From knock-off old-man's electric vehicles to industrial giant

Chapter 276 Let me hang up first, I'm afraid Mr. Xu will misunderstand.

"The mass production line for Polestar A is still under construction and is expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter, with a full production capacity of nearly 130 million units per month..."

Xu Yi's next sentence followed immediately.

Yu Chengdong silently calculated that the expected sales volume of the Mate 20 series in the second half of the year was at least 200 million units. Taking into account the fluctuations during Double 11, and based on the maximum monthly sales of 260 million units, Polestar A could meet the supply of the Pro and X versions.

If we take into account the production capacity we've stockpiled in advance, we can manage things with ease.

That's when.

"Mr. Xu, the teams from Xiaomi and Vivo have arrived," Assistant Zhou announced.

Xu Yi interrupted his conversation with Yu Chengdong and stood up to warmly greet the client of this closed-door meeting.

...

Lei Jun and Shen Wei, who brought their men, had different expressions when they saw Hua Wei's forces.

For Lei Jun, the purpose of this trip with his colleagues was to see if they could secure production capacity and pricing for Polestar A. Xiaomi has been eyeing the high-end smartphone market for a long time, and internal suggestions made him think that increasing pricing and materials this year could be a new option.

The Polestar A battery is undoubtedly cutting-edge technology in today's consumer market. Securing the supply rights is something to brag about at the launch event. With this capacity and battery quality, there's no need to worry about consumers not buying it.

If all else fails, they'll secure the production capacity for Polestar B.

Android flagship phones can be bad at everything, but they must be top-notch in terms of specifications.

Upon arriving at the meeting hall, Lei Jun was visibly taken aback upon seeing the faces of his business partner. "Mr. Yu, you've arrived very early."

Yu Chengdong chuckled and said, "President Lei, you're late. We really need Xingchen's support this time. This year's flagship is crucial for us."

"Coincidentally, the second half of the year is also crucial for us." Lei Jun raised an eyebrow, his usually gentle tone becoming more direct after meeting with a competitor. The two sides have interacted in the media multiple times, and they had a lot to talk about when they met.

"Why use such an expensive battery for a phone priced at just over three thousand?"

"We can modify the overall design for Polestar batteries, and consumers are more willing to accept better products."

“Ahem… well, we at vivo also have a high-end flagship phone to release this year,” Shen Wei couldn’t help but interject.

Vivo has invested heavily in research and development over the past year. Last year, they developed the first under-display fingerprint sensor, and this year, for their flagship phone, they decided to create an even more interesting design: the world's first pop-up camera. To achieve this, they even acquired a foreign motor production line.

"Mr. Xu, why don't you explain? Polestar A's exclusive production capacity this year is valuable. Just name a price and we won't have to argue about it," Yu Chengdong said simply.

This year, everyone is focusing on high-end differentiation. If a product with such "cutting-edge technology" is available, as long as it secures the first launch window and priority supply rights, its sales will definitely see a significant increase.

"Polestar A batteries are our high-end product for the consumer market this year. Due to manufacturing issues, production capacity is indeed limited this year, and it's not that we're holding back to sell at a higher price..."

Xu Yi made it clear that they had no intention of turning the battery launch rights into a price-gouging business. They weren't that arrogant. Besides, batteries are different from chips, and their unit price has limited flexibility. Even if they set a price, it wouldn't put much pressure on the people present.

"We prefer to lock in large orders with advance payments. Whoever can lock in more orders and make larger advance payments will be given priority for that part of the production capacity."

He made a very fair decision, as Xingchen also needed money to expand production and purchase equipment, and the more advance payment the better.

The words fell.

Xiaomi and Vivo immediately offered to lock in six months' worth of production capacity plus a 50% prepayment.

Then Yu Chengdong spoke up: "We can sign a one-year framework agreement plus half of the advance payment."

Xu Yi then turned his attention to the other two companies.

Now both companies were clearly hesitant.

It's not that Xiaomi and Vivo lack funds, but rather that their flagship phones are positioned differently, making this approach riskier. If they were to purchase other batteries, the OEMs would typically be very powerful, using payment terms and rolling forecasts rather than making such a large upfront payment.

Half an hour later, after a brief closed-door meeting, the final decision was made on who would acquire Polaris A.

"Mr. Yu, I am very pleased to reach a strategic cooperation with Huawei, and I am also very pleased to jointly launch with Xiaomi and Vivo again."

Xu Yi stood up with a smile and shook hands with Yu Chengdong, while exchanging intentions with the other two companies.

Although Xiaomi and Vivo ultimately failed to secure exclusive supply for Polestar A, obtaining production capacity for Polestar B as a second-best option was an acceptable choice for them.

Yu Chengdong was quite excited and immediately said that he would send an engineering team over soon to further finalize the shape of the battery cell solution, the circuit board, and the development of the exclusive fast charging protocol.

That's when.

His phone, which was on the table, suddenly rang.

...

ATL Chairman Chang Yu-chieh only recently received feedback from the battery division that at the beginning of the year, orders from several OEMs changed at the same time. During the process of communicating and customizing the battery cells for this year's flagship phones, there were hesitations and intentions to change suppliers.

This left him completely bewildered!

You should know that this would have been absolutely impossible in the past.

ATL has dominated the consumer battery market for a long time and has always been the first choice for various flagship phones.

Even the previous Samsung Note 7 battery explosion incident did not affect them. After all, it was a mistake made by Samsung SDI's own supply chain. The accident was not in their chain and did not shake ATL's position in high-end battery cells.

Until last year, when the name Polestar Battery came into their view, it caused a shift in vivo's year-end flagship phone orders.

Seeing that Xingchen, a company whose battery factory is listed and is hailed as a leading domestic power battery manufacturer, is now entering the mobile phone consumer market to compete for its share.

He became a little wary, but not to the point of being overly concerned; ATL's position was not so easily threatened.

He already knew about the situation with Vivo last year.

This so-called Polaris battery has unique features in terms of energy density and technology.

However, the purchase price is indeed much higher than that of ordinary battery cells. According to their disassembly and research, the silicon-carbon anode technology and special formula materials used by Xingchen Company are indeed more expensive, which is why the energy density is higher.

However, the gap is not that serious.

This year, even without using silicon-carbon anodes, their same-volume battery cells can achieve capacities of over 4000mAh, and the price hasn't increased much. They have more mature production lines and a deeper scale effect, which is something that Xingchen, a new player, cannot match.

In conclusion, the advantage still lies with me!

After the monthly operations meeting, Zhang Yujie decided to call the head of Huawei's mobile phone business to further confirm the orders for this year's flagship phone, as Huawei's global sales share growth has become increasingly exaggerated in the past two years.

In order to generate revenue and profits, they are determined to secure orders for flagship phone batteries.

"Mr. Yu, are you busy? I heard from your staff that you've been paying close attention to battery density and charging performance this year. When are you planning to have the team confirm this? If you're not satisfied with the energy density, we can work together to improve it..." Zhang Yujie said as usual.

Yu Chengdong had just shaken hands with Xu Yi and was still in high spirits when he received the call, without trying to hide it from the people present.

A faint sound came from the room, and the group of people were all startled.

I noticed Mr. Xu's slightly strange look.

Yu Chengdong's face showed some embarrassment: "Ah—President Zhang, I'm at Xingchen Group, discussing some matters... I'll talk about the battery cell orders for other models later when I get back. As for the flagship phone, forget about it..."

"I'll hang up now if there's nothing else, I'm afraid Mr. Xu might misunderstand."

……

(End of this chapter)