Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 490 Gu Zhiming's Threats and Inducements
As Zhiyun Group officially acknowledged that the virtual device has been successfully mass-produced and is ready for its official release in December.

Suppliers from all walks of life also quickly followed up and released relevant news to stimulate stock prices and increase investor confidence: Look, we got another big order from Zhiyun!

Zhiyun Industry, which has just been listed and is still favored by various funds and investment institutions, disclosed the relevant news on its official website in the evening of the same day.

Our company has reached a cooperation agreement with Zhiyun Group on the virtual equipment business. Our company is currently manufacturing virtual equipment for Zhiyun Group at the headquarters production base, and has built a new virtual equipment manufacturing plant in Huicheng. The latest intelligent manufacturing system will be introduced in this new factory to continue to lead the development of intelligent manufacturing!

The cooperation on virtual equipment has further deepened the strategic partnership between our company and Zhiyun Group.

In addition to the fields of smart terminals, smart homes, and smart robots, our company will also develop a new business type: virtual equipment manufacturing business.

This business is expected to bring new revenue growth to the company in the next three years!
Weiku Industrial, as the only manufacturing company under Xu Shenxue, is also the exclusive OEM company of Zhiyun Group and Weiku Electronics Group. It is also the OEM factory of many domestic smart terminal manufacturers. Its influence is still quite huge.

The statement on its official website also confirmed the news that Zhiyun Group has begun producing virtual devices!

In addition, some people have found some other previous reports from the official website of Weiku Industrial, one of which is about the investment in research and development of various equipment needed to set up new product production lines. After detailed comparison by analysts, they determined that the new product mentioned in this information bulletin on the official website of Weiku Electronics is the virtual equipment in Zhiyun Group.

Of course, Weiku Industrial did not provide more information, especially the detailed features of the designed products, including appearance or performance parameters, or even information on the specific type of product.

Weiku Industrial has kept the relevant information of virtual devices strictly confidential.

Before a new product is officially released, it is a routine operation for major terminal manufacturers to keep various information confidential.

But even if it is kept confidential, people can actually get some information more or less.

Especially the many suppliers in the Zhiyun supply chain system, many of which are listed companies, and many of them also need to disclose relevant information to the public in a timely manner.

In particular, important information such as obtaining a supply contract from Zhiyun Group, which involves major business and will affect the stock price, needs to be disclosed as soon as possible.

However, due to confidentiality requirements, the previous disclosure could only be made by saying that a new contract had been obtained from Zhiyun Group, but the specific details and the products supplied could not be disclosed to the public. Otherwise, it would be a commercial leak, and a huge penalty would be imposed.

In fact, many spare parts suppliers themselves know what Zhiyun Group does with the spare parts they supply.

When Zhiyun Group's supply chain purchases spare parts, it only provides suppliers with various technical parameters, and then the suppliers make and deliver them. As for what Zhiyun Group uses them for, that has little to do with the suppliers.

However, even so, as major suppliers have successively released some public corresponding news, coupled with some non-public rumors.

It still allowed many industry insiders to piece together some information about the virtual device that Zhiyun Group is about to release, such as the very conspicuous helmet display that cannot be concealed at all.

This thing is not even kept confidential. Anyone who is interested can easily find out that Zhiyun Group has increased its purchases of VR helmet-related components.

Therefore, the industry can basically determine that the virtual device that Zhiyun Group is about to release is a virtual device built on a VR helmet.

But it is difficult to say what it is like specifically, and there is no definite statement from the outside world.

Zhiyun Group has maintained relatively good confidentiality regarding its new products.

While the outside world was speculating, Gu Zhiming, senior vice president of Zhiyun Group, appeared in Hangzhou, the headquarters of Huaxing Technology.

He went to CSOT not for the screens needed for its mobile phone business, but to see a very special type of screen, Micro-OLED, which is also the most cutting-edge technology of contemporary times.

This type of screen is also called silicon-based OLED. Its characteristics are very simple. Compared with traditional OLED screens, the size of its pixels has been greatly reduced, about one-tenth. This also brings the huge advantages of higher screen pixel density and higher display accuracy.

Conventional OELD screens, such as the OLED screens used in current mobile phones, have a pixel density of about a few hundred. For example, the marketing concept of smartphones in the past few years: the retina screen, has a pixel density PPI of over 300.

However, the pixel density of Micro-OLED screens is as high as one or two thousand, and high-end products have already reached three or four thousand!
The gap between the two is almost ten times!

