Reborn in 2010, the AI ​​in my mind is too powerful.

A week later, Abercrombie finally succumbed to the pressure from all sides and resigned from his post as governor, citing health reasons. The lieutenant governor, whom he had championed despite opposition, also stepped down.

Prior to the 2014 election, the governorship was temporarily filled by the Speaker of the State Legislature.

Chen Yiran was not surprised by this. Murdoch had recently secured funding and then launched a media campaign to prove that Fox had no financial problems. He had also begun to court Apple, hoping to jointly dismantle Warner.

The terms offered were quite tempting. Although Apple only received Harry Potter from Warner Bros., Fox was willing to send back the X-Men to maintain balance. If it could really work out, Chen Yiran felt it was acceptable.

Moreover, Chen Yiran was basically convinced that even if Murdoch successfully acquired Warner and grew it from a medium-sized film and television company into a giant film and television company, he would still sell the company after a few years.

After all, the family's succession issues are too serious; they could even be the subject of a standalone TV series. Scaling down would be better, as large companies are easily ruined by a few unfilial children. Apple will still have a chance to be sold, since other buyers will likely be cable TV operators, while Apple is entirely streaming and doesn't have a cable network, making it much easier to regulate.

Because of this positive relationship, Murdoch will be more willing to talk to them.

So he simply followed Murdoch's plan and pushed forward with Apple, since his main goal was Harry Potter and everything else could be ignored for the time being.

This completely baffled the Donald Party, who began frantically searching for someone to intervene and try to acquire the company. However, the combined power of Apple and News Corp. was too great, and they couldn't find anyone willing to compete for the deal.

Therefore, recently, several people have hinted to Cook that they hope Apple can be more aggressive.

Chen Yiran didn't care about any of that. Since some people were anxious, he just let them help push things forward. As long as Murdoch wasn't out of the picture, Apple was guaranteed to get Harry Potter.

His current focus remains on TSMC, and Chase, following his instructions, has already begun quietly acquiring TSMC shares for him. Thanks to its recent decline, TSMC's stock price wasn't particularly high before.

And because the Google-Nvidia-TSMC trio has recently been frequently compared to Aurora, Apple, and Samsung, TSMC's stock price has risen, overshadowing Chen Yiran's quiet acquisition. However, he only acquired 3.5% of the shares in the end, and he felt that acquiring more would have too much of an impact.

He then acquired a 1.5% stake from the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, which was the most troublesome part, as Norwegians are obsessed with fairness and transparency.

At first, Chen Yiran only hoped that they would support him at the shareholders' meeting, but he was flatly rejected. The Norwegian government could not support people in investment projects for fear of public resentment.

Chen Yiran asked again if it was possible to secretly trade shares, but was refused again. All of Norway's investments are updated unconditionally on its own website 24 hours a day. Keeping them secret? Impossible.

Ultimately, the two sides could only come up with one solution: at the next shareholders' meeting, the Norwegian government would authorize the on-site sale of shares to Chen Yiran to ensure his covert actions.

However, Chen Yiran needs to allocate some investment shares to the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund when new shareholders join Aurora next time.

Just as he was preparing to have several allies propose convening a shareholders' meeting.

TSMC took action on its own, sending a letter to shareholders announcing that an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders would be held in ten days to discuss the company's major future direction.

Generally speaking, such sudden shareholders' meetings are usually only for board of directors or senior management appointments. Matters concerning the company's direction are usually matters for management. Once a shareholders' meeting is required, it means that the direction is exceptionally risky and has a gambling element to it.

Chen Yiran thought it was good; such a sudden attack seemed more interesting.

Ten days later in Hsinchu, representatives from Chase Bank arrived at TSMC's headquarters.

This isn't the style of glass skyscrapers typical of Silicon Valley; it's a group of low-rise, off-white buildings scattered throughout a park filled with camphor and banyan trees, with the tallest building being only about ten stories high.

In fact, this was the tone personally set by Morris Chang in his early years. He felt that Taiwan was located in an earthquake zone, and if the buildings were too tall, the foundations would be unstable. It would be better to build them more solidly.

This statement sounds very unprofessional and is most likely an attempt to cover up a lack of funds. However, even after so many years, when TSMC had sufficient funds, they did not change this style, and the newly built facilities still maintained a similar style.

So, this might be the style that Morris Chang likes. There's also a widely circulated anecdote in this park: Morris Chang's aesthetics are very unique. His office is on the third floor, less than 30 square meters, with no sofa, no bookshelves, only an entire wall of industrial maps and a bottle of his Bordeaux wine collection.

Although it's a high-tech industry, Morris Chang runs it much like Foxconn. TSMC engineers earn more and have higher entry requirements, but they work just as hard as Foxconn's factory workers.

TSMC's campus canteen is open 24 hours a day, and there are more people on the night shift than during the day. At 3 a.m., you can still see a group of PhDs wearing slippers and holding lunch boxes discussing yield rates.

Thanks to the sense of honor associated with the sacred mountain that protects the nation, as well as high bonuses and performance-based pay, TSMC has achieved a very low turnover rate, though it is also frequently penalized by the labor bureau.

According to local company law, annual shareholders' meetings are held within six months after the end of the fiscal year. TSMC usually holds its annual shareholders' meeting in June, which is attended by 10,000 to 20,000 people. TSMC executives will also deliberately shorten the business report time to leave more time for shareholders to ask questions and communicate.

An extraordinary shareholders' meeting, on the other hand, is convened by a resolution of the board of directors when necessary, or at the request of a minority shareholder who continues to hold a certain percentage of shares, and is then delivered to all shareholders in writing ten days in advance.

