Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 461 Zhiyun Robot as Tutor

On April 9, at the Nanmen Space Launch Center on Qiongzhou Island, the No. 6 heavy rocket was once again erected on the No. 2 launch tower.

The towering and huge shape of the Type 6 Heavy Rocket can be seen from a long distance.

This is not the rocket with the greatest thrust in human history. The Saturn V rocket developed by the United States in the 1960s and 1970s had a greater thrust, with a low-Earth orbit carrying capacity of 118 tons. The Energia rocket developed by the former Soviet Union also had a low-Earth orbit thrust of 105 tons.

In addition, the Falcon Heavy rocket successfully launched by SpaceX recently also achieved a thrust of more than 60 tons in low-Earth orbit.

However, the Nantianmen-6 heavy-duty rocket is the most successful and lowest-cost heavy-duty commercial rocket in human history!

Not to mention the comparison with the Saturn V and the Energy rocket, which were things during the Cold War that spared no expense and only considered thrust but not cost.

Even compared with the Falcon Heavy rocket, which is not exactly the same but basically the same, the launch cost is quite different.

The commercial launch price of the Nantianmen-6 heavy-lift rocket is only 85% of that of the Falcon Heavy rocket...

Although the two rockets are similar and even the technical routes are similar, based on the various costs of the two companies, the launch cost of the Falcon Heavy rocket is actually much higher than that of the Nantianmen-VI heavy rocket.

This is also reflected in the conventional medium-sized reusable rockets of both companies.

The commercial launch price of the Nantianmen-5 rocket is also only 80% of that of the Falcon 9 rocket.

In fact, the above is just the quotation for external commercial launches, and the actual cost gap is even greater.

SpaceX's current commercial launch bids result in relatively low profits, but South Gate Aerospace's commercial launch bids can still maintain very high profits.

In other words, it is already difficult for Musk to significantly lower the price, but Xu Shenxue can still lower the price by 30% or even more than 40%...but he no longer does so in order to maintain profits.

There is a difference in prices between the two companies, but in fact both maintain a certain profit and there is no overly fierce price competition!

This has little to do with the cost gap between the two parties. The main reason is that the markets they are targeting are actually different...

Even if Space Exploration Company's launch quote is higher than that of South Gate Aerospace, it does not have to worry about not getting orders, as the United States and many of its core allies' institutions will still give it satellite launch orders... Various sensitive micro-satellites, such as military and navigation satellites, cannot be given to South Gate Aerospace for launch.

In addition to undertaking various domestic commercial launch missions, especially the commercial launch mission of Zhiyun Satellite, Nanmen Aerospace's commercial launch orders also include launch orders from institutions in other countries, and these launch missions cannot be given to Space Exploration Company.

What the two sides are competing for are purely commercial launch orders from some third-party countries...and the total number of these satellite launch missions is actually not large. Establishing and operating a commercial satellite network is not something that any company can do casually.

More importantly, the largest commercial satellite launch order on Earth today is in the hands of Zhiyun Satellite... As the world's first commercial satellite Internet service provider, Zhiyun Satellite has launched more than a thousand small satellites of various types into the sky in the past year.

Zhiyun Satellite alone has brought hundreds of rocket launch mission orders to Nanmen Aerospace.

And this huge order will continue for many years, because the total number of satellites in Zhiyun Satellite's satellite Internet network is expected to reach 30,000 to 40,000... Even if calculated based on one rocket launching one hundred small satellites, that would be three or four hundred launches, not to mention the need for continuous replenishment to maintain the operation of the satellite network.

In addition, there are also quite a few orders for domestic institutions, commercial and even defense satellite launches.

Domestic launch orders alone are enough to support Nanmen Aerospace and allow it to live a very comfortable life.

As for the purely commercial launch orders from third-party countries, the total amount is actually very small, and all of them added together are not even a fraction of Zhiyun Satellite!
The particularity of the aerospace industry has resulted in SpaceX and South Gate Aerospace appearing to be direct competitors, but in fact, the direct competition is not significant... Each has its own base market, so the impact is not significant.

The market competition between the two sides is more reflected in the mouths of netizens around the world...

Of course, there is competition, but this competition is reflected in technological competition and the space competition behind the technological competition.

After Nanmen Aerospace and Zhiyun Satellite cooperated to build a global satellite Internet service network, Space Exploration Company also announced that it would set up a global satellite Internet service network, saying that it could not sit idly by and watch Zhiyun Satellite seize precious orbital resources...

