HLnovel Chapter 151 DJI's Choice
Chapter 151 DJI's Choice
November 3, 2020, Nanshan District, Shenzhen.
DJI Sky City.
An emergency high-level meeting is underway in the president's office on the 62nd floor.
The lineup of attendees was exceptionally impressive—CEO Wang Tao, CTO Pan Jianfei, Vice President of Supply Chain Chen De, General Manager of Marketing Zhao Weihua, Head of Innovative Business Liu Mingyuan, and Director of Strategic Investment Sun Hao.
These six people comprise almost the core decision-making team at DJI.
The meeting had only one topic—Hongyuan Flying Bird.
"Let Chen De tell us about the summit first."
Wang Tao sat at the head of the long table, his face calm, but those who knew him well knew that this "calm" often meant the calm before the storm.
Chen De, Vice President of Supply Chain, stood up and turned on the projector. Photos and notes taken by three business visitors at the summit appeared on the screen.
"On October 28th, we sent three researchers to attend Hongyuan Flying Bird's first Flying Bird Technology Summit. Below is their report."
Chen Deqing cleared his throat and began to report item by item:
"First, the G1 industrial-grade drone. It's equipped with our self-developed 'Siyuan 220' flight control chip, with an end-to-end latency of 11 milliseconds. Our engineering team has already verified this data—if true, then the G1's flight control response speed has reached the level of our M300 RTK."
Pan Jianfei frowned slightly, but did not speak.
"Secondly, the Feiniao Industry Alliance. It currently has 217 members, covering multiple fields such as agriculture, power, surveying and mapping, and logistics. Among them, 22 strategic partners hold exclusive regional agency rights. It is worth noting that 23 of these were originally clients of Hangxindatong's '100 Enterprises Plan' but have switched to the Feiniao Alliance."
Zhao Weihua's expression changed slightly. 217 alliance members—this number was nearly 30 more than she had learned of last month.
"Third, and most importantly—light armor."
Chen De clicked on a video.
The dull thud of a hammer striking lightweight steel plate echoed in the conference room. In the footage, the 0.25mm carbon fiber plate remained completely still under the relentless blows of the industrial sledgehammer.
Then came the lithium-ion drill, hydraulic shears, angle grinder, hacksaw, and chisel—five tools were used in turn, but all failed.
Finally, Su Chen gently pressed the probe at the preset dissociation point, and the entire board instantly shattered.
After the video finished playing, the conference room fell silent.
Chen De continued:
"Based on our on-site records and subsequent analysis, the core technology of the lightweight armor is a 'biomimetic spider silk' structure—injecting graphene films and carbon nanotube bridging networks between carbon fiber layers to form 'interlayer prestressed locking.' The manufacturing equipment is a self-developed device called a 'web weaving machine,' employing a 'layer-by-layer vapor deposition + pulsed hot pressing' process."
He paused, then emphasized:
"Our materials engineering team's assessment concludes that this technology is at least five years ahead of the global carbon fiber industry. Currently, no company, including Toray and Hexcel, can achieve the same level."
Wang Tao tapped his fingers lightly twice on the table.
"What about profits? Have you estimated how much money they can make?"
Sun Hao, Director of Strategic Investment, picked up the conversation:
"We've created a preliminary financial model."
He opened an Excel spreadsheet:
"The current selling price of light armor is 800 yuan per square meter, with a cost of about 120 yuan, resulting in a gross profit margin of about 85%. Current monthly production capacity is 5000 square meters, with a monthly gross profit of about 340 million yuan. It doesn't seem like much."
"but--"
Sun Hao switched to the next page:
At the summit, Su Chen announced a capacity expansion plan: the third and fourth weaving machines will be put into operation within two months, doubling the monthly capacity; the capacity will reach 2 square meters in the first half of next year and 5 square meters by the end of the year.
"If production capacity reaches 5 square meters per month as scheduled, the annual revenue from light armor alone will be 4.8 million yuan, with an annual gross profit of approximately 4.08 million yuan."
"加上G1（年预估营收约5000万）、S1（年预估营收约6500万）、H-Link基站（年预估营收约8000万），以及轻甲的来料加工收入（保守估计年营收3000万）——"
Sun Hao circled a number on the screen:
"Hongyuan Flying Bird's total revenue forecast for 2021 is 7 million to 9 million RMB. If Light Armor successfully enters the automotive and aviation markets, this figure could exceed 15 billion RMB."
"What about within three years?" Wang Tao asked.
