What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 581 Personality (4k)

Crossing the mountain peaks, they had special communication channels.

This matter appeared in the media in Europe and the United States last year, but it was neither widely discussed nor confirmed. However, this year, the Japanese media took this short-selling attack on Toshiba so seriously that many people actually believed it.

At least, Li Song was relieved after another failed short-selling attempt.

"No wonder he always succeeded in crossing the mountain peak; it turns out he had such underworld connections."

Li Songlian also expressed similar sentiments at the Lingang poker game.

It's not that I lack "real research" or that I'm incapable; it's simply that I haven't crossed the line yet.

Liu Wanying smiled as she rubbed the mahjong tiles, as if she hadn't heard what she said.

Xu Xin at the poker table was skeptical of the Japanese media reports, but treated it as casual conversation, saying, "Those who short sell are blinded by profit and will do anything. I just don't know how this Guoshanfeng got involved with Japanese organizations."

As she drew a card, her thoughts suddenly became clear: "With the influence of a mountain peak, it shouldn't be difficult. Using the profits from short selling as bait, those gangs and that internal auditor who disemboweled himself, seeing such huge profits in front of them, it would be hard for them not to collude."

Yu Xing, who was drinking tea nearby, listened to these words and offered a brief defense: "Actually, there is no concrete evidence yet. The media is probably just trying to fabricate a charge that Guo Shanfeng profited from non-public information."

Despite regional differences in regulations, short-selling firms are required to act based on publicly available information.

Xu Xin smiled and said, "It's rare for President Yu to say something in defense of the short sellers."

Yu Xing disagreed: "I'm just telling the truth."

He took a couple of sips of tea and then said, "Actually, I think the damage that the mountain peak inflicted on European car companies last year was also an opportunity."

Xu Xin couldn't help but laugh: "President Yu, wake up! Are you thinking that silicon carbon is about to be listed and you don't want to offend the short sellers now? An institution like Guo Shanfeng is definitely impartial. Volkswagen and BMW would love to kill Guo Shanfeng!"

“Mr. Xu, you see, if a new car company like ours can sell models like Kyushu, shouldn’t those top foreign brands also have more technological strength and resources? There’s a prevailing opinion in the market that as long as they put in the effort, they can quickly open up the new energy vehicle market,” Yu Xing said.

Xu Xin and Li Song nodded in unison, especially Li Song, who attracted more attention. He knew that even someone like President Yu would have reservations and considerations when speaking in public, and that he could speak his true feelings in private.

“Not only do many people in China think this way, but also many institutions and analysts in Europe and on Wall Street believe this,” Yu Xing said eloquently. “This is actually too much of a technology-driven approach. From upstream to downstream to the market, from car manufacturing to car sales, there are many complex and intertwined factors involved.”

"The larger the core customer base, the stronger the resistance to launching new products."

"But an abnormal situation occurred last year. The peak caused a lot of damage to car companies like Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. Volkswagen's CEO was arrested, and BMW's CEO was replaced this year. If they really believe in the future of new energy, this period is the best opportunity to promote it."

"Unfortunately, Müller lacked wisdom, and Kruger was reckless."

Müller and Krüger are the new heads of Volkswagen and BMW, respectively.

Yu Xing shook his head and concluded, "They were given the chance to cross the mountain, but they didn't seize it."

Xu Xin felt that there was some truth to it, but also that it sounded absurd. She couldn't help but burst into laughter: "President Yu, your reasoning is excellent. Guoshanfeng should hire you as the head of the public relations department. You're really good at whitewashing."

Yu Xing's gaze swept over Liu Wanying, whose eyes held a smile.

Li Song pondered Yu's words carefully and then asked, "Mr. Yu, if that's the case, your listing story is quite compelling, but do the BBA (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi) really have no chance of competing? I heard that Audi and Huawei are planning a collaboration."

Yu Xing was somewhat surprised. Ever since President Li became a short seller, he has indeed changed. Now he pays close attention to first-hand news.

He nodded slightly: "Audi and Huawei have a collaboration, currently working on in-vehicle modules. The Audi Q7 at the April auto show has a built-in Huawei 4G module. This is their first substantial collaboration. Huawei has very strong technology in in-vehicle communication. Kyushu's modules also use Huawei's."

"As for whether there will be further cooperation..."

There were plans for further cooperation. Huawei and Audi had a cooperation agreement on intelligent driving and had also established joint laboratories in Munich and Shenzhen. They had already completed autonomous driving tests on low-speed urban roads in Europe, but this cooperation was interrupted by the United States.

"It's fine if it is. In business cooperation between Huawei and companies like Audi, the dominant power will only lie with Audi."

Yu Xing gave his assessment.

