Chapter 7: Kunpeng & Huawei Merger (Part 5)

Chapter 7: The Kunpeng-Huawei Micro Merger (V)

After the tea break, there were three more speeches.

Zhou Chang's talk was on quantum AI.

Zhou Chang said: "An AI that learns needs to be 'fed' massive amounts of data, and Chinese companies' biggest advantage in AI is data. Artificial intelligence typically requires long periods of relevant training; large models may have thousands or even trillions of parameters. But quantum computing can elevate AI's computational power, no longer constrained by traditional binary computers, allowing us to process even more massive and complex data. Additionally, data encrypted with AES-256① is also considered more secure... Here, I mainly want to talk about Qinghui's progress in quantum AI."

Zhou Chang then introduced the X-qubit quantum computer that Qinghui's lab had just developed. Developers had already run quantum neural network models on it.

Qow Quantum had already achieved a bit of what traditional computers can't do, but there was still a long way to go before commercial use.

Jing Hong listened quite attentively too.

At one point, Zhou Chang's gaze swept over Jing Hong. One on stage, one off—their eyes met for a few seconds before Zhou Chang calmly looked away.

Finally, Zhou Chang said: "It's important to understand that running AI models on quantum computers is still in its infancy, with a long way to go before practical use. It's too early to say whether quantum computing will revolutionize AI, but Qinghui is willing to devote itself to exploring this possibility. Thank you all."

Once again, thunderous applause.

Zhou Chang and Jing Hong were the only two entrepreneurs today who had real substance to share.

...

After returning to Fanhai from the AI forum, Jing Hong's mood was somewhat unsettled whenever he thought of that "Cheers."

Zhou Chang had actually provoked him.

It wasn't until the general manager of the human resources department reported to Jing Hong that Professor Hong had decided to join the Fanhai Group that his irritation subsided somewhat.

The sure thing—Professor Hong—had slipped away, and the media was shocked—after all, the internal information they had received previously was all "Because of Zhou Chang's personal connections, Hong Xu is infinitely close to Qinghui."

Journalists all speculated that Hong Xu's move had something to do with Fanhai's "AI Talent Research Camp." It seemed that after the camp's several hundred participants collectively begged Hong Xu to join, Hong Xu began to waver.

Thinking about it, it was understandable. Hong Xu was just an intellectual, thin-skinned and sensitive to embarrassment. Moreover, Fanhai Group's AI Talent Research Camp included both entrepreneurs and elite university students, and Hong Xu had been a professor at American universities his whole life. Now that he wanted to try his hand in the corporate world, he might feel a sense of closeness to Chinese university students, or even a feeling of wanting to give back.

...

The day after Professor Hong Xu officially joined Fanhai Group, Jing Hong had another event.

This time, he was serving as a judge for the finals of the China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition.

The China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition is an officially organized event of high prestige, co-hosted by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, the Cyberspace Administration, and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. It is the largest and most formal entrepreneurship competition in the country, and the government places great importance on it, viewing it as a vital part of the "Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation" policy.

This year, to promote the competition and publicize "Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation," the finals' judging panel was unprecedentedly impressive.

Among the "Big Four of the Internet," three CEOs were present—the CEO of "Xingyuan" was a self-made founder, while Jing Hong and Zhou Chang were successors. However, because Fanhai and Qinghui had demonstrated strategic vision in both in-house development and acquisitions over the past year, showing exceptional judgment regarding new things, no one questioned their qualifications to judge an "entrepreneurship competition" despite being successors.

Beyond the internet sector, the judges also included industry titans from lifestyle, entertainment, travel, healthcare, education, and other fields.

Additionally, there were presidents—at least the heads of their China operations—of top VC/PE firms or investment banks including CIC, BOC International, ICBC International, IDG, Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners China, and J.P. Morgan. Some of these institutions didn't invest in early-stage startups, but they certainly all had long-term vision.

In the end, the finals' judging panel numbered as many as 26 people.

The finals were held in Zhongguancun—a place with many symbolic meanings.

It was once a desolate, grave-strewn wilderness, a burial ground for eunuchs. But later, the Chinese Academy of Sciences was established there, and then came the "Zhongguancun Electronics Street" in the 1980s and the "Zhongguancun Science Park" in the 1990s. It's where China's IT industry took off—it made IT, and IT made it.

Entering the International Convention Center and walking to the door of the finals venue, Jing Hong looked up and spotted Zhou Chang and the CEO of YT standing outside the exhibition hall's entrance.

