Jiangnan Group actually possessed world-leading technology, and it wasn't some niche technology but rather the highly practical and profitable storage chip technology. At that moment, everyone present felt their understanding of the world was being challenged.
It turned out that Chinese people and Chinese enterprises could also possess technology that surpassed Europe and America, leading the world.
At this point, Huang He continued, "The reason why our Jiangnan Group has reached world-leading levels in storage products is because we have introduced entirely new chip design concepts and architectures. Even when using the same materials, we are still able to achieve capabilities far exceeding our competitors!"
Huang He's words were eloquent, but in reality, it was purely due to the significant advantage in materials. Jiangnan Group had incorporated graphene into their storage particles, which was the reason for the substantial lead in storage chip technology.
Of course, besides the people at the Jiangnan Optoelectronics Research Center, no one knew this secret. Therefore, people naturally believed whatever Huang He said. Huang He eagerly anticipated the day when foreign companies, trying to uncover the secrets of Jiangnan Group's storage devices, would recall his words and desperately try to improve their chip design architectures, imagining their amusing efforts.
Indeed, Huang He wasn't exactly lying, as improving chip architecture could indeed enhance the performance of storage particles. Coupled with the continuously evolving high-precision lithography machines, the development of storage devices for the next twenty years would essentially follow this path. If foreign companies continued to research these areas, they could reach the current level of Jiangnan Group's storage chips in at most ten years.
Of course, by then, only heaven would know what level Jiangnan Group's storage devices would have reached.
"Mr. Huang, will this storage chip technology be announced within the alliance?" a member immediately inquired.
Well, this fellow was dreaming.
"Ahem, according to the alliance's charter, the alliance does not compel its members to trade all their technologies and patents within the alliance; it is entirely voluntary!" Huang He stated decisively, silencing the rest of the audience.
Initially, they had felt this rule was excellent for protecting their core interests. Now, they suddenly resented it. If this rule didn't exist, or if it stipulated that all alliance members must unconditionally hand over all their technologies, they could have forced Huang He to disclose the storage chip technology.
Of course, Huang He would never have set such a foolish rule, as it had a significant loophole. The loophole was that by simply creating another company and transferring the relevant technologies and patents to a company outside the alliance, the rule would become utterly useless.
Therefore, Huang He readily gave everyone the freedom to choose. After all, no one would truly reveal their ultimate secret techniques within the alliance; Jiangnan Group was no exception, and neither were other companies.
Of course, this also depended on the actual benefits. Some companies were willing to contribute all their technologies to the alliance in exchange for substantial returns.
Or, they might simply be incapable of independent production and could only monetize through the alliance. These situations would require specific analysis.
However, when they heard Huang He refuse to share the storage chip technology with them, they were still very disappointed.
"Actually, everyone doesn't need to set their sights on my storage particles. Even if I gave you the manufacturing methods, you wouldn't be able to produce them. Manufacturing flash memory requires lithography machines and various complex packaging steps. Domestically, besides us at Jiangnan, there are only three other manufacturers qualified to produce flash memory. And it seems those three have no intention of joining the alliance. Even if I gave you the technology, you still wouldn't be able to produce flash memory!" Huang He chuckled.
Hearing Huang He say this, everyone felt a bit more at ease. Then Huang He continued, "However, even though you can't produce flash memory, you can still purchase flash memory particles!"
"The flash memory particles produced by our Jiangnan Group will also be openly sold within the alliance. For example, 16..."
"And even if the prices are adjusted in the future, they will definitely be slightly more expensive than purchasing within the alliance. However, I must be clear: according to the alliance's charter, products purchased within the alliance can only be used by the buyer and cannot be resold as a secondary vendor. Otherwise, discovery will result in immediate expulsion from the alliance, and a five-year ban on reapplication."
Upon hearing Huang He's words, smiles returned to everyone's faces. As long as Jiangnan was willing to sell flash memory particles, it was enough. After all, asking them to invest in flash memory production was out of the question, requiring billions in massive investment. Being able to purchase flash memory particles at a lower price was already a great thing.
Following this, Huang He sequentially announced hundreds of products for open sale within the alliance. While these products were not as astonishing as the storage-related ones, they were all good quality and reasonably priced. Purchasing them through the alliance channel was even cheaper, meaning a purchase was a gain. This gave all alliance members a sense that they had embarked on the highway to wealth and, at the same time, generated a strong sense of disdain for those who had come but then left.
