Chapter 71
Translator: Dreamscribe
As the delay in graphics card production due to the semiconductor shortage continued to grow longer, it caused significant impacts on all companies that were manufacturing products using TSMC semiconductors, starting with graphics card companies.
Apple and Qualcomm had already rushed to Kangseong Electronics and settled through negotiations, putting an end to their issues for now, but NVIDIA and AMD had yet to reach an agreement.
And AMD, which was already struggling both internally and externally, saw its stock price fall below 1 dollar, pushing it to the brink of being delisted.
“Thank you once again for saving AMD, CEO-nim.”
Without a dominant controlling share, AMD had been torn apart in every direction, but our Kwangwoon Group acquired 51% of its management rights at a bargain price.
As the stock price hit rock bottom and kept falling underground, we were able to fully control AMD with just 500 billion won.
“From now on, we will show you all here how our AMD will bring about transformation through innovation.”
AMD’s CEO Lisa Woo, along with the executives, all came to Korea.
In essence, they had come to meet the person holding their lives in his hands.
It seemed they were all worried they might get their heads cut off at this point.
“…….”
But I had no such intention.
Especially CEO Lisa Woo, her profile photo had already shone with a blinding halo.
Meeting her in person, that radiance was remarkable.
‘……But not everyone’s like that.’
The problem wasn’t Lisa Woo, but the other executives.
Some of the executives had no major issues and showed a good aura, but some had a thick darkness hanging over them, to a rather serious degree.
‘And the businesses they want to pursue are also a mixed bag.’
They had flown all the way to Korea to preserve their positions, at least for now.
A change in ownership means the employees below will be replaced.
To survive, they were here to present AMD’s vision.
But my instincts were telling me.
Except for a few projects, the rest were a waste of money.
“Thank you for the long presentation.”
After reviewing the proposals and presentations submitted by AMD’s executives, I circled only the ones that my instincts resonated with.
I also finished organizing the list of executives.
I marked an X on all the executives who had such darkness hanging over them that I could barely make out their faces.
But this wasn’t something I could reveal in front of everyone.
“Would everyone please step out for a moment, except for CEO Woo? I’d like to speak with her alone.”
As soon as I said that, everyone left the conference room.
CEO Lisa Woo opened her mouth first, looking rather tense.
“Um… CEO-nim. I know very well that I haven’t achieved any significant results during my three years as CEO. But if you could just trust me this once, I promise to deliver good results.”
She must have thought I was about to fire her.
“I trust you, CEO. I’m sure you’ll do well. So please continue to hold that position firmly.”
“……!”
“I wanted to speak with you alone to hand this over.”
It was the proposal I had marked earlier and the list of executives.
Upon receiving it, Lisa Woo’s eyes began to tremble.
“Please focus only on the businesses I’ve marked. And as for the executives, I’ll leave it to you to organize them properly.”
“Ah, yes. But about the investment amount here…….”
“The initial investment fund is 1 billion dollars, as noted there. If you need more, let me know separately. I’ll review and provide further support.”
“O-oh, no. This is more than enough! You’re giving us ten times what we had listed.”
Even the 1 billion dollars wasn’t something I decided arbitrarily.
It was just the amount my instincts had settled on.
“I look forward to working with you, CEO.”
“Yes. I’ll do my very best to get this company back on its feet.”
I shook hands with CEO Lisa Woo.
The halo behind her glowed so brightly, it was almost hard to keep my eyes open.
***
“…….”
On the flight back to the headquarters, Lisa Woo reviewed once again the file that Jung Jin-ho had handed to her.
It was exquisite.
He really did seem like someone who knew this industry well.
To be honest, she had questioned why Kwangwoon Group would suddenly acquire AMD.
Why would a company that had absolutely no relation to the computer industry acquire AMD, which was collapsing on all fronts?
But after meeting with CEO Jung Jin-ho, that doubt was resolved.
Just by looking at the selection of projects marked in the proposal, it was clear.
Development of new graphics cards and CPUs, and technological cooperation with other companies.
Among these, technological cooperation was the highest priority.
From what she had heard, Kwangwoon had a friendly relationship with Kangseong.
Was it possible they could expect technological cooperation with Kangseong?
“And even 1 billion dollars…….”
Lisa Woo had set the minimum investment amount.
Exactly 100 million dollars.
She thought that if she asked for anything more, Kwangwoon would reject it.
But it seemed that worry was completely unnecessary.
CEO Jung Jin-ho had provided 1 billion dollars, ten times that amount, without even asking or questioning.
What on earth did he see in Lisa Woo, or what potential did he see in AMD, that he would spend such a massive sum?
“If there’s just one issue, it’s this.”
All the executives marked with an X had to be fired.
That was Jung Jin-ho’s intention.
