No one expected that the communications giant SubCom, who once occupied more than 40% of the submarine optical cable market, would publicly announce their surrender.
What people also did not expect was that the U.S Department of Commerce actually approved this financing plan. They allowed a Chinese communications company to get their hands dirty on an American company.
Even the loan for the financing round was from an American bank.
According to the analysis from the Wall Street Journal, this was because of the poor financial performance of SubCom and its failures in the global submarine optical cable project. Not to mention that their quantum repeater technology was nowhere in sight, so they had no hope of defeating competitors. This eventually led to the board of directors’ having to bow down to a financing round from East Asia Communications.
Even though the WSJ’s analysis was mostly correct, Chairman Carter insisted in an interview that the cooperation between SubCom and East Asia Communications was a win-win situation. He claimed that both parties could complement each other in experience and technology and that this was a normal business practice.
However, many people were able to smell something unusual from this financing proposal.
In any case, the agreement had already been signed.
The Department of Commerce also approved the financing proposal.
The quantum submarine optical cable was headed toward the eight landing cable stations on the American west coast. Everything was going great…
The other major event was that, after more than two months of construction, the Star Voyage One supercomputing center was finally complete.
High-tech eastern docks zone.
There was a tall and steep building beside a spacious six-lane highway.
A few days ago, this building was still just a steel frame, but now, it was covered with rows upon rows of black glass panels. Looking at it from a distance, it didn’t look like a supercomputing center at all. Instead, it looked more like a skyscraper or a monument.
Judging by the shape alone, this supercomputing center was quite unique. Many people were wondering why Star Sky Technology adopted this strange design.
However, doubt and confusion did not last for long. Soon after, a report came out that the design of this supercomputing center was chosen by Academician Lu himself.
After hearing this news, everyone finally understood the reason behind this design.
After all, Academician Lu had peculiar tastes.
Most geniuses were idiosyncratic and eccentric individuals.
Choosing this design for the supercomputing center…
Was nothing out of the ordinary.
After Lu Zhou got out of his car, he was followed by Director Sun from the eastern docks Development Zone Management Committee. Director Sun spoke with a smile on his face.
“Over the past two months, at least 200 companies have moved into this zone. Our investment department was originally worried about how to complete this year’s investment targets. None of us expected to reach our target at the beginning of the year.
“This is all thanks to you, Academician Lu!”
Lu Zhou’s expression didn’t change as he spoke.
“Director Sun, you’re too kind, I’m just a scholar.”
Director Sun: “You’re too humble!”
Lu Zhou changed the topic of conversation.
“When is the opening ceremony?”
Seeing how Lu Zhou wasn’t amused by his flattery, Director Sun quickly dropped the nonsense and went straight to the point.
“It’s already ready! We can begin at any time—”
There seemed to be some kind of commotion at the ceremony site nearby. There was a female reporter dressed in casual clothes, accompanied by a cameraman. She was arguing with the security guards.
Wang Peng, who was standing silently behind Lu Zhou, looked over at the building.
Lu Zhou looked over and spoke curiously.
“What’s going on over there?”
Wang Peng: “It looks like a reporter.”
Lu Zhou had a moment of clarity on his face.
“Oh, reporter.”
The group of people stopped at the ribbon-cutting opening ceremony site.
Director Sun looked at the security guard and frowned. He was about to reprimand the security guard, but he remembered that Academician Lu was beside him, so he stayed silent.
He was about to ask which company the reporter was from. However, the reporter’s eyes lit up when she recognized Lu Zhou. She totally ignored Director Sun, walked forward, and reached out with her microphone.
“Hello, Academician Lu, I’m a reporter from the South China Morning Post, may I interview you?”
Lu Zhou strangely looked at Director Sun next to him. Lu Zhou could tell that Director Sun did not expect this reporter to be here.
However, he didn’t put all the blame on Director Sun. After all, it was impossible for a plan to go perfectly, even the ILHCRC collider occasionally had mistakes.
Lu Zhou looked at the reporter lady and nodded.
“Of course, I’ll answer anything I can.”
“Thank you for accepting our interview!”
The reporter had a glamorous smile on her face. She pointed the microphone at Lu Zhou and said, “Prior to this, we heard that Professor Arik from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory said in an interview with the New York Times that, unless the bottleneck of quantum memory is solved, it is impossible to achieve 500 qubits by relying on the design of quantum logic circuit gates.
“Then, Academician Lu, can I ask if the computing power of Star Voyage One can really reach 524 qubits? Is there more to the story?”
Director Sun began to feel anxious even before Lu Zhou replied.
What is that supposed to mean?
Is she doubting the capabilities of the Star Voyage One supercomputing center?
So far, companies from all over the country interested in intelligent manufacturing were inquiring about the policies of the high-tech eastern docks zone. Most of them were interested in the cloud computing service provided by the legendary world’s first quantum computer.
If this kind of fake news goes out, it will ruin Star Sky Technology’s reputation, which will ruin our development zone.
“Reporter, what is that supposed to mean?”
The reporter replied with a calm smile, “I’m just asking a question, Director Sun, my apologies if you were offended.”
“No, it’s fine, it’s normal to have questions.”
Lu Zhou looked at Director Sun, gesturing to him to shut up. He then looked at the glass building next to him and said, “Coincidentally, there’s going to be a trial run soon. I’ll demonstrate for you.”
The eyes of the reporter from the South China Morning Post suddenly lit up. She spoke as if she had just discovered a piece of breaking news.
“What do you plan on demonstrating? Can you disclose any information?”
Lu Zhou: “It’s nothing confidential. If you pay attention to the academic community, you should know that our test plans were announced a week ago.”
Reporter: “Sorry, can you be more specific?”
“It’s a simple mathematics problem.” Lu Zhou said after a pause, “It involves our favorite irrational number, pi.”