The aerospace industry competition between the two sides is actually part of space competition...and has little to do with commercial competition.

Today, Nanmen Aerospace will once again set off a new space competition: commercial space station!
Before the official launch, Xu Shenxue held a press conference.

The press conference brought together mainstream media from around the world, and they were very interested in the first commercial space station plan in human history.

At the press conference, Xu Shenxue first introduced the basic situation of the "Centaur Space Station" to the outside world.

"Our Centaur space station will have a core module and a commercial test module in the first phase."

"We expect to complete the launch and docking of the two modules before this fall, and we will officially provide commercial space station services to the outside world as early as October this year!"

"At the same time, we have also planned the second phase of the plan, which is expected to launch a commercial test module, a commercial living module, and a multi-functional node module, ultimately increasing the number of core main modules of the space station to five, and the total launch mass to 300 tons!"

"If the subsequent commercial operations go smoothly, we also plan to launch more additional cabins to further enhance Centaur's commercial service capabilities!"

"The core cabins of the entire plan are all 60-ton cabins, all of which will be launched in one go using our company's No. 6 heavy-lift rocket!"

"At the same time, the Centaur will be provided with personnel transportation. The materials will be transported by our company's self-developed Qinglong cargo spacecraft and Black Dragon manned spacecraft. These two spacecraft will be developed by our company and have carried out more than 300 launch missions. The very mature and reliable No. 5 rocket will be used in a reused mode for transportation, and the launch cost is only 20% of the traditional launch cost."

"In addition, today I would like to take this opportunity to introduce to you the next generation of space shuttle developed by our Nanmen Aerospace Institute: the White Dragon Space Shuttle!"

As Xu Shenxue finished his words, a staff member lifted the red cloth covering the Bailong space shuttle next to him.

Then people saw a pure white space shuttle. At first glance, the plane looked a bit fat, with a big belly and small wings, which are also typical features of a space shuttle.

Xu Shenxue introduced: "In order to further reduce the transportation cost of materials, we specially designed the Bailong space shuttle. This is a space shuttle that brings together the most advanced technology of today's mankind. It is not comparable to those antique space shuttles from decades ago!"

"First of all, this space shuttle does not need a pilot. It can completely complete a series of operations such as launch, docking, return, and landing by the onboard intelligent driving system, without any human intervention..."

“So, when performing cargo missions, it doesn’t need a driver!”

"Of course, when we further expand it for personnel transportation in the future, we will also configure a manual driving mode for it!"

Xu Shenxue did not say much about the intelligent driving part. This is all based on the core technology of artificial intelligence, and it is impossible to explain it in too much detail. The outside world only needs to know that this space shuttle does not need a pilot.

"This space shuttle can be launched by the No. 5 rocket, and its maximum transport payload can reach eight tons. Its payload capacity is fully capable of providing the space station with supplies and personnel transportation tasks!"

"Most importantly, it is a reusable space shuttle, and its launch cost is only 20% of that of a traditional spacecraft, and it will be even lower in the future!"

Compared with traditional spacecraft, the greatest value of the space shuttle lies in its reuse...not only the spacecraft itself can be reused, but more importantly, the second-stage rocket can be reused, which brings about huge cost reduction.

Taking the No. 5 rocket as an example of the launch platform, the first stage of the No. 5 rocket is reusable, but the second stage is still a disposable rocket, and the spacecraft cannot be reused.

The second-stage rocket and spacecraft cannot be reused, which means that the cost of transporting materials and personnel is very high.

The significance of the Bailong spacecraft is that it allows the second-stage rocket and spacecraft to be reused, further significantly reducing launch costs.

Saving money is its biggest purpose!

In order to save money, the White Dragon space shuttle that appeared at the press conference was actually a scaled-down version...

The space shuttle that Nanmen Aerospace originally planned was actually larger in scale, with an estimated low-Earth orbit transportation capacity of about 50 to 60 tons.

However, it was later discovered that such a large transportation capacity was not needed in the short term, and the technical difficulty was also greater. In addition, the first stage of the existing No. 6 heavy rocket could not withstand such a large launch thrust, and the No. 6 heavy rocket needed to be upgraded, such as bundling more first-stage rockets, which would greatly increase the technical difficulty.

