Braving Society, Taking Down the Opposition! (Seeking Follow-ups)

After entering the building, a left turn led to the lobby where Luo Yao had been last time.

The geniuses present were all engrossed in their usual tasks.

However, this time, they noticed Luo Yao and his companions arriving.

"Boss, what tasks are you going to assign us?" Sergei walked over as soon as he saw Luo Yao.

The others also put down their work and looked at him.

Luo Yao found Sergei's attitude strange. After a moment's thought, he figured Peng Xun must have told them about the laboratory, which explained why they weren't surprised by his arrival.

But tasks?

"Luo Yao, please wait a moment. Everyone needs to sign a non-disclosure agreement and study the confidentiality regulations before they can officially participate in Shannon Laboratory's work arrangements," Peng Xun said, appearing out of nowhere with a stack of documents in his hand.

Luo Yao was taken aback. The pre-job training seemed much more extensive than he had imagined.

"Mr. Peng, haven't we already gone through confidentiality training once?" Sergei asked, looking bewildered as to why they had to do it again.

"The project this time is not an ordinary one. Everyone must sign the agreement again and study the relevant regulations. If you cannot comply, you will not be able to participate in the upcoming work."

Peng Xun's stern words clearly intimidated the young people present. Wang Ye even whispered to Wu Tianming, "Signing a non-disclosure agreement? Is that like the ones on TV?"

"Even my family, when doing business with grave robbers, never signed anything like this. Why do I have to sign one for an internship?"

"You should say less. See that team of people standing at the entrance? Professional bodyguards," Wu Tianming, with his sharp eyes, realized that the laboratory's project seemed much deeper than he had anticipated.

"Professional? How can you tell?" Wang Ye thought they all looked like ordinary people with two eyes and a mouth.

"My dad once hosted leaders from the Capital Health Committee, and there were a few people like that around the leader."

"Look at their eyes. They aren't focused on one spot but scan like cameras, constantly surveying."

Wang Ye had never seen such a situation before and felt a pang of fear.

But he still forced himself to stay calm and asked Luo Yao, "San Tu boss, do I have to sign this too?"

Luo Yao glanced at Peng Xun, who was distributing the agreements, and nodded.

"Alright, then I trust you! Let's go, Tianming, let's sign!"

They thought their part was done after signing, but Peng Xun then had a tall, powerfully built man start explaining the confidentiality regulations to them.

As they listened, their apprehension grew. Combined with the imposing presence of the man, the atmosphere became incredibly tense. Everyone paid close attention to the lecture, and no one dared to slack off.

"Luo Yao, it's almost five o'clock. You can head home first. There's a car at the building entrance that can take you home directly."

Luo Yao looked at Wang Ye and Wu Tianming, who were still studying, and asked, "What about them?"

"They need to stay here and study for two days. For these two days, please do not mention Pangu EDA to them."

Pangu EDA currently involved the entire Chinese chip strategy, and the higher-ups were paying close attention to Luo Yao and Pangu EDA. Therefore, they had specifically emphasized the importance of studying the confidentiality regulations.

"I'll have someone drive you back first. You have a meeting with people from the Semiconductor Alliance tomorrow morning."

Luo Yao glanced at the worried-looking Wu Tianming and Wang Ye, knowing that studying the confidentiality regulations would be beneficial for them. He then walked out with Peng Xun.

Peng Xun's Peugeot 308S was parked at the entrance. Peng Xun handed the keys to someone and had Luo Yao get into the car, driven by the key holder, to take him home.

Huaji Industrial Park was only a five-minute drive from Green Island, and Luo Yao soon arrived home.

His parents were surprised to see him home so early.

"Yao'er, did you get off work early today? That's not good. Huaji Company has been so good to our family; you can't be willful just because they treat you well."

When Luo Yao was in junior high, he found school boring and often skipped classes to go to the library or head home early.

Seeing that it was only 5:10 PM and Luo Yao was already back, Sun Xiulan instinctively assumed he had sneaked home again.

"Mom, the company car just dropped me off. Our official work hours end at 5 PM."

"Oh, is that so? Then sit down, Mom will make you something delicious. Mom just learned a new dish from Dongcheng called 'Yao Ji' (Kiln Chicken), and I'll make it for you today!"

"Thanks, Mom."

It was impossible for Luo Yao to just sit around. He started searching online for information about the Dongcheng Semiconductor Alliance and recent news about China...

"Xiao Yao, did you buy this computer? It looks so advanced!" Luo Zhu exclaimed when she noticed Luo Yao had a laptop during dinner, looking at it with curiosity.

"The company gave it to me. Do you need one?"

Luo Zhu quickly waved her hands, "Uncle Peng got me a computer, and it's enough for my classes. I don't need to go out."

"Okay, if I have time later, I can tutor you." Luo Yao actually disliked tutoring others, but he made an exception for Luo Zhu.

