Chapter 1202 – Not a SuperComputer, But a Gold Mine
In the eastern dock suburbs of Shanghai, if it weren’t for the subways, this place wouldn’t even be considered Shanghai.
In fact, many Shanghai locals no longer recognized this as a part of Shanghai.
Even though there were several zoning plans here, such as a smart manufacturing zone, an integrated development zone, a smart ecological zone, and a marine science and technology hub, etc… Due to the remote location of the area and the weak industrial foundation, there hadn’t been any particularly big development in this area over the years.
It was almost as if…
This place was abandoned.
However, things had been changing recently.
About two months ago, a group of important-looking people came here. They walked around with some blueprints in their hands and drew a circle on a blueprint map.
Soon after, a group of construction teams arrived at the suburb. They began to start construction on the land circled by the previous group of important people.
For the residents and small business owners of the eastern docks area, this was quite a big story. However, no one knew what they were building. Judging by the fenced-off area, it seemed like this was going to be a big project.
Some people said that they were building a new business district. Others said that they were developing real estate, whereas some other people even guessed that a semiconductor manufacturer was going to move their factories to Shanghai. It was estimated that the property value would increase because of this.
Various rumors spread around for more than two months. It wasn’t until the announcement of the “Star Voyage One” quantum computer by Star Sky Technology did people finally realize what was going on.
It turned out that this thing was not a shopping mall, nor was it a new building or a stadium. It was actually a powerful quantum computer.
Unfortunately, a supercomputing center was non-labor intensive, and it would not bring any jobs and wouldn’t have any effect on the property prices…
…
An Audi A6 parked on the side of the main road in the smart manufacturing zone, and two men in suits got out of the car.
A chubby man wearing gold-rimmed glasses squinted his eyes as he looked at the construction site. He curiously asked, “What is going on over there?”
His name was Ding Rong, and he was quite a wealthy entrepreneur. He was involved in the production of auto parts, mainly for export trade.
His factory was originally located in the Suzhou Industrial Park. Because he heard that there was a policy change in the eastern docks area, he came here for a site inspection to see if there was any value in opening a shop here.
Honestly, he was quite satisfied with all of the conditions here. The only downside was that the location was too far, and it would be difficult to hire workers here.
Suburb Chief Liu, who was responsible for attracting investment in the zone, immediately said, “That’s the land bought by Star Sky Technology. Apparently, it’s the location for the supercomputing center.”
Two months ago, this news was a secret. Even the senior management of the suburb’s management committee did not know the truth.
But now, this matter was an open secret. Everyone knew that this piece of land belonged to Star Sky Technology.
“Star Sky Technology? Supercomputing center?”
Ding Rong paused for a second. He couldn’t figure out the relationship between these two things.
Suburb Chief Liu immediately smiled and said, “It’s the Star Voyage One, the world’s first quantum computer that was unveiled a while ago! Apparently, the computing power is more powerful than all of the other top supercomputers combined. This will become the first domestic quantum computer to provide cloud quantum computing service, and this place will be equivalent to the high-tech zone in Jinling!”
Suburb Chief Liu purposely boasted about this development zone.
After listening to the explanation, Ding Rong was shocked. He had an astonished look on his face.
“It’s that amazing?”
Recently, he was busy with the new factory, even working during lunch break. He didn’t have time to pay attention to what was happening in the frontier of science and technology.
He didn’t expect quantum computers to come to life in the blink of an eye.
He thought back to when he talked about the trend of industrial informatization with the engineers at his factory during lunch. Apparently, in the future, artificial intelligence robots would take over humans in factories.
Why is Star Sky Technology building their quantum computer here?
Why not Jinling?
The more he thought about it, the more excited he was.
It was like this was a gold mine, standing right in front of him.
Without hesitating, he stretched out his hand, pointed to the open space beside the construction area, and said, “Then, I’ll set up my factory there.”
“Oh, right there?”
“Yeah, the transportation here is convenient. I plan to invest 200 million yuan to open up a new production line here to produce electric vehicle parts…” Ding Rong suddenly noticed the awkward look on Suburb Chief Liu’s face. He couldn’t help but frown and said, “Is there a problem?”
Suburb Chief Liu looked at Ding Rong and smiled awkwardly.
“That… I’m afraid it will be a bit difficult. Two months ago, all of the land around here was auctioned off.”
“All of it?” Ding Rong was taken aback for a moment. He then realized that he might have fallen behind this trend, so he quickly asked, “Two months ago, did anyone know that Star Sky Technology was going to build a supercomputing center here?”
Suburb Chief Liu quickly spoke.
“No way, even the city mayor didn’t know!”
Ding Rong: “Then how come…”
Suburb Chief Liu sighed and said, “It has nothing to do with the supercomputing center. When people heard that these construction teams were working for Star Sky Technology, our development zone management committee was contacted by at least a few hundred companies a week. They were all inquiring about the land in the vicinity. Thus, whether it was the commercial or industrial area, all of it had been auctioned off.”
Even though Ding Rong could buy the land off the companies, Suburb Chief Liu thought this was not a good idea.
After all, running a high-tech company was not only an entrepreneurial task but also a political task. Higher-ups in the state were all watching closely. The main purpose of this development zone was to attract investment, not to increase land prices.
If too much of the capital was spent acquiring land, there would be no money for the production and growth of the development zone.
Ding Rong was in disbelief.
“… Not a single lot is left?”
Suburb Chief Liu: “There’s one a little farther away, but none within a one-kilometer radius.”
None within one kilometer…
This is insane!
Ding Rong didn’t know what to make of this.
Although it was unfortunate that he did not get to buy the land, after hearing how popular this zone was, he was more determined than before to move his factory here.
Large-scale industrial production was always important. As long as there were good traffic conditions, a large-scale industrial park was far more attractive than a small economic development zone.
Even if the new factory failed and bankrupted him, he could sell the land for a profit. Investing and setting up his new factory here was a win-win situation.
