Reinventing the Millennium - Chapter 1460

c1457 Black clouds over the city, threatening to destroy it (6k)

As October came, Yike entered the fourth quarter of this year.

Although it was a one-week holiday at the beginning, it did not make many employees feel relaxed. Without paying special attention, those comments that were pessimistic about the company’s stock price would naturally come into view.

Yike’s collapse, more restrictions, the last straw of the Q3 financial report…

The company will definitely not collapse. In any case, there is still domestic business, but when to recover is a question, and the fierce short selling encountered by the company will inevitably have a result.

Now it doesn’t look good at all. In the three months of July, August and September, shipments have been greatly reduced in July, and the European and domestic markets in the following two months are even more exhausted… Although some businesses have been sold, this will inevitably not save the financial report.

The situation is very bad, and all kinds of signals are very negative. Fortunately, Mr. Fang is back to get off work.

Perhaps the market will continue to be sluggish, and it is inevitable to be shorted this time, but Mr. Fang is the backbone. As long as he is there, the confidence within the company can be a little more.

On the morning of October 4, Fang Zhuo did not take a holiday. Instead, he received Lu Qi, who had resigned from Microsoft, in the president’s office and planned to invest in him.

“Mr. Fang, Yike has encountered some difficulties recently.” Lu Qi talked about Yike’s current situation after the greetings.

Fang Zhuo has been very familiar with discussing such topics with others recently, and nodded: “Yes, I have confidence, it will get better.”

Lu Qi’s question was stuck in his mind, and he changed the direction: “Nasdaq announced the latest short positions a few days ago. Yike has indeed been targeted by too many people this time.”

Nasdaq announced on September 30 that Yike’s short position was US$21.3 billion, which is an astonishing scale.

Lu Qi has experienced a lot in the United States over the years, but he also feels that Yike’s recent situation and the grand occasion of being shorted… I don’t know if there will be no one to come after it, but it is indeed unprecedented.

However, it is precisely because of this that he thinks it is a good time for him to join Yike.

Because Microsoft changed its CEO and internal ceiling, Lu Qi had long intended to leave, but there was no suitable position at Yike, so he had been waiting and watching for better opportunities.

As a result, another domestic company that had invited him warmly, Duji, became increasingly decadent and had been eliminated as a candidate. Other companies such as Alibaba and Penguin were also not to his liking.

Lu Qi originally did not want to force it, and planned to be an investor and incubate projects, but Yike suddenly played a game of AI and DL architecture with Google, which made him itchy.

He thought so, although Yike encountered trouble, it was also an opportunity for him to display his talents. Since there was no position, he would create one, so he came to visit and recommend himself.

“YiKe is always shorted, and I am helpless.” Fang Zhuo shook his head, “Let them be.”

Lu Qi looked at the helplessness on Mr. Fang’s face and comforted him: “Mr. Fang, setbacks are only temporary. YiKe’s shorting this time is a special case. However, I also want to talk about my thoughts on YiKe’s future.”

Fang Zhuo smiled a little surprised and said: “Mr. Lu, I thought you were here to ask for money today.”

He took out a contact between YiKe Investment and Lu Qi. According to the above, Lu Qi wanted to set up a fund in China to incubate scientific and technological innovation projects.

This is not surprising. Many senior executives from companies have experienced such transitions.

“YiKe has been established for more than ten years and is definitely a respected company. It is not easy for so many companies in the world to achieve this.” Lu Qi said his evaluation, and then said sincerely, “I have always been paying attention to YiKe, and I have seen YiKe trying to make some transformations, but I think that at this time point, YiKe has reached a very important stage.”

Seeing that Mr. Fang was listening carefully, he continued: “Mr. Fang, will YiKe be a robot company in the future? Or a tram company?”

Fang Zhuo smiled and replied: “Can’t we sell them together? And mobile phones.”