"Thank you, Xiao Yao. Have this chicken drumstick."

With her brother Luo Yao around, Luo Zhu felt that all the hardships she had endured before were worth it!

She secretly resolved to study hard for her retake exams and strive to get into a good university.

That way, she wouldn't be a burden to Luo Yao.

The next day.

Luo Yao was picked up by Rao Huiling to meet with the directors of the Semiconductor Alliance, people from Dongtou Group.

Luo Yao received a complaining text message from Wang Ye on the way.

[Boss, what project are we even participating in? We still have training today ╥﹏╥]

[It seems your training yesterday was for nothing.]

To actually discuss lab matters via text message, Luo Yao instantly felt the previous day's training was insufficient and asked Peng Xun to add another day of training.

Upon arriving at Dongtou Group, they encountered Yu Bei, the Marketing President of Huaji, and several people with sharp figures. As soon as they met, someone led them into a conference room.

Four or five people were already seated in the conference room. A middle-aged man wearing glasses stood up upon seeing them and greeted them:

"Oh, President Rao, President Yu, what a pleasure to have you here. Please, have a seat." The other party glanced at Luo Yao, dismissing him as an assistant or similar, and didn't address him.

"Since both of you are here today, have some tea."

After the tea was served, the man with glasses began to discuss business: "You're saying you've developed a full-process EDA?"

"Why? Aren't Synopsys and the other two major software companies working fine?"

"Why spend effort researching it yourself?"

Rao Huiling smiled slightly, having anticipated this question: "President Lin, you should be aware of the times the Synopsys software was unusable, right?"

President Lin recalled and said, "I know, Synopsys had issues with their account database."

"And what about Cadence that time?"

"It seemed to be a problem with a newly released version."

Rao Huiling shook her head and said, "But at the time, I specifically investigated the usage of corresponding software in other regions, and none of them encountered the same issues as us."

"We concluded that this wasn't a mere coincidence."

"President Rao, you're being too nervous. Tell me, why wouldn't Synopsys and Cadence allow us to use their software? Think about it, with such a huge market in our China, don't they want to make money?"

"It doesn't make sense! Hahaha." President Lin couldn't help but laugh at this point, and everyone from Dongtou in the conference room joined in the laughter.

"President Lin, we understand the logic, but precisely because of this, they know we are completely dependent on them and cannot leave them."

"As long as they control EDA, our IC factories cannot design, and chip factories cannot manufacture without the design engineering files. The entire chip industry will be affected," Yu Bei quickly added, seeing that the other party wasn't taking it seriously.

President Lin frowned and interrupted, "It's not that serious."

"You're all being too alarmist."

"As I said earlier, why would EDA manufacturers like Synopsys withhold their EDA software?"

"Last year, China accounted for 19% of Synopsys's revenue. With such a large market, why would they be willing to give it up?"

"Businessmen are driven by profit. I can't understand why they would withhold EDA software."

Rao Huiling looked at Yu Bei. They both knew it would be difficult to persuade the other party today. As they were thinking of a way, a voice suddenly came from beside them.

"What if it's for greater profit?"

Luo Yao was actually exasperated by President Lin. He didn't want to listen any longer, but to get Pangu EDA online quickly, he had to step in.

"Greater profit? What greater profit could there be?"

"Kid, tell us what you think." President Lin found it ridiculous that a child was telling him there was a greater profit that would cause Synopsys to make the wrong choice. It was truly absurd.

"Luo Yao…" Rao Huiling, fearing Luo Yao would offend President Lin, tried to stop him, but it was too late.

"Control of the entire chip industry chain."

President Lin thought he was being alarmist and let Luo Yao continue.

"Currently, Synopsys and the other two major companies occupy three-quarters of the Earth's market. Shuijidian, as the largest foundry on Earth, also uses their design software, or rather, only recognizes their software."

"If any company tries to process engineering files designed with other EDA software at Shuijidian, Shuijidian will refuse."

"This is the situation with one foundry. What about others?"

"You might say we can find other foundries to process it. For money, there will always be factories willing to do it."

"But in reality, will these foundries that don't comply with the rules of Synopsys and the other three major manufacturers get the latest test data from wafer fabs?"

President Lin's mocking smile faded.

"The answer is no."

"Because this data is integrated into Synopsys's EDA. Wafer fabs rely on them to obtain user usage data, and it's even less likely they wouldn't cooperate with them."

"This creates a situation where the top three EDA companies, Synopsys, control the entire chip industry chain."

"Your statement that the three giants wouldn't withhold technology for profit is logically flawed. Profits have different magnitudes. Only by comparing the two can we choose the greater one."

"Using the EDA market's annual revenue of tens of billions of dollars to control the chip industry's hundreds of billions of dollars in assets – which profit do you think is higher?"

"This is a simple math problem, you should be able to calculate it, right?"