Zhou Chang was still tall and imposing, one hand in his pocket, looking relaxed and idle.

Zhou Chang caught sight of Jing Hong, a slight smile curling at the corner of his mouth, and greeted him: "CEO Jing."

Jing Hong looked back, stepping up the last two steps as he said: "Morning, CEO Zhou. Jason."

Jason was the English name of YT's CEO. In their circle, people who were familiar with each other would call each other by name, sometimes even omitting the surname entirely, and sometimes directly using English names, especially for those who had returned from overseas. English names were very simple—there were no complex etiquette issues like "whether to include the other's surname" or "whether to include their title." Of course, there were also those who were overly familiar, addressing people by their Chinese names without surnames, never treating themselves as outsiders.

But Jing Hong and Zhou Chang had always been courteous with each other, using the most distant yet appropriate "CEO Jing" and "CEO Zhou."

Zhou Chang made a few more jokes: "Congratulations to Fanhai for signing Hong Xu. Fanhai's AI is about to stand out from the crowd."

Jing Hong looked at him and said: "CEO Zhou, that's quite insincere. Isn't Qinghui in contact with Chris Wells?"

Chris Wells, like Hong Xu, was an academic authority in artificial intelligence—an American, but born in Europe. Chris Wells was younger than Hong Xu and could handle higher-intensity work. It was said that Qinghui had offered him the position of CSO (Chief Scientist) with an astonishingly generous annual salary, determined to secure him.

"Hey, hey, hey," YT's CEO interrupted them, "We're all colleagues~ all colleagues~!" He'd always been well-liked.

Seeing both of them turn to look at him, YT's CEO continued, "Why are you two so at each other's throats!"

"That's unfair," Zhou Chang was still smiling. "How is this confrontational? We're clearly just buttering each other up."

"Alright," Jing Hong spoke with a slight Beijing accent in private conversation, "CEO Zhou, Jason, you two keep chatting. I'm heading in."

"Go on, go on," Jason said, "You have things to do."

So Jing Hong walked through the door, one hand in his pocket, heading toward the aisle steps of the auditorium.

Zhou Chang, while chatting with Jason, casually watched Jing Hong's retreating figure.

Jing Hong's right index finger was looped through a set of Mercedes keys—he must have driven himself. His fingers were long and slender.

Jing Hong walked down the steps and saw that the first row facing the stage was the judges' row. The judges' table was simple—covered with a clean white cloth, with bottled water, pens, notebooks, and the like.

Besides the judges' seats, the first row also had guest seats where "entrepreneurship advisors" from fields like product, marketing, and others would sit during the competition—such as creative directors from well-known 4A advertising agencies. Their professional opinions would, of course, also influence the judges.

At that moment, several judges were making small talk, seemingly discussing how they had arrived. One had taken a private plane, another commercial aviation, saying: "I saw CEO Zhu's WeChat Moments post saying he'd already arrived in Beijing, so I thought we'd be on the same plane. I waited half an hour, called him 12 times, and he finally picked up—turns out he was at Beijing South Railway Station!"

CEO Zhu said: "I like taking the high-speed train..."

Finally, the CEO of "Xingyuan" among the "Big Four" said: "I walked here. Just getting some exercise."

Everyone was briefly stunned, then remembered that Xingyuan's headquarters was right here in Zhongguancun.

Of the "Big Four," three were in Beijing, while Weilai was in Shenzhen—in the late '90s, thanks to its proximity to Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou had spawned a host of internet companies.

Jing Hong didn't join the small talk. He greeted a few people, found his seat, sat down quietly, and started flipping through the contestants' project materials on the table.

Page after page, light as a feather yet heavy as a mountain—these were the dreams of the young.

Only 20 teams had made it to the finals, having survived rounds of selection across every province, autonomous region, and municipality before finally arriving here.

...

At 9 a.m., the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition kicked off on schedule.

Per the program, before the 20 teams' roadshow presentations, several judges, including Jing Hong, were to offer some words of encouragement first.

Jing Hong sat at the judges' table, adjusted the mic, and said: "First, welcome to all 20 teams. Welcome to this hall, and welcome to the world of entrepreneurship. First, I want to say that as entrepreneurs, you're destined to walk an extraordinary path. It's full of opportunities, but at the same time, entrepreneurs live in constant anxiety, day and night. Beneath the golden harvest along this road lie countless bones. Everyone dreams of making a pilgrimage to the holy city, but the road is lined with heroes' graves. I hope that before you start your ventures... you fully understand these things and think carefully about whether you prefer galloping across rivers and lakes, roaming the open seas, or savoring the osmanthus blossoms of autumn and the lotus flowers of summer."