In the end, Nanmen Aerospace temporarily abandoned the original plan and instead adopted a scaled-down version of the plan to build a small space shuttle.

After all, reducing costs is the core purpose, everything else is nonsense!
The core goal of the Bailong space shuttle is to replace the two existing spacecraft, the Black Dragon and the Qinglong, and further reduce the cost of Nanmen Aerospace's subsequent commercial launches.

According to the internal plan of Nanmen Aerospace, using the No. 5 first-stage rocket plus the Bailong space shuttle, in full recovery mode, its launch cost is only about 18 percent of the traditional launch mode. Even compared with the existing first-stage rocket recovery, the second-stage rocket and the spacecraft can be used once, the cost is only about 50 percent.

Nanmen Aerospace is planning to reduce the launch cost per kilogram to less than one thousand dollars...

How exaggerated is this data?

When the Americans used the space shuttle, the launch cost per kilogram was $40,000 to $50,000. The traditional aerospace agencies' one-time rocket launch cost about $10,000 per kilogram.

Under the reuse mode of the No. 5 rocket, the launch cost was directly reduced to US$3,000 per kilogram in the early days, which shocked the global aerospace industry.

Subsequently, with the advancement of technology, the number of launches of the No. 5 rocket continued to increase, and the research and development costs, insurance costs, manufacturing costs and most importantly, the engine manufacturing costs continued to decline. All these factors combined have resulted in the reuse launch cost of the No. 5 rocket being basically only about US$1,500 per kilogram.

And now... Nanmen Aerospace is preparing to use the Bailong spacecraft and recover the second-stage rocket. This will further reduce the launch cost to less than one thousand US dollars per kilogram, and in the future it is expected to even reach five hundred US dollars per kilogram.

Compared with the launch cost of more than 10,000 US dollars per kilogram for disposable rockets of traditional aerospace agencies...this launch cost of 500 US dollars per kilogram is simply a dimensionality reduction attack!
Why do Zhiyun Satellite and Nanmen Aerospace dare to build a satellite Internet service network consisting of tens of thousands of satellites...the confidence lies here!
Its launch cost is so low!
In order to reduce costs, Nanmen Aerospace directly abandoned the seemingly high-end original plan of the Bailong spacecraft, and instead used a smaller and scaled-down version of the Bailong spacecraft plan.

Of course, Nanmen Aerospace did not abandon the original plan for the White Dragon spacecraft. Instead, it continued to develop and further improved its performance indicators, code-named it the "Red Dragon Space Shuttle", and combined it with the development plan of the next-generation No. 7 super-heavy rocket.

Nanmen Aerospace is also planning to develop a super-heavy rocket of 10,000 tons, which will be equipped with the super-large Red Dragon space shuttle. In the reuse mode, the launch capacity of low-Earth orbit will be increased to 200 tons.

This will be a huge behemoth with a height of more than 100 meters and a total launch mass of tens of thousands of tons!

This thing is not only for reducing the cost of commercial launches in the conventional sense, but also for future large-scale space stations, future lunar base plans, Mars base plans, and even the exploration of the outer solar system.

This is one of Xu Shenxue’s preliminary plans for future starry sky exploration!

Yes, this is just preliminary planning!

There are mid-term and late-stage plans behind this…but the later plans are still too far away, and are already at the science fiction level given the current level of human technology!

It will require further advancement of human technology to be realized, but now, even the technical theory is not yet perfect.

Xu Shenxue guessed that it would probably have to wait for a series of new technology and theoretical breakthroughs, such as breakthroughs in top black technologies such as controlled nuclear fusion technology, before it could be realized. It is too early now.

Under current technological conditions, being able to build an experimental base on the moon or Mars is already the limit, and it would be unlikely to build more than that.

Xu Shenxue is not greedy now. He wants to build a commercial space station first to accumulate technology, and then develop a low-orbit satellite communication network.

That’s why we have today’s Centaur space station core module launch mission!
This is why the Bailong space shuttle program was officially announced today.

After Xu Shenxue introduced the Centaur space station plan and the White Dragon space shuttle plan, when it was time for media questions, a large number of reporters raised their hands to ask questions.

The first is a reporter from Europe: "Mr. Xu, how much does the Centaur space station cost? Can the huge investment be recovered in the future? Then I would also like to ask, will the commercial services of the Centaur space station be open to European companies?"