Let alone Audi, Huawei's cooperation with GAC was rejected by GAC with a score of 11 to 0. It could only achieve its goal by cooperating with the small company Seres.

Yu Xing then smiled and said, "Huawei will have someone coming to Hong Kong the day after tomorrow to conduct an inspection. I guess they also want to take this opportunity to see how to adjust their internal business."

Huawei's connected vehicle business was initiated early, with the development of in-vehicle modules starting in 09, the establishment of a connected vehicle laboratory in 12 to begin research on the three core technologies of electric vehicles, and the formal establishment of the connected vehicle business unit in 13, resulting in a more systematic layout.

Silicon Carbon has a clear understanding of Huawei's plans and technological capabilities in its collaboration with Huawei on automotive modules.

Li Song became more and more energetic as he asked, "President Yu, what do you think about the short sellers targeting Tesla right now?"

His short-selling research is relevant, partly due to his wife Xu Xin's contacts in various fields, and partly naturally focused on the areas he has access to.

Tesla is now facing scrutiny from short sellers due to production capacity issues and losses.

Li Song felt that some of the criticisms were reasonable, but he also lacked confidence because of his repeated failures in short selling.

Yu Xing answered without hesitation: "It's hard to short Tesla. Tesla's story is quite good. Although there are production capacity issues, its market feedback has always been very good. It has a lot of orders in hand. Moreover, it is positioned as an American high-tech company and also has the policy support of zero emission credits."

Li Song asked doubtfully, "The story is good, and Musk even talked about self-driving cars, but can this story actually be realized?"

“The secondary market’s current perception of Tesla is that it is analogous to Apple,” Liu Wanying picked up the conversation and laughed. “It is currently described as starting from the high-end market, entering the mass market, creating its own ecosystem, and ultimately achieving continuous profitability. I heard that it will also increase its efforts to expand into the domestic market this year.”

Li Song still believes that there is a lot of hype surrounding Tesla's story.

Liu Wanying said, "That's how the market is; there are differences of opinion, that's why there are bulls and bears, but..."

She glanced at Li Song, who was deep in thought, and intentionally or unintentionally repeated Yu Xing's point of view: "Tesla is not a good target for shorting at this stage."

Xu Xin's attention was mostly on the mahjong game. Listening to their discussion, she felt a little strange. After thinking for a few seconds, she smiled and said, "You two seem to be quite interested in short selling lately."

Liu Wanying calmly ended the topic: "It wasn't just President Li who was talking. We just happened to be talking about new energy. I hope silicon carbon can be listed smoothly and that we don't run into any short-selling troubles."

Xu Xin shrugged: "How could that be?"

She couldn't believe it; Silicon Carbon Group was just a new car company in the Eastern market. However, just two days later, Xu Xin frowned upon seeing the news in the Wall Street Journal.

This isn't the first time Tesla has faced criticism from short sellers, but this time, the reports have also brought up China's silicon carbon group.

John, the founder of Chicago-based Windy City Capital, once again spoke in an interview about the new energy bubble created by Tesla, citing Silicon Carbon Group, which made a breakthrough in China this year, as a similar example.

Both receive policy support but face the risk of the support being phased out.

Similarly facing tight cash flow, current information indicates aggressive capacity expansion.

Facing even stronger competition, traditional automakers such as Volkswagen and Toyota will inevitably accelerate their electrification efforts.

Xu Xin carefully studied the bearish arguments from the United States and checked the relevant information about the institution. Finally, she breathed a slight sigh of relief: "It's just a small bear, no need to be afraid."

Li Song leaned closer: "Are you even younger than us?"

Xu Xin corrected her wording: "It's just an empty promise, don't be afraid."

Li Song: "..."

He glanced at John's words and asked thoughtfully, "Do you think Tesla could be shorted?"

Xu Xin sighed: "From now on, just do the opposite of what your intuition tells you."

Li Song retorted, "My intuition is that the mountain peak isn't around us, so if we want to dig it out, we have to start from where we are."

Xu Xin scoffed, "You're dreaming you can do that. It would be great if someone were by your side, and you could even invest some money. This anonymous method of crossing the mountain peak is both good and bad. It's safe, but the amount of money involved may not be as much as everyone thinks."

Li Song thought for a moment: "Only a rank, but no divine power?"

“Yes, it doesn’t have the divine power to match the king of short selling. Look at Chanos and Ackerman. Back then, as long as they made one or two masterpieces in short selling, the size of their funds would increase rapidly, reaching tens of billions of dollars.” Xu Xin said regretfully, “It’s a pity to miss the peak.”

She then frowned and brought up the old question again: "What exactly were the considerations behind Guo Shanfeng's decision to give up such a funding opportunity?"