The number of attendees at this extraordinary meeting plummeted, with only a little over a hundred people showing up.

But the most important thing is the tickets held by these hundred-plus people, because most of the people who came before were just casual investors, or at most large ones, who would come for a bit of fun, get a ride, and even get a couple of free meals. The temporary conference was much more streamlined and didn't have as many activities, so they didn't come.

Those present were all representatives of institutional investors, and they were also completely bewildered, asking each other questions and guessing the purpose of the event. Some media and analysts on the sidelines were also discussing the matter.

The Chase Bank representative looked around and found a few people he had met before. He didn't go over to speak, but the group exchanged glances and then sat down.

The typhoon had just passed through Hsinchu, and watermarks still clung to the floor-to-ceiling windows of the international conference hall, the glass bluish from the rain. Morris Chang, dressed in a dark gray suit, arrived at the stage, a shareholder register and a tablet spread out in front of him.

Morris Chang tapped his gavel, and the meeting began. He started by describing the market environment, the requirements of advanced process technology for consistency in design tools, and the cloud computing power and AI-assisted cabling capabilities that the collaboration with Google could bring.

Most of the people in the audience were looking down at their documents, with the occasional person clearing their throat. Most already understood what they were supposed to do today. But they didn't intend to do anything special. Morris Chang was the soul of TSMC, and no one could do it better.

TSMC's management shared this view, viewing the meeting more as a formality, akin to a rally. They even had Google stream the entire shareholder meeting live on YouTube to demonstrate their resolve.

They didn't expect any dissenting votes. Looking at the audience, they saw mostly familiar faces. The seat closest to the podium, representing the entire passive fund pool, was occupied by Citibank's trusteeship agent. They never spoke and always followed the crowd in voting.

Next to them were representatives from investment institutions with local government backing, sitting upright with calm expressions. In their view, the proposal was merely a technical route adjustment.

Other foreign investors, while having some questions, are not prepared to step forward and do anything.

Ten minutes later, Morris Chang finally got to the core issue. The projection on the wall stopped on a proposal with a long title: "Strategic Cooperation with Google Maze EDA and Adjustment of Customer Policies." In fact, there were only two main points.

First, TSMC will fully adopt Google's Maze EDA as the standard design platform for advanced processes.

Article 2: Cease providing new process certification support to customers who continue to use FlowEDA.

Morris Chang turned to the last page, cleared his throat, and said, "Therefore, the main agenda of this extraordinary shareholders' meeting is to review and vote on the aforementioned strategic cooperation proposal. If there are no other matters, we will now proceed with the voting process."

Just as he was about to put down his pen, a voice rang out from the back of the conference room.

"Please wait a moment."

All eyes turned to him, and a man in a white robe stood up and said, "I am a representative of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. Although this meeting is for this purpose, I hope there are more important matters that need to be decided before this."

Morris Chang sensed something was wrong and asked in a low voice, "Excuse me, what is it? According to procedure, we should first complete the main proposals for this extraordinary shareholders' meeting."

An Asian man standing nearby stood up and said, "I agree with the Saudi sovereign wealth fund's view. I would like to hear their proposals first, and then vote on them before proceeding with your proposal."

Everyone looked over and saw another big shot: the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation.

The man in the white robe took a document from his briefcase and said in English with a slight accent but clear enough: "According to Article 192-1 of the Company Law, shareholders holding more than one percent of the total issued shares may submit a written list of candidates for directors."

The Saudi sovereign wealth fund, a shareholder of TSMC, has formally proposed adding a new director candidate.

There was a two-second silence in the conference room, followed by a low murmur. The representative from the officially affiliated investment firm abruptly looked up, his teacup frozen in mid-air.

Morris Chang was silent for a few seconds, then asked in a low voice, "Who is the candidate?"

"Mr. Chen Yiran, founder of Aurora Group, meets the requirements for serving as a director in terms of personal net worth and industry influence."

The official representative finally couldn't help but speak up: "Those are people from our competitors!"

"He is a customer, a competitor, and one of the leading technology ecosystem players that TSMC cannot ignore in the future. Moreover, Mr. Chen is now a shareholder of TSMC."

The Chase Bank representative stood up: "We, as overseas investors, helped Aurora Group acquire a 3.5% stake."

The Norwegian representative walked over directly, exchanged a document with Chase Bank, and then said, "The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund has announced that it will transfer our 1.5% stake in TSMC to Aurora Group."

Another man in a white robe stood up: "We, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, think it's best to hold a vote first to decide whether to allow Aurora Group to join the board of directors."

The Singaporean representative stated directly: "Our group already holds nearly 15% of the shares. I think we can request that a vote be held on the board candidates first."

Morris Chang has seen many ups and downs in his life, but this was the first time he had been so passive at the company's shareholders' meeting.

Although it's only 15%, it's enough to push Chen Yiran onto the board of directors, given that most shareholders are silent investors.

Morris Chang composed himself and said, "This is too sudden. I think the other delegates also need to think carefully about how to vote. I hereby declare that this is the end of the morning session, and we will continue this afternoon."

After he finished speaking, he left the stage without looking back.

Several of Chen Yiran's supporters stood together silently in the audience, knowing in their hearts that the outcome was already decided.

Morris Chang's departure was clearly a ploy to quickly contact familiar institutional shareholders in order to prevent Chen Yi-ran from joining TSMC's board of directors.

But he clearly failed to see that the silent members of the organization below the stage were now all staring with excitement, as if they had discovered a younger leader, someone who could replace him.

The meeting room immediately became extremely noisy, with everyone calling the head office to request authorization. Now was no time to remain silent; they were about to exercise their voting rights for their own interests.