Xu Shenxue said: "First of all, let me answer that the commercial services of our Centaur Space Station are open to the world. Any company, organization or even individual in need can contact us. We will provide a series of commercial services of the space station to companies around the world, including renting laboratories, commissioning experiments, space travel, etc.!"

"As for the construction cost, it is a commercial secret, but what I can tell you is that the cost is within a controllable range, at least much cheaper than the International Space Station."

"We have received inquiries from different companies around the world and have finalized several orders. We are confident that we can provide high-quality services to global customers and generate revenue through providing high-quality services, and ultimately recover our costs and make a profit!"

What Xu Shenxue didn't say is that this space station is a commercial space station, and in theory it can provide services to all companies, organizations, and individuals, but there are still many restrictions in practice, at least it must comply with the law...

In addition, activities such as renting a laboratory require sufficient guarantees... to ensure that the lessee's experimental personnel will not mess around and damage the space station. Of course, this can also introduce insurance services and be guaranteed by some insurance companies!

Not every company that wants to rent a space laboratory can do so.

In addition, the customer's astronauts also need to undergo special training by Nanmen Aerospace and pass the training before they can go into space.

It is actually simpler to entrust experiments. If the other party has experimental needs, they can directly send the experimental needs to Nanmen Aerospace, let Nanmen Aerospace's payload experts complete the experiments in space and provide experimental data... Of course, in this case, it is inevitable to share the experimental results with Nanmen Aerospace.

Therefore, the business scope of commercial space stations is actually quite narrow, and they actually have very high requirements for customers...

But even so, the Centaur Space Station, a joint effort of Nanmen Aerospace and Zhiyun Satellite, is still their only way to conduct space experiments!

After all, there are only two space stations to choose from, one is the International Space Station, and the other is the Chinese Space Station. Both of these space stations are typical institutional space stations, and have nothing to do with business. It is too difficult for those companies to run up there to conduct experiments...

As for the Centaur Space Station, all you need is enough strength, enough money, and then make the experiment legal and compliant, and don't do anything anti-human, then come on.

Many large companies that have space experiment needs are actually very interested in the space experiment services provided by the Centaur Space Station.

What they are most interested in is the galactic life hidden beneath the water. They have already planned a large number of space experiments and are waiting to conduct them on the space station.

There is also a space tourism project, which has received a large number of inquiries from wealthy people and has finalized several intention orders... There are actually quite a lot of wealthy people who are not short of money and want to go to space.

It's just that they didn't have this opportunity before.

And now, Nanmen Aerospace provides this service...not only sending passengers into space, but also sending them to live in a space station for a period of time.

Of course, the price is also very expensive... The price of a single ticket ranges from 50 million US dollars to 200 million US dollars, depending on the length of time and the number of people on a single ship.

At the same time, Nanmen Aerospace has also launched pre-orders for a one-day space tourism program for the manned version of the Bailong space shuttle. This is relatively cheap. The space shuttle will circle around in space for a few times and then return. The price for a single ticket starts at US$15 million.

As for some other so-called commercial aerospace companies that offer suborbital travel services that charge hundreds of thousands of dollars, Nanmen Aerospace is not willing to provide such cheap aerospace services that do not contain much technology. Later, another reporter asked more about the Centaur and White Dragon space shuttles, and Xu Shenxue answered them one by one.

After the press conference, Xu Shenxue left under the escort of a group of bodyguards, while media reporters began to publish articles in real time while also waiting for the rocket launch in the afternoon.

At 3:20 in the afternoon, the Nantianmen-6 heavy-duty rocket launched its eighth time, and it was also the fourth time it launched such a heavy-duty payload as a space station cabin.

Although many people present have seen the launch of the Type 6 heavy rocket many times, they were still shocked by the take-off scene of this huge rocket.

However, what makes many people feel regretful is that the launch of the No. 6 heavy rocket this time adopts a one-time use mode, which means that there will be no recovery of the first-stage rocket, so we will not be able to see the shocking scene of the two first-stage bundled rockets being recovered at the same time.

In the previous few launches of heavy satellites, the No. 6 heavy rocket adopted the first-stage rocket recovery mode, and the two bundled first-stage rockets would return to the launch site at the same time.

The scene of two rockets soaring into the sky and then landing steadily on the landing field is a scene that anyone who has seen it will never forget.

