Haifeng leaned back as he continued his breakdown of Huawei's evolution:
"Starting in 2010, your company entered its fourth stage: global expansion, product line diversification, and full-scale R&D maturity."
"You entered direct competition with overseas giants—and that's exactly why you began rushing photolithography research."
He looked Mr. Ren in the eye.
"Because you're on the brink of the fifth stage: extreme survival."
Ren didn't answer at first.
But he didn't need to.
The silence said enough.
Xu Wenwei sat frozen, unable to speak. He had assumed they were there to guide and mentor a younger entrepreneur. Instead, they were being dissected—calmly, precisely, relentlessly.
He glanced at Haifeng.
This isn't a CEO. This is a battlefield tactician—a strategist at the national level.
Ren finally exhaled.
"President Lu's views… they align with mine exactly."
"Honestly, if I didn't know your character, I'd assume you'd hacked our boardroom meetings."
Everyone laughed lightly because it didn't feel like a joke.
Haifeng smiled back.
"You're welcome to study China Star Lab's public records."
"And I'll keep studying Huawei's strategy.
It's not espionage—it's long-range planning."
"Call it foresight. Call it deduction.
In this world, only those who prepare ten years ahead survive."
Ren's admiration grew deeper.
He sat quietly, then said with a rare softness:
"Little Lu, may I call you that? It's more familiar."
Haifeng nodded.
Ren's eyes sharpened.
"We at Huawei have paid a high price to stand where we are now.
All for one dream—to stand at the peak of global tech and look down at the world below."
"But the suppression we've faced recently made something obvious:
Depending on others is suicide."
"That's why we now carry one internal motto:
Become the world's number one."
"I didn't let them say it out loud before."
Now, his gaze was piercing.
"After I made the Huawei's Winter speech, only a handful of people truly responded."
"Most people didn't understand."
"They thought: 'We've reached the summit. Why are you still afraid?'"
Ren leaned forward, voice low.
"They didn't realize that that's when the real war begins."
"Those developed countries across the sea have been biding their time.
They've been waiting for us to relax."
"Once we show weakness, they'll strike harder than ever."
Then Ren paused, looked Haifeng straight in the eye, and shared a memory few had ever heard.
"Back in 2002, we almost sold Huawei."
Everyone froze.
"We were discouraged, exhausted.
We entered talks with Motorola to sell Huawei for 50 billion RMB(≈ $6.8 billion in 2025)."
"Both sides negotiated for months. The letter of intent was signed in early 2003.
Even the documents were ready."
"Our legal team had bought new suits, ready for the signing ceremony."
"And then… the CEO of Motorola was replaced."
"The new one—short-sighted, arrogant—tried to lowball us.
They dropped the price to 37.5 billion RMB($5.1 billion in 2025) and acted like we should be grateful."
Ren clenched his fist.
"I canceled the deal on the spot.
I thought—we may be poor, but we have dignity."
"You don't negotiate the future of a nation in a cowboy hat and leather boots."
Everyone in the room sat in stunned silence.
That story would never appear in the press. It was too raw. Too real.
But now it had been entrusted to Haifeng.
A torch had been passed—from one builder of empires to the next.