Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The research institute managed by Sarrot had been following the instructions for the experiment step by step. Lu Zhou had to deal with the Jinling Institute of Computational Materials matter, so he didn’t pay much attention to his Silicon Valley venture.
Lu Zhou didn’t expect to see his name on the news. It was reported together with hollow carbon spheres and lithium-sulfur batteries.
The article gave an overview of the meeting on lithium-sulfur batteries. It didn’t use any click-baiting headlines. It only contained a brief quote from the professors about lithium-sulfur batteries.
Lu Zhou was obviously one of the professors.
Recently, the energy market had been extremely sensitive; a small gust of wind could cause huge changes.
Lu Zhou’s opinion greatly influenced the market.
The market would analyze and try to interpret his quotes.
After all, Lu Zhou was the one that opened the door to lithium batteries.
This article was quite surprising to Lu Zhou.
He didn’t know who leaked the news; he wasn’t even informed that an article would be written.
However, it didn’t matter too much. Although production technology could be stolen by other companies, most people were still happy to announce their research results. It wasn’t like this was military weapon technology.
The person who recorded the conference was probably a reporter from CCTV, and he or she was probably rolling in cash from the article right now.
Lu Zhou didn’t care about anything else. Some people agreed with his idea on hollow carbon spheres, some people criticized it.
People that agreed believed that the hollow carbon spheres had potential in the field of carbon-sulfur composites. Although there were many problems, if they could solve these problems, it might become the key to solving the shuttle effect.
Critics believed that Lu Zhou shouldn’t make such public remarks without the results from the experiments.
Actually, this wasn’t Lu Zhou’s fault.
He did say those words, but it wasn’t him that leaked the words.
Of course, the voice of criticism was still in the minority. Lu Zhou had more important things to pay attention to.
During the second week of Qian Zhongming and Liu Bo’s trip to Europe, the first batch of equipment had finally arrived.
However, Lu Zhou didn’t expect Umicore’s CEO to also arrive at Jin Ling University’s laboratory building.
At the entrance of Jin Ling University, the Belgium man got out of his car and extended his right hand as he said, “My dear friend, it is nice to see you again, how are you?”
Due to the patent of the modified PDMS material, Umicore’s stock price had been roaring. This was evident by the smile on the CEO’s face.
In order to enter this battery field, their old rivals, BASF Group and Nichia Chemical, had to pay a high “patent fee”.
Whether it was the securities market or the materials market, Umicore was in great standing. Particularly, due to the irreplaceability of lithium battery anode materials, BASF Group was forced to give up the United States Argonne National Laboratory and file a lawsuit against Umicore on the battery patent issue.
Because of this series of good news, the board of directors was very satisfied with Grynberg’s work.
Grynberg would definitely marry Lu Zhou if he wasn’t a guy.
Of course, this was only an exaggeration.
“Not bad.” Lu Zhou shook Grynberg’s hand and looked at him curiously as he asked, “Why are you here?”
Although Lu Zhou bought the equipment through Umicore’s channels, there was no reason for the CEO to personally come here.
Grynberg smiled at Lu Zhou’s question.
“Remember our agreement? Thanks to your blessing, we have dominated the anode material market. The reason I came here was to talk to you about the profits.”
Lu Zhou looked interested, and he asked, “How much?”
“BASF Group and Nichia Chemicals have paid US$50 million and US$70 million in patent licensing fees for the lithium anode materials. This was in exchange for production licenses for two to three years in the global market, and of course, this excluded the Chinese market. Also, for every one ton of anode material that they produce, they must pay us US$1,500.”
With a big smile on his face, Grynberg said, “US$100 million in licensing fees have already been paid in advance. According to our agreement, half of this belongs to you. How would you like us to pay this amount?”
Lu Zhou said, “Pay off the costs for the equipment, then convert the rest to RMB and transfer it to my account in China.”
Lu Zhou planned to invest this money directly into Jinling Institute of Computational Materials. Due to his five-year tax exemption policy, there was no additional tax deduction required on this money.
After the equipment passed through customs, the research institute would soon begin their experiments. This required research funding.
Originally, Lu Zhou planned to use his money from Star Sky Technology, but he obviously didn’t have to do that anymore.
Umicore had branches in China, so they could handle the money transfer for him.
Just like Lu Zhou expected, Grynberg agreed quickly.
“No problem, I will send this money according to your requirements!”
Although the CEO was here to send money, it still didn’t warrant that big smile on his face.
He was here for another reason.
Grynberg smiled and talked about his true intention for this trip.
“The thing is, I heard you are researching lithium-sulfur batteries?”
Lu Zhou said, “I guess you could say that. The field of lithium-sulfur batteries is very interesting, and I have plans in this area.”
Grynberg immediately asked, “What a coincidence! We are interested in lithium-sulfur battery research as well, do you need any investment?”
Lu Zhou knew Grynberg would ask this, so he had already prepared his words of rejection. He said, “Do you think I still need outside investors?”
Grynberg didn’t want to give up, so he said, “But have you thought about the risk? You must know that scientific research is like gambling, no one can guarantee their research results. I can promise a 70% investment in this research project, and the investment size will be over US$400 million! Also, we only want 50% of the research results. I trust no one will be able to provide a better offer.”
Grynberg was right; no one would be able to provide a better offer.
If it wasn’t for Gyrnberg’s recent success in anode materials, he wouldn’t care to offer such a huge investment.
Although this offer might seem irrefutable for most people, Lu Zhou wasn’t tempted at all.
Because Lu Zhou had one more option that didn’t involve money.
That was to spend a large number of general points and ask the system for help.
However, Lu Zhou wouldn’t do this unless he had spent half of the US$400 million.
Although the number of experience points for the missions had been increasing, the general points had not increased at all, thus making the general points extremely valuable.
Unless it was an unsolvable problem, Lu Zhou didn’t plan on using the general points.
Lu Zhou shook his head and said, “I will not consider borrowing chips from other gamblers unless I have lost all my chips.”
Grynberg asked, “Losing all of your chips? God… You’re crazy. Do you plan on investing all your money in this? I’m offering US$400 million, are you sure you’re not going to reconsider?”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “This isn’t a smart investment from a business point of view. However, I am not a businessman, I look at the problem from a different perspective.”
If Lu Zhou only wanted wealth, he would just invest in real estate.
Obviously, he wanted something more than just wealth.