What a wasted opportunity for those fools!
However, this was not solely Huang He's stage. After Huang He, Mr. Ren, the head of Huawei, also took the stage. He didn't speak as much as Huang He, merely announcing that Huawei would contribute over ten thousand of its latest technology patents to the alliance's technology library.
Since Huawei specialized in communication-related electronic products, an area Jiangnan Group had not ventured into, their technologies had almost no overlap, significantly increasing the alliance's technological reserves and value.
Subsequently, Huawei also announced a batch of products for sale within the alliance at lower prices, and simultaneously procured a batch of orders within the alliance, once again eliciting cheers from all members.
Following this, seven large enterprises announced similar policies. However, the combined output of these seven companies did not match Huawei's alone, let alone compare to Jiangnan Group's offerings.
After these seven companies concluded their announcements, the meeting officially ended.
However, over the next month, a large number of alliance members uploaded their technological reserves, sales products, and procurement lists to the alliance's database, conducting internal procurement or sales through the alliance.
After all, the procurement prices within the alliance were slightly lower than external prices. While sales prices were also somewhat lower, the advantage lay in the sheer number of member companies within the alliance and their large procurement volumes. Therefore, even with slightly lower prices, there was still profit to be made.
After all, for businesses, they feared not having orders, not the abundance of orders. As long as the unit price was profitable, it was acceptable.
Thus, the alliance, which had commenced with great fanfare, embarked on a path of rapid development with even greater momentum.
——————
August 15, 2003, was an outwardly ordinary day, but for all players of the 00 Game Platform, it was an exceptionally significant one.
Starting from August 8th, players noticed that the homepage of the 00 Game Platform displayed a completely black page.
This page occupied half of the 00 Game Platform's homepage but was otherwise empty, like a black hole absorbing everything. This piqued the curiosity of all 00 Game Platform players, but they couldn't figure out the platform's intention.
By August 9th, this black hole-like page remained. However, some observant players noticed a small, faint, but slightly discernible silver circle appearing at the center of the page.
Over the next few days, this silver halo gradually expanded. By August 14th, it had covered the entire black page.
Simultaneously, it became visible that there were mysterious runes on this silver halo. Some experienced gamers quickly realized and exclaimed on the forums that these symbols were all magic runes from World of Warcraft.
Even more astonishing was the discovery that the arrangement of these runes was identical to the magic runes of the portal used by the Burning Legion to invade the continent of Azeroth. This meant it was a magic portal, the portal used by the Burning Legion to invade the world.
"Could it be that the Burning Legion is about to invade Earth?!" netizens exclaimed online, then called upon all netizens to begin practicing magic and prepare to resist the Burning Legion's invasion.
Initially, players treated this as a small official event, as the official team of the 00 Game Platform was very good at generating buzz and often released imaginative promotions to coincide with their events.
However, soon some players realized something was amiss, because not only the Chinese 00 Game Platform but also 00 Game Platforms worldwide were displaying the same portal.
In early August, the 00 Game Platform, operated by Jiangnan Network's American branch, officially launched in the United States. Simultaneously, a large number of genuine blind boxes followed suit, entering the American market.
The previous shop owner had also transformed into the general agent for America, responsible for the sales of Jiangnan blind boxes in the United States.
At this time, American players, having long endured the Chinese servers, loudly cheered "Long live America!" and flooded into the American servers of the 00 Game Platform.
Concurrently, Blizzard's Battle.net announced that after a certain experience conversion, all their account data would be directly generated into accounts for the American servers of the 00 Game Platform. All users could directly log in to the 00 Game Platform using their Battle.net accounts and continue to retain their previous Battle.net levels and ladder points.
Well, since Battle.net only had levels and ladder points, and no other items like skins, transferring these items posed no pressure to Jiangnan Group; they could simply be moved over.
Finally, Blizzard's Battle.net announced that it would completely shut down on September 1st, one month later, and that Battle.net would henceforth be fully merged with the 00 Game Platform.
Under such news, over a million American players flocked to the 00 Game Platform overnight. The sheer volume of traffic made all competitors take notice and lament, acknowledging the platform's prowess as the world's number one standalone game.