“Of course.” Lu Qi pointed to the robot Guard standing silently in the office, and shook his head again, “But I don’t think Whether it is a robot or a tram, the core of their future is intelligence and deep learning. ”

Fang Zhuo thought for a while and commented: “Mr. Lu, this statement is not new to me.”

He asked back: “You should have noticed the ‘Taibai’ we announced some time ago, right?”

“It was because I saw it that I thought I should sit in front of Mr. Fang and tell him what I feel.” Lu Qi said seriously, “I think Yike doesn’t pay enough attention to deep learning DL.”

Fang Zhuo took a sip of tea and smiled: “Isn’t this enough? Yike should be one of the companies with the strongest R&D capabilities in this area in the world. If even this is not enough, what else can it be?”

He was satisfied with the performance of “Taibai”.

Although the recent focus is the production capacity of Yike and Bingxin, and the system operation of the semiconductor industry, the performance of “Taibai” really made the previous R&D hear a sound, which is good.

Lu Qi said seriously: “ALL IN AI!”

Fang Zhuo frowned slightly and motioned Lu Qi to continue.

“Although Yike needs to ensure the supply of mobile phone products due to special circumstances, I think it is also a high priority to find Yike’s next 16 years.” Lu Qi remained serious, “If, Mr. Fang, I mean if, if Yike’s mobile phones really can’t come up with enough matching competitiveness, Yike’s only way to turn things around in the next 16 years is AI.”

YiKe has been in business for 16 years since 2001, and it has been a period of rapid development. How to ensure its competitive position in the next 16 years is a strategic decision.

Lu Qi is not sure when YiKe’s mobile phone market will recover, but if it is really the worst case, he believes that cloud computing, search advertising, technical service fees and other sectors alone are not enough to make YiKe glorious again.

Considering this, we can only bet on YiKe’s deep learning DL research and development strength, which is still the world’s leading force, and strive for breakthroughs and reshape the ecosystem.

YiKe has been glorious, defeating Nokia and leading the era of smartphones. Even if it dies this time, it will be a great success. If it can survive in the next few years…

Lu Qi feels that with YiKe’s current configuration, it is worth participating in the gamble.

If it doesn’t work, it will be the best for the YiKe brand. If it works, Lu Qi will become another name in the textbook.

“You are really ALL.” Fang Zhuo pondered.

“Whether it’s the robot project, electric cars, or search, whether it’s Google, Bing, or Duji, these will also be reshaped by AI, which will bring new market opportunities.” Lu Qi lobbied, “This is equivalent to the smartphones of the year. At that time, everyone thought that the mobile phone market was already a red ocean, and Nokia occupied nearly 50% of the market. What innovative forces can grow?”

“Unfortunately, with the emergence of new smartphones, Nokia was defeated. Its huge market share was like snow encountering the scorching sun, and it collapsed at the touch of a button.”

“Mr. Fang, I think the future AI is the key to this kind of market reshaping!”

“Mr. Fang, AI is the key to making Yike great again!”

“Mr. Fang, if you don’t have this level of cognition, even though ‘Taibai’ has attracted a certain amount of attention, it will be difficult to seize the initiative in the future!”

Fang Zhuo listened to Lu Qi’s impassioned speech, thought for a moment, and smiled : “Mr. Lu, I really didn’t expect you to have such a high opinion of AI.”

“Mr. Fang, I respect the brand of Yike very much, and I think Yike has a good R&D foundation. Otherwise, I would not be here today.” Lu Qi talked freely, “Perhaps, Mr. Fang thinks Yike is still full of talents and thinks Yike has its own R&D team, but what I want to say is that technological development is changing with each passing day at certain times.”

He gave an example: “Just like the discussion jointly held by Yike, Google and NVIDIA, someone at Google proposed the mechanism of self-attention at that time, thinking that it could replace recurrent neural networks and provide better choices in the field of NLP.”

“Before that, everyone generally believed that recurrent neural networks were the best choice.”

