Great Power Industry: You're a private company building an aircraft carrier?

This female secretary is a total jinx! She always dampens everyone's spirits when they're having a good time! Schroeder gave her a disapproving look, his gaze lingering on her round buttocks. If he weren't still savoring the feeling of that impact, he probably would have fired her long ago!

"what happened again?"

"We've received word from upstream suppliers that the price of high-end graphics cards has gone up!"

In the East, in Shanghai, SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation).

"We are very concerned about where the graphics cards go. This was personally instructed by President Qin. We must ensure that not a single graphics card enters the mining machine market. Our precious graphics cards are not used for mining, which is a meaningless activity that will not create any social wealth and will only be a waste!"

Zhang Rujin's words stunned all the buyers below.

“Mr. Zhang, the market price of this chip is currently very high. You can raise the price, even by 100%, which would create a lot of profit for you…” a buyer began, but Zhang Rujin interrupted him before he could finish speaking.

"Neither SMIC nor Loongson is short of money, and neither is Laiyang Group. We are responding to the call of the nation, do you understand? Laiyang Group considers the interests of all mankind, and we will absolutely not allow waste or speculation!"

"Then... we guarantee these chips won't be used in mining rigs..."

"Of course, as long as you sign the agreement, you can continue to purchase chips. However... everyone, please do not doubt our ability to trace the source. Every chip that each person receives has a serial number! As long as a chip that flows out of your hands is used in a mining machine, we will cancel the purchase agreement and never cooperate again."

Everyone present was stunned.

"If it was our accident..."

We can guarantee that they have this plan, but we can't guarantee that the distributors below won't do it!

Then, they can shift the blame to those below and wash their hands of it completely.

I never expected that they would implement a system of collective punishment here!

"We don't care about that, we only care about you buyers."

Each of these buyers holds an important position. They obtain goods from SMIC and then resell them to make the greatest profits. Although mining machines are profitable, they are not worth the risk compared to the profits from their long-term cooperation. It would be a waste to pick up a sesame seed and lose a watermelon.

How to do it?

"Alright everyone, if there's nothing else, you can go. By the way, in order to further reduce channel costs and increase profits for end customers, we will be launching a brand new sales model soon, so please be prepared."

What preparations? What does "launching" mean?

"Does this mean they're going to sell it online?"

“Yes.” Zhang Rujin nodded: “The group will launch a brand new shopping website called Laiyang Mall. All of Laiyang Group’s products can be purchased directly online.”

By purchasing online, Laiyang Group's businesses directly connect with end customers, bypassing intermediaries...

"No, you can't do that!" They immediately felt immense pressure.

"We have fallen behind in this field. Look at Amazon in the United States. It started online sales in 94 and has now become the world's largest shopping website. We in the East also need to catch up quickly. Ladies and gentlemen, online shopping is destined to become a trend. Of course, we will also leave enough profit margin for our distributors."

In late March 2003, Laiyang Mall was launched!

The news spread rapidly around the world, and countless netizens sat in front of their computers, constantly refreshing the webpage. Although they only received a 404 error, they knew that a brand new webpage might appear in the next second!

Sure enough, at nine o'clock, the webpage suddenly refreshed!

At the top, the words "Laiyang Mall" are prominently displayed. To the left are various product categories, showcasing all of Laiyang Group's products. To the right are details of each individual product.

Machinery, electronics, automobiles, airplanes... Yes, even airplanes are included!

However, most netizens are not interested in these things; their only goal is graphics cards!

Buyers who make purchases risk losing their own business. Registering new phone numbers and using those numbers to make purchases is perfectly normal behavior, isn't it? Does Laiyang Group really intend to trace back to individuals?

On the computer, accessories, and graphics card pages, countless people started placing orders. Each person was limited to one, obviously to prevent these people from acting as middlemen. Moreover, the prices were not expensive. The brand-new, top-of-the-line graphics card was only 3,999!

Buy it now!

But... when I got to the payment page, it started to freeze, and then... that was it!

Mobile phone users were no exception, and soon a wave of complaints began online.

what happened?

Where is the product I ordered? Why is it gone?

Ten minutes later, an announcement was posted on the webpage.

We apologize, but due to not anticipating the huge user demand, network congestion occurred during the graphics card procurement process. Currently, the first batch of 100,000 graphics cards has sold out. Please remain calm, we will arrange production at SMIC, and more graphics cards will be available soon!

Across the ocean, Ant Group.

"What's going on? How come we didn't manage to snag a single graphics card? This doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense! Could they have implemented IP restrictions?" Schroeder said angrily.

Distributors were restricted, but they saw this business opportunity in Laiyang Mall and registered a large number of accounts, just waiting to grab the goods. Unexpectedly, they couldn't grab a single one!

This infuriated Schroeder.

"There must be a lot of people vying for it. We're in the US, where the internet speed is slower, so we've fallen behind," the secretary explained nervously. She'd been quite anxious lately, because her tendency to thwart people's plans just when they were about to succeed had already made many people resentful of her.

just now……

"It's available on Amazon's secondhand market!" Huang Daxun said to the computer screen at that moment.

Second-hand items are fine too!

Schroeder nodded: "Then what are we waiting for? Let's grab it quickly!"

"The price... is a bit high."

"How tall?"

"Two thousand dollars for one!"

The distributor originally only asked for $500, but that was just for the chips. Now they are getting the finished graphics card, which only adds $200 to the cost. $700 would be enough. Even if they are unscrupulous, they would ask for $1,000.

Two thousand dollars? That's outrageous!

"It's not a matter of price, it's a matter of availability! We'll take it no matter the price!" Schroeder said. "Place the order!"

"it is good."

Huang Daxun refreshed the webpage and was surprised to find that it was sold out!

Sold out!

"Damn it, this is price gouging!" Schroeder gritted his teeth. They weren't the only ones producing mining machines; now, other companies were also manufacturing them, and this price was truly outrageous!

"Found another new one, priced at two thousand five hundred dollars!"

"Buy it! Buy it!"

This time, Huang Daxun was quick and bought it, but unfortunately he only got ten dollars worth. When he refreshed the page, it was sold out again, and then... a seller appeared with three thousand dollars!