Chapter 294: Chapter 273: Hua Deyun and the Chip Industry

Hearing Ye Ling’s words, Hua Deyun nodded and let out a sigh of relief.

To be honest, when he first said it, he had been worried Ye Ling would suspect him of having ulterior motives. Thankfully, Ye Ling hadn’t misunderstood.

"Brother Ye, I still have to give you a heads-up. While the technology has great prospects, there’s still a risk of losses. What’s more, it’s very difficult to find partners. After all, this industry... its reputation is just awful."

Hua Deyun said with a wry smile.

He was telling the truth.

The reputation of the chip industry was genuinely terrible; many even called it the "black-hearted chip" industry!

It couldn’t be helped. Compared to other industries, the chip industry didn’t just demand a huge amount of capital; the scale of every aspect had to be immense. And what was even more crippling...

The development cycle was exceptionally long!

Take chip technology development, for example. The laboratory phase alone could take three to five years, or even a decade.

Why had Xia Country’s chip industry never been particularly strong?

Because most ventures in this field operated at a loss!

As everyone knows, producing chips requires two things: one is the chip technology itself, and the other is a lithography machine!

The difficulty of developing the chip technology goes without saying, but as for the lithography machines...

Their development costs were astronomical, and the return on investment was incredibly slow!

Even the high-tech companies in the United States only produced about ten lithography machines a year.

This just goes to show how exorbitant the cost of a lithography machine truly was.

High costs and slow returns—naturally, few investors were willing to get involved.

Instead of getting involved in a venture that would most likely lose money, why not go into real estate or foreign trade?

The profits were huge, and the turnaround time wasn’t particularly long!

Once the buildings were up, you just had to launch sales and you were set. You could even pre-sell units, which took care of the initial costs.

No one was willing to put up the capital—that was the biggest problem!

Secondly, there was the issue of fake technology. Many people simply used the banner of "high-tech chip development" to defraud investors, when in reality, they had no technology to speak of!

There had been some investors willing to fund the chip industry, but after being burned like that, they naturally became reluctant.

"I’ve already made up my mind. If it loses money, so be it."

Ye Ling said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

’In reality, the chip industry was called "black-hearted" because of a few bad apples who had no real technology to begin with!’

’But Hua Deyun has the technology. With real tech, why should he be afraid of losses?’

’What a joke!’

’Once they actually build out the chip production chain and get it operational, it would absolutely break even and turn a profit in no time.’

’The biggest problem right now is the lack of funding!’

"I’ll figure out a way to solve the funding problem. Do you have any other needs right now? Personnel, for example?" Ye Ling asked.

"I don’t need more personnel. I brought my team from the United States back with me this time. They’re all experts in the high-tech chip field. But I do need a laboratory."

Hua Deyun said,

"Furthermore, I will produce a chip prototype within a month to put your mind at ease, Brother Ye. After all... I’m also aware of how murky the waters are in this industry."

"No problem. I’ll take care of the lab as soon as possible."

Ye Ling nodded, agreeing readily. "I’ll give you one million in start-up funds first. Once you produce the prototype, as long as the technology is legitimate, you can request as much research funding as you need!"

"Thank you, Brother Ye."

Hua Deyun raised his glass in a toast to Ye Ling.

To be honest, ever since bringing his team back home, he had been stressing over the problem of funding their operations.

He could forgo a salary, but his assistants who followed him couldn’t, could they?

How would they make a living?

For this first month, for instance, his initial plan had been to pay for everything out of his own pocket.

After all, until you produced something tangible, a claim like "3nm chip technology" was just an empty promise. Few people would believe it, let alone invest in it.

If you didn’t believe it, you could go to any company, tell them you’ve mastered 3nm chip technology and want a million in start-up funds, and see if they’d give it to you.

The chip industry’s reputation was truly in the gutter!

"It’s a win-win situation. No need for formalities."

Ye Ling said with a light laugh.

His philosophy had always been win-win. As long as an venture brought benefits and he could secure his share safely and reliably, then sharing a portion of the gains wasn’t a major issue.

In this day and age, trying to hoard all the profits for oneself was unrealistic and a surefire recipe for failure.

Because, in the end, one person’s power is limited.

Even an army of ants can take down an elephant, right?

Therefore, when handling many matters, Ye Ling didn’t mind giving up a portion of the profits to ensure he was on the side of the majority, rather than in opposition to them.

Take, for example, when Ye Ling went after the Jiang Family. He took down Bauhinia Energy, but then didn’t touch the Jiang Family’s other connections in the Imperial Capital.

In reality, this was him relinquishing a portion of the spoils, and the beneficiaries were, naturally, the other seven great families of the Imperial Capital.

They had clearly received this gesture of goodwill from Ye Ling, which was why no subsequent trouble landed on his doorstep.

Because even if trouble had arisen, the seven great families would have taken care of it for him.

By ceding some of the profit, Ye Ling and the seven great families were now all in the same boat.

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