“But what about after that? Uskelt of Google, several of them jointly conducted research in this area and published an article in August called ‘Attention is All You Need’, which quickly attracted attention. ”

“Mr. Fang, this model with self-attention mechanism as the core was quickly verified, at least it outperformed all other models in translation tasks.”

“Mr. Fang, it’s all!”

“Moreover, the training time is greatly shortened.”

“In such a short period of time, could you have imagined the changes in this technological innovation before?”

Lu Qi said such a long string of words, and finally pointed at himself: “So, I am here, thinking that strategic cognition and technical acumen are what the highest level of Yike lacks now.”

After listening to Lu Qi’s eloquent narration, Fang Zhuo pondered for a while and changed his address: “Dr. Lu, sit down, sit down, let’s sit down and talk.”

Just now, Lu Qi stood up when he was excited.

Fang Zhuo did not think this excitement and lobbying were ridiculous. Instead, he was seriously thinking about this person’s insights.

At least, he caught a sentence of Lu Qi’s view on search, which is a business that “will also be reshaped by AI”.

Lu Qi is absolutely extremely professional in search. He is considered the “Savior” of Microsoft’s search engine, and he has also achieved the highest level of position that Chinese can hold in American technology companies.

In addition, Lu Qi studied in Carnegie Mellon University in the United States and obtained a doctorate in computer science. His self-proclaimed “technical acumen” is not bragging.

Fang Zhuo does not wear a filter for any senior management in the industry. On the contrary, sometimes he has to persuade them not to wear a filter to look at himself, but he has great respect for technical people.

Because this is what he lacks, no matter how he makes up for it, he can never be compared with these outstanding people.

Fang Zhuo just thought about his mentality a little bit. To be honest, he is really satisfied with “Taibai”. Its performance of defeating the human camp and narrowly defeating Google’s “Alpha” is enough to bluff people.

Is it a problem to be “bluffed” by yourself?

Yike stocks that were shorted in this way were also stimulated for a short time.

However, Fang Zhuo had personally witnessed “technical acumen” and experienced “technological innovation”, and he understood the power that could be unleashed at this level. Liang Mengsong was the best example.

He now knew what Lu Qi wanted to do this time, and was just trying to gauge whether his views were extremely beneficial to Yi Ke.

Fang Zhuo thought slowly, and now he was also very sure of one thing, that is, Lu Qi must have misjudged Yi Ke.

“Mr. Lu, to be honest, Yike’s performance in the third quarter was very bad.” Fang Zhuo spoke up. He did not express his views on the previous point. Instead, he talked about Yike’s current situation, “I thought you wanted to continue to do incubation. Fund, I didn’t expect you to be very interested in Yike at this time.”

“Although Yike has been established for 16 years, it is actually still young. Moreover, Yike has a brand advantage in the Chinese market. No matter how the revenue declines, as long as we can come up with competitive products, we can make it back. “Lu Qi said sincerely, “The current situation of Yike is not good, and it may decline in the future. However, as I just said, if we can focus on the innovative AI field, we will definitely be brilliant again in the future.”

Fang Zhuo looked at Lu Qi and asked, “Is Dr. Lu so sure?”

“I have been paying attention to Yike, and I have seen Mr. Fang talk about the future of Yike on different occasions. You regard robots and electric vehicles as the carriers of artificial intelligence. I think it is right.” Lu Qi gave another example. , “However, artificial intelligence is not an unpopular word in Silicon Valley. Just like Nvidia, it is really trying its best to be the shovel for the development of artificial intelligence. Everyone is shouting, but Huang Renxun is really promoting it.”

During the American Gold Rush, many people went hunting for gold, but there were also people who made fortunes selling gold shovels.

“The degree of emphasis determines the company’s investment, which also determines its development on this track. Mr. Fang’s understanding is correct.” Lu Qi said this, paused, “It’s just not great enough.”

Mainstream but not great enough.

Fang Zhuo is not angry, he is someone who can discuss things.