For today's launch, in order to send the 60-ton Centaur core module No. 1 to the predetermined orbital altitude, all three first-stage rockets will adopt a disposable mode. After completing their mission, they will lose the ability to return to Earth and will finally re-enter the atmosphere and burn up in a controllable state!
At that time, people in some parts of the earth will be able to see the magnificent sight of the first and second stage rockets of the Type 6 heavy rocket re-entering the atmosphere in the sky, causing violent friction with the air, which looks like a falling meteor.

Since the No. 6 heavy-lift rocket used the very mature first-stage rocket of the No. 5 rocket, and the No. 5 rocket was a mature and reliable rocket that had undergone more than 300 launch missions, the launch process was smooth and the Centaur No. 1 core module was smoothly delivered to the predetermined altitude.

That evening, the 7:30 news officially reported the news.

"The core module of our country's first commercial space station, the Centaur Space Station, was successfully launched this afternoon. It is expected to be officially operational and provide commercial space station services in October this year!"

This news also caused a huge stir in the technology community.

The space station itself is nothing. We already have the International Space Station and the Chinese Space Station, so simply building a space station is nothing new.

The problem is that this Centaur space station is different from traditional space stations. It is a purely commercially operated space station.

Space stations developed, launched and operated by commercial companies!

This kind of thing seems a bit ridiculous to many people...

Because in the eyes of many people, something like a space station is very high-end and requires national-level power to build.

However, two commercial companies, Nanmen Aerospace and Zhiyun Satellite, actually developed it on their own.

This seems too exaggerated to many people.

In fact, people overthink it. The cost of a space station is not as high as many people imagine... The launch cost is just over 100 million US dollars each time.

The construction cost of the space station itself is more expensive, but not too expensive.

The core module of the Centaur is the most expensive, but the actual cost is only about one billion US dollars. The subsequent test modules and living modules will be even cheaper.

According to the preliminary plan, the construction cost of Centaur would only be more than one billion US dollars...not as expensive as the outside world imagined.

Even if the second phase plan is included, the total cost is estimated to be only about four or five billion US dollars.

Xu Shenxue said that this amount of money is nothing!
He was willing to spend the money simply to satisfy his hobby.

Not to mention that the orders accumulated for commercial operations have a total value of more than one billion US dollars, and more commercial orders are under negotiation. There will be no problem in recovering costs and maintaining operating costs in the future.

Of course, this is based on the premise that it is a purely commercial aerospace company like Nanmen Aerospace, and a commercial aerospace company with top-notch technology. If it were replaced by any other aerospace agency, the construction cost would have to be multiplied several times.

If the European or American space agencies were to build a commercial space station of this level, it would cost at least tens of billions of dollars.

The subsequent operating costs will also be an astronomical figure!
This is the difference between commercial spaceflight and institutional spaceflight. After all, people working in space agencies never consider costs!

Without considering the cost, if the cost goes up, the engineers of the aerospace agency will eat and drink as they please, and nothing will happen to them.

But if you consider the cost, and if there are problems, then you will be fired...

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When the whole world was once again discussing Xu Shenxue's crazy commercial space station, Xu Shenxue left Qiongzhou Island contentedly. He first returned to Shenzhen to spend a few days with his family, and then went on a business trip to Shanghai to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of an advanced semiconductor integrated factory invested and built by Zhiyun Microelectronics in the local area.

In Shanghai, Zhiyun Microelectronics plans to invest more than US$15 billion to build an advanced semiconductor integrated factory capable of manufacturing and producing semiconductors equivalent to seven-nanometer technology and even five-nanometer technology in the future.

And the EUV lithography machine is scheduled to be used.

Although the EUV lithography machine is still in the prototype testing stage and it will take some time before it can be put into mass commercial use, the construction of a semiconductor factory needs to be prepared in advance.

Not only in Shanghai, Zhiyun Microelectronics plans to build advanced semiconductor factories using EUV lithography machines in Tongcheng, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

The goal is to expand the production capacity of equivalent seven-nanometer and five-nanometer processes to 300,000 wafers per month.

This number is even greater than the current 14-nanometer process node. Currently, Zhiyun Microelectronics' 14-nanometer process node (including equivalent 10-nanometer, equivalent 12-nanometer, and equivalent 14-nanometer) totals only 250,000 pieces.