"Within three years..." Sun Hao took a deep breath, "if Qingjia's production capacity continues to expand and it successfully enters fields such as mobile phone cases, automotive lightweighting, and aerospace—conservatively estimated annual revenue could reach 30 billion. The fund estimates it could potentially exceed 50 billion."
The meeting room fell silent once again.
50 billion RMB, which is approximately 7.5 million USD.
This figure is enough to place Hongyuan Flying Bird among the top five in the global drone industry.
Even more alarming is that the applications of lightweight armor extend far beyond drones. It's a cross-industry materials platform, and once it sees widespread adoption across multiple sectors, its growth rate will be exponential.
"Is it possible to acquire them?" Sun Hao asked tentatively.
Pan Jianfei, CTO of DJI, coldly shook his head.
"impossible."
His tone was very confident.
"Su Chen comes from a technical background, and he's the kind of person who's obsessed with technology. He spent six months developing his own flight control chip, spent millions acquiring Microchip Sensing, and then spent millions to launch DRIE's self-developed technology—for a 26-year-old to make such decisions shows that what he wants isn't money, but technological autonomy."
Pan Jianfei paused for a moment:
"This kind of person wouldn't sell even if you gave him 100 billion. Because he knows what he has is worth 10 billion."
Wang Tao nodded slightly, offering no further comment on the acquisition.
"So what should we do?" Zhao Weihua—General Manager of Marketing—broke the silence first. "Hongyuan Feiniao's alliance already has 217 members, and in another six months it may exceed 300. If their G1 really goes into mass production, the price will only be one-third of our M300 RTK, but the performance will reach more than 80%. This will have a huge impact on our market share in the industrial-grade drone market."
She opened an internal report:
"And what's even more troublesome is the lightweight armor. If the lightweight armor can really be mass-produced, then Su Chen could use it to make the G1's body—reducing weight by more than 50% and increasing battery life by 40% to 60%. At that point, the G1's cost-effectiveness would completely overwhelm us."
"Therefore, I suggest—a complete crackdown."
Zhao Weihua's tone was very firm:
"第一，在行业级市场启动价格战。M300 RTK降价20%，M200系列降价30%。用价格把鸿远飞鸟的G1挤出市场。"
"Secondly, we will unite with upstream suppliers to impose a supply chain blockade on Hongyuan Feiniao. Although their Siyuan 220 chip is self-developed, they still rely on external suppliers for backend components such as motors, batteries, and sensor modules. We can cut off their supply of key components by signing exclusive agreements."
"Third, expedite the launch of FlightCore 2.0. Integrate FlightCore's LDCL protocol for free, using a free strategy to attract small and medium-sized clients from the FlightCore Alliance."
The three suggestions all point to the most critical issues.
Chen De, Vice President of Supply Chain, expressed his support:
"Mr. Zhao is right. Especially the second point, supply chain blocking is the most effective means. Although Hongyuan Feiniao has its own self-developed flight control chip, their brushless motors use products from Langkeda, their batteries use custom packages from Sunwoda, and even some parts of their weaving machines rely on external sourcing. We can completely exert pressure on these suppliers through supply chain relationships."
After listening to Zhao Weihua and Chen De's suggestions, Wang Tao did not immediately express his opinion. He turned to look at Liu Mingyuan, the head of the Innovation Business Department, who had remained silent.
"Mingyuan, what do you think?"
Liu Mingyuan was silent for a few seconds, then slowly spoke:
"I oppose a complete crackdown."
Zhao Weihua and Chen De both frowned.
"The reason is simple—light armor."
Liu Mingyuan stood up and walked to the projector.
"Our FlightCore 2.0 is currently developing a carbon fiber body solution. But to be honest, the best carbon fiber material we can get right now is Toray's T800 grade prepreg. And the performance of T800—"
He glanced at Pan Jianfei:
"Mr. Pan, what's the difference between the T800 and the light armor?"
Pan Jianfei replied expressionlessly, "At the same thickness, the impact resistance of the lightweight armor is at least three times that of T800. If we consider the anti-delamination performance brought by the unique prestressed structure of the lightweight armor, the actual difference may be between five and eight times."
"5 to 8 times."
Liu Mingyuan repeated the number, then turned to face Wang Tao:
"President Wang, if we completely suppress Hongyuan Feiniao and turn Su Chen into a mortal enemy—then we'll never be able to use light armor again."
He paused for a moment:
"If we can establish some kind of cooperative relationship with Hongyuan Feibiao—even if it's just purchasing lightweight armor as the body material for FlightCore 2.0—then our next-generation product will have an overwhelming advantage. Not just over Hongyuan Feibiao, but over all our international competitors like Parrot, 3DR, and Yuneec."