The ultra-high pixel density of this Micro-OLED screen brings ultra-high resolution, and this ultra-high resolution screen makes it very suitable for use in AR/VR glasses. In addition, it is also used in cockpit screens and head-up displays on aircraft, and is also widely used in thermal imaging, night vision goggles and other fields.

This thing was basically used in the military field in the early days, but with the further development of technology, especially the realization of full-color display and higher resolution, this kind of screen began to be used in the consumer field, mainly in the AR/VR field.

The two generations of VR displays previously released by Zhiyun Group both use Micro OLED screens!

It is worth noting that Zhiyun Group uses Micro OLED in its VR displays, which is a different screen from the Micro LED used in the AI ​​glasses launched by Zhiyun Group. Although both have ultra-high resolution characteristics, the Micro LED screen is limited by its technical characteristics and it is currently difficult to increase its size.

The Micro OLED screen can be made relatively larger in size and is more suitable for helmet displays.

Therefore, Zhiyun Group's virtual equipment helmet display system adopts Micro OLED screen!

When Gu Zhiming came to Huaxing Technology, the person in charge of Huaxing Technology introduced their latest generation of Micro OLED screen to Gu Zhiming.

"This is the fifth generation of Micro OLED screen we have developed. Of course, the previous generations were all made by our acquired foreign subsidiaries. We started directly from the third generation!"

"When we first started making the third-generation product, the pixel density was only 2,000 and the screen size was only one inch. This technology was used in Zhiyun's first-generation VR glasses, and we also supplied it to many other AR or VR manufacturers at home and abroad. It is currently a relatively good-selling product."

"We subsequently developed the fourth-generation product, with a pixel density of 3,500 and a screen size of 1.3 inches. This achieved a large screen while maintaining an ultra-high resolution, and we are already ahead of many competitors in terms of technology. This generation of screens is used in the second-generation Zhiyun VR glasses, but due to the relatively high price, we currently have no second customers."

This kind of screen is very expensive, a single piece costs more than two thousand yuan. A pair of VR glasses is equipped with two pieces, and the cost of the screen alone is more than four thousand yuan. Except for Zhiyun's VR glasses and a few other manufacturers' high-end flagship VR glasses, other VR glasses should not expect to use this high-end product.

This is also the reason why Zhiyun Group's AI glasses use relatively cheap Micro LED screens... Cost is also a major consideration. If a Micro OLED screen is used, the screen cost alone would be more than 4,000 yuan, plus other costs would amount to more than 5,000 yuan... The final terminal selling price would be at least 7,000 to 8,000 yuan or even tens of thousands.

Such expensive AI glasses, even a top brand like Zhiyun Group cannot say how many they can sell!
Therefore, in the end, AI glasses chose the relatively cheap Micro LED screen, keeping the price of AI glasses within four or five thousand.

The Micro OLED screen that costs more than 2,000 yuan is only the fourth generation product... Huaxing Technology has just released the fifth generation product, which is even more expensive!
"As for the fifth-generation product, we just completed technical verification in June this year. Currently, only a small number of products are produced. We have increased the pixel density of the fifth-generation product by 5,200, and further enlarged the size to 1.8 inches. The display brightness has reached 6,800 nits!"

"With this size and pixel density, VR glasses, coupled with a display brightness of 6,800 nits, are enough to produce an ultra-high-definition display effect!"

“Only a screen like this can display ultra-high-definition images of virtual devices!”

"When using it, the pixels per eye far exceed those of the 4K TV screens on the market today. When watching with both eyes, the experience is even clearer than the highest-definition IMAX movie screens!"

“Such an ultra-high-definition display effect, coupled with rich and excellent color presentation, can ultimately simulate real-life scenes and achieve a highly immersive experience!”

Gu Zhiming looked at the tiny eight-inch screen in front of him. To be honest, although he knew the principle, he still sighed that such a small screen could indeed achieve the most advanced display effect of the contemporary era. It must be said that this was a major breakthrough in screen technology.

Of course, such a good screen is extremely expensive. The supply price offered by Huaxing Technology to Zhiyun Group is 4,000 yuan per piece!

This small eight-inch screen costs four thousand yuan!

The price is doubled compared to the previous generation's 2,000 yuan!
The helmet display requires two screens, and four thousand times two means that the cost of the screen is eight thousand yuan.

If such an expensive screen is used in a conventional VR display, such as the VR helmet display of Zhiyun Group, the VR helmet display will lose money if it is sold at less than 20,000 yuan.

