem, isn't that a bit of an overstatement? It's still BTA, no matter what!"

"Don't even mention BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent); even combined, they wouldn't be enough to beat Xingyi Technology alone."

"Exactly! Look at Xingyi Technology, whatever they make, they succeed. Then look at us, whatever we make, we fail!"

"We were classmates in college. I joined Alibaba, while he went to Xingyi Technology. Last year, my year-end bonus was reduced by 70%, and my total contract was 150,000 yuan, while my classmate's total contract at Xingyi Technology was 310,000 yuan!"

"Holy crap! The difference is huge!"

"Don't even mention it. We were about the same two years ago, but he made 7 more than me. Last year he made 16 more, and this year is just the beginning. I estimate he can break 40! As for us... haha, we'll be lucky to keep 15."

"We definitely can't keep 15 people, and we'll have to cut salaries unless we successfully go public."

"Going public? Ha! Things are getting worse every year, what are we going to use to go public?"

"Exactly. Last year they started talking about relying on Laiwang to launch an IPO by combining e-commerce and social networking, but Laiwang failed."

"Later, they said they would use Alibaba Smart Healthcare to increase Alipay users and successfully go public by leveraging e-commerce + smart healthcare, but then Alibaba Smart Healthcare also failed."

"Later, we created DingTalk, an enterprise social networking platform, and used e-commerce and enterprise social networking to try to go public. But then Lark was released, and DingTalk failed."

"Now it's even worse. Not only is there no new growth, but even the core e-commerce business has been impacted by Douyin Mall. I think Alibaba's path to listing has become much more difficult."

"Sigh, really, I see no hope."

"It's not a matter of whether we want it or not. Given the current situation, Alibaba can definitely go public, but a massive market capitalization explosion is unlikely. At best, it will be a high-end version of JD.com, nothing more."

"Pretty much. I estimate that after Alibaba goes public, its market value will only be about twice that of JD.com. It won't be able to reach a truly terrifying market value."

"That's right. JD.com's market value is only $500 billion right now, and even if Alibaba goes public, it will only be worth a hundred billion US dollars at most. As for the two hundred billion US dollars mentioned before, it has already been crushed by Xingyi Technology!"

"One hundred billion is the most. After all, Tencent only has 1300 billion US dollars. It would be very impressive for Alibaba to reach one hundred billion."

"It would be difficult to reach 100 billion. With such performance, increasingly poor financial reports, and no new growth points, I estimate that even if it goes public smoothly, it will only reach 80 billion US dollars at most."

"There's no way around it, Xingyi Technology is too powerful, Alibaba is almost being crushed."

"I regret it. I regret not going to Xingyi Technology and instead coming to Alibaba."

"Haha, switching jobs to Xingyi Technology now is also an option."

"Stop dreaming. Do you think you can just walk into Xingyi Technology like you want?"

"It's getting harder and harder to get into Xingyi Technology now. Even core employees from Alibaba have to be demoted one level to get in. Getting in at the same level is pointless. And you also need to have the ability or resources."

"That's right, Lao Yang went to Xingyi Technology, but unfortunately, his style at Alibaba was not accepted by Xingyi Technology, and he was laid off after two months."

"Yes, now you either need extraordinary abilities that others don't have, or you need the resources that Xingyi Technology needs, otherwise why would they want you?"

"Oh dear, this is a huge problem. I see no future with Alibaba, and I'm not qualified with Xingyi Technology. I'm stuck in the middle."

"Xiao Li, you're alright. You're capable, why don't you try Xingyi Technology? You should be able to succeed."

"Yes, Xingyi Technology likes the most capable technical backbones, and they can basically keep them. It's harder for those of us who got promoted by luck."

"Xiao Li, now that you're gone, our department will have one less person capable of tackling tough challenges."

"Yes, in the past two years, more and more key personnel have gone to Xingyi Technology. Alibaba can't retain talent anymore."

"There's no other way. Xingyi Technology has a brighter future and offers more money. If I weren't lacking in ability, I would have gone too!"

Looking at all this, Li Ze'en took a deep breath and dialed the number of the colleague who had switched jobs to Xingyi Technology:

"Hey Zhou, it's me, Ze-en! It's been a while, how about we get together?"

"Sure, I'll find some time this week..."

Similar scenes have occurred at BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) giants, as well as many other large companies.

Everyone can see clearly that BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) is becoming increasingly weak, while Xingyi Technology is becoming increasingly powerful!
Especially in the field of graphics cards, such high-end products were previously a blank in the domestic market!

Now, Xingyi graphics cards have not only filled the gap, but also defeated Nvidia!

Where can I seek justice?
All I can say is that Xingyi Technology is YYDS!

too strong!
With the idea that if you can't beat them, join them, many people got the idea.

Especially when they see their income constantly decreasing or stagnating, while their former colleagues who jumped ship to Xingyi Technology earn two or three times as much as they do.

My former subordinate now earns more than me!
In this situation, can one maintain a stable mindset?
Anyone who had the ability to switch jobs took action.

Those who lack the ability all want to give it a try.

This has led to a growing number of core talents at Xingyi Technology.

(End of this chapter)