All the teams listened quietly.

"Second," Jing Hong continued, "please don't pick up any bad habits from the startup circle—I'm referring to fraud, money-grabbing, and so on. Don't rush, don't get restless; the IT circle is actually quite small. It's 2017 now, but the four words that still carry universal meaning for me remain 'Hard work pays off.'"

A few members of the startup teams nodded.

"Lastly," Jing Hong paused before speaking again, "a competition has to have rankings, but personally, I'm not a fan of these rankings. I want you to know that today's rankings are not a final judgment. I hope you understand that your target users are the 1.4 billion people of China, or even the 7.5 billion people worldwide. They're all real, living people with their own thoughts and emotions—today, we judges... have no right to represent them."

These words left the other judges briefly stunned.

People always chalk up their success to themselves, but in reality, their success might simply be due to riding a favorable trend, or something else entirely. Jing Hong never really thought he understood 1.4 billion people.

"So," Jing Hong spoke at a calm, measured pace, "today's final ranking doesn't mean a thing; the only true judge is the market itself. Do your absolute best, and leave the rest to the public. But also remember, perhaps in the end, your income might cover your costs, or perhaps not, but in fact, as long as there are users who genuinely love your product, you've already succeeded in some way. Alright, if you're truly ready to embrace everything the future holds, then the startup world welcomes you back."

After Jing Hong finished, Zhou Chang quietly glanced at him, as if with a hint of curiosity.

It was their first time at a startup competition like this.

Then, the roadshow presentations officially kicked off.

Each team had only 15 minutes for their presentation.

On each judge's desk sat a scoring device; after all judges submitted their scores, they would be displayed on the big screen.

The first contestant to hit the stage was a woman in her sixties.

She used to be the head of the neonatal department at a top-tier hospital. She said that over decades of work, she discovered that expectant parents really lacked medical knowledge about infant care, blindly trusting and depending on unqualified postpartum nannies. She wanted to build a professional newborn care platform to teach safety and health basics, while also regularly training and evaluating the nannies she managed, even helping them get CPR certified, giving them the latest info and ongoing oversight—instead of letting those nannies get their "watered-down certs" and then never checking on them again. She also planned to bring in retired neonatal nurses...

After her presentation, judges and guests asked questions, and she answered each one.

Jing Hong scored her a 91.

When the big screen finally displayed all the judges' scores, Jing Hong couldn't help raising an eyebrow, because he noticed Zhou Chang had given the same 91.

Next was a third-party used-car inspection platform, followed by a cheap "automated fast food" concept that combined auto-cookers with vending machines, letting users order with one click. With no waiters or chefs, the meal boxes were super cheap and clean, and even the "cleaning" was fully automated.

During the judging process, Jing Hong realized that he and Zhou Chang were remarkably on the same page about project prospects. The first three projects all got the exact same scores.

Even the host noticed, saying, "I see... Mr. Jing and Mr. Zhou... your scores are identical every single time! Your evaluation criteria are very consistent!"

Jing Hong turned his neck, and their eyes met for a moment. The president of "Xingyuan," sitting between them, quickly leaned back to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

The drama came with the fourth project.

A guy in his twenties gave a passionate pitch. It was obvious all the judges were impressed, and the CEOs of several VC firms were especially interested—as if the second the competition ended, they'd be fighting for the chance to invest.

Because the project was so strong, so many judges had questions that Jing Hong never got a chance.

When scoring, Jing Hong hesitated for a moment, but ultimately stuck to his guns and gave an extreme score.

As he pressed the "Confirm" button, thinking he wouldn't tie with Zhou Chang this time, Jing Hong felt a flicker of satisfaction and anticipation.

When the results were revealed, the judges' scores were revealed one by one, and the host read them out: "'Eastern Dining' President Xu... 100 points! The first perfect score today! 'Shenrui Home' President Gui, 99... 'IDG' Mr. Holt... also 100! The judges are very impressed! 'CIC' President Zhang... 98. 'China Ventures Capital'..."

The host revealed the scores one by one until finally reaching Jing Hong.

She clicked on the score card representing Jing Hong on the big screen: "'Fanhai Group' President Jing..."

The score came up as expected, but the host froze. After two or three seconds, she softly read out, "1 point...?" Her voice had a note of disbelief.

