CHAPTER 764: CHAPTER 250: DIFFERENT DECISIONS

The speed at which information flows between capital elites is truly astonishing. But in fact, it’s quite reasonable.

To put it bluntly, for the big capital in the United States, the long-term and stable high profits of high-tech companies are indeed very appealing, and the huge profits brought by cryptocurrency exchanges are equally coveted by them.

Moreover, cryptocurrency is also a product of technological development, inherently dependent on the development of the internet.

Therefore, the capital attached to high-tech companies and the capital following the money-sucking from cryptocurrency exchanges are already highly overlapping.

So when Jesse Powell just received the news, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella nearly received the same news simultaneously.

What Jesse Powell could think of, Satya Nadella naturally could also think of.

Is this a direct declaration of war?

To be honest, when Satya Nadella first got the news, his first feeling was confusion.

From his perspective, it was hard to figure out where the young man from Huaxia got such ambition...

Before making a series of decisions, they also carried out various assessments, even creating a detailed character profile specifically for Qiao Yu.

According to professional analysts, Qiao Yu tends to have a profit-driven personality.

People with this personality should be extremely rational, making decisions to maximize benefits.

They analyzed that launching a new technology would surely attract Qiao Yu’s attention, and if both parties could cooperate equally, setting future standards for quantum computing together would align with the principle of maximizing bilateral interests.

They were even prepared to take a step back if Qiao Yu softened his stance.

But instead, the other side chose not to retreat even half a step, maintaining a tough eye-for-an-eye stance, timing everything perfectly.

The implication is clear: the other side has no intention of negotiating nicely with Microsoft, but rather insists on putting pressure on Microsoft, even pushing them to accept terms.

This is indeed excessive.

Satya Nadella couldn’t figure out where Qiao Yu’s confidence came from and chose to wait and see.

Then, at four in the afternoon, he saw the three major cryptocurrency exchanges simultaneously release announcements inviting Qiao Yu’s team to test the exchange’s trading systems at ten that night.

An hour later, the official website of Yanbei University responded, unifying the requests of the three major cryptocurrency exchanges. Everything was set up as if it were all originally planned.

It was as if this was the plan all along.

So the executives who almost didn’t sleep last night were summoned again, starting a new round of urgent consultations!

...

"There is only one issue for this meeting: To what extent can Qiao Yu’s team’s quantum simulation algorithm achieve?"

Sitting at the head, Satya Nadella looked grimly at the scientists from the Microsoft Research Institute.

"I clearly remember you telling me at the last meeting that the problem of factoring integers and the verification of Mersenne primes are completely different mathematical challenges.

Therefore, being able to quickly calculate Mersenne primes doesn’t mean that related research and algorithms can pose a significant threat to existing encryption systems like blockchain technology, right?"

The meeting room fell silent for a while, then Shen Zhe, a senior scientist of the Microsoft Research Institute and also the Executive Vice President of the Microsoft AI Department, spoke.

"Technically speaking, this is indeed the case. Simply put, Mersenne prime verification is usually done through specific algorithms, like the Lucas-Lehmer test. We believe that the advantage of quantum simulation calculation lies precisely in simulating and optimizing the efficiency of such algorithms.

But factoring large numbers relies on Shor’s algorithm. The computational logic and handling method of these two are entirely different, you could understand this as the handling of Mersenne primes being more of an optimization problem within quantum simulation calculations."

Shen Zhe explained very professionally, but this clearly did not satisfy the decision-makers.

"Then may I ask you, Shen, why they are so confident in testing the trade security of the cryptocurrency trading market? Do you think their technology has made breakthroughs in such a short period?"

Shen Zhe just felt like he was screwed.

To be honest, he was increasingly dissatisfied with this self-willed Indian CEO.

Such pre-set questions clearly have a scapegoating agenda.

He is just a scientist, of course, he can only judge and analyze problems based on what has already been published by the other party. But he is not a commercial or academic spy.

The whole world knows damn well that Qiao Yu’s research team works at a fast pace, especially in the field of mathematics, which can even be described as unreasonable.

The Riemann Conjecture was solved just like that, and their specific research content was not shared with him at all. How could he possibly know if they had undisclosed research results before?

So Shen Zhe simply coldly pushed the question back.

"Mr. Nadella, I cannot answer this question for you. No unit can completely disclose all their research results. Just like the Microsoft Research Institute could not possibly share all our research with the outside world, this is basic common sense."

However, Satya Nadella did not seem to notice Shen Zhe’s tone of displeasure, and instead continued to ask: "So you cannot confirm whether the other party possesses technology that could threaten the existing encryption system, can you just tell me yes or no?"

Shen Zhe was silent for two seconds, then nodded and simply said: "Yes."

But he couldn’t help but add: "But only they themselves would know the answer to this question."

Satya Nadella ignored this statement, instead, he looked at the others and asked: "As you all have heard, I’m sure you all understand the problems we now face.

What we need to discuss is, if Qiao Yu’s team has already mastered technology that could threaten the existing encryption system, what choices should be made next?"

After an awkward silence in the meeting room, someone spoke up: "If I may speak frankly, Mr. Nadella, if that is the case, we have no choice.

Quantum Dominance is real, and until we truly face a quantum attack, all relevant adversarial research could not guarantee one hundred percent defense against an attack launched by quantum technology.

So all these require time to research after the technology appears. But our real issue from a broader perspective, is that what we truly lack now is time."

Hmm, the broader environment...

To be honest, Satya Nadella liked this perspective.

Microsoft is not lagging; it is the broader environment that is.

Following this topic could extend to many discussable things.

Like why Huaxia can’t just obediently listen like Old Europe and play the role it’s supposed to in the world supply chain.

Without a doubt, this is the fundamental reason why the current broader environment is not friendly to them, and Satya Nadella even thought this is the fundamental reason why the world is becoming more chaotic.

"But this is just the worst possibility! As Shen said earlier, it’s also possible that they don’t possess this technology, just bluffing..."

"To clarify, Mr. Nadella, I have never stated that the other party is bluffing in all my speeches. My continuous opinion is that based on the academic content he disclosed during the conference and the release of a new Mersenne prime, it cannot prove that they have mastered technology that threatens the existing encryption system."

Every meeting is recorded and archived, his speech cannot be altered; this is a matter of principle. Moreover, he does not trust Satya Nadella’s ethics.

Historically, it’s not a new thing for senior engineers of the Microsoft Research Institute to take the blame for the wrong decisions of higher-ups. And he doesn’t want to take the fall for anyone.

Regardless of whether Satya Nadella is digging a pitfall for him, he would never accept any speech that distorts his meaning.

Satya Nadella glared at Shen Zhe, who interrupted his speech, and suddenly realized that Huaxia people sure are troublesome!

"Alright, then if the other party is just bluffing, although it seems unlikely... we still need to formulate two negotiation plans. The only principle we must ensure is that we may not lead, but we absolutely cannot fall behind!"