If you add in the cost of chips and other spare parts, as well as R&D funds, the price of Zhiyun Group's future third-generation VR glasses is estimated to be over 30,000... In fact, it is impossible for Zhiyun Group to launch such an expensive ordinary VR product. It is useless and has no market!
So, the product is good, but it is too expensive. If it weren’t for the virtual equipment developed by Zhiyun Group, this top-level technology screen wouldn’t even be able to find a practical use scenario... The price is too expensive and people can’t afford it!
However, if such an expensive screen is used on a universal virtual device with a starting price of 800,000 yuan, a high-end configuration of even 1.5 million yuan, and a flagship configuration of 3 million yuan, then it will not seem expensive!
The cost of the screen is only 8,000 yuan, which is just a fraction of the cost of the computing chip, which costs hundreds of thousands of yuan.

This is also the reason why the three different levels of models of the universal virtual device seem to have huge price differences, but they all use the same top-level technology, the fifth-generation Micro OLED screen of Huaxing Technology.

Of course, a screen of this level is actually needed to meet the display requirements of virtual devices, to produce sufficiently realistic picture effects, and to meet the immersive effects required by virtual devices!
If the screen is too bad, the picture you see will be blurry or even pixelated, and no matter how good the motion system in the virtual device is, it will be of no use.

Moreover, if the pixel density of the screen is too low, it will make people feel dizzy easily... This value is about two thousand pixel density. If it is lower than this number, it will be easy to feel dizzy, and if it is higher than this number, it will be much better, and the higher the number, the higher the feeling.

This is also why Zhiyun Group delayed the launch of its first generation of VR helmet displays for a year or two when other manufacturers were rushing to launch VR glasses and helmets, because other manufacturers could just use inferior Micro OLED screens with a pixel density of more than 1,000.

But Zhiyun Group cannot do this. Zhiyun Group's engineers have always been known for pursuing the limits and will not allow such inferior products to appear. The marketing department will not allow such products to be sold on the market, which will greatly damage Zhiyun Group's high-end brand reputation.

It was not until Huaxing Technology developed the third-generation Micro OLED screen with a pixel density of 2,800 pixels that Zhiyun Group launched the first generation of VR glasses products.

The second generation of VR glasses used the fourth generation Micro OLED screen, which further increased the pixel density to 3,500.

Similarly, this is also the reason why Zhiyun’s VR glasses cost more than 20,000 yuan...the screen is too expensive.

This is a reflection of Zhiyun Group's engineers' pursuit of limits and the marketing department's pursuit of high-end brands.

Gu Zhiming took a look at the screen, and then tried it with a VR monitor. Sure enough, the picture displayed was very clear, especially since the picture displayed was the real picture taken. For a moment, Gu Zhiming couldn't even tell whether what he saw was real.

The immersion is so strong!

No wonder the virtual equipment project team insisted on this kind of screen, and was unwilling to compromise and adopt even the fourth-generation Micro OLED screen. After taking off the helmet display, Gu Zhiming said, "Now our order has been placed. President Xu will personally hold a press conference in a month. The production line at Weiku Industrial is also ready. Is there any problem with the screen supply here? When can it be mass-produced?"

The person in charge of Huaxing Technology said: "At present, we are producing on a small production line that has been upgraded from the fourth-generation production line. The current output is not high, and the annual output is about 50,000 pieces."

"However, we have already started construction of the second phase of the Micro OLED factory in the first half of this year. The factory can meet the production needs of the fifth-generation Micro OLED. It uses a 12-inch silicon wafer production line with a designed production capacity of 300,000 pieces. The factory is expected to start supplying in May next year."

"In addition, we are also planning the third phase of the factory. The design capacity of the third phase of the factory will reach 500,000 pieces per year. The factory is expected to be put into production in the beginning of next year!"

"That's the total production capacity of 850,000 pieces, enough to make 425,000 virtual equipment helmets!"

"If our virtual equipment sells well and opens up the market, we will further expand our production capacity. Within three years, we will be able to further expand our production capacity to three million or even five million per year!"

"For our screens, the technology is not a problem, the equipment is not a problem, and the funding is certainly not a problem... The problem is how much production capacity Zhiyun Group needs!"

"We can provide as much production capacity as you need!"

In fact, Huaxing Technology's Micro OLED production capacity is not small. After all, it is the largest screen manufacturer in China. In the Micro OLED screen segment, it is also one of the top players in China and even the world. Its production capacity is still relatively large.

However, the production capacity built previously was mainly used for third-generation products and could not be directly used for the production of fifth-generation products.

After all, the Micro OLED screen with the third-generation technology standard is the mainstream in the current market... Don’t think it is low-end, even the third-generation technology is actually a serious high-end product, and the price is over a thousand yuan per piece!
In addition to being supplied to Zhiyun, this third-generation product is also supplied to other related equipment manufacturers at home and abroad, mainly for AR and VR products.