Zhao Weihua sneered: "You mean we have to bow down and make purchases from a startup that's less than two years old?"
"It's not about bowing your head," Liu Mingyuan replied calmly, "it's about being pragmatic."
"And—" he added, "if we suppress Hongyuan Flying Bird now, what will Su Chen do? He'll sell the Light Armor to our competitors. Boeing's VP of Supply Chain is already contacting them. If Boeing gets the Light Armor and uses it in their industrial drones, our market share in North America and Europe will be eroded even faster."
The atmosphere in the meeting room became subtle.
Zhao Weihua and Liu Mingyuan hold sharply contrasting views, representing two completely different paths—
One approach is "suppression": using price wars, supply chain blockades, and free strategies to try to nip Hongyuan Flying Bird in the bud before it grows up.
Another option is the "cooperation" route: establish some form of cooperation with Hongyuan Feibiao to acquire light armor technology while maintaining an advantage in the competition.
Wang Tao tapped his fingers on the table for a long time.
Finally, he spoke.
"Suppression and cooperation are not mutually exclusive options."
Everyone looked at him.
"We are adopting a two-track strategy."
Wang Tao stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window. Outside, the night view of Nanshan District in Shenzhen was unobstructed, and lights could be faintly seen in the direction of the headquarters of Hongyuan Flying Bird in the distance.
"First track – competition. The M300 RTK price has been reduced by 15%, not 20%. The FlightCore 2.0 open ecosystem plan is accelerating, but the integration of the LDCL protocol is temporarily suspended – integrating that crappy protocol from Hangxindatong would only lower our brand image. We'll create our own open flight control standard, and I'll decide the name."
He turned to look at Zhao Weihua:
"Don't do anything that disrupts the supply chain."
Zhao Weihua and Chen De were both stunned.
"Supply chain blockades are a double-edged sword," Wang Tao stated firmly. "Once news gets out that we've imposed a supply chain blockade on Hongyuan Feiniao, how will the industry view DJI? How will the government view DJI? We are the world's largest drone company, not a Wall Street financial giant. We win the market through our products and technology, not through blockades and suppression."
He paused for a moment:
"Besides, Su Chen isn't someone to be trifled with. If you block his supply chain, he'll accelerate his self-developed technologies. That will force him to develop not only lightweight armor, but also potentially self-developed motors and batteries—at that point, we'll actually save him time from hesitation."
Zhao Weihua lowered her head.
"Second track—Contact."
Wang Tao looked at Liu Mingyuan:
"Mingyuan, send someone to contact Hongyuan Feiniao's business team. Don't use DJI's name; use our Dongguan subsidiary, 'Linghang Technology.' Establish contact first under the guise of purchasing light armor samples, and see their attitude."
"If Su Chen is willing to sell us the light armor—okay, we'll buy it. We'll use it in the carbon fiber chassis solution for FlightCore 2.0."
"If Su Chen is unwilling—that's fine too. It means he's already listed DJI as a competitor, so we'll follow Zhao Weihua's plan. But we'll only target the market, not the supply chain."
Wang Tao looked around at everyone in the conference room:
"Remember this—DJI isn't afraid of competition. What DJI fears is becoming the kind of company that survives by blocking and suppressing others. If we need to use supply chain blockades to deal with even a startup, then DJI doesn't deserve to be number one in the world."
"Understood."
The six people answered in unison.
After the meeting, Wang Tao stood alone in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the night view in the distance.
He knew very well that the dual-track strategy was merely a stopgap measure.
If Su Chen really achieves annual revenue of 30 billion within three years, if he really develops DRIE, and if MEMS sensors truly achieve self-sufficiency—
At that point, DJI will no longer be facing a "startup company".
Rather, it is a competitor with a complete technological ecosystem.
A competitor that is completely self-reliant and controllable from chips to materials, from flight control to sensors, from hardware to ecosystem.
That will be the most severe challenge DJI has faced since its founding.
Wang Tao gently drew a circle on the glass with his finger.
"Five cards, a closed loop..." he repeated in a low voice the words Su Chen had spoken at the summit.
"interesting."
Then he turned around, walked back to his desk, and turned on his computer.
He wanted to personally review the technical solution for FlightCore 2.0—DJI couldn't afford to lose on the product.
If we're going to compete with Hongyuan Feibiao, then let's compete fairly and squarely.
Let the products speak for themselves.
Let the technology speak for itself.
This is Wang Tao's creed, and it is also DJI's bottom line.