His last and heaviest expression since meeting Lu Qi: “Mr. Lu, since it comes to this point, I will be more honest. It is difficult for me to say what Yike’s future revenue and competitiveness will be. This restriction from BIS shocked us all. ”

Lu Qi saw that Mr. Fang was frank, so he followed suit and said frankly: “Mr. Fang, it is better to provide icing on the cake than to give someone timely assistance. I think I have a chance to display my abilities in Yike. Duji, Ali, and Penguin have all been in contact with me, but I I would still rather come to Yike, even if there will be a difficult period in the future.”

Mr. Fang stood up excitedly: “Mr. Lu…”

Lu Qi responded: “Mr. Fang…”

Fang Zhuo and Lu Qi shook hands firmly, confirming each other’s intentions and sincerity.

“Mr. Lu.” Fang Zhuo sat down again and discussed the current situation again, “Although it is very difficult now and although Yike needs to transform, the most important task now is to restore our main business. It is impossible to kill ourselves with a knife, and , Artificial intelligence still needs time to develop, and it will not be a breakthrough in a short time.”

He was sure of it.

Lu Qi nodded slightly and agreed with this.

“Yike has established an emerging industry division, which is engaged in the transformation of cutting-edge technologies, including the ‘Kunpeng’ tram.” Fang Zhuo slowed down and considered, “If Mr. Lu is willing to come, Yike A deep learning division will be established and all research and development in this area will be transferred. Any…”

He emphasized: “I can provide any resources that Mr. Lu thinks are needed. In addition, cooperation between DL and other businesses of the company can also be promoted as a priority.”

Originally, deep learning was under the Emerging Industries Division. Now it is separated and given sufficient resources and the highest priority.

This is definitely not ALL IN AI, but Yike really doesn’t need to fight like that.

In addition, the resources required for deep learning at this stage are actually limited, and this promise will naturally be fulfilled with breakthroughs in research and development.

Lu Qi thought briefly and then readily agreed.

“Okay, Mr. Fang, I am happy to work with the best DL R&D team in the world. I think we can create even more dazzling sparks!”

Fang Zhuo was very happy and admired Lu Qi’s decisiveness. He smiled and asked, “Mr. Lu, what if I don’t agree with your point of view so much today?”

“That might be Yike’s loss.” Lu Qi said confidently.

Fang Zhuo shook hands with Lu Qi again.

Lu Qi finally asked something that the outside world was extremely concerned about: “Mr. Fang, when will Yike’s Q3 financial report be released?”

Fang Zhuo did not give an exact time, but only replied: “It will be sent when it should be sent.”

This is undoubtedly what the outside world is most concerned about at Yike. Even Lu Qi, who was seeking opportunities in Yike today, couldn’t help but ask. However, he was a little confused by Mr. Fang’s answer.

However, Lu Qi had already prepared for Yike’s continued decline and would not be surprised by what was about to happen. He came to Yike to rebuild its glory.

To paraphrase a popular saying in the United States, make Yike great again!

The National Day holiday in October caused some changes in the organizational structure of Yike. Lu Qi quickly joined the company and became a member of Yike as senior vice president and president of the deep learning division.

This news caused a small stir. Many people were very confused about Lu Qi joining Yike at this time. The ship was about to sink, so he jumped up?

But it’s just a small bump. Everyone’s attention is still focused on Yike’s Q3 financial report.

The third quarter has ended, when will the financial report be released?

Yike has been silent for a long time, and this silence is also regarded as a negative signal, adding an additional US$300 million to the short position disclosed on October 15.

Russell, the short-selling pioneer of RC Hedge Fund, called on Yi Ke to disclose the Q3 financial report that attracted public attention as soon as possible on TikTok.

“It’s death whether you die early or late, Yi Ke, hurry up, I can’t wait!”

“Mr. Fang, Mr. Fang, are you there? Please stamp it quickly!”

Similar voices appeared in the mouths of his peers.

Fang Zhuo did not respond to this, nor did he think there was anything to respond to. In addition to caring about the news from Bingxin and SMIC, he was also paying attention to the fierce campaign on the side of Amei.