The planned production capacity of the fourth generation is not small, but the production capacity of the fourth generation cannot be fully utilized because there is currently no second customer except Zhiyun's second-generation VR glasses.

Therefore, Huaxing Technology's fourth-generation production capacity is mainly used to produce third-generation products.

This is also a rather embarrassing point. The advanced production lines that have been set up at great expense can only be used to produce backward products because no one wants the advanced products because they are too expensive.

However, Huaxing Technology is also actively expanding its market and looking for more customers. In order to attract customers, it has gone to the fruit company to promote its products and even encouraged them to develop VR glasses... You know what, the fruit company is really interested in it!
Fruit is now also one of the main customers of Huaxing Technology. It purchases a lot of OLED screens from Huaxing Technology for its mobile phone production. The purchase quantity is not large, mainly to backup the screens from Sixing, and at the same time to lower the price from Sixing... Sixing, if you don’t lower the price of your screens, I will go to Huaxing Technology to purchase!

The 28 purchasing principle is also used by fruit manufacturers!

Considering the continued explosion of the AR/VR market, the future of this fourth-generation product is promising, and it will gradually occupy most of the early production capacity.

As for the fifth generation, the technology is more advanced and it can no longer be produced directly using the original production line. It is also necessary to establish a new special production line with more advanced technology. This is also the main reason why the fifth generation products are more expensive.

With a supply price of four thousand per chip, it is predicted that for a long time, apart from Zhiyun’s virtual equipment project, there will not be any other large customers. At most, there will be some small and scattered customers.

Even Zhiyun Group's third-generation VR glasses project did not dare to use the screen because it was too expensive.

However, this screen production line is also backward compatible. When an advanced production line is developed, if no one wants the fifth-generation product, we can still produce the fourth-generation screen or even the third-generation product!
I won’t talk about the fourth generation, but the current market demand for the third generation products is very large, so there’s no need to worry about not being able to sell them!
When Huaxing Technology was planning its production capacity, it also had a backup plan: at worst, it could just sell third-generation screens!

Look at this statement, it is somewhat irritating and even arrogant, because many other manufacturers of Micro OLED screens have not even reached the technical standards of Huaxing Technology's third-generation screens, and are still struggling with the first and second generation products.

However, Huaxing Technology has the support of Xu Shenxue's scientific research system quota, the guarantee of screen orders from Zhiyun Group and Weiku Electronics, and a number of orders from other customers, which are enough to make them feel comfortable in the screen industry chain and have sufficient funds and talents to climb to higher technological peaks!
------

Gu Zhiming nodded slightly after receiving a clear answer from Huaxing Technology: "With an annual production capacity of 50,000 pieces in the early stage, we can produce 25,000 virtual devices. If we use them for promotion and experience in the early stage and sell them mainly in the domestic market, it should be enough!"

"But your second phase of the factory cannot be postponed next year. You must provide me with the production capacity of 300,000 pieces by then. Starting next year, our virtual equipment will gradually enter the global market. It is expected that most of the market will be opened up in the summer, and a large amount of supply will be needed by then!"

"If the global strategic promotion plan of virtual equipment is delayed, the impact will be very serious!"

The people from Huaxing Technology naturally patted their chests and said that there would be no delay.

They have the confidence to say this, as they have no shortage of money or people, and all their equipment are domestically made to ensure supply!

Some core equipment, such as lithography machines, do not require the most advanced lithography machines, but mature DUV dry type and even more mature ARF lithography machines. Xiannvshan Holdings has sufficient production capacity, and if customers pay more, they can even get spot goods!

There won't be any problems at the Huaxing Technology level.

At the same time, Huaxing Technology’s Micro OLED project factory is not located in a big city, but is invested in a medium-sized city.

For the local area, this kind of high-tech industry, which has already invested tens of billions and will have future investments of tens of billions, especially one that represents the most advanced technology direction, has very high levels of security!
Around this Micro OLED project, the local area can build a screen industry cluster base that represents the most cutting-edge and advanced screen industry.

Anyone who sees this will be jealous!

For ordinary cities, this kind of project requires them to fight with all their might.

In this case, the security strength of this kind of project can be seen!
Therefore, Huaxing Technology has the confidence to say this: the second phase production capacity of the fifth-generation Micro OLED screen will definitely not delay anything!
Gu Zhiming received a positive reply and left Huaxing Technology with satisfaction. He then went to inspect a laser radar factory under Hailan Automobile.