Because core semiconductor departments such as Zhiyun Microelectronics and Zhiyun Semiconductor believe that the equivalent seven-nanometer and five-nanometer processes will be the main processes for the next generation, achieving a better balance between cost and performance.

In particular, there will be huge demand for SOC chips for various smart terminals with mobile phones as the core at this process node, and the demand will continue for many years.

In addition, there are two important demands for advanced process chips, namely CPU and GPU.

Although the CPU business in Zhiyun Group is not large in scale, with the technological advancement of future process nodes, the performance of CPU chips based on the X86 instruction set will gradually improve, and it is foreseeable that the market share will continue to increase.

What is more important is GPU. Whether it is server GPU or terminal computing power chip, the demand for these chips will continue to grow rapidly in the next few years... What is currently limiting the growth of Zhiyun Group's GPU business is not the lack of market, but insufficient production capacity!

In order to solve the production capacity problem, Zhiyun Group has invested heavily in 3D packaging factories on the one hand, and increased investment in seven-nanometer and five-nanometer process capacity on the other.

Therefore, Zhiyun Group is also preparing to focus on the equivalent seven-nanometer and five-nanometer process nodes... The reason why these two process nodes are counted together is that the core technologies used in these two process nodes are similar, and both are produced using a one-time exposure method using an EUV lithography machine.

The true next-generation nodes, that is, the future three-nanometer or two-nanometer nodes, are expected to be produced using EUV lithography machines using secondary exposure, which poses greater technical challenges to the overlay accuracy of the lithography machines and the performance of other equipment.

After attending the groundbreaking ceremony in Shanghai, Xu Shenxue also attended a semiconductor conference in the local area and talked about the future of advanced technology.

Afterwards, his private plane took off again and flew to Ancheng!

This is the largest production base of Weiku Industry and the main OEM base of Zhiyun Group and Weiku Electronics.

This base produces 200 million mobile phones and more than 20 million tablet computers for Zhiyun Group and Weiku Electronics every year.

This base, together with Weiku Industrial's Shenzhen base and Dongguan base, constitute the main OEM production bases of Zhiyun Group and Weiku Electronics.

Xu Shenxue came to Ancheng this time not only to see the production lines of these mobile phones and tablets, but also to see the new production lines of other smart terminal businesses.

Weiku Electronics will plan to build a comprehensive robot OEM factory here with an annual production capacity of 400,000 units!

Although the planned robot production line is a low-end robot production line with a slightly lower output value, it is still a huge production base capable of reaching hundreds of billions of yuan.

This production base is also part of Zhiyun Group's robot industry chain layout.

Zhiyun Group plans to deploy the robot industry chain in five places across the country, mainly in Shenzhen, Dongguan, Ancheng, Sichuan and Tongcheng, covering different regions respectively.

The mid-term plan is to reach a production capacity of five million units...but now it is only over one million, so there is still a lot of room for growth in production capacity.

After all, the robot market has been gradually developed, and people at home and abroad have gradually accepted this emerging industrial product.

At the same time, because this type of robot has no competitors...it has monopolized the entire market.

Zhiyun Group’s robots will take up as much incremental market share as there is market growth.

This kind of good thing of eating alone is very rare.

Even in the GPU market, Zhiyun Group is already extremely strong, but it still faces competition from semiconductor companies such as AMD and Qualcomm. Even many domestic semiconductor design companies are beginning to design their own computing chips.

Although competition in the GPU field is very slim, at least there are competitors.

Unlike in the field of robotics, Zhiyun Group directly took over the entire market...there is no competitor at all.

Under such circumstances, Zhiyun Group will naturally expand its production capacity while significantly expanding the market. If the situation is good in the future, Zhiyun Group is even planning to increase its robot production capacity to more than 10 million units.

The scale of the mid-to-high-end market is definitely not that large, but we can continue to develop the low-end market. The cost of robots has further dropped, and it is not impossible to make a robot priced at 70,000 to 80,000 or even 50,000 to 60,000 yuan!
You should know that in addition to direct sales of hardware, software service revenue is also an important source of revenue for Zhiyun Group's robot business in the future.

Users who purchase a robot will have to purchase one or even several advanced features...otherwise, why buy a robot!
The monthly fee for any advanced function is 200-300 yuan, which is 2000-3000 yuan a year. This is the price in China. It is even more expensive abroad...

Based on the average user annual payment of 2,000, 10 million robots can bring Zhiyun Group more than 20 billion in software service revenue per year...