The problem was, among them were people who played crucial roles within AMD.
But she couldn’t object to it.
How should she put it?
CEO Jung Jin-ho looked gentle on the outside, but when he spoke or gave instructions, there was a strong sense of conviction.
And she felt it would be a terrible mistake to ever try to go against that.
That must be the charisma of an outstanding leader.
“Looks like it’s going to be insanely busy as soon as I get back.”
She had to cut people, and also start implementing the projects in the proposal.
It felt like the most exciting days since she became the CEO of AMD were now ahead.
***
“What? All of them?”
“Yes. After returning from Korea, all the people we had planted on our side were completely fired.”
Know your enemy and know yourself, and you can win a hundred battles.
To do that, you must plant your own people deep in enemy territory.
It had always been that way, it is now, and it will be in the future, there is no better strategy than this.
That’s why even now, many companies plant their own people inside their rivals.
NVIDIA was no exception.
They placed people in their biggest competitor to spy on what they were planning or to interfere, protecting their own company in the process.
But all of the people they had planted in AMD were fired at once, on the same day.
“Where did the information leak from? Isn’t it strange that only our people were fired, without a single one missed?”
Unless there was an internal information leak, it would be impossible to fire only the people from NVIDIA so precisely.
Tony Hwang questioned the executives, but no matter how much he pressed them, there was no answer to be found.
“We’ll talk about that later for now… So when exactly are we going to be back to normal? If the supplies still aren’t moving, when the hell are we supposed to start making graphics cards?”
Tony Hwang slammed the table and shouted at the executives.
He normally tried not to lose his temper, but this time he just couldn’t help it.
He was already angry about the AMD situation, and now on top of that, there was a logistics issue.
“Yes. Right now, the entire system is paralyzed, and ships can’t move. Starting with the raw materials we were planning to send, to the items from other clients, everything is stuck because the entire digital system has frozen. Lusk can’t do anything on their side either.”
They just needed to ship the logistics to Taiwan through Lusk.
But right before that, a massive cyberattack hit.
And among all the companies that were hit, Lusk had suffered the most severe damage.
“Can’t they just launch the ships? What the hell is the problem?”
“The IT system isn’t functioning, so we don’t know whose items are supposed to go where, or who owns what. That’s why even if we want to load raw materials and send them to Taiwan, we have no idea what’s supposed to be shipped.”
Modern society is built on computer-based systems for everything.
Because of this, when the central system was hacked, even simple tasks could not be carried out.
“Then tell them to unlock it quickly! I heard that if you send a certain amount of money to those hackers in Bitcoin, they will unlock it?”
“Yes. Lusk was in such a hurry that they already gave the hackers the money they asked for. The problem is that even after sending the money, the hackers are not unlocking the system.”
In fact, there are various kinds of ransomware and viruses in the world.
However, this was the first time ransomware had launched simultaneous, large-scale attacks like this.
Moreover, there was a reason why once infected with this ransomware it could not be undone.
That was because this virus was developed by the U.S. National Security Agency, the NSA.
“Is the U.S. government sane? How could they leak something this dangerous!”
The NSA did not directly distribute the ransomware.
A hacker group attacked the NSA and stole several tools that were inside, and one of those tools became the core of this WannaCry ransomware.
Originally it was a weapon intended for national warfare, but after falling into the hands of hackers, indiscriminate bombardment around the world began.
“It is an attack tool that exploits Windows vulnerabilities. If security patches had been applied consistently, it could have been prevented, but Lusk did not do that. There are still many companies using old versions of Windows. They think security patches are not that important, as long as things run.”
The U.S. government had warned that these tools could be leaked and an attack might occur.
Of course, they did not expect the attack to become this large-scale.
IT companies like NVIDIA install every new security update without fail. Thanks to that, they did not suffer major damage even when attacked.
However, older companies like Lusk are insensitive to security patches.
They had never experienced such a large-scale attack before.
“Lusk cannot even estimate how much damage they have taken right now. We have to presume at least hundreds of millions of dollars have been lost.”
If goods do not arrive within the promised time, penalty fees must be paid.
Even if the damage was caused by hacking, if security updates had been handled properly, the losses would not have been this large.
“Could Lusk possibly go bankrupt like this?”
“Yes. It seems they made some overly aggressive contracts trying to take market share from Kwangwoon Shipping. Now that everything is collapsing, they will not be able to handle the penalty fees that arise from that.”
“What about the raw materials? Shouldn’t we send them through another company?”
“That is not easy either. Haven’t China and Kwangwoon already taken control of all the major ports that go to Taiwan? The problem is that they are demanding extra fees for ships entering Taiwan. They are tacking on charges five to ten times higher or even blocking entry to the ports, so shipping companies are helpless.”
It seemed impossible that such thug-like behavior could happen, but it had.
