America: My Time

Chapter 438 Security Check
Chapter 438 Security Check
"Change? How can we change them? Those guys are completely unyielding and won't listen to us at all. Now we can only pin our hopes on the White House and fundamentally cripple Japan's semiconductor industry. Only then will those guys have a glimmer of hope. I just don't understand why those guys are unwilling to accept Nvidia, even though it's already a great success story."

"They still have expectations for the White House, believing it can help them recoup their losses. Therefore, they are unwilling to make drastic cuts and are waiting for the White House to intervene, waiting for a chance to emerge. You know how important semiconductors are. Although Nvidia didn't participate in those guys' actions, they tacitly accepted this change. Moreover, Nvidia's model is the best—focusing solely on R&D, not production, with dedicated foundries, allowing them to concentrate on developing next-generation chips. If this continues, Nvidia will soon dominate the chip industry. This is what makes many people uneasy. Just look at how high Nvidia's market capitalization is now to know how high everyone's expectations are."

"Actually, I think a global layout is the best. Taiwan's production costs are low, which is why ASUS has soared to great heights. Without the cost advantage, it would be impossible to defeat Intel and IBM. Now most American companies are starting to choose Japanese and Taiwanese personal computers, and Apple's products are already outdated."

"Yes, who would have thought that just a few years ago, Apple dominated the US personal computer market, but now it has been replaced by products from Japan and Taiwan? If I were Apple, I would give up on developing system software. It's very difficult for them to bypass Dreamworld's patents, and the longer they drag it out, the greater their losses will be. They don't have any profitable products anymore!"

"This is not something we can decide. Right now, we just need to find out what John, that little fox, is thinking. Once we know his plan, everything will be fine. To be honest, selling Bell Labs was a huge mistake. Maybe we old guys are really getting old and can't keep up with the times."

"Let's go, let's go to Morgan first. We can't fall too far behind in the high-tech field. Even if we can't compare with Nvidia and Bell Labs, we can't be completely powerless. Especially now that Mexican home appliance manufacturing has started to enter the North American market, we can compete head-on with those Japanese home appliance companies on price and not be at a disadvantage! Now we must accelerate the White House's intervention in the semiconductor field. Only in this way can we take back everything we have."

John's mood shifted as someone plotted against him. Another year was drawing to a close, and the Challenger space shuttle disaster was imminent. This would inevitably impact Hughes's interests. Hughes needed to strengthen its training to ensure the satellite launch proceeded smoothly; otherwise, its market value would suffer, and even its partnerships with Middle Eastern tycoons and Japan would be affected, causing them to waver. They had invested so much money; safety had to be guaranteed, otherwise, who would be willing to continue investing?

"Boss, you said Hughes is now going to conduct a thorough self-examination to identify shortcomings, which will affect our launch schedule!"

"I know, but we must ensure our own safety. This is aerospace, and even the slightest mistake can have serious consequences. We have experienced rapid expansion, and many things are bound to be neglected. Now is the time to carefully look for loopholes. We can't afford any losses now. At the very least, we can't afford to fail in front of the Middle Eastern tycoons and the Japanese. If a satellite fails after it goes into space, we can still explain it, but if it fails on land, we will have a hard time explaining ourselves to them. We still need their further investment, so we must be careful."

"But this will affect our own development. Hughes has a lot of work right now. If we do this, won't the Middle Eastern tycoons and those guys from Japan think we're trying to kick them away after they've served their purpose, which will affect our future development!"

"No, I will explain to them that it's not just Hughes that needs to be inspected, but all manufacturing work needs to be inspected. We cannot be careless in production, or we will pay a heavy price. Please arrange this matter quickly. I will also contact Bentley. We cannot let our customers complain that our products are not good enough."

The influx of orders put enormous pressure on the workers. Even the slightest mistake could cause the situation to spiral out of control and affect the company's development. John was well aware of this. After this frantic production, many workers became exhausted and began to cut corners when inspecting the products.