In fact, the stock of robots is far more than 10 million. If the annual production and sales volume can reach 10 million units, the stock will reach tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of units... No matter what, robots can be used for five or six years or even more than ten years.

Therefore, the robot software service fees that Zhiyun Group receives each year need to be increased by more than five or six times, easily reaching hundreds of billions.

And this is still the minimum standard of an average monthly payment of 200 yuan. In fact, the current Zhiyun robot users pay more, averaging more than 600 yuan per month...

On the one hand, foreign software services are more expensive. On the other hand, current robot users are all high-income groups and are more willing to order advanced functions. Many people purchase two or three advanced functions at the same time.

Some wealthy people who are not short of money have even purchased all the advanced functions, and the monthly fee can reach more than 30,000 yuan... Zhiyun robots currently have more than 30 advanced functions, and the domestic prices of different advanced functions range from more than 200 yuan to more than 3,000 yuan.

The monthly fee for the fully functional version of Zhiyun robot is more than 30,000 yuan just for its advanced functions!
Therefore, only the rich would do this. Most users will actually only purchase a few advanced functions that they can use. In addition to the advanced housekeeping mode that is activated by default, the child care mode, the elderly care mode, and the education assistance mode are the three advanced functions with the highest activation rates.

Infant care and elderly care are easy to understand...The educational assistance mode is quite special and not many people used it at the beginning, but later some parents found that this function is particularly useful for teaching their children to study and do homework!
In networked mode, the robot's knowledge base is very rich... Not only is the knowledge reserve very rich, but it also absorbs the teaching methods of many excellent teachers.

With it, it is equivalent to hiring a top tutor, and a top tutor who knows all subjects.

The above is not the point!

The point is that robots don’t get angry…

Faced with "extremely stupid" children, many parents can't help but fall into despair and madness when helping their children study.

Some even had a complete emotional breakdown, with their children crying and their parents crying too...

But Zhiyun Robot will not get angry. It will always teach with patience and even use psychology knowledge to guide and encourage children...

In this way, even the children themselves are willing to let robots assist them in learning, rather than their parents who get angry all the time.

This educational auxiliary function first exploded in the country, and then quickly appeared in people's sight like a virus.

In the second half of this year, many parents bought Zhiyun robots for this educational assistance function...

This is something that many people in Zhiyun Group did not expect: they had not anticipated that consumers would use the most advanced industrial product of contemporary mankind, an intelligent robot with a large number of cutting-edge technologies, as a 'tutor robot'!
After the educational assistance model became popular in China, it quickly topped the list of Zhiyun Robot's advanced service purchases in East Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea, where education is very competitive. Many Zhiyun Robot users in other countries have also purchased this model.

A tutor robot with excellent teaching ability and never getting angry is a temptation that many parents cannot refuse!
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In the future, with the large-scale sales of low-end robots, more middle-income groups will not be able to pay so much, and the average payment will be lowered, but it will not be as low as 200 yuan per month!
This has a lot to do with the characteristics of Zhiyun Group's robots... If you don't purchase advanced functions, it only has basic functions, and only comes with an advanced housekeeping function, so you can only use it to do some basic housework.

Only after purchasing various advanced functions can the powerful performance of the Zhiyun robot be truly reflected. Whether it is caring for children or the elderly, or assisting in repairs, assisting in other work, etc., you need to pay to unlock it.

Zhiyun Group's initial operating strategy was to lower selling prices, expand production and sales volumes, and thereby reduce costs.

At the same time, while expanding production and sales, more revenue can also be achieved through subsequent long-term software charges.

As for today’s entry-level robots, since their prices are too low, the hardware actually doesn’t make much money, and they rely on subsequent software service fees to make money.

The software service revenue of Zhiyun Robotics will be able to reach hundreds of billions in the future... This expectation is also one of the main driving forces for Zhiyun Group to spare no effort to reduce costs and develop entry-level and even future cheap versions of robots.

Mid- to high-end robots make money from hardware, while low-end robots make money from subsequent software services. This is Zhiyun Group’s robot operation strategy.

In doing so, the production capacity of low-end robots becomes very important.

This is also one of the reasons why Xu Shenxue came to Ancheng to inspect the robot production line.

The robot production line in Ancheng will be one of the main production bases for Zhiyun’s low-end robots in the future, so we must not be careless!

(End of this chapter)