The experiment at the Sarrot Research Institute was progressing step by step. Lu Zhou had been dealing with the Jinling Institute of Computational Materials, so he didn't pay attention to anything else.
However, what he didn't expect was that the second week after the conference, he saw his name in the news. His name was placed together with lithium-sulfur batteries and hollow carbon spheres.
The article gave an overview of the lithium-sulfur battery conference. It didn't use any gimmicky headlines or words. Instead, it simply quoted the opinions of the professors on lithium-sulfur batteries.
Of course, Lu Zhou was one of them.
Recently, the market had been extremely sensitive to the term new energy. Even the slightest movement could cause a huge storm.
Especially Lu Zhou's own opinions. The impact was obvious.
Even if it was just a few sentences, it would be marked with important points and interpreted with emphasis.
After all, he was the one who opened the door to lithium batteries.
After reading the article, Lu Zhou was quite surprised.
He didn't know who released the news, but they didn't even tell him about it.
However, it didn't really matter. This kind of thing wasn't like airplanes, cannons, or atomic bombs. The specific production technology might be treated as trade secrets by the company, but for theoretical things, no one had ever heard of anyone hiding the results of their research. Not to mention, the things discussed at the meeting couldn't even be considered results.
Also, the people who were qualified to take notes at the conference were probably reporters from the central media. After all, there was no such thing as making a fortune in silence anymore.
Ignoring everything else, some people agreed with Lu Zhou's optimistic research and development of hollow carbon spheres, but some people also expressed criticism.
Some people believed that hollow carbon spheres had great potential in carbon-sulfur composite materials. Even though they had a lot of flaws, if they could solve those problems, it could be the key to solving the shuttle effect.
As for the critics, they believed that before there were major results, Lu Zhou shouldn't have made such comments publicly. It was irresponsible to use his own influence to publicly support an immature technology.
Actually, Lu Zhou was quite helpless.
He was the one who said those words, but it wasn't his fault that the rumors spread.
Of course, the voices of criticism were only a small portion, and it had not developed to the extent of attracting his attention. Moreover, compared to other people's evaluation of him, there were more worthy things waiting for him.
On the second week of Qian Zhongming and Liu Bo's trip to Europe, the first batch of experimental equipment arrived.
However, what Lu Zhou didn't expect was that Umicore's CEO, Grynberg, wasn't the only one who arrived at the University of Jin Ling's laboratory building.
At the entrance of the Jin Ling University laboratory building, the proud Belgian enthusiastically reached out his right hand from afar and greeted Lu Zhou.
"My dear friend, it's nice to see you again. How have you been?"
With the patent of the modified PDMS material, Umicore's recent performance in the overseas market was as good as his expression.
In order to enter this field, their old rivals, BASF Corporation and Nichia Chemicals, had to obediently pay a high "entrance fee".
Whether it was the stock market or the material market, Umicore was doing well. Especially BASF Corporation, due to the pressure of the irreplaceable lithium anode material, they had to give up the Argonne National Laboratory lawsuit against Umicore for the ternary battery patent.
Because of this series of good news, Grynberg's position on the board of directors had naturally risen.
If it weren't for the fact that Lu Zhou was a man, he swore that he would definitely fall in love with her.
Of course, this was just an exaggeration to express the excitement in his heart.
"Not bad." Lu Zhou shook hands with Grynberg and looked at him strangely. He then asked in a casual tone, "What brings you here?"
Although he used Umicore's transportation channel to purchase this batch of equipment, even if it was just a delivery, the company's CEO wouldn't have to come personally.
Grynberg smiled at Lu Zhou's question.
"Do you still remember our agreement? Thanks to you, we've won many battles in the lithium anode material market. The reason I came to visit you this time is mainly to talk about the spoils of war. "
Lu Zhou looked interested and asked, "How much?"
"BASF Corporation and Nichia Chemicals paid US $50 million and US $70 million respectively for the lithium anode material patent licensing fees in exchange for two to three years of production licenses in the global market, excluding the China market. At the same time, they have to pay us US $1,500 for each ton of anode material containing the modified PDMS film. "
Grynberg had a bright smile on his face as he said, "US $100 million in licensing fees and advance payments have already been received. According to our agreement, half of the spoils of war belong to you. I wonder how you would like us to pay you this sum of money? "
Lu Zhou thought for a moment and said, "After we pay off the equipment manufacturer, convert the rest of the money into RMB and transfer it to my account in China."
Because of the five-year tax exemption policy, the money could be transferred directly to the Jinling Institute of Computational Materials. There was no need to deduct any additional taxes.
After the equipment passed through customs, the research institute would soon begin their experiments, and the corresponding research funding had to keep up.
Originally, Lu Zhou planned on injecting funds from Star Sky Technology's account, but now he didn't have to go through so much trouble.
Umicore had a branch in Hua Nation, so he could just ask them to do it for him. He believed that they would be happy to help.
Just like Lu Zhou expected, Grynberg readily agreed.
"No problem, I'll do this according to your requirements!"
Even though Grynberg came to China to deliver money, it wasn't enough for him to come all the way to China, nor was it enough for him to have such a bright smile on his face.
The real reason why he was so attentive was naturally because of another matter.
After showing his sincerity and the spirit of the contract, Mr. Grynberg smiled politely and stated the true purpose of his visit.
"Here's the thing, I heard you've been researching lithium-sulfur batteries recently?"
There was nothing to hide, so Lu Zhou said, "Sort of, the shuttle effect in lithium-sulfur batteries is a very interesting proposition. I do have plans in this area."
When Grynberg heard this, he immediately said, "What a coincidence, we're also very interested in lithium-sulfur battery research. Do you want to invest?"
Even though Lu Zhou expected Grynberg to ask this, he still couldn't help but say, "Do you think I need to invest?"
Grynberg obviously wasn't going to give up so easily. He tried to persuade Lu Zhou, "But don't you want to share the risk? I know you're confident, but scientific research is like a gamble. No one can guarantee that their experiment will produce results. We're willing to share 70% of the research cost, and I guarantee that it will be more than US $400 million! On the other hand, we only ask for 50% of the research results. I believe that no one can offer better conditions than us. "
Grynberg wasn't lying. Indeed, no one could come up with such an offer.
If it wasn't for the fact that he won a good battle on the lithium anode material patent, even if he was the CEO of Umicore, he would never dare to put such a proposal on the board of directors' table.
However, this condition might seem difficult to refuse in the eyes of his peers, but for Lu Zhou, it was useless.
Even if he invested a lot of money, he still wouldn't be able to do it. There was still one last option.
Which was to spend a lot of general points to seek help from the system.
However, before spending half of the US $400 million, he wouldn't consider this option.
Even though the experience points from the system missions had been increasing, the general points awarded for each mission had never changed. It was not difficult to see how precious those general points were.
Unless he encountered a problem that he couldn't solve, he planned on solving it with his own strength.
Lu Zhou shook his head and said, "Before I lose all my chips, I won't consider borrowing chips from other gamblers."
Grynberg looked at him in disbelief and said, "Lose all your chips? Jesus Christ … You're crazy, you plan on investing all your money? That's US $400 million, don't you want to think about it? "
Lu Zhou smiled and said in a relaxed tone, "From a business point of view, this is not a rational investment, but I'm not a businessman, and we have different perspectives."
If it was purely for efficiency, why didn't he invest in real estate?
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