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

Shougang's development problem is actually easy to solve. They are a minority shareholder in Aurora, and Aurora always needs those raw materials. So what difference does it make who gets the orders?

However, drones and various new machines require more than just steel; they also need a variety of other materials. Chen Yiran hopes that Shougang can explore this path, leveraging China's cost advantages to reduce the cost of the Aurora drone.

The two talked briefly for less than ten minutes and basically finalized the future plan.

Zhao Guodong then stepped aside, and Zhang Chen, standing nearby, smiled and said, "That's great. Mr. Chen, as an outstanding Chinese businessman, can revitalize old enterprises, which is a contribution to the country."

"Not at all, I'm a member of the Shougang family, so helping Shougang is only what I should do. I don't really have any grand ambitions, and I didn't think that much about helping Shougang."

"It's worth considering. By the way, I heard you're in fierce competition with Google's framework. Google has been making a big push in China lately. Tencent has launched Yuanbao, Alibaba has launched Tongyi Qianwen, iFlytek has iFlytek Xinghuo, and Baidu has also launched Wenxin Yiyan."

They are all supported by Google and use their Transformer framework.

Regarding Aurora, why hasn't it expanded its development back to China? While I don't understand the technology, I do know the importance of an ecosystem. Don't become complacent just because you have a slight lead. Google, Nvidia, and now UMC—these are not to be underestimated.

Chen Yiran didn't respond, and said perfunctorily, "There might be a chance, but Aurora's chip production capacity is not enough right now. Even if we cooperate with other companies, it won't make much sense. We can only focus on taking care of Aurora's AI first."

"Jiguang's WanGuoYuan is doing very well, and this model is excellent. If there's insufficient production capacity, could we use technology to boost China's chip manufacturing industry? State-owned capital can help you invest in building a few more wafer fabs in China."

If you think starting from scratch is too much trouble, we can help you contact SMIC to discuss and find ways to cooperate. Once chip production capacity increases, we can also cooperate with domestic companies, which will make it easier for Aurora to expand its business in China, right?

Last year in Guizhou, you helped Apple and Aurora build that data center, but it was all for their own use. Our hope is that AI can quickly be applied to R&D work across all industries.

"Rest assured, Aurora's Guizhou data center isn't very large, but if it's expanded, it can be opened to domestic companies. However, they can use Aurora Group's SEELE platform, which is a dedicated R&D platform based on the Deepflow framework. Aurora's subsidiaries have already connected to this platform, and the results are quite good."

After exchanging cryptic remarks with Chen Yiran for a while, Zhang Chen roughly understood that Chen Yiran clearly had no intention of giving him peaches, so he could only offer direct advice.

"Mr. Chen, it's like this. You understand our national situation. If a computing platform relies entirely on foreign technology, many high-end enterprises cannot use it. Although you are Chinese, your company is ultimately a Singaporean company. We hope that Aurora can cooperate with domestic companies, like Google, to develop its own AI platform for future growth."

"I have no objection; I'm open to it. But Minister Zhang, I need to correct you. Google's relationship with those domestic companies can't really be called cooperation. Because Google's technology isn't good enough, they adopt a completely free approach for the sake of their ecosystem. Any company wanting to enter the AI ​​industry can use their AI technology free of charge."

Therefore, these collaborations can only be described as Google's promotion, similar to the practice of giving away eggs at the entrance of supermarkets in China.

However, our DeepFlow from Aurora is different. We are licensed under the MIT license and partially open source. I still welcome various companies in China to use my framework for AI exploration, but if they need the core technology, they must pay for it.

Zhang Chen thought for a few seconds and said, "I'm not defending those domestic companies, but so far, there haven't been any companies actually paying for the DeepFlow framework. Does this mean that there are some problems with your proposed agreement?"

"Indeed not, but isn't the annual fee for FlowEDA, developed based on Deepflow, thanks to Deepflow? And the similar products developed from it, such as Apple and Samsung's mobile phone platforms, all rely on the technical advantages of my framework. I think there's nothing wrong with my business model."

If you're trying to convince me to license DeepFlow to domestic companies for free, that's impossible. You know that's non-compliant and would have a very bad impact worldwide.

Chen Yiran felt that what he said was already very clear, but Zhang Chenxiang was obviously prepared, and he spoke very sincerely.

"I hope you can understand that the situation in China is indeed special. We do need your framework. Google's framework has no advantage, but we cannot allow some core Chinese companies to use foreign core, non-open-source AI technologies."

How about this: Aurora China and Shougang Group jointly establish a joint venture, with Aurora granting this joint venture exclusive operating rights for DeepFlow in China. This would facilitate DeepFlow's better development in China and also make it easier to enter sensitive industries.

"We can discuss the specific shareholding details, the board's various implementation plans, and more."

This is the usual practice, and Zhang Chenxiang felt that Chen Yiran wouldn't refuse. He thought the real difficulty lay in the subsequent implementation, as DeepFlow was crucial. The domestic approach was to try their best to gain control of the joint venture and lower the licensing price to facilitate the entry of domestic technology companies.

This essentially allows domestic tech companies to use the framework of Aurora to their advantage and then use it against Aurora itself. Unfortunately, as I said before, core domestic companies are unlikely to use AI from Aurora like SEELE and Crowder.

However, Chen Yiran's reaction was quite decisive: "That's impossible, Minister Zhang. I would like to make a statement here. Aurora Group's Deepflow is the group's core asset. We will not share profits with any company, nor will we grant any company the right to do so."

If there are any concerns in China, I can assure you that Aurora's AI business in China will fully comply with China's cloud management regulations, just like Apple and Samsung, ensuring that data does not leave the country. Of course, this will inevitably affect its performance and prevent iterative upgrades.

Zhang Chen was shocked, but remained calm as he said, "Mr. Chen should know that the commercialization of AI in the future, especially in industry, will be different from ordinary cloud computing. China is now considering formulating new policies, and in the future, AI that can be implemented in China will require a special license."

I think a joint venture is more reasonable. This would also facilitate China's industrial development, wouldn't it? I hope Aurora Group can support its domestic efforts.

After speaking, Zhang Chen looked at Zhao Guodong, hoping he could also offer some words of advice.

Zhao Guodong had absolutely no desire to get involved in these troublesome matters. Even if things were done well, Shougang wouldn't benefit from it. He completely ignored what was happening and started taking a few large shrimp from the plate next to him and slurping down his rice.

Chen Yiran didn't respond. He took a few fried chickens from the plate next to him and started eating rice.

Zhang Chen took a deep breath, then smiled and said, "Mr. Chen, this will make the competition even fiercer. State-owned capital will support Chinese companies and vigorously develop the AI ​​industry. Since we can't use DeepFlow, we'll have to switch to Google."

Moreover, the reason we contacted you first wasn't because we had any bad intentions. On the contrary, we hoped to resolve this matter more peacefully, rather than fighting amongst ourselves.

It's important to know that Google is also actively lobbying the EU and the US: the better you develop, the better your technology, the easier it is to be accused of monopolistic practices and of endangering national security, which will cause a lot of trouble in the future.

Chen Yiran said calmly, "I'll wait for them."

Zhang Chenxiang didn't say anything more, just nodded and left.

Zhao Guodong didn't leave. After they had walked away, he asked in a low voice, "Alright, the bad cop is gone, now it's my turn to play the good cop. Come and talk to the advisor about whether it's possible to sell some more Aurora shares to Shougang. Name your price, we won't haggle."