On the big screen, after a string of "100," "99," "98," that "1" stood out like a sore thumb.

But quickly, the host regained her composure and asked Jing Hong, "This... President Jing, you didn't make a mistake, right? Are you sure it's 1 point? It wasn't a slip of the hand?"

"Correct," Jing Hong said calmly, "it's 1 point."

"Alright." The host had already slipped back into her professional, neutral demeanor, saying, "President Jing of Fanhai Group—1 point! President Peng of Xingyuan Technology, 98... President Zhou of Qinghui Group..."

For a moment, Jing Hong felt a twinge of nervousness.

Then, everyone in the room saw the second glaring "1 point" of the evening.

Seeing that "1 point," Jing Hong remained outwardly composed, but inwardly, a storm was brewing.

This time, the host didn't show any unprofessionalism again. She said, "Also 1 point! The scores for this project are extremely polarized! Next, President Xing of 'New Century'—"

Once all the scores were revealed, during the "commentary" segment, the host naturally asked Jing Hong about the reason for his "1 point."

Jing Hong adjusted the microphone, leaned slightly forward, and said, "This product is a complete copy of Italy's 'Arena Ventures.' Every feature is identical, and even the user interface is exactly the same. Does this contestant think that Italian IT products are too niche and obscure for the judges to know about?"

Called out so bluntly, with Jing Hong's intimidating presence, the young man was completely flustered.

He shifted the microphone from his right hand to his left, then back again, swaying back and forth, stammering, "I... uh..."

"You haven't done even a bit of localization." Jing Hong's gaze moved from the contestant's face to the big screen. "For example, flip back to page 9 of the BP (business plan)."

"..." The contestant mechanically followed Jing Hong's instruction, walked back to the presentation table, and flipped the PPT to page 9.

"Look," Jing Hong released the microphone, picked up a pen, and pointed at a corner of the PPT, "there's a page display here. Because the copied app is Italian, red is the main color for the female section, and green is the main color for the male section, corresponding to the colors of the Italian flag. But..."

Jing Hong then played to the audience: "Green is the color Chinese men hate the most—bar none."

At that, the entire audience burst into knowing laughter.

Jing Hong wasn't wrong. Many products entering China had even dropped their green versions, like cars, because they wouldn't sell.

"Based on the above reasons," Jing Hong continued his assessment, "I don't trust your business ethics, and I don't trust your personal abilities, so I can only give 1 point. I didn't give 0 because... I discovered that if it's just '0' alone, the 'Confirm' button won't press."

The audience laughed again.

"Alright—" The host turned to Zhou Chang, "What about President Zhou? Does President Zhou have any other comments?"

Zhou Chang was also looking at Jing Hong. Jing Hong had spoken at length, and after finishing, he was thirsty, so he unscrewed the cap of the bottled water on the table. Zhou Chang's gaze followed the rise and fall of Jing Hong's Adam's apple.

Hearing the host's question, Zhou Chang glanced back, paused, and smiled, "I have nothing to add. President Jing said it all—didn't leave a single word for me."

Jing Hong glanced back at him.

After that, the atmosphere grew lively again.

As the startup teams took the stage one after another, Jing Hong felt his emotions stirred by their enthusiasm and his thinking inspired by their ideas. He even noted down a few people's contact information, planning to have Zhao Hanqing analyze whether to invest.

In the later rounds of the competition, Jing Hong and Zhou Chang's judgment on products remained remarkably consistent, though occasionally they differed by two or three points or more. In one round of voting, because they didn't understand that industry, they even both abstained.

At such a major competition, "big shots arguing" was always a highlight.

As the atmosphere grew more heated, the arguments became more serious.

Once, Zhou Chang asked a question, but several other big shots felt it was meaningless. After a few exchanges of sharp words, President Gui of "Shenrui Home," perhaps assuming that Jing Hong and Zhou Chang were at odds and that he would side with him, suddenly pulled Jing Hong into the fray, asking, "President Jing, whose side are you on?"

"..." Jing Hong was taken aback for a moment.

It took him a few seconds to lean into the microphone. He seemed a little resigned, but he had no intention of lying. He honestly never pictured that one day he'd say such a thing in front of everyone: "That's a separate matter. This time, I'm backing Zhou."

Zhou Chang immediately let out a "Ha!"

He seemed to be in a great mood after winning the argument.

Author's note:

①AES-256: An encryption method; previously AES-128 was used, but now AES-256 is considered more secure against quantum computers.