Technology: Starting with Batteries to Turn the Tables

Reborn in 1999, I Bound Myself to a Future Tech System.

From the start, all I had was a graphene battery blueprint, with twice the energy density of Japanese products. I built the batteries by hand, and they sold out in three days. When the Japanese came knocking, they said, “Chinese people can only make cheap stuff.” Lin Zhou hooked the battery up to a tester and shot back, “Say that again?”

The “Flint” battery took down Sony and forced prices in the Japanese market down by 30 percent. Our supercapacitors made it into Europe’s power grid. After looking at the data, a German engineer looked up and said, “That’s the target we set for ourselves. You’ve already achieved it?”

The “Dark Horse” electric bike sold 100,000 units a year, with distributors from Southeast Asia lining up to snap them up. The “Dark Horse” microcar made its way to Africa. A Kenyan owner said, “Chinese cars are cheap, durable, and fuel-efficient.”

Later, when we started making passenger cars, American chipmakers tried to squeeze us out. “You’re a small customer like this. We can fit you in six months from now.” Lin Zhou shut his laptop. “Then we’ll make our own.”

Three years later, when the “Milky Way” chip lit up at the product launch, 3,000 people were seated in the audience. The U.S. Department of Commerce representative stood up and walked out.

From a battery to a chip, this time, we set the rules.

In a nutshell: From a street stall to the global stage, from batteries to chips, the comeback of a small Chinese factory.