It was precisely because of this problem that John made such arrangements to stabilize the quality of his products and to arrange vacations for his workers in addition to the year-end safety inspections. This is where the resort hotels under the Mandarin Oriental Group came in handy.

"What? You heard right? Hughes, Bentley, and other manufacturing companies are starting year-end inspections, and workers are going on vacation?" When Hughes, Bentley, and other manufacturing companies took action, the bigwigs in the United States received this news, which surprised them. Hughes, Sikorsky, and other manufacturing companies all had huge orders, but at this time, John, the little fox, not only did not make them work overtime to produce, but instead gave them vacations, which made many people puzzled.

When Hughes made its move, the Middle Eastern tycoons and the Japanese followed suit. They didn't want their orders to be affected. When they approached John, he smiled calmly and said, "It's not as dangerous as you all think. It's just a routine year-end safety inspection. As you all know, factories are operating at full capacity during this period, which puts a lot of pressure on the workers. The US isn't like Japan, where overtime can be done without restraint. We can't. For product safety, we'll conduct the year-end inspection first, allowing workers to take a break and relax. Everything will return to normal after the New Year. You don't need to worry about Hughes' R&D work stopping, nor about problems with the GPS system. I believe you wouldn't want to take on products with safety hazards either. This is good for both of us!" As he spoke, John glanced at the Middle Eastern tycoons, a faint smile in his eyes. The Middle Eastern tycoons had secured so many orders from John with real money, and naturally didn't want their orders to be affected. Moreover, John's explanation was reasonable. The US isn't like Japan; endless overtime is impossible. This would only cause production problems and affect their profits.

"Mr. John, there won't be any changes after the year-end security check, right?"

"No, I believe in integrity in business. It's impossible for me to raise prices just because of year-end security checks. I would never do something like that. You can rest assured about that!"

"That's good. If it doesn't affect orders or product quality, we have no objections!"

"Thank you all for your understanding. To be honest, I myself am a little uneasy. The successful networking of the communications satellites has brought great development to Hughes, but the workload is also increasing day by day. If this continues, I am afraid that they will collapse first. For Hughes, a launch failure would mean a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars. We are willing to accept such a price."

"We understand, we all understand. But how long will it take for the global satellite positioning system to be perfected and operational? We need time, after all, with such a large investment, there are many people in the country who are dissatisfied."

"I understand that the initial network will be completed by the end of next year, and we will have some functions. However, it will take a long time to fully improve it. This is not as simple as four or five satellites, but dozens of satellites, and it will require more investment. The end of next year is the best answer I can give you. As long as everything goes smoothly, we will be able to form an initial force by the end of next year! Of course, accuracy is still an issue. Although we have poached a lot of people from Zeiss, we still have not made much progress in accuracy. If you all need to make more progress in accuracy, the research work will be more difficult."

"That's enough. We just want to speed up the deployment of the global satellite positioning system, complete the network construction, and get it into normal use!" In contrast, the Middle Eastern tycoons are most concerned about this matter. The situation in the Middle East is very bad, and no one knows when the flames of war will spread to them. If Hughes' global satellite positioning system is available, they will be better prepared, able to understand the other side's situation, and keep track of their every move.

"All I can say is that Hughes will do his best. This will take time, at least several years. The closer we get to the end, the more difficult the work will become. This is not like the previous satellite communications network; it requires more ground coordination. All I can say is that I will do my best."

As soon as John finished speaking, he pondered for a moment before saying, "If you need the help of the Global Positioning System, Hughes can temporarily change the order of satellite networking, but prioritize the deployment in the Middle East to complete the deployment in the shortest possible time. However, such a change will cause many changes to the work and affect the overall deployment of the Global Positioning System, which may increase expenses considerably. After all, we did not consider this before!"

Upon hearing John's words, the Middle Eastern tycoon's eyes lit up, and he nodded, saying, "Great, this is the best change. As for the funding issue, that's not a problem. We can increase our investment and will definitely not let Hughes bear this extra expense!"

(End of this chapter)