Li Song gave the answer: "It's a non-public information channel, it's not that powerful, I'm afraid of being sued."

Xu Xin didn't quite agree with this answer, but she didn't continue speculating on the question.

The pessimistic comments from short sellers were not only seen by Xu Xin and Li Song, but also by Yu Xing and some domestic media and peers.

Policy subsidies are an unavoidable topic when it comes to the development of new energy enterprises.

Two days later, Wei Jianjun, the head of Great Wall Motors, attended an event in Beijing. When interviewed by the media, he was asked about the company's development plans in the new energy field. He shook his head and said, "We don't have many plans in this area right now. New energy vehicles have to be tested by the market. We just want to make steady progress in the gasoline vehicle market. Although we don't receive subsidies, we are developing very solidly."

Sensing the key point, the reporter pressed further: "Mr. Wei, do you think that new energy vehicle companies can still gain market recognition after the subsidy reduction?"

"I don't know, but I'm definitely not buying it," Wei Jianjun replied. "A motor, a refrigerator, a color TV—anyone can put those in a car. It's all just fancy stuff; it's not practical."

The reporter was very satisfied with this Q&A session, and it indeed sparked more reposts and discussions after it was published.

Although no specific car company name was mentioned, the implication was clear.

The silicon carbon group's foray into refrigerators and color TVs represents a lack of solid development.

On July 3, as the Silicon Carbon Group released its monthly sales figures once again, amidst a slight decline in overseas sentiment and industry opinions, Yu Xing welcomed a Huawei delegation to Lingang.

Huawei's rotating CEO Xu Zhijun, General Manager of the Connected Vehicles Business Unit Cai Jianyong, and others personally visited Lingang. They are also the core leaders within Huawei who are strongly promoting the automotive project.

In fact, prior to this visit, Huawei had already reached a procurement cooperation agreement with Linggang Company in Lingang for lidar, becoming the latter's largest customer in China.

Yu Xing warmly received the inspection team from Huawei, and as before, regardless of how the inspection went, they placed orders to support Kyushu's sales.

"Mr. Yu, your Kyushu sales are really good. We won't miss a few more orders." Xu Zhijun said while clumsily placing an order, praising the breakthrough of silicon carbide. "I think your cooperation with Huichuan is very good. I'll try our motors later."

Yu Xing smiled and asked, "Have you produced any results with your motors yet? Does Huawei have any plans to manufacture complete vehicles?"

Xu Zhijun shook his head: "The prospects for new energy are very good. We hope that there will be new energy vehicle companies like Silicon Carbon Group and T1 automotive parts suppliers like Bosch in China."

This is Huawei's current automotive project strategy.

Cai Jianyong from the Internet of Vehicles said, "President Yu, our motor research is progressing well, and we can produce excellent products in the next two or three years. But in addition to hardware, we can also cooperate more on autonomous driving. I think Lingang attaches great importance to this aspect."

Huawei's purchase of Linggang's lidar indicates that it is aware of the company's background, which can almost be seen as an incubation of the Silicon Carbon Group. Its development is inevitably related to the autonomous and intelligent driving that has been discussed in the new energy field.

Huawei's internal discussions about its moves in silicon carbon technology are quite surprising and impressive.

Cai Jianyong had expected a quick reply from President Yu, but to his surprise, the other party fell into a slightly longer period of thought after hearing his words.

After a moment, Yu Xing said, "It will take a long time for this research and development to be implemented. The strategic plan for silicon carbon is independent research and development, but I also support the research and development of companies like Horizon Robotics. Healthy competition in China can ensure the steady development of technology."

Xu Zhijun sensed something amiss, recognizing Horizon Company, which had only been established this year.

He nodded and said dismissively, "Healthy competition is definitely a good thing."

Xu Zhijun continued, "I heard that Silicon Carbon Group has the idea of ​​an open-source in-vehicle infotainment ecosystem. I wonder if we have any opportunities to cooperate in this regard."

Yu Xing was genuinely surprised this time: "We haven't officially discussed this with anyone yet, how did President Xu notice?"

Xu Zhijun smiled: "President Yu, Carbon Silicon Group is a leader in new energy. As we want to be a T1 supplier, we naturally need to pay attention to the ideas of T1 car companies."

This is Huawei's positioning and assessment of Silicon Carbon Group in the domestic market.

As the decision-maker for the automotive project, Xu Zhijun had already visited BYD in Shenzhen. This visit to Lingang was also the result of much thought and research, including taking into account rumors that Shanghai was considering delaying policy subsidies.

If silicon carbon can successfully create an independent and open-source automotive system ecosystem in such a large automotive market as China, its status will undoubtedly be higher. This is also a major factor in why Huawei's automotive leadership has gone all out this time.

(End of this chapter)