HaiLian Automobile is not only the world's largest smart electric vehicle manufacturer, but also the world's largest power battery manufacturer and the largest lidar manufacturer!
There was no other way. When HaiLian Automobile was developing smart electric vehicles, there was no very good supply chain for these core components in China, so they had to do everything themselves.

Make your own batteries, your own lidar, and your own motors.

Later, Hailan Automobile's semi-solid-state batteries were also used in the Zhiyun intelligent robot project and the low-altitude UAV project. At the same time, Hailan Automobile also invested in Ningdai Battery with technology and occupied a considerable share of Ningdai Battery.

Therefore, HaiLian Automobile's power battery business is actually very strong, but it is not well-known in the outside world.

When talking about Hailan Automobile, everyone knows that it sells smart electric cars, but few people notice that it actually also sells power batteries... This is because Hailan Automobile's direct battery business, in order to maintain its market leadership, only uses its own batteries and supplies them to other companies under Xu Shenxue, and does not supply other companies!
The external battery business is carried out by holding part of Ningdai Battery's shares.

However, Ningdai Battery is also quite special. Xu Shenxue's Zhiyun Group, Weiku Electronics, Liuhe Investment, Hailan Automobile and Anton Mining hold a large number of shares in it, accounting for about 72%.

Except for a small number of equity incentives given to management, the remaining shares are divided up among major automobile manufacturers and lithium battery raw material suppliers.

Many domestic and foreign automobile manufacturers hold a certain number of shares in Ningdai Battery, and even Tesla holds a certain number of shares in this company.

This is an act of binding major automobile manufacturers through shares and stabilizing the core customer base!
Many of Xu Shenxue’s companies do this, especially the two listed companies, Wecoo Electronics and Wecoo Industrial, in which a large number of strategic partners hold shares.

It’s a matter of interest!
Even Zhiyun Group is no exception, except that the level of Zhiyun Group's stakeholders is higher. For the overseas part, various consortiums hold shares directly through investment institutions rather than through enterprises.

Its strategic investors cover Europe as well as Canada, Australia, ASEAN, Japan and even South Korea.

The domestic sector is mainly composed of major funds or investment institutions, among which Blue Mountain Investment Fund is a typical example. It invested at the very beginning and never reduced its holdings subsequently, and even held more than 3% of the shares for a long time.

There are several other companies whose shareholding ratios are not low either... When Zhiyun Group delisted from the U.S. stock market, in order to raise huge funds, it issued a large number of shares to major domestic institutions in a targeted manner;.

Of course, only these large funds and large investment institutions with great backgrounds can obtain Zhiyun Group's targeted share issuance. Other ordinary funds and investment institutions can forget about it and can only buy Zhiyun's shares in the secondary market.

After years of introducing strategic investments and going public, Xu Shenxue privately transferred part of his shares for cash. However, Xu Shenxue also often used secret investment companies to buy and sell his own company's stocks, so some of the shares that were sold were bought back.

So far, Xu Shenxue still holds 41% of Zhiyun Group's B shares and 3% of A shares, of which B shares have 20 voting rights.

Therefore, although Zhiyun Group has attracted strategic investors and gone public many times, Xu Shenxue still firmly controls the management rights of Zhiyun Group by relying on the AB equity structure.

In addition to Xu Shenxue, Xu's mother and Xu Weiwei also hold a total of about 1.5% of Zhiyun Group's shares. However, their shares are just ordinary A shares, not B shares with greater voting rights.

The equity structure of the companies under Xu Shenxue is becoming more and more complex and diversified, which is the requirement of market cooperation.

HaiLian Automobile is no exception. Its equity is relatively simple now, but it will become very complicated as the listing process starts. In addition to the smart electric vehicle business and battery business, HaiLian Automobile is also actively expanding the market for core components such as lidar.

Zhiyun Group is undoubtedly the main export customer of their lidar!

There are quite a few laser radars used on intelligent robots, and they are all top-level laser radars.

Now there is another virtual device, and the laser radar it uses is also a top-notch product!
Gu Zhiming came to check out the LiDAR production situation of Hailan Automobile to ensure a smooth supply of top-level LiDAR spare parts!

After a brief inspection, Gu Zhiming threatened and bribed the local person in charge, then left, leaving the person in charge of Hailan Automobile's laser radar business department with a complicated expression.

Damn, being a supplier under a guy like Gu Zhiming is easy to make money, but it’s so uncomfortable... He threatens and bribes you at every turn.

He even used Mr. Xu to put pressure on himself!

Can't afford it!
(End of this chapter)