Not long ago, on October 9, the two candidates, Achuan and Axi, held the second televised debate at the University of Washington, and the economic and trade policies involved were worthy of attention.

For Yi Ke, this is a worse treatment.

As a hot event, Yi Ke’s name has been frequently mentioned by various candidates this year, which has become a microcosm that everyone is willing to win votes in a more radical way at least verbally.

On October 20, Fang Zhuo saw Achuan mention Yi Ke in the newspaper again, but this time it was very brief.

“I have no interest in talking about Yike anymore. It is already dead in fact.”

“I am more interested in creating more deaths of this kind. They can become our nutrients.”

On October 25, Fang Zhuo received a call from Lu Qi.

After reporting on the work he took over, Lu Qi asked a strange question: “Mr. Fang, I heard that there seems to be a press conference for Yike next month? What is it about?”

“Yike will have a press conference in autumn, Mr. Lu, don’t you know?” Fang Zhuo asked back.

“I know, but…” Lu Qi hesitated, but what else can Yike release now?

Or a notebook? Or a smart home product?

Fang Zhuo thought about it and replied: “It’s the release of regular products.”

Yike usually releases mobile phones in autumn.

This press conference involves many things, and the confidentiality of all aspects is very high. The very few senior executives who know about it also remain silent.

Lu Qi roughly knows that it is similar to the last press conference.

He didn’t ask any more questions, anyway, he will see it soon.

On October 28, Fang Zhuo received news from SMIC that the 10nm process has entered the stage of small-scale mass production and is expected to be mass-produced in December, but the yield rate still needs to be improved and the production capacity needs to be gradually increased.

With only three days left until the end of the month, the media’s attention to Yike’s Q3 financial report has once again reached a fever pitch. According to regulations, the latest release time is also coming.

However, on October 31, Monday, the first day of the announcement of Nasdaq’s short positions, Yike did not unexpectedly break the historical record four times in a row, reaching an epoch-making $22.5 billion, and the market value also reached a new low of $215.3 billion.

Just as everyone was holding their breath waiting for Yike to announce its Q3 financial report, Yike submitted Form 12b-25 to the SEC, obtaining a short grace period of 15 days on the grounds of “significant changes in the company’s business operations.”

In other words, Yike’s Q3 financial report will be released on November 15 at the latest.

Russell received the news immediately and commented: “Yi Ke has delayed for another 15 days. Please, can I see Yi Ke’s Q3 financial report before I die?”

The more Yi Ke delays, the more powerful this Q3 financial report will be. Victory is just around the corner, and the only thing missing is the final conclusion.

Russell felt a refreshing shudder from the bottom of his heart when he thought of the scene of Yi Ke’s stock price collapse, and he became more and more dissatisfied with Yi Ke’s delay in every possible way.

Not only Russell, this time people like “short master” Chanos, “hedge Jordan” Cohen, “short king” Paulson and others all mocked because of the failure of the Q3 financial report release.

Hyenas gather, chasing weak lions, vultures circle, waiting for the death of their prey.

Domestic media used the term “dark clouds pressing down on the city” to describe the unprecedented pressure that Yi Ke is suffering.

Time enters November 1st, which is the traditional Western Halloween.

Fang Zhuo, who has not updated for a long time, has a new dynamic on Twitter, having fun with the short sellers.

But he didn’t say anything, only a funny grimace that seemed to be about to open his eyes.

Lululu, I’m about to open my eyes.

However, Fang Zhuo’s casual update seemed to have suddenly restored the confidence of the domestic media. Sina Finance conducted an informal analysis – when Mr. Fang, who had not been seen for a long time, appeared, it was like seeing a ray of golden light in the dark clouds. Is it what I imagined?

Even the people of Sina didn’t dare to think about it, and didn’t dare to include it in the formal analysis. They just asked silently with expectation.

Is it?

Mr. Fang, is it?

Is it the golden scales opening up in the sun?