For the Belt and Road Initiative, China had already obtained port operation rights for major routes.
The problem was that Kwangwoon was involved in this.
Also, China was publicly condemning Taiwan’s new government and was using all means to check Taiwan.
As a result, innocent shipping companies were being crushed.
“Then there is absolutely no way to send raw materials to Taiwan?”
“It is possible if the materials are not for TSMC. But if they are materials that go into TSMC, you would have to pay more than ten times the current shipping cost. Lusk was barely manageable because it was the second largest in the world, but other shipping companies simply cannot manage that.”
Lusk, the last hope, had fallen.
Tony Hwang squeezed his eyes shut.
“This ransomware incident. Didn’t Kwangwoon and Kangseong conspire together?”
“Those two companies would vehemently deny it, but the circumstances are very suspicious. This happened just before they were about to load Lusk full of raw materials bound for Taiwan. Furthermore, Kwangwoon has also opened a Bitcoin exchange, has it not? Coincidentally, the money the hackers demand is Bitcoin.”
These crazy bastards.
Launching a massive cyberattack to prevent raw materials from reaching Taiwan?
To create a smokescreen, they carried out indiscriminate infections while focusing the attack on Lusk, completely paralyzing its system.
“When did they start preparing all this?”
Monopolizing the shipping market.
Seizing port operation rights through China and the Belt and Road Initiative.
This isn’t something you can plan overnight.
They had been working slowly from the ground up.
Making sure that whales in the IT industry like Tony Hwang never noticed a thing.
Kwangwoon.
Those bastards had been planning and executing all of this for a long time.
And all of it was to restructure the semiconductor market!
As a result, production had already come to a halt at numerous companies that were dependent on TSMC, including NVIDIA.
The most terrifying part was not knowing how long this chaos would last.
“At this rate…….”
Tony Hwang rubbed the back of his neck, which had gone cold.
He could feel the blade someone was wielding drawing closer, right to his throat.
***
Today was a historic day for Netflix.
“Wow. 100 million people. That’s just insane. I never imagined so many people would be using Netflix…….”
Netflix surpassing 100 million subscribers.
When Stranger Things became a breakout hit, the biggest concern that arose was retention.
Because the subscription renews monthly, people were worried that customers who finished watching Stranger Things would all just cancel their subscriptions.
That’s part of why they rushed into production for Stranger Things Season 2, but they also needed something to hold viewers until it was ready.
“That’s where Money Heist came in. I never watched foreign dramas unless they were in English, but this one’s in Spanish, and I still ended up binge-watching it all night.”
Money Heist became another smash hit following Stranger Things.
Despite the limitation of being a non-English drama, it proved that if the show is fun, the language doesn’t matter.
“CEO-nim. Netflix sent over a bunch of Stranger Things and Money Heist merchandise. They also made a commemorative trophy for hitting 100 million subscribers.”
“…….”
“Don’t tell me, CEO-nim… you haven’t watched either of those yet…?”
“I haven’t.”
“Gasp.”
Is it really that good?
I really need to pick a day and just sit down to watch them.
“Honestly, I think all that stuff was just an excuse. The real reason is probably this.”
Sure enough.
What Netflix had sent was a list of shows that were currently filming or under consideration.
“This time, they sent a pretty diverse list. Since a non-English drama did so well, they seem to have compiled a lot of dramas related to that category.”
To be honest, reading through synopses and picking out good shows from them is a tedious job, but when I see Netflix’s stock price shooting up and the dividends they’re sending us, those thoughts disappear instantly.
Let’s see what they’ve got this time.
The moment I took the list handed to me by Department Head Seo.
“……?!”
An intense instinct struck through my whole body, and I dropped the file.
“Oops. Sorry. I guess my hand slipped.”
“No, it’s fine. I was the one who let go.”
I’ve received many reports from Netflix and others until now, but this was the first time I felt an instinct so powerful it shook me to my core.
Even after picking the file back up, my hands kept trembling so much it drove me crazy.
What the hell is in here?
“…….”
Still feeling like I was being electrocuted, I finally managed to flip through the file.
In truth, finding that one was not difficult.
“……Squid Game?”
It was even a Korean drama.
“Kwangwoon is the largest shareholder in Netflix, right? So I think they’re trying to invest more in Korean dramas. Looks like Squid Game has been looking for investors since 2008. It received funding a few times, and even went into production, but kept falling apart. There must be a reason for that, right?”
It was what they called a ‘drifter project’.
‘Estimated investment: 30 billion won. Estimated production time: 2-3 years.’
I reached out and touched the title of the project, Squid Game, which was glowing so brightly I could barely make out the name.
“!?”
At that moment, a rush of dopamine stormed through my body so intensely I almost lost consciousness.